[germanium]

I have been wearing contact lenses for several years & started out with soft hema type hydrogels I belive from boush & lombe. They were ok but grew uncomfortable over the coarse of the day. Then I tried some cotacts from Wessley Jesson & these were horrible within a matter of hours one had stuck to my cornea to the extent that removing it removed the top layer cornea with it so I decided to try the acuvu lenses. These were much better but still got to dry by the end of the day & eventually ended up falling asleep with them in one time & had another conea surface ripping experience, not good!

I decided to try the silicon hydrogels Acuvue Oasis. These were much better & could wear them overnight with little issue initially anyway but as they get older they got less & less comfortable as they were prone to attract lipids which then make the lenses less accepting of moisture & the outer surface would become more rubber like I.E. not slippery anymore in thier feel as a result of moisture not sticking to them anymore. This is after about 3-4 weeks of semi continuous wear. At the time these were rated for continuous wear for 2 weeks or 1 month daily wear so I was pushing it a little admitedly.

Now I decided to go with Air Optix Night & Day lenses. I had heard there was some bad reports of them that they weren't as good as the original Night & days & people were complaning the they couldn't even wear them 5 hours let alone 30days continuously but I also read they found the source of the problem & fixed it. My first day with them seemed like that may not have been the case but I decided to go ahead & give them more of a chance & the second day has been superb. Not even requiring rewetting at all to stay comfortable & my vision is better than with the Oasis even at thier prime.

Compter reading has been very good & that is where I found the most difficulty with the older lenses as when I'm reading I don't blink enough to keep most lenses wet. These are working great at the computer. No sense of drying at all in spite of long reading times with little blinking & not even really feeling the need to blink to any degree above normal blinking

 

[DayoftheGreek]

I've been wearing contacts going on 8 years now and I love them.

I switched to the Oasis a few years back and its been smooth sailing. I never sleep with my contacts in, unless I forget, which has happens maybe once a year. I've probably had 3 minor eye infections because of them, which have never been serious or long lasting.

Maybe I don't have very sensitive eyes, but I don't have any problems with comfort unless I need to throw my pair away and get some new ones. I wear them for about a month or two with nightly cleanings. I don't use eye drops or have to re-wet my contacts ever. I dare say my eyes are MORE comfortable with my contacts in. I hate the part of my morning where I don't have them in yet.

 

[Lex2]

Personally I think it's a bad idea to sleep with contacts regardless what the label says. There is too much risk of infection. I use Pure Vision, which probably has some of the highest water content among soft lenses, and they are rated for a month's continuous wear although my eyes are way too sensitive for that so that I take them off every night. I went with soft lenses after about 15 years wearing gas permeable ones and I kind of miss the sharpness that I get them with them (at the expense of a lot of comfort.)

 

[KingStyles]

I been wearing contacts for 18 years. Recently I switched from some day/night ones to these proclear toric ones. There the only ones for stigmatism that I found are comfortable and really clear. I used to use non stigmatism contacts before these because they were always more comfortable even though there is a loss in overall quality of sight. Luckily Ive only had one eye infection in one eye through the years. Hopefully I ll get laser surgery for them this year.

 

[germanium]

Knock on wood with the exception of the incidents of coneal sticking & surface ripping of the cornea I've had no problems. When the cornea injury happened it hurt like hell but the only way I could continue to function was to put the contacts back in, after cleaning that is. My eyes could not handle direct exposure to air so I had to continue wearing them. Other than that I've had no infections even when wearing them several nights in a row (Oasis). Only the dry itchy feeling when the leses got dry or worn out.

 

[Raguvian]

I'm thinking of getting contact lenses now actually but I don't know if it's worth it... I wear glasses all the time (well, when I'm awake) and not having glasses on gives me headaches, but I'm getting tired of my glasses not fitting properly under goggles while skiing, or falling off while I'm working out. I've worn glasses for 13 years now so I don't know if it's too late to switch to contacts.

 

[Lex2]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Raguvian /img/forum/go_quote.gif I'm thinking of getting contact lenses now actually but I don't know if it's worth it... I wear glasses all the time (well, when I'm awake) and not having glasses on gives me headaches, but I'm getting tired of my glasses not fitting properly under goggles while skiing, or falling off while I'm working out. I've worn glasses for 13 years now so I don't know if it's too late to switch to contacts.

It's never too late. I switched to contacts after about 12 years wearing glasses. The adjustment period for me was about a week, and everything was fine after that.

