Dry eyes and Contact lenses?

[Sunshinesunset]

Not sure if this is the best place to post but was wondering if anyone has had similar experiences to mine. A couple of years ago my eyesight worsened and I had to go from wearing glasses just to watch tv to wearing them all the time, I got myself some glasses and contacts only to find out at the contact lense check up that I had moderate dry eye and that even with drops the contacts were drying my eyes out too much to wear them.
I looked into laser eye surgery but apparently this isn't a very good idea if you already have dry eye. I obviously put my eye health over appearance but would love to be able to wear contacts even just for half a day a couple of times a month, I really feel glasses don’t suit me and would be great to not have to wear them once in a blue moon for special occasions. Has any with dry eye been able to wear contacts eventually? Was there anything that helped? Thank you

Yes, been through similar thing...I stopped wearing them for a good 18 months then slowly reintroduced them for occasional evenings out and they've been fine. In that time I spent a good chunk of time finding frames that suited me and now I love my specs. I've used celluvisc fake tears from the GP to help when reintroducing them.

I have the same issue - also afraid to try laser in case it makes my dry eyes worse. I have found one pair of lenses that I can wear comfortably (but not for too long in front of a computer or in air conditioning). Mine are Johnson&Johnson Trueye Acuvue. Best of luck with it!

Yes. I can wear contacts but not regularly. I can manage half a day a couple of times a month although ideally I limit it to less than 4 hours. I can manage the odd full day at a wedding etc.

I use Hycosan eye drops (but please check what your optician would recommend of course) - recommended by my optician. I think the key is finding a good optician. Even with this I get headaches and feel a bit sick after a couple of hours wearing them - optician says it is because my eyes are so dry it is just like being dehydrated .

Me too! I'm gutted and am currently working my way through specsavers entire range in my desperate attempt to try find some I can wear. 27 years of trouble free lens wearing and then bam, dry eyes.

I find that if I use the systane gel drops and apply them every 3 hours I can wear mine 3 or 4 days a week for about 6 hours. It's such a faff though.

Am going on hol on Tuesday and have had to buy prescription sunglasses. Gah I feel your pain.

Yes. After tolerating lenses well for years, my eyes are now so dry I found myself unable to wear my usual monthly lenses for more than a couple of hours.

I have now changed to a lense with a much higher water content and fingers crossed so far so good.

Yes, after 17 years of rgp contact lens wear I developed dry eye - I had about 4 months off contacts altogether, lots of eye drops and then got silicone hydrogel daily disposables (Dailies Total 1). They are expensive but I find them really comfortable and I can wear them for about 8 hours without feeling them.

I have the opposite - have worn contacts for about 20 years then starting getting very dry eyes, literally overnight I couldn't wear them. I was under the local Eye Hospital for a while but now have an 'intolerance' in one eye. I haven't wore lenses for about 18 months, tried about 2 weeks ago when I was at a black tie dinner & didn't want to wear my glasses. They were in for 4 hours and my 'intolerant' eye was completely red the next day & didn't go back to normal for about 3 days.

Well i wore soft lenses feom 16-45. Then I needed some reading glasses and would forget to take them to work.

I was fine until the switch to dailies. That coincided with needing varifocals and astogmatism lenses coming in.

I had very dry eyes and could tolerate contact lenses to short periods, as in special occasions. I was told I wasn’t suitable for laser surgery as it makes eyes even drier.
Read about Optegra and had replacement lenses four years ago. It’s not cheap but the joy of being able to see without glasses is immeasurable.

I’d worn glasses for over 45 years.

@Llangennith where did you have your lens replacement?

I have severe dry eye. I used to wear contacts all the time, but ended up in casualty in a bad way. I didn't know until then I had dry eye. I now have to have Lacrilube ointment in my eyes at night and Hycosan Plus drops in the day and now my eyes are much improved.
Anyway, I wear glasses glasses most of the time now, but do occasionally wear lenses. I make sure I use the drops every hour and this really helps. Also I use a moisture plue contact lenses cleaner.
Also I found out through painful experience that both hayfever pills and hot lemon drinks for flu will dry your eyes out further. So if you take either of these I wouldn't recommend wearing lenses too.

