Getting used to contact lenses

Jasconius

I'm test driving contacts right now. After a horrible first day, the second day is much better.

I have a followup in two weeks to get things sorted out but I am noticing the following things and I want to know if they are normal for 8 hours of contact lens experience:

1) Somewhat hard to focus, especially at medium range or when quickly looking at something.
2) My eyes undernearth the contact are getting dry and I have to keep my eyes shut for several seconds (up to 15 or 20) to relieve them...


Are these normal, and do they go away with time.

Kthx.

PeregrineFalcon

If you've never, ever in your life worn contacts before? Yes, that's normal.

Regarding #1 - Are you used to wearing glasses? You're not used to being able to focus naturally rather than through the lenses suspended in front of your face.

Regarding #2 - Are you wearing daily/weekly/monthly disposables, or more permanent ("yearly") lenses? Make sure you're cleaning them properly, and re-wet with saline if you need to. Also, ask about silicon hydrogel lenses. Those made a world of difference for me - so much more comfortable. More expensive, yes, but only a bit.

Jasconius

1, worn glasses all my life, the focus is different. achievable with effort, but different.

2, they are bi-weekly, they told me I can wear them up to 2 weeks.

Infidel

I have been using contacts for just over a month.

1. It takes some getting used to. Even still it won't be focused immediately sometimes, but if I'm trying to look at something it will focus in very short order.

2. I am wearing hydrogels and haven't had any issue with dryness or irritation really. The first couple days they felt really bizarre and annoying, but I just left them alone.

I'm much preferring them to glasses so far.

Jealous Deva

Take them out at night if you're experiencing dryness problems, you should probably be doing that anyway.

It honestly took me a year before I could wear contacts all the time, when I first started I would just wear them for 4-8 hours at work and wear glasses the rest of the time. You gradually build up a tolerance to them.

Brodo Faggins

I put a few drops of the solution that you store them in on them, then put the whole lot on my eye, and I'm good for the whole day.

Zombiemambo

Contacts suck for about 3 days. It feels like you have thick plastic shells in your eye sockets, and they burn and you feel them constantly. But after the first week, it's hard to tell that they're even there. I forget every once in awhile.

EskimoDave

Contacts are a bit of a faff, but after a while you'll be able to take them in and out with mirrors. Totally worth it over glasses.

The 2 week ones can last for a couple months. I'm not saying to wear them that long, but you can.

defreak

1. The focus thing will improve as you wear them more.

2. Are the contacts "sticking" to your eyeballs when they're dry? Like if you look as far right as you can without moving your head, do the contacts stay centered with your pupils? If yes, the curvature of the contacts is wrong, you need to get them refitted. Contacts are supposed to be able to "glide" on your eyes when you move your eyes around. This allows your eyes to breathe and prevents them from drying up.

If the curvature is wrong, it could be the cause of the focusing problem too.

Also, I do not recommend wearing contacts longer than they are meant to be worn. Do not sleep or nap in them. Do not wear them continuously for over 8 hours. You increase the risk of getting certain eye diseases. There will be people who argue that's bullshit, because they been doing it for 10 years and they're fine, and they know other people who do it and are fine. It's like smoking and lung cancer, only a small percentage of people who smoke actually get lung cancer, but out of all the people who have lung cancer, a large percentage of them smoke.

Orestus

I just started contacts about 2.5 weeks ago, having never worn them before, my experience has been with the daily disposables so maybe this is different than what you normally do w/ the kind you have, but:

For me they advised that the first 2 days I should only wear them for 4 hours a day, then 6 hours the next two days, then 8 hours the next two, then ten hours the next two. They STRONGLY advised me to stick to that schedule even if after 6 hours on day 3 or whenever they felt great and I didn't want to take them out. So maybe 8 hours is too much on day 2?

I notice the focus thing as well, although you described it more clearly than I can.

I have not had any problem w/ dry eyes at all, but maybe the disposables are better for that than your kind.

The doctor's office I got mine at came very highly recommended from a family member who used to run Bausch & Lomb, so I really stuck to the details of what they told me about breaking them in and trust their guidance. No idea where you got yours but if it was like Hour Eyes at the mall or something maybe consider talking to another office about it.

geckahn

If you have dry eye problems you're going to want to go for the 2 week ones. Preferably the higher quality ones.

I had to stop wearing dailies because of dry eye problems.

Zoku Gojira

Talk to your optometrist, who has presumably scheduled you for a follow-up visit anyway. Everyone's eyes are different, and the type you're test-driving may simply not be a good fit.

The quality of bi-weekly disposables has come a long way just in the past ten years. They let a lot more oxygen through to the eye, are less conspicuous and are less noticeable when I blink. The symptoms you describe only become an issue for me toward the end of a particularly long day/night, when my eyes are fatigued. Generally, I switch to glasses as soon as I know I'm home for the evening.