 

[KingStyles]

The hardest part of contacts is putting them in and out. Once you have them for a while it is a no brainer. It doesnt even bother you to touch your eye with your finger. Even though probably not recommended. Transitioning from glasses shouldnt be a problem. Contacts use to require a lot of cleaning and you use to keep the same pair for a year and they didnt allow a lot of oxygen to your eye. The new generation of contacts are made to be comfortable and to allow lots of oxygen to your eye and require very little cleaning. Best part is most of them are disposable from daily throwaways to week or month throwaways. I still use my glasses at night and use my contacts during the day without any problems (headaches etc..) or discomfort.

 

[intoflatlines]

I tried proclear contacts for astigmatism for a couple years and they were fine, but when I switched to Acuvue Oasis it was like night and day. The Oasis are really really thin, stay in place very well, and are very comfortable. Also a major plus is that they're 2 week + lenses. After 2-3 weeks they start to get uncomfortable so I know it's time to change them..

Of course, my first brand of contacts was pretty bad, worse than the proclears in terms of comfort. With the way this current trend is going, I'm looking forward to the next generation of contacts is like!

 

[krmathis]

Like Raguvian I have been wearing glasses for some years, about 7 years in my case.
Have been seriously considering getting contact lenses, as glasses come in conflict with the helmet when riding motorcycle, when wearing sunglasses, and like.

Seems like you guys are well pleased, so guess I should jump in.

 

[BaboonGuy]

Well going to get the super premium Acuvue Moists soon. I'm pretty excited, they're Acuvue's top of the line 1 day brand. Finally I feel like I can have good vision again. They fit so much better for me than anything else I've worn.

However in the right eye I'm going to use Night and Day lenses because they are the only (!?) brand that has a -6.25 available. The rest get away with doing 0.5 steps 6 and 6.5 only! Arghh, I tried the Acuvue Moist 6.00 and it was okay... but the vision is just so much better with the 6.25.

Anyway, good vision here we come. If you guys are unhappy with your lenses I suggest asking to try Acuvue Moist... I like em.

 

[germanium]

Quote:

Originally Posted by krmathis /img/forum/go_quote.gif Like Raguvian I have been wearing glasses for some years, about 7 years in my case. Have been seriously considering getting contact lenses, as glasses come in conflict with the helmet when riding motorcycle, when wearing sunglasses, and like. Seems like you guys are well pleased, so guess I should jump in.

If using on a motorcycle I advise using a full face helmet to prevent excessive wind from drying the contacts. One thing you don't want is to have them stick to your eye. It can take 1/2 hour to an hour of intensive eye drop therapy to get them unstuck & can be very painfull if you should manage to get them out before they start moving freely again as it can remove the top layer of corneal cells if taken out too early in the process.

Contact must move freely on the eye before actual removal to prevent this & it really takes a while to free them. Being able to see when they are freely moving on the eye is also a challenge if you have pesbyopia (old eyes). You may have to view it through some high power reading glasses in order to tell when they are freely moving again.

Getting them out to early though painfull does not nessessarily cause permanant damage but just the same, it is very painfull & you will probably find that you will have to put the contact right back in as your eyes will be very very sensitive to exposure to the air if you indeed take off any of the outer layer of corneal skin. I have had this happen before & believe me it is absolutely no fun at all. Also if this happens you will find that when you first try to put the contact back in it will seem that the eye will reject the lens but this is due to the cleaning & rinsing solution. once the the tears wash out the remaining solution the contact will become more comfortable. For a few days after this happen you will have more crusties in the corners of your eyes when you wake in the morning until your eyes are fully healed.

 

[krmathis]

^ Thanks for the warning.
I do always wear a full face helmet, but not always with the visor fully closed (prevent fogging). I will certainly read more up on the subject before combining contact lenses and motorcycle riding.

 

[germanium]

Silicone hydrogels & Air Optix Night & Day Aqua lenses in particular are very comfortable though even when stuch unlike the standard hydrogels. Those can be painfull the minute they stick. With the N & D lenses you may even go through your whole day & not be aware they are stuck as the will still be mostly comfortable with excellent vision in spite of the sticking but removal is still an excersize in frusteration.

I found that putting pressure on the upper eyelid at the opening & moving it down several times seems to loosen them without pain but be carefull as they will probably pop out when doing this so have an open hand ready when that happens to catch the falling lense. I have recently started using this technique to remove lenses as it seems to get them out without the risk of injury that the pinch method intails as you do not actually touch the eye with your fingers the new way. This reduces risk of infection as well as even small injuries to the eye can result in infection & even loss of sight altogether if it gets infected.

 

[Palpatine]

I couldn't wear contacts ( tried 'em all ) anymore so in 2000, after many months of researching, I broke down and had laser PRK done. It was the best I $3000 ever spent.