Question for bsl wearers

[Sirodj86]

Hello to all.

My Name is Siro , I'm an Italian guy who at the age of five had a steven johnson syndrome that caused me a lot of ocular's disease including dry eye, abnormal growth of eyelashes inside the cornea, and Keratoconus.
However about one month ago i've been in Boston at Boston foundation for sight and now I've got my sclerals.
Now I want to ask you some advices since you are more expert of me.
These lenses are helping me a lot, expecially in photophobia , and as soon as i put them in my eyes (in the morning) i feel very comfortable.
So, after 3 or 4 hours my eyelids become dry, i have diffuculty blinking, and i have to put artificial tears every ten minutes (sometimes).
Then i take out the leneses, I clean, i rinse with unisol 4 and I insert they again.
For one hour I haven't problem, and then back first ( eyelids dry).
So I want to ask you if you have some advices for me
Is there some of you that happens?

I hope my english will be understandable. Thank You to all.

[Rebecca Petris]

Hi Siro and welcome.

Sometimes depending on your environment and activity there can be some discomfort from drying. The lens keeps your cornea wet, but the surface where the lens and top lid meet is what can get dry. In my experience, working on the computer for a long time or being outdoors in the wind will make them dry out a bit. I wear wraparound foam-lined sunglasses outdoors to prevent this. Indoors on the computer I try to keep my time at the screen to a minimum but if I'm on for a long time I start using drops. If I had a big problem with computer use though I would again wear foam-lined glasses or some other kind of moisture chamber. You may have seen this kind of eyewear at Boston Foundation but if you have any questions just let me know. And your English is fine.

[RCK]

re: drops

Scleral wearer, similar symptoms. Spoke to Dr. Rosenthal and found that trying different types of drops can help, also in my situation (corneal dystrophy), removing lenses and rinsing, refilling fluid pocket seems to help.

Rhoda

[Sirodj86]

Well Thank You for the advices :-).
Sorry Rebecca I want to ask you where i can find the sunglasses that you have spoken, because Now I'm in Italy. Can you give me a brand or a website? may be bought them directly in BFS?

For drops my doctor K. Carrasquillo suggested me to clean (when i have the sclerals inside) the outer with a q-tip wet with 'Bausch e Lomb Boston conditioning solution'.
So bacause This product isn't commercialized in Italy I bought a similar called Boston simplus that is " All in one" solution.
Now I'm trying this and i find it good, however for now i can't keep the sclerals for more than 4/5 hours without remove .
So i do in this way :
I insert the sclerals in the morning when i wake up, then at launch time i take out and reinsert.
I think this is the best way for me.

ah I have one more question about the saline solution:

In Italy there isn't Unisol 4 but I found a saline called " Lens Plus Ocupure".
Something of you know this product?
It' s not really preservatives free but the optics shop has told me that the preservative that contain dissolves on contact with light

Sorry if i was a bit long, it's beacuse i'm a begginner and is all new for me:-)

Thanks Siro.

[Rebecca Petris]

Well Thank You for the advices :-).
Sorry Rebecca I want to ask you where i can find the sunglasses that you have spoken, because Now I'm in Italy. Can you give me a brand or a website? may be bought them directly in BFS?

I am not sure if BFS is stocking them right now or not but I think Anita could answer any questions about that. Try the wileyx.com or 7eye.com websites for product details. Due to a recent change in the foam of the 7eye glasses I personally recommend WileyX currently. It's difficult long-distance to get the right fit but I've found that the Airborne model seems to fit many people quite well. I am not sure if Wiley-X ships outside the US but if not you can also get them from my shop - click on the shop link at the top of this screen and then click on the Eyewear tab.

Also a good product that's much cheaper is Onion Goggles - you can google them or see them in the dry eye shop. They have clear lenses so they're mostly for indoor use but they work very well.

Sounds like that once-a-day change is a good solution - hope it continues to work for you.
ah I have one more question about the saline solution:

In Italy there isn't Unisol 4 but I found a saline called " Lens Plus Ocupure".
Something of you know this product?
It' s not really preservatives free but the optics shop has told me that the preservative that contain dissolves on contact with light

I think it's very important to use only preservative-free saline... this use is different than just an eye rinse because it stays in the lens for quite some time. You may want to talk to BFS to be sure but I'm fairly sure not even "dissipating" type preservatives are appropriate for filling the lenses. What you need to ask for is unpreserved 0.9% sodium chloride. If in Italy there is no such product sold specifically for contact lens care you may need to either get it somewhere else (France and England both have suitable products) or perhaps a saline not sold specifically for eyes might be acceptable at least in the short term till you find a supply for permanent use. I once purchased some unpreserved saline in 10mL vials from Canada that is sold for respiratory use and I used them whenever I was traveling. They are not the "recommended" product but for me it worked out OK as a temporary thing.

[Stanza]

Hi,

welcome!

Len Plus...was recommended to me by my scleral fitter but I fill my lenses with drops. I wouldn't use it to fill I don't think. But I use it to rinse when I clean them. I can get something called Poly Rinse here, I'm also in Europe. It's pres free saline. Maybe look in different opticians, they seem to have different things sometimes.

Wish you luck

[Sirodj86]

Ok thanks to all.
Fortunately I found saline soluon from Alcon ( the name isn 't unisol but i think that the composition is the same) that is preservatives free and is single 15ml dose so is also more convenient.
Anyway i'm happy becase i solved the problem of the lids; that was the unisol:
I mean i found unisol the best as teras reservoir ( with some tears of celluvisc) , but when i used it as a drops i noticed that my lids were a little bit red and dry, so i started to use another solution less saline ( only for rinse the outer of lens) and now i wear the sclerals for many more hours without problems. :-)
Thanks Stanza for your suggestion i think i'll do like you with lens plus.