contact lens overuse

[archie1]

Alittle background info. I have been a contact lens wearer for 30 years RGP.  Recently I put on my glasses and it was very blurry.  I went to my optomotrist and she said it is because of contact lens overuse.  She believes my cornea is wavy, or warping.  She prescribed a new  prescription for my glasses, which I am still waiting for, and soft contact lenses although she feels that my contact wearing days are over.  While I am waiting for my glasses to arrive, (which she said the new prescription is really powerful and will take along time to get used to) I put in the soft lenses when I go out to drive since my glasses aren't strong enough. My question is that after reading some of the other entries it seems that if I wear my glasses for afew months that the cornea would go back to normal or be better is that true?  Also will it be alright for me to wear my soft lenses for 4 hours aday while I am waiting for my glasses to arrive.  It will take 10 days for my glasses to arrive.  What bothers my is the non chalant attitude of my optomotrist.  I felt I could be going blind and it was, oh I guess you should have been on soft contact lenses years ago!!!!!!!!!! I have been having panic attacks.  Please respond as soon as possible.  Thank you so very much.

[John C Hagan III, MD, FACS]

Relax, deep breath, don't panic.

10 days to get glasses? Where is the optometrist getting them from ? Mars?

Any contact lens can warp the cornea, it is more common with RGP contacts than with soft CTLs. In most cases the irregular astigmatism as it is called will go way if the cornea is allow to recover without any contacts over a period of weeks to months. In very rare cases the warpage can be permanent or can lead to a structural weakness of the cornea called ketatoconus.

Also IF you can adjust to the long awaited glasses its likely that your prescription will change in a month or two and will not work anymore.

Why don't you cancel the order for glasses, wear the soft contact lens and get in to see an Eye MD ophthalmologist-physician to make sure you haven't done any permanent damage to your eyes, to discuss glasses, new contacts or laski in the future.

JCH III MD

[JodieJ]

As a high myope (before I had cataract surgery) I had a hard time seeing with my glasses when I took my contacts off near the end of the day.  So, like you, I tended to wear my hard contacts for longer than I should.  I experienced several episodes of corneal warpage over the years.  In every instance, my corneas had completely healed in about 6 weeks or less, and I was back in my (new)hard contacts again.  (I either wore soft contacts or glasses in the interim.)  I hope you share my good fortune in that regard.

It was also true for me (as Dr. Hagan points out) that a prescription made when my corneas were warped didn't work well once they healed.  Most optical shops will let you remake glasses at no charge within 60 days; you might want to check with yours.  But at the risk of being banned from this ophthalmology forum, I must say that I've been more successful getting my contacts/glasses from an optometrist who does this type of work full-time than from an ophthalmologist-physician.  



    

[John C Hagan III, MD, FACS]

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[John C Hagan III, MD, FACS]

I don't disagree with JodieJ's last statement. In our practice the Ophthalmologists do not do contact lens fitting. It's something that an optometrist that does it full time is going to better at than an ophthalmologist-eye surgeon-physician. An Eye MD with all their extra training and wide range of serious medical problems is not going to be spending a lot of time on routine contact lens fittings.

JCH III MD