Trialling contact lenses

[wombatsandstuff]

I’m trialling contact lenses tomorrow and I’m a bit anxious as I’m autistic.

What happens at the appointment? Obviously you can’t tell me exactly but a rough idea of what to expect would be nice.

I’m hoping for daily disposables, though I have a slight astigmatism. But Google tells me I can still have dailies, though they seem to be quite expensive.

I’m quite sick of wearing glasses and I’ve been awaiting this appointment for a month. So I’m quite excited lol. I hope I do get on with them.

Thanks for any tips.

I'm autistic too and recently went for a contact lens trial! I was anxious so I phoned to let them know ahead of time and I wore my sunflower lanyard, and the staff were really accommodating.

I wore lenses from 2011 to 2020 but stopped while working from home. My prescription has since changed so I went to Specsavers for a fitting and check up a couple of months ago.

They ordered lenses in my prescription into store and then I went for the fitting. Because I used to wear them, they took me to a little room with a mirror and let me try them out and get used to them by myself. Then she took me into the eye test room, got me to cover my eyes in turn and read something from a sheet of paper. She used the bright light/microscope machine thing to look at my eyes really closely with the lenses in. Then she had me take them out and she put yellow drops in my eyes to examine them again, I think for dryness.

Then she ran through pricing with me, their direct debit scheme etc.

The only difference for you might be that the optician puts the lenses in your eyes themselves if you have never worn them. Then they will sit with you as you practice inserting and removing them.

I have a significant astigmatism, too. They might recommend a toric lens, which is (I think) weighted on one side so it will spin itself around and settle in the correct place. However, I trialed those years ago and they didn't make enough of a difference to justify the extra cost. I wore daily disposables and there are cost effective ways of getting them if you look around.

When DD went for her first contact lenses appointment, she found it hard having someone else put the lenses into her eye. She was unable to remove them herself at that point too so wasn't allowed to bring any home. Apparently it's not unusual for people to need more than one appointment before they go home with any.

Before her next appointment, DD watched some YouTube videos about different insertion and removal techniques. She mastered the insertion fairly easily after that but continued to struggle with removing them so once again, she didn't come home with any. She explained that it was hard because she would panic every time she saw her own finger coming towards her eye and so would blink. After working this out, she looked for techniques that were different from the pinch technique used at the optician. She found one she thought she would be comfortable with and I ordered a one week trial of lenses online, solely so she could practise with them at home in her own time as she gets very flustered under pressure. The first time she tried at home, she was able to get the lenses out so she continued to practise in preparation for her next appointment. At that, she was able to get the lenses in and out herself and I'm sure a lot of that was because she knew she could do it so felt calmer.

She doesn't wear her lenses more than a couple of times a week at the moment but that will probably change once school restarts and she has to wear a mask all day.

Yes you will likely have to demonstrate that you can take the contact lenses in and out yourself before they let you take any home.

I had a hard time getting the technique down at first (and embarrassingly stated crying) but the person helping me was super nice and understanding about it and I was eventually able to get it and could take the lenses home after my first appointment.

Watching some YouTube videos before is a good idea.

I have some dryness in my eyes so they also prescribed my eye drops to go along with with my contact lenses.

I now order my lenses online rather than getting them from the opticians - they are much cheaper. But for your first set maybe just go with what the opticians give you and then once you decide you like them you can shop around.

I have a astigmatism and have daily disposables.

As others have said they will check to make sure you can put them in and out yourself before you can get them. I really struggled to start with, but since cutting my index finger and thumb nails really short that made getting them out a lot easier.

As PP have said, they will talk you through some of the admin, but also show you how to use/store/clean the lenses. They are likely to insist that you can put the lenses in and remove them safely before you can take them home. I can imagine that this could feel quite stressful- being put under pressure to do something new in a short space of time. If you are struggling, don't worry about asking to go back another time and try again. My DD desperately wanted lenses but it took a few attempts to manage to put them in and she got really flustered. The opticians were great about her having a try calmly and going back another time if it didn't work. In the end we went back 4 times before she got it- but now she can do it in seconds.

Thanks for all the experience guys. Still anxious but for different reasons lol. We shall see what happens.