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Contact lenses

J

jmcook79

Android Enthusiast
I tried them about 17 years ago but they always irritated my eyes and I have allergies so that just made it worse. Does anyone use the kind thay you keep for a year and clean them every day? That is the only kind I can afford and I was thinking about giving them another shot. Have they improved over the years?

Thanks
 
Nah, I would rather have surgery than to deal with contact lenses. But because that cost a lot of money, I will be staying to my regular glasses. Hopefully with Google grasses someday.
 
The only thing I hate about glasses is constantly having to clean them! A microfiber cloth always seems to leave fibers so I usually resort to a paper towel but they scratch over time.
 
jmcook79 said:
The only thing I hate about glasses is constantly having to clean them! A microfiber cloth always seems to leave fibers so I usually resort to a paper towel but they scratch over time.
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for cleaning your glasses you could use 100% cotton balls.
 
I've been wearing gas permeable lenses for about 15-16 years? I've no option, my prescription is +14 or something so surgery would be virtually pointless for me.

They've improved a lot and my current set have lasted me about 2 years.

Solution costs about
 
I used to wear gas permeable until my eyes developed presbyopia, making it impossible to focus on near objects while wearing lenses. Getting old sucks! I occasionally go mono vision. You only wear one contact and that way use one eye for far vision and one for up close. Works well for me, except I can't do this at work since I'm a commercial driver and TN DOT requires 20/20 vision in both eyes while operating a commercial vehicle. So it's glasses with bifocals, and I usually end up looking over my lenses to read most things. Once again, getting old sucks!

I'm probably better off not wearing contacts any more. I would leave the extended wear lenses in for a week at a time, remove and clean them on the weekends. NOT GOOD for the eyes. I did develop a slight ulcer on my cornea once. Just stayed out of contacts for a few weeks for it to heal.
 
i wear daily disposable lenses.

Could not be bothered to try weeklies or monthlies where you would have to clean them.

When I put my lenses in I cant feel them in my eyes at all. Paying
 
I've been trying contact lenses off and on for the past week. I've worn glasses for almost 2 years now (I'm 32). I can't seem to get used to them. I have a slight astigmatism in both eyes and am slightly nearsighted in both eyes.

The first trial pair my optometrist gave me corrected only for nearsightedness. These didn't correct enough for me to work on the computer (I'm a developer, it's kind of necessary). I squinted in the same way that drove me to the eye doctor in the first place two years ago. He initially said that because my astigmatism was so small, lenses to correct for it may be overkill.

Yesterday he put me in astigmatism lenses. These do correct enough (though not as well as my glasses), but something is causing me headaches. Again, it's worse with the computer. This morning I survived for about an hour at work and had to take them out. I put them back in after work, and when I went to do my cardio work out was the only time I've truly felt comfortable in them, mostly because there's not much detail in the racketball court and I was too busy catching my breath to really care about my eyes. There are times when I can see great; then I blink and the moment is gone. Other times, I feel my eyes drying out and I blink a lot more to try to moisten them up; then my vision is a streaky mess.

I really would like to stay in contacts. I hate how my glasses fog up when I eat or drink hot things, or when I open the dishwasher or step out of my AC'ed car into the humid midwestern summers. I hate having to clean my glasses after my cat rubs my face. Playing softball in glasses sucks (and technically isn't safe), but so does not seeing the ball clearly. My car has huge blind spots thanks to the side airbags in the pillars, and having the boundary of my glasses in the same part of my vision makes turns and lane changes even more interesting. But I'm not going to wear contacts outside of work and glasses at work; it's one or the other.

Does anybody have any experience adapting to contacts, particularly astigmatism lenses? Am I being a wuss and do I need to tough it out, or will these problems not go away?
 
I started contacts about 3 years ago. I'm 55. I had problems getting used to them. It does take time and correct fit and prescription. Some people (me) get very used to them and don't like to be without them. Others can't seem to get a handle on it for one reason or other.

Dry eyes are problem, especially this time of year. Carry wet drops around with you. They can help. Centering the contacts can be a problem if your eyes are dry. They float on a bed of tears. (sounds poetic, no?) They have to float in order to center. If they don't center, you'll have blurry vision.

