Contact lenses - niche one

[PoachesPeaches]

Probably a bit niche. I wear gas permeable contact lenses and wear them for around 16 hours a day.

I've owned my current pair for maybe four or five years. Apparently they are meant to last one year. Usually I will either lose or break one if I drop it and it forms a suction that I can't remove without cracking it.

I clean them in the morning, with the correct cleaner, never at night, and overnight I just put them in saline not conditioning solution.

The reasons for keeping them so long and using saline is its all so fiendishly expensive. Gas permeables are about £120 each I think. Saline is £2 a bottle rather than £5+ for conditioning.

My eyes are fine, there is a slight redness under the bottom rim which the optician mentioned and gave me drops for which I didn't really use much as you can't wear contact lenses with the drops.

My prescription is very high and I don't like my current glasses. They are also too small, they do not fit over my ears! have a wierd shape head where my eyes are quite close but my head is wide. Bigger frames look too big and smaller frames don't fit my head well. Due to the prescription strength some opticians will be really restrictive in what they think will work i.e. fit the lens, so choice is limited. This means I never end up with a frame I love and want to wear, but I just need to make a decision and buy a next pair and make them a pair I will wear a little more.

How bad is the way I take care of my eyes long term? I sort of think there is no long term issue so I don't change it, and it's been a habit for 30 years so to change it will require a kick up my butt.

(LOL - excuse the change of username!!)

I had developed cateracts and was done on the NHS. I wouldn't have had it done just to improve my eyesight as no operation is without risk - my sight was getting cloudy and driving, even in ordinary daylight, was becoming difficult.

It was straightforward for me, so far I have had no problems (second one was done 8 months ago). I had to put in eye drops several times a day for a while (3 weeks? can't remember but it wasn't long) until my eyes healed. Since then I haven't had to use any medication. But, as I said, I had been wearing contact lenses for years with no problems. So I suppose I don't suffer from, for instance, dry eyes.

My NHS area - Dorset - sends all straightforward cases to a company called Spa Medica who specialise in cataract surgery. It is really quick, little waiting time, and really efficient.

So you still need to wear contact lenses to correct your vision?

My understanding is standard lens replacement surgery for cataracts is available on the NHS at no cost. However, that operation uses basic lenses which simply remove the "cloudiness". Given that the operation is exactly the same (and carries the same amount of risk) for both standard and prescription lenses, those who can afford it tend to opt for lens replacement with prescription lenses so they can do away with their contact lenses and/or glasses. Some people opt for lens replacement surgery even if they don't have cataracts.

In my area Integra is a private company which also undertakes NHS work. They charge roughly £7k to replace both lenses with prescription lenses, but that cost is reduced in part (hundreds, not thousands) if someone has cataracts and has a referral from their optician.

@DancingFerret No, I don't need glasses or contact lenses any more. I had one eye done for distance, the other for close up. This is not a solution for everyone but I have a lazy eye so have always been able to choose which eye to see from (though sadly I have never had binocular vision so find it very difficult to judge distances).
This was NHS - and no, they don't use a one size fits all approach to the lenses but measure your existing vision carefully and choose the appropriate focal length lens.

Interesting. Below is a link to the relevant page from Optegra's website (not Integra, as I wrongly stated, which think is a waste company). My contact lenses are balanced as one for distance and one for close up; makes me think I'll need to investigate further if develop cataracts.

https://www.optegra.com/cataract-surgery/nhs-cataract-surgery/

Just back to update.

I had a family member come and stay and go glasses shopping with. This really helped me as they were able to give their reaction. There are so many small brown frames it's easy to keep picking them up but they aren't that exciting on me as I have brown hair and brown eyes. They helped me see that other colours look better. But colour is only part of it and I still wasn't finding anything I was excited about or felt I would want to wear. Added in with the challenge that they have to be petite as my eyes are close together and my prescription is so high.

I kept going round the trio of Boots, Specsavers and Vision Express in multiple towns over a few weeks. Its worth doing as new frames come in.

Anyway today I popped by again and I found a pair I liked in Boots. I just knew and within 5 minutes I was getting the price etc.

I got them with the RGP contact lens scheme which also gives 25% off the glasses.

So the glasses lenses were £260 and the frames were £170. Minus 25% and minus £15 complex lens voucher.

It works out that for an extra £50 I will also get a new pair of RGPs.

I also had a really thorough eye test in Boots. I've started to grow vessels in one eye under the rim of the contact lens, and the retina has thinned a little but otherwise okay. I will definitely make sure I am tested regularly from now on. This thread was a wake up call on that front.

This is the frame, it's a mix of aubergine and purple, and titanium arms.

https://www.boots.com/1791-model-10-10329644

Very different to my previous brown rectangle ones.

@helpfulperson
I noticed at first that my vision wasn't as sharp going from GP to soft, but I got used to it very quickly and never notice now. I use daily disposable toric lenses, so convenient, all I need is to be able to wash my hands before putting them in. Expensive though, I pay £46 per month but I think it's worth it for the comfort and my vision is excellent.

Not sure if it's any help but I wore RGP lenses for nearly 30 years! No problems whatsoever (apart from losing a couple here and there). I was -7.0 and -7.5.

I had to change to soft (hated them) for a short period when I had a life changing op that now means for the last 12 years I need no glasses, no lenses, nothing. And my sight was bad bad from childhood.

Was that laser surgery? It was relatively new in the 90s so I didn't do it. Nowadays lenses can be thinned down so much so I've parked it again.

My eyes are slightly dry but will see if wearing glasses more helps with that.

No, not laser, I had the life changing op about 15 years ago and laser surgery was commonplace then and had been for quite a long time at that point.

What I had was something called clear lens exchange. I went from decades of GRP contact lenses (and I was getting quite a few bouts of conjunctivitis) to what I consider to be perfect sight for me.
I don't need glasses for reading and won't ever have a problem with cataracts. I go to the opticians every year and my sight has not changed one bit since the op. It's not for everybody but I was recommended for it and had one of the best surgeons available to perform it. I was in London for 3 days for this, one eye at a time and then checks the third day. Within minutes of the first eye being done I was speechless, I could not believe that I could see.