Where am I going wrong with contact lenses?

[bmrising]

I want to wear them but I just can't get on with them. Am I doing something wrong?

I'm wearing ones from Specsavers at the moment and I find them uncomfortable. My eyesight doesn't seem as good as I would if I had my glasses on, my eyes also feel terribly dry despite using drops and I can also "feel" the lens on my eyes if that makes sense.

Anybody else here wearing lenses often?

I definitely can’t see as well in my lenses as in my glasses. I have an astigmatism so if they move round it affects me vision. I have dry eyes and it’s taken me ages to find some I can wear, and even then, I rarely wear them all day and don’t wear them often. I’ve only ever had daily disposables, I tried the monthly ones once and couldn’t bear them.

You have to wear them frequently to get over 'feeling them'.

The prescription for lenses should be different to your glasses. My vision is much better with lenses as there is no bluriness around the edge like with glasses.

@NotFastButFurious I'm the same! Also have astigmatism and my eyes are extremely dry. Which ones do you wear if you don't mind me asking? Do you buy them online or in store?

@Youcancallmeirrelevant Yes I also thought the prescription should be different for lenses but the optician just gave me the same as what my glasses would be

There's only one brand that I don't find uncomfortable, called Acuvue Moist (daily). I forget I'm wearing them. Anything else is uncomfortable.

Apart from brief interludes when specsavers have tried to push an alternative brand on me, I've been using the above pretty much everyday for over 20 years and the optician says my eyes don't show signs of damage. (In my early 20s I was wearing them overnight occasionally and other bad habits and I did get warnings about damaging my eyes so I don't do that any more)

What type of lenses? Daily ones?

RGP lenses give much better vision and are a much cheaper option, but like all lenses take a while to get used to. Try those?

I also wear lenses from specsavers, it took me at least a month to get used to them!!

That's can't be right, I'd double check... contacts should be around 0.75 different from your glasses.

Eg my contacts are -6.50 and my glasses are -7.25 I think

@Mummy08m Are they slightly more expensive those ones?

@Mummy08m Yep my prescription is -2.5 and my contact lenses are the same. I have some other lenses I bought online which were -2.75 (didn't have my prescription at the time I ordered) and I did think my vision was clearer with those.

I wear hard gas permeable lenses and my sight was much better than with glasses, which always seemed to give me a bendy perspective or halos around things. I found soft lenses too big and too difficult to remove, but I had quite a while with the hard lenses of feeling like I had grit in my eye, and wanting to take them out. I was 15, so vanity prevailed and I got used to them after a while - now I can’t feel them at all. I doubt you’re doing anything wrong, you just have to get used to the feeling of something foreign in your eyes. It will take about a week of constant wear.

I don't feel my vision is as clear with the contact lenses Specsavers gave me

It's not the most expensive available but yeah they're about a pound a pair (30 a month for everyday). I know of other brands that are 20 a month for everyday but it's like putting sandpaper in my eyes. I figure I'd rather cut back on other expenses than my vision and eye health iyswim.

I'm comfortably off now but when I was a student it was a big chunk of my monthly expenses but I still felt it was worth it.

These days I try and have one or two glasses-only days per month. The optician recommends one a week but I don't like wearing my glasses out and about.

As mentioned upthread, my contacts prescription is -6.50 so I'm very blind lol

I’ve worn lenses for years.
The worst ones I ever had were from specsavers. They stopped doing branded ones and changed to their own brand. I didn’t find them half as good.
I now use Asda opticians. I also have an astigmatism. My contact lens lady is brilliant. I now wear two weekly ones, I had been using monthly ones for years but was struggling the last week of wear.

Specsavers still do branded ones! But you have to ask specifically. I still get my acuvue moist from specsavers

Sorry, they stopped doing my branded ones. Ones that I had worn for years with no issue.

Mine are specsavers easyvision “umere toric”. My prescription is -1.5 and -2.75 so similar range to yours. From memory, it’s quite a bit different to my glasses prescription though and it took a LOT of playing around with combinations of lenses to get it right. The first ones they gave me based on my glasses prescription I couldn’t see a thing in! I previously had acuvue moist ones and they’re softer but I found them harder to put in.

Ah that sucks I'm glad asda could do them for you.

A few times in the last ten years specsavers have told me they'll be discontinuing my favourite brand and to try xyz. Each time I tried it they were awful and I complained. They've implied I'm the only person in the country still using acuvue moist... I don't care, they're the best lol

Yes I wear lenses everyday but only found them uncomfortable when they tried to change me to toric ones.

But yes generally your contact lens prescription is lower than your glasses prescription because they sit closer to your eye. Mine is about 1.5 different but I have a very high prescription.

Just keep going back and telling them they are uncomfortable and try different ones.

I can’t feel mine at all.

Contact lenses and spectacles should be different prescriptions because the lenses on glasses are further away from your eyes.

When did you last have an eye test? If your vision has deteriorated then you should probably get an eye test to check. Have you considered a different optician next time?

I've found the answer! I've worn contacts for almost 30 years and have tried every type of lense and brand going and have found them all equally dry and irritating unless... you handle the lenses with wet fingers. After washing/drying hands, pour some lense solution onto your all finger tips before picking up each lense. I found handling lenses with dry fingers makes my lenses feel scratchy.

Sorry meant to say handling lenses with dry fingers makes them feel scratchy in the eye.

Definitely shouldn’t feel this way. Try another optician who will probably trial different ones. I’ve worn them for 25 years and can’t feel them, I often can’t remember whether I’ve taken them out when I go to bed and have to switch the light on to check! I use dailies with an astigmatism but have had monthly previously with no issues.

acuvue oasys are the only ones I can tolerate
Wore contacts for years with no issue then something (don't know what) happened and I can now only wear them for a few hours