I love wearing glasses. You can get lovely trendy ones now. I had so much hassle with lenses in my youth. I had laser treatment and managed to not have to wear glasses for about 10 years. Back to them now. I've worn glasses since I was 5 😐

I have dry eyes and the only way I've been able to continue with lenses is by using expensive dailies.

I've tried every monthly pair going including silicone ones, just awful. Switched to dailies and as long as I don't over wear them I've been fine.

Rollerbird I had lens replacement at Optegra, Guildford.* Their website tells you all about the various options.*

Try different brands of lenses and different libricaying drops. There are also medications that will dry your eyes more (allergy medication/antihistamine.) I find I'm unable to wear contacts at work as the recirculated air is so poor, dries my eyes right out, don't have as much trouble at home or out and about.

I have very dry eyes with a Schirmer test score of “bone dry” - I don’t produce tears.

My brilliant optometrist gave me Acuvue Oasys dailies last year which are absolutely amazing. I moved off the Total Dailies 1 mentioned above which I was only able to tolerate with lots of Hycosan gel.

They’re not cheap but given I don’t produce any tears they are worth it for me.

Have you considered hard contact lenses? They were supposed to be a lot better for the eyes than the soft ones.

I came on to say gel drops from the optician, but can see others have said the same!

I had a long break without contacts and my eyes seem to be better at producing tears again, though

See if your optician can recommend some lenses with a high water content. I wear Acuvue ones that you change fortnightly (I mean you swap to new ones every two weeks - you still have to take them out overnight!) as they have the highest water content, and they're amazingly comfy.

I'm in the same situation - I have an under active thyroid Have you had a blood test to check for hypothyroidism? Or there is sjorjens syndrome which causes very dry mucous membranes i.e. eyes, mouth, vagina.

Worth ruling out a physical cause.
I'm going to Moorfields Private (eye hosp ) in April to see a specialist opthalmic surgeon regarding refractive lense exchange. Due to being really long sighted, very astigmatic and my age, the research I've done has lead me to Realise I'm not a candidate for laser or even implantable contacts, but my glasses are so thick that they give me headaches and I'm so clumsy as I can see around the lenses of the glasses which makes going up and down stairs interesting. I also hate how I look in glasses. I had worn contacts for over ten years but am at the upper end of what is possible sight wise with options now and am dreading needing a lens power that isn't available and only having glasses as an option. Have a look at the Moorfields private site, it's really informative.
And please don't trust high street firms like optical express as this industry isn't regulated like cosmetic surgery etc and it's just not worth the dish with two of your most essential body parts.

I also have dry eyes and have daily disposables. I wear them maybe 2 or 3 days a week. An optometrist suggested a warm eyemask for 10mins a day, without contacts in, obviously. I have a microwave eyemask. It's actually very relaxing! Also eye drops, sorry can't remember the name but I got them from Boots and they were about £10. The drops can be kept open for 6 months and they last ages so good value.
I've gone from contacts being unbearable to being able to wear them comfortably for pretty much the whole day.

Yes, I wear my lenses for about 12 hours a day, 4 days a week. I have been wearing clariti 1 day which are silicone hydrogel dailies but am about to change to another brand (don't remember the name) that allow more oxygen to the back of the eye so help keep the eye more hydrated. I also put in hycosan extra eye drops every morning and sometimes during the day if I feel like I need it and vita-pos eye gel at night. Both recommended by my opticion.

I still have scarring on my eyes from the previous over-use and dehydration but it's improving and my opticion says its reversible if I keep doing what I'm doing. When I started with this opticion my eyes were so dry the lenses would stick and go out of focus sometimes and even with glasses on my eyes were so sensitised that they'd water. Now my eyes are perfectly comfortable with my current contact use.

If you go to a high street chain opticion I would change to a independantly run one, it was only when I switched that my eyes were properly looked after and these products to help improve the condition of my eyes were made to me, the chain just told me to not wear the contacts so much and that I'd end up unable to wear contacts at all.

I have worn contacts for years and when my GP suggested a refferal to an opthamologist to check for thyroid eye disease, it turns out I did have very very mild thyroid eye disease that would resolve with thyroid medication. I mentioned about my dry eyes at the time and he recommended a prosedure on my eyes for dry eyes, he put punctual plugs (sp) in my tear ducts, I still had to use drops for a few weeks but I can now wear contacts comfortably again.