Brief
Course Description

RGP
Fitting & Evaluation

Studies
have shown that rigid gas permeable (RGP) lenses are indicated for,
at minimum, 30% of all new contact lens patients. Nevertheless, the
percentages of new patients being fit into RGPs–especially among younger
practitioners–are much less. Some practices do not fit RGPs at all despite
the visual quality, oxygen transmission, durability and wettability
benefits!

Certainly,
the ease of fitting soft lenses is a motivating factor. Fitting RGPs
is an art. Practitioners who fit RGPs take great pride in providing
the most appropriate contact lens for any given patient ( RGPs, soft
torics, bifocals) and do not simply fit a patient into their available
inventory of lenses. RGP fitters are often very successful practitioners
whose patients perceive their contact lenses to be of value and their
eyecare professional to be quite competent.

It
is well known that adding a small amount of sodium fluorescein to the
tears causes them to fluoresce a bright yellow-green color when viewed
under ultraviolet or cobalt light. This makes it possible to view the
tears that are present between the lens and cornea and to dynamically
evaluate the fit of a contact lens. The brightness of the fluorescent
tears increases with the thickness of the tear layer and may be used
to estimate the amount of clearance between the lens and cornea. Any
area under the lens where fluorescein is absent appears as black or
dark, thus indicating a position of lens/cornea bearing or touch. Fluorescein
is invaluable if not essential in the assessment of rigid lens fitting.
Without the use of fluorescein the practitioner cannot view the true
lens-to-cornea fitting relationship.