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Talk to me about contacts
Kyougu
Registered User regular
Registered User regular
Been wearing glasses all my life and I find myself considering contacts for the following reasons:
1)Lately I been more active, and glasses get in the way. It's a pain to wear a paintball mask over them, sometimes the rope when I'm rock climbing almost knocks them off, sweat stains them during a run, etc.
2)I'm thinking going a glassless route would be an improvement on my apperance.
My only concern is comfort. I work sometimes from 6:30 am to 6 pm in front of a computer, and then I'll go to the gym. So I would be wearing them for over 12 hours at a time. Is that fine?
Also price? Brands I should look at?
1)Lately I been more active, and glasses get in the way. It's a pain to wear a paintball mask over them, sometimes the rope when I'm rock climbing almost knocks them off, sweat stains them during a run, etc.
2)I'm thinking going a glassless route would be an improvement on my apperance.
My only concern is comfort. I work sometimes from 6:30 am to 6 pm in front of a computer, and then I'll go to the gym. So I would be wearing them for over 12 hours at a time. Is that fine?
Also price? Brands I should look at?
Kyougu on
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-for paintball, be weary about wearing contacts if you ever get paint spatter on your glasses. I haven't played in years, but I remember I switched back from my new v-force mask to my old JT one because a hit right below the lense on the v-force could spray paint into my contacts. D= If that's never happened to you though, then contacts will be a huge improvement, because they'll never get streaked with sweat or fog up.
-I normally wear contacts while rock climbing, and the one time that I wore glasses I did indeed knock them off. They can slip off your face if you sweat a lot too.
-Some people can wear contacts for way longer than 12 hours and be fine, some can't handle that long. They do have different materials that dry out your eyes less that seem to help. What you might consider is wearing contacts on your days off until you get good at putting them in, then it won't be a problem to pop them in part way through the day.
I don't know that anyone here can really can't tell what contacts to use until you go to a doctor though, sadly, they'll be able to figure out what ones will work best for you based on the anatomy of your eye.
And yeah, as Noff said, it will take some getting used to and you'll probably end up starting with just wearing them on weekends (or removing them halfway through the day at work and putting glasses on) until your eyes are able to handle them better.
Good luck!
And if it's even a choice anymore, try the soft contacts first. Soft contacts are a little annoying at first, but once you get the hang of putting them in, they're a million times better than hard contacts. Way more comfortable, and if it goes crooked, you might be able to just mush it back into place, whereas a hard contact will almost certainly have to be pulled out and put back in.
You can really damage your eyes wearing the 2 week ones for 4+ weeks consistently. Buildup can wear at your eyes and you won't notice until something serious happens.
I haven't owned glasses in years, and I have a -9.5 contact prescription. That means I can read from about a quarter of an inch away without them so I wear them ALL DAY EVERY DAY. I should get glasses just in case I get an eye infection, but, well, I'm lazy.
There's also no reason you can't keep a pair of glasses around for long term reading or screenviewing or whatever. It doesn't bother me, but I had a buddy who'd take his contacts out and wear glasses at movies, cause apparently focusing on a screen for 2-3 hours with contacts in was uncomfortable for him.
that's why we call it the struggle, you're supposed to sweat
When you are doing a focused activity such as honing in on a computer screen your blink reflex slows down so your contacts tend to dry out more quickly. So you have to manage that.
Just depends on how willing you are to do that.
we also talk about other random shit and clown upon each other
I've just taken to carrying a bottle of eye drops with me at all times, and that's helped immensely.
I have monthly disposables which I routinely wear for at least twice as long as I should because I forget when I started the latest pair. I usually wear them at least 12 hours a day, if not more. Soft contacts tend to be more breathable than hard ones, and I don't have issues with them drying out unless I sleep in them. By sleep I mean an hour nap. I would NEVER sleep in contacts overnight unless they are a brand made specifically to wear 24/7. Any time they do get dry, or if a bit of dust gets in my eye, I just use a few drops of Visine or eyedrops made for soft contacts.
I wouldn't go straight to wearing contacts for 12 hours a day right away. Have them in for 2 hours or so the first day, then add an hour every day or so till you get to wearing them all day. Your eyes may feel dry or irritated at first, but that goes away as they get used to having something on them.
Finding a contact brand that worked for me was no problem, even with astigmatism. Finding a cleaning solution that didn't irritate my eyes after a few weeks was more of a concern. Eventually my eye doctor gave me Clear Care, which is basically 3% hydrogen peroxide. It has to be used in a special lens case that has a disc that reacts with the hydrogen peroxide and makes bubbles which 'scrub' the lenses clean. The case says to leave lenses in for 6 hours minimum, but 4 is usually enough. But holy hell do NOT rinse them off with the clear care before putting them in, it will BURN!!!
