Contact Lens Thoughts

[SteveDallas]

In the average household, Mrs. Dallas would be considered pretty heavily nearsighted. Of course, with me around, she's the one with the good eyes, comparatively. She has always been very squeamish about anything near her eyes (for years she found it impossible to endure a glaucoma test) and so she never even considered getting contacts.

She has, however, recently been harangued by a friend (perhaps some kind of makeover project? I'm not sure I want to know). Her friend's eye doctor promised to get contacts on anybody who really wanted them, no matter how skittish. So she paid the dr. a visit Monday, and contacts will be there for her on Friday.

(Her original plan was to not tell me about this and see when I noticed the lack of glasses. Unfortunately this line of reasoning was foiled when the dr. found what he thought was possible early indications of retina detachment, so he wanted her to see a specialist for a second opinion.)

Anyway. My question is regarding the contacts themselves. I lack experience with what she's getting (disposables good for one week) since I've always worn hard or RGP lenses. For those who wear these lenses, what are your recommendations regarding best places to buy? Any pitfalls with particular suppliers?

I will note that at this point she has not actually had the experience of putting contacts in or having them put in. While I think the contacts are a great idea, given her track record, I'm wondering what that's going to be like.

[Trilby]

The 1-800-CONTACT people were polite and inexpensive BUT! She'll probably need lots of support at first AND will undoubtedly need different Rx's as time marches on--because of those two factors, I'd go with a very local, close as you can get Doc/Contact Guy combo to start out. I buy the 2-week disposable lenses from Accu-Vu, non-colored, and not bifocal and they run me about 22.00/box---six lenses/box--3 months worth for 44.00. Colored lenses are about double the non-color price

oh, yeah, and Accu-Vu's have been great to me for years.

[Clodfobble]

I found that no matter what brand or how long they claimed they were good for, I could NOT go to sleep even for a few hours in any kind of disposables without a significant amount of dryness and pain when I woke up. I took them out every night, no exceptions. I'm just saying, don't let her think the whole contacts experiment is a failure if it turns out she can't sleep in them. They can still be a vast improvement over glasses.

[glatt]

I agree with both Brianna and Clodfobble.

I use the accuvue disposables, and have to take them out at night, every night. If I don't, they get all dried up and cloudy. I toss them after two weeks.

I like them, and I use 1-800-contact to get them. I initially bought them from a local optometrist, but after a few years of paying through the nose, I switched to the mail-order place. I'd buy them from a local doctor, like Brianna suggests, even though they will cost more.

[Ibby]

I take 'em out to get in the water or to sleep, 'cept for naps at school of course. I usually don't wear mine, being lazy, but I know I look better without glasses, so...

But I did find a rad pair of very 80's-y glasses that fit the style I'm trying to morph to, so I wear those a lot.

[SteveDallas]

Thanks for the comments. She wasn't planning to sleep with them in. We'll see how it works out...

I've been wanting a set of these.

[KinkyVixen]

Contacts rock...I wouldn't go a day without them...well if I did I would probably end up killing myself somehow. Anyway...besides that I've been wearing contacts since I was about 12...and I'm 26 now so that's a long time! I think i've tried practically every brand of contact available as well as all the solutions and cleaning materials. I have at some point had every color available and have not had any problems with them at all. I wear my eyes like they are accessories until I forget what my real eye color looks like and then i put the clear ones in. I also wear mine swimming...or doing anything but sleeping. I wear mine probably 14 hours a day too...and have never had any problems. My brother has allergies and developed an allergy to his contacts so he can't wear them anymore...but all of that stuff is going to depend on your wife. When I went in for my initial consultation they had "practice" contacts so that the doctor could watch me put my contacts in and see how well I could handle it. (Maybe he was concerned about my age) Regardless, your wife should be able to do the same, and then they can give her pointers at the same time.
If she does get them just make sure that she starts out with good habits, like washing her hands before putting them in, changing the solution on a daily basis and not sleeping in them. (Unless she buys the kind you can sleep in).
As far as where I get mine..I just get them from a local eye place here...I haven't had good luck with getting them anywhere else. I tried 1-800-Contacts and they will only give you the contacts that you have a current prescription for. Well, with the way I wear mine, changing colors and brands and what not so much...i didn't always want to buy the same brand. So I order them from my local people 'cause they let me order whatever brand or color i want. However, some brands don't always fit the same way...so you have to give your eyes a few days to adjust to the feeling of the new contacts...but i never mind.

Anyways, I guess what I'm saying is that it's all pretty much just hit and miss with your wife. It will all depend on how comfortable she is with getting the contact in her eye...it's all pretty easy after that.

[wolf]

I went with For Eyes ... their doc is good and they have reasonable prices for the lenses. I can order from the store, or by phone. If I have lenses delivered to the store, I don't pay shipping.

I was very hesitant about getting contacts ... adapted very quickly, and haven't had a problem. I much preferred the extended wear one-month disposables. Waking up and being able to see was about the coolest thing in the world.

I now have to wear torics because of my astigmatism, so I'm back to daily wears.

[Ibby]

How long can you keep the extended wear ones in?

[wolf]

Depends on the brand. Mine were Night and Days, wearable for a whole month. Prior to those I had some that you could keep in for one week, or use as daily wears for two weeks before disposing.

[SteveDallas]

I thought I'd give you a little update . . . .

Friday she went in for an 11AM appointment. After the universal fashion of doctors, she got in at about 11:20. Unbeknownst to her when she made her appointment, this location (the dr. has another office in Narberth) was only open till 12:30 on Friday. She tried but was unsuccessful in getting the contacts in.

Monday she went back for a second try. Beginning at 1:00PM she was able to get the right lens in after about 15 minutes. She was not able to get the left one in and finally gave up around 5:00. (She also couldn't get the right one out.)

So now she's starting to wonder about this (and reminding herself of exactly why she never tried contacts before).

[wolf]

The trick ... balance lens on index finger of dominant hand. Squeeze a drop of saline into the lens. This will help it suck into your eye when the time comes.

Getting as close to mirror as possible while still having room to work, use thumb and index finger of non-dominant hand to hold your eyelids as far apart as possible without injuring yourself.

Bring lens toward eye, using iris as a landing zone. It doesn't have to be perfect.

If the lenses are properly measured, they will just pop right in. Blink a couple times to settle the lens in place.

Starting off with daily wears is better because the lenses are thicker and go in and out more easily.

Taking out ... do the holding your eye open thing with your non-dominant hand. You remove the lens by "pinching" it out of your eye. This is not as scary as it sounds. Contact the upper and lower surfaces of the lens with your fingers, and bring the fingers together as you blink.

You should now have a slightly crumpled contact lens in your hand.