Giant Papillary Conjunctivitis
Giant Papillary Conjunctivitis sounded pretty scary to me when my eye doctor told me that’s what I have. I guess it wouldn’t sound so bad without the word “giant”. Anyway, my contact lenses have been bothering me for months. They were the same brand I have been using for years, but they changed the name. I got my eyes checked in January and the trial pair was fine. After wearing them for a month, instead of wearing the new ones with the new name, I wore my old ones since I had almost a whole box left and the RX was the same. Everything was fine until I ran out of them and started wearing the new ones with the new name. That same day, I started having problems. Just general itching and irritation while wearing the lenses. After a few days, I threw them away and put on a new pair. Same problem. I was thinking maybe they dispensed the wrong size and the fit wasn’t correct. Nope, checked the RX and they were what was prescibed. I tried moisture drops. No help. Sometimes I could wear them for a day with minimal discomfort, other times, they would start bothering me within minutes of putting them in. I called the doctor about a month ago and told them my problem thinking maybe something was wrong with the batch of lenses. They gave me a new pair to try. Same problem. After having to wear my glasses almost all the time, I decided I would have to go back to the doctor and pay for the exam since my insurance won’t cover anything until January. So today was my appointment. I told her all my symptoms and after examining my eyes she said that I developed an allergic reaction to the plastic in the lenses and that the edge of the lenses were wide causing the irritation. She thinks they changed the composition of the lenses without telling the doctors because she’s had other patients with the same problem.
She gave me two different types of lenses to try starting tomorrow. One is a monthly lense with a different plastic and a narrow edge. The other is a daily wear with a narrow edge. Hopefully, the monthly will work for me since they are cheaper. If neither works, I will have to take a steroid medication for, I think, a month or so to decrease the swelling so I can tolerate the lenses.
I am thinking I may submit a claim to my insurance since I have an eye condition that prompted me to have an exam and I just didn’t want a new pair of cool glasses. It’s worth a shot anyway.
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