Contact lenses... Talk to me!
Discussion
Folks,
I seem to be needing my glasses more and more. Used to just mainly be computer work but now I wear them most of the time. I'm getting fed up of them TBH.
I've got a health insurance cash plan which covers £200/year of optical costs so I'm thinking about the contact lenses route.
I'm struggling to get around the thought of poking myself in the eye, how user friendly are they and how much hassle is it?
Currently leaning towards daily disposables but I'd be interested to see how others get on with them, and whether it's just as easy to go for weeklies/solution etc.
Churs!
Sam
I seem to be needing my glasses more and more. Used to just mainly be computer work but now I wear them most of the time. I'm getting fed up of them TBH.
I've got a health insurance cash plan which covers £200/year of optical costs so I'm thinking about the contact lenses route.
I'm struggling to get around the thought of poking myself in the eye, how user friendly are they and how much hassle is it?
Currently leaning towards daily disposables but I'd be interested to see how others get on with them, and whether it's just as easy to go for weeklies/solution etc.
Churs!
Sam
I've been using them for donkeys years and never looked back (sorry)
I wear the monthly ones that you leave in to sleep.
I really would be lost without them!
Glasses don't suit me at all.
IMO you will get about 8 hours wear from dailies and then your eyes will feel really tired. With the monthly ones this doesn't happen obviously.
I pay £15 a month with Specsavers. Money well spent IMO.
I wear the monthly ones that you leave in to sleep.
I really would be lost without them!
Glasses don't suit me at all.
IMO you will get about 8 hours wear from dailies and then your eyes will feel really tired. With the monthly ones this doesn't happen obviously.
I pay £15 a month with Specsavers. Money well spent IMO.
Some people get on with them, others don't. My mother tried them but just couldn't cope with putting her fingers up to her eyeballs. I have used them for about 15 years, on and off, and have no problem.
The only thing I would say is that they can sometimes disagree with computer use - I believe because your blink rate reduces when looking closely at a screen, so they can dry out and start to "stick". I have more problem with this as I am astigmatic - others are fine. I am currently wearing them, and mildly squinting and consciously blinking so that I can continue to see the screen!
The only thing I would say is that they can sometimes disagree with computer use - I believe because your blink rate reduces when looking closely at a screen, so they can dry out and start to "stick". I have more problem with this as I am astigmatic - others are fine. I am currently wearing them, and mildly squinting and consciously blinking so that I can continue to see the screen!
S70JPS said:
The ones you can sleep in are brilliant. I just wash mine out every morning.
They are much more convenient, but your chances of developing a sight threatening infection are also much higher than with regular contact lenses that are taken out each day. I personally would never use them or recommend them to a patient unless there were specific circumstances. carreauchompeur said:
OK then, so the deal with daily disposables is that you put them in the morning and bin at night...
Weekly ones last for a week, and need putting in solution overnight?
How do the costs of weeklies/monthlies and solution compare to dailies?
Not sure but both these options are vastly safer than leaving your lenses in overnight.Weekly ones last for a week, and need putting in solution overnight?
How do the costs of weeklies/monthlies and solution compare to dailies?
If you wear lenses 6 or 7 days a week then from the same source dailies may work out up to twice as expensive than monthlies.
All but a handful of dailies are made from materials that aren't really suitable for day in day out wear but the vast majority of monthly lenses that any reputable contact lens fitter will use are fine for that use, assuming appropriate care is taken.
Certainly none of my patients wear anything other than silicone based lenses for regular wear.
Extended wear lenses are always contentious. "Vastly safer" is somewhat OTT but you do need to take them seriously. They provide a good wear modality but they are not a fit and forget option. My patients wear then for a week and then remove for a night and a day and then start again.
I find this keeps complications to a minimum without negating the advantages.
Whatever you do get them fitted by a good optometrist and ask their opinion.
All but a handful of dailies are made from materials that aren't really suitable for day in day out wear but the vast majority of monthly lenses that any reputable contact lens fitter will use are fine for that use, assuming appropriate care is taken.
Certainly none of my patients wear anything other than silicone based lenses for regular wear.
Extended wear lenses are always contentious. "Vastly safer" is somewhat OTT but you do need to take them seriously. They provide a good wear modality but they are not a fit and forget option. My patients wear then for a week and then remove for a night and a day and then start again.
I find this keeps complications to a minimum without negating the advantages.
Whatever you do get them fitted by a good optometrist and ask their opinion.
I wear dailies most of the time except for driving at night, for some reason I find driving in the dark with them in is difficult as light sources have a kind of halo round them so I keep a pair of specs in the car.
I have a different technique for getting them out that means I don't have to stick fingers in eyes - most opticians tell you to kinda pinch them off - I open my eye really wide then use a finger on each eyelid to 'tighten' it over the eyeball, I then blink once and the eyelid itself just flips the lens off. Much better way of doing it I think.
I agree with what the chap above said about them not always being ideal for computer or other screen use - it's OK in a bright room but in the dark I tend to blink less and they go a bit dry and blurry. However you can get eyedrops to counteract this.
I have a different technique for getting them out that means I don't have to stick fingers in eyes - most opticians tell you to kinda pinch them off - I open my eye really wide then use a finger on each eyelid to 'tighten' it over the eyeball, I then blink once and the eyelid itself just flips the lens off. Much better way of doing it I think.
I agree with what the chap above said about them not always being ideal for computer or other screen use - it's OK in a bright room but in the dark I tend to blink less and they go a bit dry and blurry. However you can get eyedrops to counteract this.
I was on daily's for a while, would advise trying monthly's first if you can as they breathe a lot better than daily's. Been using contacts now for 5-6 years now and wouldn't be without, hate glasses with a passion.
