Switching to contacts

[jar]

I'm about to make an eye doctor appointment, and I'm thinking about trying contacts after having glasses for 15 years or so. Some quick web research reveals a plethora of options. I'm not sure whether to try one day disposables, 1-2 week disposables, regular soft contacts, rigid gas permeables, or the 30 day extended wear ones, or what. I'd appreciate anyone's experiences.

I'm leaning towards either trying to get a sample pair of the 1-2 week disposable daily wear to see if I can deal with contacts at all, or trying the 30 day extended wear ones. I like the idea of the change once a month convenience, but of course I'm concerned about long term eye health.

I spend 10-12 hours a day looking at a computer screen(mostly LCDs) as I'm a software engineer and I play that game we don't talk about here.

[B Dids]

I switched FROM contacts to glasses for this reason:

When I want to go to bed, I take off my glasses and go to sleep.

When I get up, I put on my glasses and I can see.

Before I had to be awake enough to pluck contacts out of my eyes and do all of that cleaning and other nonsense.

When I was a kid glasses were annoying because I was always running into [censored] and they were huge and heavy. Now that they're small and easy to deal with, I would never tolerate contacts again.

[NoChance]

I do web testing and have to stare at the computer all day as well. I wear the 1-2 week disposables but really only throw them out every 4-6 weeks. I wear contacts at work or away from home but wear glasses when at home.

The doctor will have many different kinds available for you. I went through 4 different kinds before I found a pair that was comfortable enough for me. Once you find a the pair that doesn't bother you, it's much better than wearing glasses.

[NoChance]

[ QUOTE ]
I switched FROM contacts to glasses for this reason:

When I want to go to bed, I take off my glasses and go to sleep.

When I get up, I put on my glasses and I can see.

Before I had to be awake enough to pluck contacts out of my eyes and do all of that cleaning and other nonsense.

[/ QUOTE ]

I agree with all this and it's partly why I wear glasses in the evenings while at home. I find it very hard to sleep with contacts in. When I travel I do the same thing. I bring the glasses along.

[CollinEstes]

Ditto, does anyone else just hate putting contacts in when you are still sleepy. OUch.

[Warik]

Do you plan to have corrective laser surgery in the future? The reason I ask is this: When I got my LASIK done, I had been wearing contacts for YEARS. The contacts made my vision progressively worsen bit by bit each year and did a number on the landscape of my eye. Although the procedure was a success, the doctor warned me that they might not be able to achieve full correction on the first try.

If you never plan on getting your eyes zapped, though, then by all means get yourself some contacts. I believe they sell some now that you can wear for 30 days straight and then toss 'em.

[jar]

[ QUOTE ]
If you never plan on getting your eyes zapped, though, then by all means get yourself some contacts. I believe they sell some now that you can wear for 30 days straight and then toss 'em.

[/ QUOTE ]

Yeah, I'm not sure that I can ever do LASIK, the idea of having a flap cut in my eye for it to be shot with a laser is pretty scary.

I'm very curious about the 30 day contacts. I'd love to be able to wake up in the morning and see. The idea of having something in my eye for a month seems kindof weird though.

At one point, I'd worn the same pair of contacts for 6 months straight. We're talkin 2 week disposables. It got to the point where my eyes burned so much that I finally broke down and went to the eye doctor.

I don't know why I didn't go sooner. I think it was pure laziness. They were still allowing me to see (albeit not horribly well), they just hurt. A lot.

So, yeah. You can definitely stretch 2 week disposables a long way. Just not that long. I mentioned this to my eye doctor, and he seemed to brush it off, as if there were nothing too inherently dangerous about wearing the same pair of contacts for 6 months. But I certainly wouldnt reccomend it.

I too have glasses, and I take the contacts out at night, because I don't like the way my eyes feel when I sleep in my contacts. This is actually a new practice for me... only been doin it for the past month or so, since I got these brand spankin new contacts.

Oh, and about LASIK? I don't think I could do that, what with the horror stories I've read about having the flap cut in your eye and blah blah blah. I could, however, get PRK done and not think twice. You can't find PRK for the kind of prices you can find LASIK for. But damn, I'd love to get rid of my contacts.