Contact lenses - can someone help?

[31weeksgone]

So I’ve got short sighted eyesight, -2.75 and -3 in my eyes and I’ve also got astigmatism in both eyes. This is my FOURTH different type of contact lense I’m trialling and I still can’t see properly. 😣

I’ve told the opticians this but they insist the prescription is right and the angle (?) is right too.

To those of you who are short sighted, can you see as far with your contacts as you can your glasses? Because I can’t see to drive in these, they’re blurry if I shut one eye, they’re a pain to put in and out. Someone tells me it gets easier or better please, or any tips or tricks please? I’m with boots opticians at the moment.

I haven’t read all the comments, but are you sure you’re putting them in the right way around?
Also I used to find wearing them difficult at first until I moved to a soft lens.

Go to an independent, I generally wear glasses but my optician will do lense checks and then expects you to get lenses off the internet as they are cheaper. They do sell lenses, but are realistic.

Your glasses prescription will not necessarily be the same as your contact lens prescription. With a toric lens for astigmatism, it needs to sit in a particular way in your eye in order for you to be able to see clearly. If they rotate, things will look blurry.

You need to go back to see the Optometrist, but make sure you have been wearing the lenses for at least 1 hour before the appointment, that way they can look to see why they are not sitting correctly. There are different types of toric lens, different makes are ballasted differently, so sometimes you can get a more stable fit, with a different make.

The important bit of the above is to have your lenses in for at least an hour when you go back for the check-up. I get really frustrated when patients turn up for a check not wearing their contacts, as lenses (particularly torics) take time to settle.

OK so the first thing you need to do is disregard all the advice of people who are wearing “stronger prescriptions” than you but can see clearly. That has no impact on whether you can see clearly or not.

Secondly, and most importantly, you didn’t say how much astigmatism you have and whether it is corrected or not. That’s the most relevant point to the whole conservation. People agreeing that they have astigmatism without knowing how much you have again makes their input invalid.

Depending on how much astigmatism and if it’s corrected I can give you some advice on it, otherwise listening to people who are -10 and have “astigmatism” is pointless carry on.

“From 30 plus years of wearing contact lenses, I can say that despite the advertising, you will probably not see as clearly with soft contact lenses as with glasses”

This right here is why you should ignore everything on this thread and stick to professionals. Absolute nonsense, soft will, depending on the prescription of course, often give better vision than glasses.

But hey Mary wore lenses for 30 years so must be an expert on fitting

If they're torics, are you putting them in in the right position?

User - they don’t need to be put in a certain way, they’ll find their own place in the eye.

I can see much clearer with lenses than glasses! Glasses are blurry for me as so used to wearing lenses

@underneaththeash not correct, some have markings on to show which way and must be put in that way

@EKE4

Sorry if I did not make myself clear: I did not claim to be any kind of contact lens fitter but a wearer of same. I thought I’d made it clear that I was speaking from my own personal experience.
For what it’s worth, I have also been told this by several opticians over the years This is particularly relevant to astigmatism. Because rgp lens do not change shape, non-toric lenses can usually correct low levels of astigmatism and toric lenses are available for higher levels.

Only trying to be helpful

It's very possible to not get on with the material the lenses are made of. I have used gas permeable lenses for 20 odd years for my -9 with astigmatisms prescription. Every now and then I have problems with a new set and its always that the opticians have changed the lenses material.

But my opticians always spot that so I'd try a new optician if yours aren't working with you to find a solution. Once mine are right my vision is better in the lenses than glasses.

Lazy i’m an optometrist. The markings are to allow us to assess the fit. If the lens is rotating we can adjust the prescription to compensate. The lenses have a weight at the bottom (prism ballast), so you could put them in upside down and they will still rotate into the correct position.

@underneaththeash not the case for me

If i don't put dailies in correctly i can't see anything all day

As someone else said, find a good independent optician with an interest in contact lenses. There are contact lenses made for astigmatism.

I have a fab one in London who finally put me into the right dailies after years of discomfort, who encourages me to wear them as much as I want to. Previously had high street opticians who sucked their teeth and told me “special occasions only”. I don’t produce any tears at all so a different problem, but I’ve definitely found it worth spending a bit more on contact lense fitting.

And to answer your question, my vision is better than 20/20 in lenses - better than my glasses of the same prescription.

If you can get in to Bath go to Bath Opticians on Moorland road. They are great, really friendly and helpful.

Daysoft lenses are great. Cheaper too.

“Daysoft lenses are great. Cheaper too.”

They are awful and terrible for your eyes. They barely let enough oxygen through the lenses to your eyes. DONT USE THEM

@Mary54

Yes it’s possible, not probable that glasses will be clearer than lenses. It’s also possible lenses will be clearer. You said the OP “probably” wouldn’t see clearer with lenses

Without knowing the level of astigmatism and if it’s corrected with the lenses it’s impossible to say. The astigmatism could be -0.25 and so irrelevant or -5.00 and very relevant.

Also a lot not seeing the wood for the trees there’s a lot of other factors which the OP hasn’t mentioned which could be affecting the level of vision. Again, that’s why you’re better off sticking to experts than online people!

Hi, sorry I don’t know the level of my astigmatism, they haven’t told me. However I have had 4 different types of rotation of lenses and these current ones are apparently the right rotation for my astigmatism. However they clearly aren’t right so I will be going back to a different independent opticians in Bath to have a look at them. Thanks everyone (I’ll leave the thread up as someone else might find it useful) x

That's interesting, @EKE4.

Can you post up some links on DaySoft for me? About the lack of quality?

@Cobblersandhogwash the dk/t in those lenses is 24. This is, in simple terms, the level of oxygen getting through the lens.

The minimum recommended for daytime wear is 24.

As a comparison dailies total 1s are 156.

They’re terrible lenses which, in my experience, are worn 20 hours 7 days because they’re so cheap which they’re not built for at all. There’s a reason they’re ten quid

@SpoonBlender I'm 25! With a prescription of -3.75 and -3.25 with astigmatism in both eyes.

I didn't get on with lenses with the astigmatism correction, they were blurry and uncomfortable. I was trying daily disposables.. I now wear monthly ones that don't correct for the astigmatism but work really well for me. The only thing I've noticed is really fine stuff like threading a needle is harder with them than my glasses. I asked on here at the time and others mentioned getting on better with ones that don't correct for the astigmatism. Perhaps worth asking your optician if it might work for you too.

As an optometrist, not everyone with astigmatism gets good vision with cls. It depends whether it's on the cornea or lens, also the axis - oblique worse than 90° or180°. Sounds like it could be your eyes rather than the fitter.....?