Seeing the edge of RGP's

I've had my RGP's for a week now. The discomfort is going away, but
I'm still sort of seeing the edge of them in my peripheral vision.
This effect comes and goes from blink to blink and over longer time
periods, but I do find it kind of annyoing, kind of like tunnel vision
almost. I have my follow-up visit in a few days, but maybe some of the
experts could tell me what options are available to address this? Do
lenses come in different sizes? I read something on-line about ones
that are "much" bigger and sort of taper off - when do these become
appropriate?

Thanks.

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Two things come to mind right away. If you are seeing the edge all the
way around, the lens is centering but is too small. On the other hand,
if you are seeing it just at the bottom, the lens is riding too high
and not centering well. In either case, they need to be refit so that
they center well and clear the edge of your pupils. A lens that rides
high or does not center may cause an undesireable change in your
corneal shape.

--Dr. Tom

 

OK. I'll go.

You could be seeing either the edge of the lens or the central optical
zone transition/junction. Either way, the lens is not staying centered
over your pupil and the fit has to be changed.

The solution depends upon the cause. Either the lens base curve and
peripheral design needs to be altered, perhaps the lens needs to be
larger or the optic zone larger. Or combinations of those things. Your
practitioner can figure this out and you should have a better experience.

LB, O.D.

 

Thanks for the replies. I seem to notice the edge thing most often to
the outside. If I look at my eye in the mirror though, the lenses seem
to be hanging quite low - the center of the lens well below the black
part of my eye. You'd think I'd see the top of the lens, but I don't.

Should problems with fit be apparent to the doc by inspection, or does
it rely on me providing a very accurate description of symptoms? I'm
hoping the former, because the effects are somewhat difficult to
describe.

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I'm going to offer my $0.02 ... from a patient perspective:

FIT is something that the optometrist evaluates given the exact
conditions in their exam room ... at that exact moment. If, for
example, your eyes were tearing a great deal in response to a new RGP
lens, then the fit might be different *at that exact moment* than it
would, say, two weeks later, when you've adapted to your new lenses
and the tear level has returned to normal.

My personal experience with RGP's was pretty similar to yours: the fit
looked/seemed pretty good while I was at the doc's office, but seemed
to "get sloppier" a few days later.

A lens tweak (by the doc) here or there pretty much always resolved
it.

 

Yes, it should be apparent to the doc but feel free to fill him/her in
with your symptoms.

If the lens is fitting that low and is uncomfortable, I'd stop wearing
it until you can be seen. When that time occurs, try to be wearing the
lenses at least a hour so they're "settled in" and the doc can see the
lenses fitting as they might outside the office situation.

LB, O.D.

 

I should have mentioned they were always centered
correctly.

 

Actually,they're petty comfortable now, and they seem to be having some
therapeutic effects. For one, I was having trouble with bloodshot eyes
for a long time, and it seems to have completely gone away - like
better than it's been for months. Also, my vision is better between
wearings. I have a few pairs of glasses with less than my full
prescription, and I see perfectly with them now. There seems to be
some kind of retainer effect here that lasts at least 24 hours (the
longest I've gone).

--

 

The doc thought the lenses are fitting okay. He said they are low, but
within tolerance, and trying to make them center would make them too
tight so that they may rub at the edges and be less healthy (my
paraphrase). As a result, he also doesn't want to go bigger because
the bottom edges would end up too far down. So I need to live with the
edge thing for now and see if it gets better over time (like maybe I
just stop noticing, or maybe it'll be less obvious when I stop tearing
so much).

I was hoping to fine tune things, but I guess this is as good as it
gets...

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