If you have eyesight worse than -10 please come and talk to me about contact lenses!

[foxessocks]

I'm at my wits end! I'll try and keep this brief, my eyesight is terrible, I think -12 one eye and -14 in the other. I used to where GP lenses but then I got dry eyes and switched back to glasses full-time. I don't mind wearing glasses but I really need another option for the summer because I want to wear sunglasses and I can't get pescription ones. The optician I saw gave me these options-

1. get eye surgery - lens replacement (which I have looked into and am pretty sure I will do at some point but I have to save up!)
2. get disposable contact lenses and then get precription sunglasses to go over the top to make up the prescription iyswim
3. go back to GP lenses and try them again (they got very uncomfortable but that was over a year ago)

He originally was very optimistic and ordered me some monthly lenses in my correct prescription which I was very excited about as I didn't think such a thing existed - well, then they didn't bother to call me back for 3 weeks so I chased them and they said, "Oh, they don't do those any more you'll have to come back in". So here I am, going to another appointment later today and I'm feeling fed up and don't really want to even go.

If anyone has any advice, ideas, success stories...I'm only in my early 30s and this has been my situation since I was about 10 years old! I've had enough of opticians I've tried lots and they all seem really unhelpful. I even tried a super expensive private one and they were also unhelpful and charged me £85 for the appointment.

Did they double check the fit of the lenses? Because that can change if you've been pg. If you've had GP lenses a long time, you can actually alter the shape and strength of the lens by the daily cleaning of them. I had to replace my last pair because of this.

Did you clean the, monthly in the protein cleaning wash?
Do you have eye drops to put in when you wear them?

With option 2, you'd also need prescription normal glasses.

rainbow - I can't remember, I don't think anybody did check them but I was breastfeeding at the time and it was kind of assumed that might be the cause of the dry eye (or that's what the expensive opticians said!) Yes, I did all of the cleaning stuff, eye drops etc. Thing is, I now have some nice glasses so I'm not sure I want to permanently wear contact lenses again, and the GP ones are expensive.
Mind you, option 2 is expensive too I suppose - yes, I'd need prescription normal glasses too but I was thinking they'd be a much easier prescription to buy and cheaper too!

I guess he gave me false hope by saying they do monthly disposable lenses in my prescription last time I went...

Is -14 your CL prescription? Or your glasses prescription? Soft contacts top out at about -12 but I'm never sure whether that's a technical limitation or just the usual "not enough demand" thing.

Are you on any medications that might cause dry eyes?

I don't know what my CL prescription is I'm not sure they gave me a copy...I think if I could get them to -12 then surely that would be good enough as long as I'm not driving...maybe I should ask that question then.

No medication, no. They checked my eyes for dryness last time I went and said it wasn't too bad anymore but not great either! Whilst a year ago it was so bad they said don't wear contact lenses for a while.

I wear GP lenses and am -11 in one eye and -10 in the other ( lens prescription is 8.25 both eyes). My optician told me that there are now several eye drops that work well fir dry eyes.

I think if I could get them to -12 then surely that would be good enough as long as I'm not driving.
I would advise against this as it will likely give you a headache and is not good for the eyes long term.

Ask to try a different type or brand of contact lens. I have very dry eyes but found some I could wear for most of the day. I'd wear lenses in daytime, meaning I could wear decent looking sunglasses. Then change to my glasses in the evening.
It's hard to find decent prescription sunglasses, for some reason the prescription won't 'take' on large spectacle lenses.
I finally had lens replacement surgery four years ago at the age of 63. Worth every pound!

True rainbow
Ok, looks as though I might have to re-try the GP lenses then.

Thanks everyone

llangennith oh wow that's amazing, I'm seriously considering doing it next year, I'm saving up!

If you're willing to cope with not-perfect vision you could probably get close-ish with -12s and just wear prescription glasses over the top that correct that last little bit when you absolutely need good vision.

I've found the more recent silicon hydrogels pretty comfortable but if dry eyes continue to be a problem with the study lenses you could experiment with lenses with different water contents. Tho there's not much choice in a -12. I'm lucky that my worse eye is only -10 because I need toric lenses and I don't think any of those go above a -10 sphere.

I am -11 and -12 in contact lenses (slightly higher in glasses) and have been wearing fortnightly disposable soft lenses for the last 10 years. Order them online, have no problems with my eye health.

Following this thread with interest as I also have a high prescription (not as high as foxes mind you).

@llangenith can I ask where you had your surgery and how much it was please. I have a pension lump sum coming soon and I would love to be rid of my glasses and contacts but eye surgery is such a minefield. TIA

Unlikely to get headaches from too weak a prescription I think — too strong a prescription, yes. If it's the glasses prescription that's -14, then a -12 CL probably isn't far off the right correction. My left eye is -11.25 for glasses but only needs a -10 CL.

But yeah in your position I'd try the RGP again. Someone who's used to those likely won't enjoy the step down in vision quality you get with soft lenses anyway.

That's an interesting point OMG

I actually don't know if I need toric lenses, that's for astigmatism? I think I do have that...it all confuses me so much!!
My prescription is -11.75 and -14.5 for glasses, I've just checked

*with the soft lenses

I am -10 in both eyes (actually slightly worse in one but I have it under corrected to compensate for middle aged long-sight). I also need toric lenses for astigmatism and have slightly dry eyes (no discomfort bit occasional watery-eye). My optician is endlessly patient and looks up all sorts of lenses for me to try every time my prescription changes, so I suggest trying a different optician - mine are Leightons, think they might only be in the SE of England though. I have been wearing silicone hydrogel monthlies more or less full time for about 14 years with no problems other than getting the exact right prescription.

I also wore RGPs for 20 years before that, but I was only about -8 then.

Toric lenses are for astigmatism, yes. That would be listed under CYL on your prescription, if you have any astigmatism. I don't know of any toric lenses that go above a -10 sphere.

-12 is going to be a bit fuzzy if your glasses prescription is -14.5, but your other eye would be fine and maybe you'd learn to tolerate having one crappy eye when you're only correcting with contacts…? Personally I couldn't but people differ.

Since your eyes are better now, maybe the RGPs will be okay?

Some people do the one-crappy-eye thing deliberately like Expletive so it's obviously something people learn to cope with.

I am -9 and could never get on with GP lenses and found them very dry and uncomfortable. I have had fortnightly and daily disposable soft lenses and love them. I don't wear them every day but for special occasions etc

I know someone with a similar prescription and he was told by his optician not to wear contacts as it could potentially make his eyesight worse. As long as you have sought proper advice about this from an optician you should be okay.

I've been doing "one crappy eye" for about 10 years and it works very well for me.

(No offence intended BTW Expletive 😄 — OP would have the bonus of great close vision in her under-corrected eye, of course!)

I’m in double figures (I get the £14:40 voucher from the government - yahoo!).

But my contact lens prescriptions are only -6.5 and -8.

I use toric lenses as I have a pretty bad astigmatism (although the optician once said that once you have eyes as bad as mine then an astigmatism was almost inevitable and mine was nothing unusual in relation to my prescription.)

I go to “Boots Optician” and have been since I was 8. They seem pretty good and are pretty confident that I will always be able to get lenses from them. (My eyes are still deteriorating so I’m not suitable for surgery.)

Ooooh - I know what I want to ask the “bad eyes gang” - has everyone else been warned against contact sports / bungee jumping / jumping out of a plane. Something to do with my retina(?????) being stretched and so more at risk of detachment I think.

You can get bespoke CL up to -16.00 but they are expensive. The off the shelf ones are up to a -12.00. dailies go up to a -10.00. most Opticians do a free trial so give it a go!