Help. Hard lenses to spectacles?

Question

I've worn hard lenses for a long time. I plan to go back to wearing glasses in the future but am told that my eyeball shape has to return to normal (6 months) before I can get a steady prescription which will allow me to see properly with specs. Would wearing soft lenses in the interim help with this?

Answer 1

If you are lucky, your corneas will stabilise in well under six months, but I have known it take that long.

In the mean-time the Rx will shift, to a degree no-one will want to predict.
If your practitioner is prepared to keep you supplied with soft trial lenses that may be the best (and cheapest) route, but if significant amounts of astigmatism are involved, good vision may not be easy to obtain. Wearing soft lenses shouldn't significantly delay the "re-setting" of your corneas, but you would be advised to keep your wearing time to the minimum that you really need. Which might require back-up glasses, which might need changing...

Wearing glasses that are a "bit" off isn't a medical problem so, as long as you are legal driving, it will be up to you to decide if your vision has changed enough to require a new transient or temporary Rx either in spectacles or contacts.

Most glasses are designed to be re-glazed, so with good quality frames, only the lenses would need re-doing, and of course you should not go for the expense of high index or change-colour lenses unless you are happy to spend that sort of money for a short-term benefit.

Answer 2

Sometimes it can. The doctor that you are with would be the one to ask. In our office we have had several lpeople with this delema and our doctor sees them every couple of weeks or so to check the curvatures and the RX and he keeps them in soft lenses. Some people neee them out completely, it depends on you and your corneas. Just remember that constant monitoring and the const of the soft lenses will most likely not be a free service as that Doctor needs to be paid for his/her expertise and time, plus the lenses. We get some patients that want all this work done that is not covered by their insurance and they do not want to pay for the Doctors time. Unfortunately most doctors do not work for free, just like anybody else. So, ask your doctor, check his/her fees and see what they suggest. I think you will be surprised at how easy a transition it can be if you have the doctor involved.

Answer 3

You will need to be without your hard lenses for 3 weeks for the eye to return to it's normal shape. You can switch to soft lenses, but those will need to be out between 3-7 days (7 days being better though) for your eyes to return to it's normal shape.