My big problem was that my eyes were getting red and irritated. It turned out I needed special solution (peroxide) to disinfect the lenses nightly. My doctor diagnosed that and it worked. Now... my advice to you is if you are motivated to stay on contacts, keep in touch with your doctor (hopefully you have a good one) and s/he can counsel you through the process of getting used to them.
 
I too wear contacts and it took time for me as well. I have been wearing them 15 yrs. Now I can't be without them. I too have to use special solution due to the kind of contacts I have. Make sure you clean them regularly always wash your hands before touching them and yes like the prev comment keep in touch with your doctor. I use to use eye drops but now I only need them in the morning if I sleep in my contacts. Hope they work out for you!
 
I've worn contacts for over 20 years. I have astigmatism, which has worsened as I got older, and am far-sighted. From Day One, I've had "monvision" lenses, which means in one eye I have correction for reading, in the other for distance. This takes some getting used to... weeks in some cases ... but I wouldn't trade them, now.

Last month, the optometrist had me try some special lenses for correcting the astigmatism. I couldn't make it beyond 3 weeks. I could read better (just slightly) but wearing them all day just was horrible: dry eyes, blurry distance, etc. I've gone back to my other contacts and am happy as a clam. I wear daily lenses. The ones I gave up on were monthly. I can't stand wearing glasses as it feels like I have a barrier between me and the world, not to mention the steaming up when I cook, getting makeup on them, and having to keep pushing them up on my nose. However, I do find that by evening, I prefer my glasses for comfort. Also driving at night is better with them.
 
Funny I see this thread. ;) I have been experimenting with contacts for about 2 weeks now and I am having the same issues, trying different styles and makes, they are Multifocal lenses so experimenting has been the norm for the past few weeks, I am getting there but still tweaking a little. My biggest issues is the distance, when I look across the street things are still blurry and drives me nuts. I will stick with it until I find the one that works for me as I am determined and really love the convenience of having contacts rather then having to wear glasses. Now let me tell you want I did yesterday just for the heck of it, and don't ask me why I did this but I did. The doctor gave me 2 different right lenses for my dominant eye to test back and forth, so one night I decided to close my left eye to see if I could read with the right eye, and said umm I can, so I wore both right lense, one in the right eye and the other right lens in the left eye for the day, they are both for distance as the dominant eye is used for that and other for reading, and I was able to use them all day with no issues, not fully as clear but I was not struggling to focus for distance, and it didn't feel like one eye was straining like before. Now I know this is not what I am suppose to do, but I quickly realized that you need to keep testing and there is a way to get a happy medium as others have mentioned above. So Monday again when I go see him I will explain to the doctor what I did and we will take it from there, but I was able to fully function, the distance was still not perfect, but was much better, so we will see. Hope others chime in here and I will also keep you posted.

OP great thread ;)
 
Well, it has been getting better. I put them in after lunch yesterday and made it to the end of the day, and I've got them in now. We've got the in laws Christmas today, so I think I should be able to go the whole day.
 
Just found out all I have to pay is a $10 copay for a contact exam but I have to pay the fitting fee out of pocket. They don't know how much it will be yet since vision insurance is new at my job. They did say that the $130 insurance should cover a whole year of daily disposables! First I'll have to try a trial set though. I hope it works out so I can finally be free of these glasses!

If not I'll use the insurance to get a higher quality pair of glasses than my current ones.
 
I merged the 2 threads together since there was already a thread on contacts ;)
 
I've worn gas permeable contact lenses for upwards of 40 years with no real problems. I, too, found the need to use eye drops because of dry eyes. When I grew older I needed to wear reading glasses for close work (but continued to wear contact lenses).

Although I'm still extremely handsome, since I retired I have given up the contact lenses as I'm no longer vain enough to think I'm attractive to young ladies! I now only wear spectacles.
 
I've tried contacts a few times and tossed them. They always felt like there was something on my eyes, probably because there was. And now I've gotten older and have to wear trifocals – can't even imagine doing that with contact lenses.

As for washing glasses, I use soap and water, then dry them with a fresh kleenex. Been doing that for decades because it works.
 
A lint-free cloth, obtainable from opticians and elsewhere, is better.
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Agreed, but even though I always have a box of kleenex right by the sink, I'll be damned if I can find my lint-free cloth. Besides, I just dab them dry, no pressure involved.
 
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