Eyesight issues

[silver]

I mostly came here to vent, but also would like to know how others cope with poor eyesight.

Silver Daughter has poor eyesight. She has a -10 prescription with astigmatism. She has worn glasses since she was 5 and contacts since she was 12. She has tolerated the contacts until this last year. She said she was having double vision and struggling to see in her classes. Her prescription had worsened. The doctor tried to put her in stronger, toric contacts, but she can't tolerate them. He tried her in every brand he had available in her prescription. Trying these different contacts irritated her corneas to the point where she cannot wear contacts at all now and is having to let her corneas heal. Because of the irritation to her corneas, they can't get a good readin on her prescription for glasses so they just tried to get somewhere close, so she can't even see well with her glasses.

So, we went to a doctor to see what options might be available to her surgically. His answer was nothing available, especially at her age. Maybe in a couple years there might be new technology out there.

Her frustration level with this is high. I'm worried how she will cope in collage next year, without being able to see well.

Please share your experiences and suggestions.

[Blueberry]

All I can offer is sympathy

Here's hoping her corneas will heal quickly and she'll be able to get a solid read on her scrip before collage. Out of curiosity, can she wear hard lenses? I seem to have developed an allergy to my contacts too

[silver]

She's never tried hard lens, but has very dry eyes, and I assumed that was why the doc never suggested them. thanks for your sympathy!

[Veronica]

I had ulcers on my corneas back in 2003. I was over wearing my contacts. I don't remember how long it took them to heal, maybe a month or two. Once her corneas heal they will be able to at least get her in a decent glasses prescription.

I had Bell's Palsy my senior year in college (yes there is a point to this) I had to give an oral presentation in my French class with half my face paralyzed. I think I got the pity A. Teachers/professors usually have some compassion. If she talks to them about her problem, they may have some ideas on how to help her out until her prescription gets corrected.

Veronica

[jobob]

A few years ago I went to the Stanford Eye Center to get an evaluation for LASIK.

The doctor there, Dr. Manche, is supposed to be very good, and actually does a lot of repair work on LASIK screw-ups.

I ended up being turned down by him as a LASIK candidate - I have bumpy corneas and he said that while he wouldn't advise I had the LASIK procedure, I could probably find a lot of other places that would take me. (Since I was only going to go through with it if I were an absolutely perfect candidate, I didn't pursue it further. I use daily-wear contact lenses and they work fine for me.)

But, I did hear about a procedure that he was working on using an intraocular contact lens (ICL) where a lens is placed under the eye flap, similar to what is done for cataract patients. Back when I spoke to him he was conducting clinical trials on that procedure, but ironically my eyesight wasn't bad enough to be considered for the trial (mine is -6.5/-7.0 and the lowest for the trial was -8.0)

I don't know where they are nowadays with that - it's only given a passing mention on the website - but in case you're interested, the Stanford Eye Center's website is at http://ophthalmology.stanford.edu/laser/index.html

Perhaps they could hook you up with eye clinics closer to where you live.

[bmccasland]

I wear semi-rigid gas permeable B&L lenses. My opthamologist put me in them several years ago, and multiple moves later no optomotrist has ever tried to talk me into anything different. I have astigmitisim in both eyes (and a very cranky cat in my lap), horrible vision. Have worn glasses / corrective lenses since I was in 5th grade. There was a point that I managed to stratch my eyes, and get conjunctivitis - took me over a year to talk the Dr. into letting me have contacts again. BUT I see better with contacts, and now glasses will not completely correct my vision. I know it's hard for a child, but sometimes you have to knuckle down, accept the fact that you can only wear a certain type of contact for a certain period of time, then take them out, and accept the fact that you can't see as well with your glasses. It sucks.

Maybe surgery is an option. Have you checked with Lion's Club for the Blind? Am grasping at straws here - a few months ago had a similar discussion of options for the child of a colleague with severe vision problems. Seems there are referrals to some better or more specialized Drs through Lion's Club. Just a stray thought.

[msincredible]

She's never tried hard lens, but has very dry eyes, and I assumed that was why the doc never suggested them. thanks for your sympathy!

Gas permeable lenses are actually better for dry eyes than soft ones.

[Blueberry]

She's never tried hard lens, but has very dry eyes, and I assumed that was why the doc never suggested them. thanks for your sympathy!

msincredible is right - ask about hard lenses. I'm planning to next time I see my eye doc - I knew someone from work (who was otherwise not a very nice person) who had tried soft contacts multiple times. His eyes were so dry he couldn't wear them. He tried hard lenses, and was still thrilled last time I saw him.

Just another thought

CA

[Cataboo]

My younger brother has vision issues, so I'll just let you know some of the things that we've done... And, seriously - Silver daughter'll be fine, it just might be a little bit traumatic getting there.

Silver daughter's eyes will probably recover quickly because corneas do heal quickly - if she does have dry eyes, that's probably slowing down the healing of the cornea, so try using eye drops. Refresh sells a couple - celluvisc is a thicker one that you don't have to use so often, but it does leave your eyes blurry and it does a very good job. There's also a thinner one that I can't remember the name of that doesn't blur as much, but doesn't last as long. (My brother's opthamologist recommended these for his eyes - he uses the celluvisc at night while sleeping, and the other drops during the day.) If the dry eyes damaging the cornea are contributing to the poor vision, there's other options for that, like a partial tarsorrhaphy (which is not really so noticable and not disfiguring).