Costs me £13 a month with specsavers though that includes check up every 12 months too, I'm sure it could be done cheaper but I don't have to worry about anything as everything comes to my door, solution and lens holders.
There's a massive difference in what it feels like to put in and take out a lens and actually poking yourself in the eye though, I struggle to touch my eye without (I guess that's to be expected) but you touch the lens and not your eye so it doesn't hurt.
Costs me £13 a month with specsavers though that includes check up every 12 months too, I'm sure it could be done cheaper but I don't have to worry about anything as everything comes to my door, solution and lens holders.
There's a massive difference in what it feels like to put in and take out a lens and actually poking yourself in the eye though, I struggle to touch my eye without (I guess that's to be expected) but you touch the lens and not your eye so it doesn't hurt.
Edited by GrumpyTwig on Sunday 23 June 23:24
Been using the dailies for 6 years. Highly recommend them.
Eyes are the only thing I'm squeemish over but took me no longer than a week to get used to putting them in and taking them out.It becomes second nature quite quickly. I've even had cause to remove and replace one whilst driving! - not that I'd recommend doing this though!
Eyes are the only thing I'm squeemish over but took me no longer than a week to get used to putting them in and taking them out.It becomes second nature quite quickly. I've even had cause to remove and replace one whilst driving! - not that I'd recommend doing this though!
Dailies here as well. Been wearing lenses for about 16 years. I tried the monthlies initially but all the farting about with cleaning them was a pain. Plus they used to break often and it would always be your last pair.
I go to a local independent place for my eye test and annual check up and by the lenses in bulk on line. The monthly schemes from specsavers et al. got on my tits.
I go to a local independent place for my eye test and annual check up and by the lenses in bulk on line. The monthly schemes from specsavers et al. got on my tits.
I use daily ones from Vision Express, about £20 p/m from memory. Tbh I keep them in all week and just change them every Saturday. I now have a few years worth of stock on that basis ... Doesn't seem to be harming my eyes before someone pipes up (have eye test every year).
TX.
Edit - from Specsavers, just checked.
TX.
Edit - from Specsavers, just checked.
Edited by Terminator X on Monday 24th June 09:44
DKL said:
If you wear lenses 6 or 7 days a week then from the same source dailies may work out up to twice as expensive than monthlies.
All but a handful of dailies are made from materials that aren't really suitable for day in day out wear but the vast majority of monthly lenses that any reputable contact lens fitter will use are fine for that use, assuming appropriate care is taken.
Certainly none of my patients wear anything other than silicone based lenses for regular wear.
Extended wear lenses are always contentious. "Vastly safer" is somewhat OTT but you do need to take them seriously.
6 to 10 times more likely to develop sight threatening microbial keratitis than with ordinary lenses is not OTT or insignificant. I've treated many such patients. The majority of tectonic grafts and corneal transplants, for infections I've done have been on patients who wore extended wear lenses.All but a handful of dailies are made from materials that aren't really suitable for day in day out wear but the vast majority of monthly lenses that any reputable contact lens fitter will use are fine for that use, assuming appropriate care is taken.
Certainly none of my patients wear anything other than silicone based lenses for regular wear.
Extended wear lenses are always contentious. "Vastly safer" is somewhat OTT but you do need to take them seriously.
having though of getting contacts as i have recently had my eyes tested and one eye is 0.25 and the other is 0.75, but dont really impede my day to day 'looking', only as long range things or things that are really small, would it be worth trying contacts?
i cannot really touch my eye like jim Carey in ace ventura when he pushes his eye to they side, or even bring my self to touch my eye might be a problem.
but if someone puts them in and taken them out and shows me how might be a different story.
I dont really know if 0.25 and 0.75 is a much at all, at I tryed my mum and dad's glass's on for a few seconds and I couldnt see much at all through them, and have the best eyes in my entire family, including bro-in-law, I dont really think that my eyes are that bad.
also, if I wear my glass's for more than a few mins, after I take them off, everything is a bit more blurry than before I take them off, so dont know if the local opticians mucked up, or I did when they did on the eye test, so would It be a good Idea to get another eye test, as some of the test, when the optition goes 'better with 1 or 2' '3 or 4' 4 or 5', they were as blurry, but I got double vision but the other way with 3 or 4 (an example of some) like I would get a double vision to the left, then to the right on some.
never had an eye test before this one, but dont think I answered completely correctly as I didnt really know what to say and just said 'just about the same' when it was as blurry but to the left or right (if you know what I mean)
might go back and explain it totally and explain everything that I see next time, as the glass's I have make everything a bit blurry after wearing them after a while.
i cannot really touch my eye like jim Carey in ace ventura when he pushes his eye to they side, or even bring my self to touch my eye might be a problem.
but if someone puts them in and taken them out and shows me how might be a different story.
I dont really know if 0.25 and 0.75 is a much at all, at I tryed my mum and dad's glass's on for a few seconds and I couldnt see much at all through them, and have the best eyes in my entire family, including bro-in-law, I dont really think that my eyes are that bad.
also, if I wear my glass's for more than a few mins, after I take them off, everything is a bit more blurry than before I take them off, so dont know if the local opticians mucked up, or I did when they did on the eye test, so would It be a good Idea to get another eye test, as some of the test, when the optition goes 'better with 1 or 2' '3 or 4' 4 or 5', they were as blurry, but I got double vision but the other way with 3 or 4 (an example of some) like I would get a double vision to the left, then to the right on some.
never had an eye test before this one, but dont think I answered completely correctly as I didnt really know what to say and just said 'just about the same' when it was as blurry but to the left or right (if you know what I mean)
might go back and explain it totally and explain everything that I see next time, as the glass's I have make everything a bit blurry after wearing them after a while.
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