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Original poster

Anyone use contact lenses?

16 replies

Hayls · 12/12/2004 18:01

Hi, I used to wear contact lenses but decided they were too much hassle and stuck to wearnigng glasses but am now reconsidering them. the last time I went to the optician they told me about a new type of lens that you can wear constantly, only removing occasionally to clean but I don't know much abou them and know the info they give me will be biased. Does anyone know anything abou them (or even better have experience of them)? Failing that, where are the best/ most comfortable lenses available from? Think I went to Optical Express last time...

OP posts:
spacedonkey · 12/12/2004 18:03

I wear those sort of lenses Hayls. You keep them in all the time for a month, then throw them away, so you don't have to clean them at all. They are (for me) much more comfortable to wear than the daily type, and according to my optician you are less likely to get infections because you're not removing them to clean them. Excellent and worth a try, definitely.

spacedonkey · 12/12/2004 18:06

Any decent optician will try you out with different types of lenses until you find the ones that are right for you. I go to specsavers and my lenses are posted to me every three months - only costs £18 a month, which I think is a bit of a bargain.

Starofbethlibbhem · 12/12/2004 18:14

I like the daily disposal ones, they cost £18 for 20 pairs from Specsavers but you can get 30 pairs for about £25-30 odd . . . it is nice to wear them throughout the day and then just chuck them out - minimum effort!

Original poster
Hayls · 12/12/2004 18:15

Ta, Spacedonkey- do you find your vision is as good as with glasses? I'm really short sighted and have astigmatism (sp?) as well and never found my sight to be quite as sharp as with glasses before.

OP posts:
spacedonkey · 12/12/2004 18:15

My ex was so short sighted he was almost blind and he found them much better than glasses

Original poster
Hayls · 12/12/2004 18:35

Sorry, another question!! What do you do about baths, showers or even swimming? And are they OK in the sun (vaguely remember being told before not to sunbathe wearing them)

OP posts:
jac34 · 12/12/2004 18:59

I have monthly lenses, I've worn contact lenses for years and keep them in for everything. I swim alot and just put goggles on in the pool, otherwise I'd never see where I was going, I realy am very short sighted.

cazzybabs · 12/12/2004 18:59

I get mine from specsavers, but i have to take them out at night. dp had ones you wear all the time, but he didn't find them that comfortable.

I swim in mine with goggles and sunbath.

Hulababy · 12/12/2004 19:02

I wear daily contact lenses. I wear them all day (not night), every day for what ever I am doing. They even stood up to a session at the Spa recently and were fine. I used to have monthly lenses until last year when I got a really nasty eye ulcer - caused by bacteria on my lenses. So painful :(

I have never tried the ones you wear all the time so can't help there sorry.

Roobie · 12/12/2004 19:03

I have the daily disposals having switched to them from the monthly disposables some years ago. They suit me down to the ground as if you lose one you have a ready supply of replacements. The constant wear ones sound great but I can't get my head around them - how can they be comfortable? If I leave my dailies in for too long (or forget to take them out at night as I have been wont) my eyes feel all dry and gritty. And don't they get all manky when you are washing your face or taking your eye make up off? Presumably you take them out for tasks such as these?

xmashampermunker · 12/12/2004 19:07

I use gas permeable lenses (they're rigid and smaller than the soft type). My optician says if you can tolerate them, they're the best kind to have as they allow most oxygen to the eye. But they aren't suitable for everyone - I have tough eyes Grin You can peel onions wearing them without crying though, which is nice!

I tried the ones you keep in all month and had a horrible job trying to get the stupid floppy thing to go into my eye (I couldn't get used to soft lenses!).

My optician says there is a new type of lens coming out - it's a rigid gas permeable lens that you wear at night and take out in the morning. It changes the shape of your eye subtly so that you can see properly without the lens in the day. I want to try them when they're available to the public - he says they're fantastic!

I don't swim in mine - I have prescription goggles - but I have sunbathed with them in.

happymerryberries · 12/12/2004 19:13

I also have gas permiable lenses. I am lost without them. My vision is far better with lenses than glasses. I am very, very short sighted with a very bad astigmatism (-9.5 in each eye for those in the know, can't see the chart at all in other words). I wear my glasses to find my lenses in the morning and putting them in is the first thing I do! I have nbeen wearing them now for over 25 years.

stitch · 13/12/2004 09:30

i use the focus dailies as have terrible astigmatism. i think they are fantastic, but pricey . 32pounds for 20 a month. but to me they are worth it. from vision express

slug · 13/12/2004 14:11

Another daily disposable fan here. I like the fact that you can carry a spare or two with you in your bag in case you have a problem with one of them (Or forget to put them in in the mornig as I occasionaly do)

lilsmum · 13/12/2004 14:30

the contacts u wear all month without removing....do they not "dry" in your eyes like the ones you take out to clean? thats what i dont like about contacts, also how much are they?

spacedonkey · 13/12/2004 14:30

no they don't dry out IME, they are very comfortable to wear

mine cost £18 per month

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