My eye doctor pretty much stopped offering rigid gas-permeable lenses like a decade ago - they are a bitch to grow accustomed to and the breathability of soft lenses has improved markedly.
They are indeed a ton better for physical activity (although swimming can be a bit sketchy), but I'd still recommend keeping around a pair of glasses to give your eyes a break or to wear in evenings and mornings if you've taken them out. You should also never underestimate the ability of a nice pair of glasses to make you look smarter and more sophisticated.
Honestly, your eye doctor should set you up with a trial pair if you express interest, so there shouldn't be any harm in giving contacts a go. If there is nothing spectacularly wrong with your eyes, you may have a lot of options for how you wear them - I prefer disposables since proper cleaning, storing, and hygiene can and will become a hassle (and likely, eventually an afterthought) if you stick with contacts as long as I and others here have.
As said, you don't actually have to buy lenses straight from your optometrist and can save quite a bit by taking your prescription to the private market, but don't expect your doctor to make this clear since selling stuff to you after the exam is their bread and butter.
[SIGPIC][/SIGPIC]
Odd. I use the same brand and I love them. I do have to use a crazy acid bath for them to be comfortable, but no problems otherwise.
Eventually I developed serious problems with eye dryness, and I got a minor infection in my right eye. I switched back to glasses for another two years, and then finally a year ago I tried contacts again. I just can't do them anymore; I tried 3 or 4 different trial pairs and it felt like all of them were just eating into my right eye, even after spending a few days adjusting to them.
So they're awesome, but they are kind of a hassle sometimes, and you can't really take shortcuts with them like I did.
Yeah basically what I was getting at is that contacts just aren't for everyone, although I am about to give them another try soon.
Oh no doubt. It's the breadth of the experience surprised me. I work and/or play at least 10 hours in front of computers all day and if my eyes do get tired it's only in the last few hours of the day.
I wear them less now (out of college, have an office job) primarily out of laziness in the mornings. I mainly wear them on days when I'll go running (which can be 4-5 days a week, soo..yah). I have some coworkers who say they stopped wearing theirs to work not out of laziness, but because they can't stare at a computer for so long with them, like some people here have mentioned, though that doesn't really bother me.
I have the Oasis (they spell it with a y I think), and I've always had Acuvues, except for a brief stint with the Night and Days that you leave in for 30 days and nights (those didn't really work for me). I make no concessions on days that I wear them, I slap them in at 7 AM, go to work, stare at a computer, go home, go running, take a shower, play video games, watch TV, and read half the night. They'll probably start getting dry towards the end of that night, but that'll be 16 hours (or more since my sleeping habits are poor >_>)
Anyways, if staring at a computer for 12 (damn, long work days) bothers you, don't wear your contacts to work. I would also give them a longer time to get used to them than some people might. It might take a week or two until you can comfortably get them in and out every day, but maybe months more until you start forgetting they're in and do hilarious things like adjust your non-existent glasses, or try to take them out WHEN THEY'RE NOT IN (ouch). I don't understand how that happens, but we've ALL done it, admit it.
Edit: I should mention that despite my beastly contact experience, when I tried out the Night and Days a year or two ago, they simply did not work. They would slide and be uncomfortable, yet I know people who haven't had any problems with them. So if you have given one brand its fair chance and it doesn't work, try another. Sometimes they just don't.
It's worth noting that you definitely shouldn't wear non-overnight lenses overnight as a routine, because not all soft lenses are made from the same materials. The 24/7 lenses are made from a hydrogel that allows more oxygen to reach your corneas than regular, day-only soft lenses. This becomes a problem because if you starve the cornea of oxygen, you start to get blood vessels growing into the cornea itself to try to increase the supply. These can then rupture, leading to scarring, which can negatively affect your vision. This actually happened to me when i was younger (the neovascularisation, but thankfully no scarring) when i was using day- wear- only lenses, and the optician i was with at the time didn't even recommend a change- just that i don't wear contacts. Fast-forward, i got a much better optician, who told me that for people like me, who have that problem, they actually recommend the 24/7 lenses, even if you only wear them during the day. 14 years later, i'm still problem-free.
Switch to Oasys, they're much better than the 2's. I didn't have as many problems as you did but I did find the 2's dried out on me around hour 6. I can wear the Oasys much longer without issue.
I still prefer reading long periods of time with no contacts or glasses.
Now comparison pics! Can't tell if it's an improvement look wise or not, but that's cause I'm used to my face with glasses.
And now comparison pics! Still debating if I look better with or without glasses.