Tired of glasses, but contacts freak me out!!!! (1 Viewer)

[Michael*K]

I guess there's nothing to prevent you from wearing disposable lenses for longer than their recommended time. However, my lenses feel so much more comfortable after I switch them out. This is in part to two things. First, the lenses (which are about 98% water) start to lose some of their elasticity after a few weeks. Slowly the lenses lose their moisture content. Second, one of the inevitable byproducts of lens wear is protein deposits on the lenses. They usually aren't noticeable unless you hold them up to a light, but they cloud the lens. They sell enzyme cleaners which claim to break down the protein (but don't), but why bother when I can throw in a fresh, moisture-rich pair of lenses. I wore extended wear when I was younger and could never imagine giving up disposables now.

 

[Ryan Wright]

I'm so tired of wearing glasses. The main thing that bothers me about them are how much of a pain they are to keep clean.

Man, you & me both. I like my glasses because I can flip them on and off easily. I found out I needed glasses at the age of 16 when I went to get my driver's license. I barely passed the eye exam and was told that I should have my eyes checked immediately. I wanted NOTHING TO DO with glasses, so I tried contacts.
After a couple of months I was done. Took me half an hour to get them in and almost an hour to get them out. That was the worst part, trying to get them out when they hurt and I couldn't. So I took to wearing them for 2+ weeks nonstop (even sleeping in 'em) once I finally got them in. Eventually they'd start to hurt or just dry up and fall out and I'd have to swap them.
I finally gave up and got glasses.
Now, I really enjoy my glasses, and my wife says I look sexy in them :b but I don't like keeping them clean. They scratch too easily, so I've thought about contacts. I have no problem touching my eyes, though I have a real problem with eyedrops. I just can't handle them. I don't know why, I'm sure it's psychological. Anyway, I'm thinking since I haven't been a teenager for a long time, I might have the discipline to learn to use & enjoy contacts.
Any idea what a trial pair will cost me? I already have a valid prescription. If I could pickup a pair on the cheap, I might actually be able to make the switch. But I'm not spending $100 on a pair that I might get frustrated with and throw away after a week.

 

[NickSo]

I would LOVE to get contacts but my parents are TOTALLY against me getting them...
according to them:
1. They are bad for my eyes. Small particles get between the eye and lens, and when it moves it scratches them, and then it damages your eyes over time.
2. They are very delicate and need lots of time and care to keep them in good shape.
3. it doesnt let the eye breath, also bad for the eye
4. they're really expensive
(
can somebody PLEASE help me make them think otherwise? My eyes are like -3.00 and -3.50, with some astigmatism (cylinder is -.50 on both, and axis is 017 on right and 160 on left... whatever that means)... woudl i be able to wear them?
JHow bout those nifty 'overnighter' lenses that you keep on overnight, and it reshapes your eyes so that for the day you see clearly???

 

[DonRoeber]

4. they're really expensive (this is tru though since my parents are so cheap they just get like the cheap no-name frames and the basic plastic lens with no anti-glare 'frills'... )

*chuckle* After getting my perscription information from the optometrist, I buy my contacts from 1-800-Contacts. They're about half the price of my optometrist. Getting a six pack of lenses (supposed to last 6 months, but I generally stretch it out to 8) for each eye costs me about $60 total.

can somebody PLEASE help me make them think otherwise? My eyes are like -3.00 and -3.50, with some astigmatism (cylinder is -.50 on both, and axis is 017 on right and 160 on left... whatever that means)... woudl i be able to wear them?

I don't hvae an astigmatism, and my eyes are -5.00 and -5.50, and I'm able to wear contacts just fine. I've been wearing them for about 8 years. Debating Lasik in a few years, but only because I can't wear my contacts while swimming (I swim with my eyes open).

 

[Patrick Sun]

FFFFFRRRRREEEEEEDDDDDDOOOOOMMMMM!!!!!!

That's how I felt when I put in contacts for the first time in my life. I was astounded at how 3-dimensional things appeared, and how colorful everything was.

