gas permeable contact fitting & problems

Welcome to Connect @scesslinger. From experience, I found out that gas permeable lenses aren’t for everyone. They were comfortable but we could never secure a good fit. I hope your daughter has been luck.

I found a website that might be helpful for you in finding an optometrist for your daughter. The GP Lens Institute maintains a locator using a database of eye doctors and other eye care professionals (ECPs) who prescribe and fit GP contact lenses.
https://www.contactlenses.org/find-doctor.htm
How old is your daughter? Besides dry eyes, what other difficulties has she had with her vision?

Thank you very much for your quick response! My daughter is 23 now, she has been wearing the gas perm contacts since she was 8. She has dry eyes mostly due to the contacts not letting enough tears underneath and I think she needs an optometrist that can get a better fit for her. Also she can't see as well as she would like, could be from her eyes being dry. She goes through a bottle of wetting drop every couple days. She carries them with her everywhere and puts drops in every 15 mins. or so. The lenses are uncomfortable which again could be from them being dry. Thank you for the list of eye care professionals who prescribe GP lenses, but my goal is to find a professional who is recommended and stands out as an elite in the matter of GP lenses. I don't know if it is possible to find this as I have only come up with lists of providers with a few patient reviews. I have been looking for over six months and don't really know how to find.

Is there a reason your daughter won’t just wear glasses? My daughter (40) and I both aren’t able to wear contact lenses. We’ve both tired many different types and all of them either pose issues with clarity of vision and horribly dry eyes. We were excited years ago when the gas perm lenses came out. But even those would caused issues. Your daughter may be one of these people for whom contacts along, with the solutions used, just don’t agree with her eye health.

Your daughter may also have a condition where her tear ducts aren’t producing enough tears to protect her eyes. Long term dryness can result in permanent damage to the eye so she may need to address that first before continuing with the pursuit of contacts.

Good luck with your search. I’m not sure how to go about it other than maybe contacting the American Board of Optometry:
https://americanboardofoptometry.org/general-public/locate-a-board-certified-optometrist/
They may have references and recommendations to elite doctors who specialize in the area which would do the most for your daughter.

Her vision is much worse with glasses, the lenses are so thick they create a fishbowl effect. Her current provider has always said that she can see much better with contacts because of her prescription.

Oh gosh, I really hope you can find an optometrist or ophthalmologist to help your daughter find a solution. I know what a challenge it can be sometimes to get the right glasses. I have serious astigmatism in both eyes and very near-sighted. Polycarbonate lenses are out because they leave a multi-color halo effect around objects and I can’t get frames with large, round or curved lenses because they distort my vision. So my heart goes out to your daughter for her struggle with both glasses and contacts.

Perhaps other members will see this and have some recommendations for you and your daughter. Wishing you well on your search for a vision expert.

I wore the gas permeable contact lenses for years, since the age of 12. I had so many allergies that the lenses would rub against my eyes and eyelids and cause blisters.....OUCH! I switched over to soft contact lenses and even though you do not see as sharp with them as you do the gas permeable, they are so comfortable and better for allergy sufferers. Due to health issues, I have chronic dry eyes now. I had cataract surgery last year. My eyes got drier after the surgery. I got punctum plugs, I use Restatsis twice a day and Systane Complete PF eye drops. Talk to her optometrist/Othamologist about the Restasis, Systane and possibility of Punctum Plugs. You can do the trial pair of Punctum plugs which are made out of collagen to see if they work. They dissolve in a few months. If they work, the doctor can then insert permanent Punctum plugs made from silicone. These plugs are inserted into the tear duct area (no pain at all....eye is numbed....takes about 10 min to insert). I was using Eye drops all day long before I got the plugs. The plugs have been a life changer for me. My eyes hurt, they were scratchy, blurry & gritty. I also had a lot of inflammation in my eyes and a prescription drop was used to get the inflammation down. Dry eyes and allergies can cause that. I hope some of these suggestions help. Dry eyes are no fun. Prayers & Hugs....

Wishing you both good luck. I wore them for decades after hard lenses before having LASIK. Definitely better vision than glasses or soft lenses for me.

I have a little dry eye now and use Bruder mask heated in microwave in the evening. Also take omega 3 liquid (PRN).

Did you try the Optometrist locator?
https://www.optometrists.org/general-practice-optometry/optical/guide-to-contact-lenses/guide-to-hard-contact-lenses/