There are I don't know where you're located - but find a low vision clinic. Johns Hopkins' Wilmer eye clinic has a low vision clinic, where they will basically take you through the different technologies that are available and try to sort out what works best for the patient. They're usually really helpful.

You can also check out the local services from the country - there is the national library for the blind and visually impaired which is a free lending library which has vast quantities of books on tape or cd, or in large print, or in braille. IF she qualifies, possibly she can get some of her text books through them.

Definitely any college or university has to help any student with some sort of a "disability" (required by law) they can photocopy handouts larger so they're easier to read, providing class notes, whatever - contact the university and see what they offer. Get her a digital recorder, so she can just record her classes, and listen to them again later. she can type them up or whatever. Many professors offer their notes/slides on powerpoint or in pdf format via blackboard (it's a website that the universities use )... With those files, she can blow things up as large as she needs to see them.... Which brings us to her computer. My brother uses a 32" LCD tv as his computer monitor, so the text is big, he can increase the contrast... Often reading things on a black background with white text is easier on the eyes than white on black. He also uses some magnification software that's freeware that he loves, but microsoft windows does have a magnifier built in, in the accessibility folder. Also if you buy a fancy microsoft mouse, they come with a magnifier that's activated using a button on the left side of the mouse. If she's surfing the internet, if you're in internet explorer or firefox, you can increase the size of the font using ctrl + and decrease it using ctrl -.

Ott-lites work really well for people with low vision, they make things much easier to read. They're closer to the frequencies/wavelength of natural sunlight, so your eyes don't fatigue as much when you use them.

So there are some simple things that you can do to help her - buy her a big screen tv to use as a monitor (I think she won't mind too much), get her a bunch of ott-lites, and just adjust the computer settings. Voice recorders are great.

[badger]

a family friend of mine has a childhood friend who grew up wearing coke-bottle glasses. I remember seeing him with glasses that made his irises look about the size of eggs.

He's a very intelligent fellow and made a fortune in some sort of geophysics invention (too complicated for me to figure out what exactly it does).

Because his eyesight was too bad for laser, and he has oodles of money, he opted for the contact lens implant. I believe he sees pretty much 20/20 now and is climbing Everest and K2 because he can.

Technology is developing in leaps and bounds, hopefully before long there will be a solution for your daughter's sight problems. But in the event they don't, life shouldn't be limited because of her disability. I swim with a lady who's been blind since birth and she's accomplished so much, from competing and winning a bronze medal in paralympics to earning a Master's degree in Social Work.

[NbyNW]

Lots of good suggestions re using technology to help in the classroom.

Just wanted to add that most new computers also have speech functions, where you can highlight a block of text and the computer will read them to you. On a Mac, it's under System Preferences > Speech. On newer PCs I believe Vista has a similar feature somewhere in the Control Panel.

Do the doctors have an explanation for the double vision? I don't know much about these things, but it seems that the causes can vary. For example, my father experienced double vision a few years ago and they diagnosed him with Graves' disease -- essentially an overactive thyroid. It took some tweaking of meds, but they eventually got it under control.

Good luck!

[OakLeaf]

I don't have anything useful to add, just my wishes that her corneas heal fast and that you find a solution that lets her see better. Hugs to all.

[Mr. Bloom]

Johns Hopkins' Wilmer eye clinic has a low vision clinic, where they will basically take you through the different technologies that are available and try to sort out what works best for the patient. They're usually really helpful.

Thanks for that name/experience.

It's been our experience that we need to leave SW Indiana to get the best medical care...

Besides Johns Hopkins, are there any other Regional or National Centers for Excellence in opthamology?

Edited to add:
I found a list: http://www.glaucoma.org/treating/ophthalmology_t.php

Johns Hopkins is #1, but there's a top 10 program in St. Louis which is close...

[indysteel]

She's never tried hard lens, but has very dry eyes, and I assumed that was why the doc never suggested them. thanks for your sympathy!

Actually, it's just the opposite. Gas permeable (hard) lenses let more air reach the eye than soft and generally correct vision better, too. I've actually gone through what your daughter is experiencing. I was wearing a pair of ill-fitting gas perms and scratched my cornea. My vision is in the -1100 range so dealing with glasses while it healed was a nightmare. It took a while to sort out, but I haven't had any problems since and have stuck with the gas perms. You might talk to your doctor about switching to them. While I was at IU, I starting going to the Optometry school for my eyes. They were FAR better than my regular doc. I go to the Optometry School in Indy now, too. I doubt I would have gotten the same level of care elsewhere. They spend far more time with me than a regular doc might.

Good luck, Silvers.

[Crankin]

Well, my eyes are not as bad as your daughter's, but I am fairly nearsighted and I have a very bad astigmatism in my left eye. Now, I am also farsighted.
I dealt with the situation by wearing a prescription in my soft lenses that leaves me with less than 20/20 vision in my left eye. It's maybe 20/30? All I know is that I can pass the eye test at the RMV. I tried torics many times and as soon as I put them in my eyes, there was huge trouble, irritation, necessitating me to wear my glasses for a while.
I choose to wear reading glasses over my contacts for the near vision, as I don't qualify for any other solution. Problems like this are frustrating, but I second the opinion to go to a medical center in a big city.