Plus, I have one of those noses where glasses always slide down and it's such a pain on the sides of my nose if I adjust the nose pads too tightly in an effort to keep my glasses where they should be, and not where they end up.

Also, I enjoy my DVDs much more with contact than glasses because I don't see the shift of red and blue guns on my RPTV that I do when I watch DVDs through my glasses at certain angles of viewing, now that is more irritating then trying to put contacts in my eyes for the very first time.

Contacts, for me, are a decent compromise between glasses and LASIK.

I buy extended wear contacts, but I take them out religiously every night and never sleep in them. But I like knowing that if I had to sleep in them, I could.

Unless you have dry sensitive eyes, give contacts a shot, they'll change your lifestyle for the better.

 

[Michael*K]

Any idea what a trial pair will cost me?

They're free, but you'll have to go to your eye doctor for them. Prescription or not, you'll still have to be fitted for them. Most contact manufacturers have certificates on their web page for a free trial pair of lenses. However, I've never had to bring such a thing to my eye doctor. They've always given me free trials. On my last visit in October, I was able to try four different brands of lenses over the course of a month and a half before I settled on the ones that were most comfortable.

As for the argument that lenses "scratch" the eye, you'd have to be very tolerant of debris in your eye. Any time there's a tiny piece of lint or dust on the lens, my eye lets me know right away and the lens comes out to be rinsed off.

As for the amount of time needed to care for the lenses, my time spent is as follows:

Night: Remove lenses, rinse and place in Aosept cup with disinfecting solution. Total time: 45 seconds

Morning: Remove lenses from cup, rinse with saline, insert. Total time: 60 seconds.

You see the two minutes removed from my daily schedule is not a terrible inconvenience. I'd spend several minutes daily if I was wearing glasses cleaning the moisture off the lenses when I came in from the cold. What a pain.

It's a fact that unless you have gas permeable lenses that the eye is not getting a ton of oxygen. But as long as you aren't wearing lenses for 20+ hours daily, the eyes will get a chance to breath when you remove the lenses.

Depending what lenses you get and the cleaning method you choose to use, contacts can be comparble in price to a good pair of glasses to considerably more expensive. My last pair of eyeglasses cost $300. Prior to this year, my disposable contacts ran about $200 for a full year's worth (less if I had chosen to order through the mail or online) The cleaning solution probably ran me about $75 for a full year, so my contacts wound up costing less than eyeglasses. Now I'm wearing Toric lenses, which are definitely a step up in price, but I'm still willing to pay for the comfort and convenience of disposables.

People with astigmatism (like myself) can wear contacts. I could have continued to wear regular lenses, but the Toric lenses (for astigmatism) provide more clarity. Because they are shaped a little differently they took a little getting used to, but I quickly adjusted to them.

 

[Patrick Sun]

Oh, one more thing: contacts don't fog up! I can't tell you how annoying that can be going from a cold office into the warm sunshine in the summers.

 

[Jason Merrick]

Contacts, for me, are a decent compromise between glasses and LASIK.

Hmmmm.... Lasik. Now there's a thought.
(I'm running before Julie gets back to this thread and replies!)

 

[Rob Lutter]

My last pair of eyeglasses cost $300

$300! Wow, what kind of designer frames are you looking at?
Two words... Lens...Crafters.
They did a great job and I got TWO pairs of glasses (same frame, different colors) for about $300 (frames and lenses included) [as you can see in my sig picture )
For me... glasses are FREEDOM! I can lazily take them off and put them on... and not go through the chores of putting contacts in and out (shaving is already a chore for me in the morning)

 

[Michael*K]

Wow, what kind of designer frames are you looking at?

Kenneth Cole, if you must know. If I want glasses on the cheap, I'll take a pass on the clowns at Lens Crafters and go to For Eyes. Had a friend that bought a pair of glasses at Lens Crafters and two weeks later, he had suffered from constant headaches. His doctor suggested he take a look at the new glasses. Good call, since the wrong prescription lenses were inserted into his frames at Lens Crafters when he bought them. Seems they never gave him a test before he left with them. Real professional.