5 ms·

I'm a contact lens wearer for about a couple of decades, and never had a problem. However, contacts are not for everyone. I have seen friends: - Pick up a drop

I'm a contact lens wearer for about a couple of decades, and never had a problem. However, contacts are not for everyone. I have seen friends: - Pick up a dropped contact lens from the floor, blow on it, and put it on - Take it out/put it in without any hand washing - Rinse contacts with tap water - Reuse the same lens for weeks just because What I do: - Wash hands before handling - Rinse fingers with contact/saline solution for a couple of seconds - Use daily disposables and do not reuse them - If I drop a lens, I just grab a new one. It's hard to make decisions based on this unfortunate story without understanding that person's hygiene/lens wearing habits, personal health history, and so on. YMMV.

cholantesh 10y ago
That level of discipline is definitely beyond me! I'll continue to stick with glasses until I get my ICL surgery, I suppose.
- Bluestrike2 10y ago
  Daily disposables make the hygiene aspect ridiculously simple: wash and dry your hands, and throw them out when done. They're individually cheap enough that tossing a dropped lens every so often doesn't really hurt. Of course, when I started I ran into an interesting issue: occasionally I'd wind up pulling them out briefly and reseating them for comfort. Once or twice, that bit me in the, er, eye when an eyelash got inserted with the lens. I wound up trying a couple different brands as a result, before stumbling on my current choice (Dailies Total1 lenses). At the risk of sounding like an ad, they're beyond comfortable and practically impossible to feel. Which has its own disadvantages. On a couple of occasions, a lens got shifted to the side of my eye and I wound up putting another one in the following day. And let me tell you, that's painful as hell after a few seconds. I just wish there was a similar disposable lens designed to alleviate digital eyestrain. No way in hell would I willingly go to 30 day lenses.
  - cholantesh 10y ago
    I don't think I'm a candidate for dailies; I have a very high prescription.
  - e12e 10y ago
    What is "digital eyestrain"? I know some people claim yellow/orange glass glasses help - but if it's dry eyes, it might help to simply blink more often - maybe set a timer like for exercise/change position? And perhaps add in a round of focus exercise (focus far/focus close; repeat)?
    - Bluestrike2 10y ago
      It's also called computer vision syndrome, and is pretty common. Everything you mentioned helps alleviate it. But I've noticed that my contact lenses sometimes seem to precipitate it; at other times, they're perfectly fine. After doing a bit of reading, a relatively new aspheric lens design (Biofinity Energys) might help with that. But I'd rather just wear my glasses while working than deal with monthlies. 0. http://www.eyedolatryblog.com/2017/01/tired-eyes-understanding-aspheric.html http://www.eyedolatryblog.com/2017/01/tired-eyes-understandi...
mercer 10y ago
In my younger years I once put my (soft) contacts on the desk next to the bed in the hostel I was staying in. The next morning they had turned into wrinkly rock-hard bits of plastic. I massaged them with water for a while and put them in. It hurt like hell, but it 'worked'. I like to think I'm less stupid these days, and I'm thankful my eyes seem to be doing fine.
EtienneK 10y ago
You are way more disciplined than I am. I am definitely one of those people who wear contact lenses for as long as possible - more than a month for sure. If they fall on the floor, I'll try and rinse them off with contact solution - if I have it available - otherwise I'll just use tap water. I do wash my hands before touching my eyes, though. I know I am probably increasing my risk for some terrible eye infection, but so far I've never experienced any negative drawbacks.
- Insanity 10y ago
  I have lenses that you can wear for a month but sometimes slightly go over it as well. If they fall on the table - I'll pick them up and rinse them, if they fall on the floor, they're gone.
TheAdamist 10y ago
my contact solution (clearcare, which cleans very well) is 3% hydrogen peroxide, the bottle is very clear about not rinsing with solution prior to inserting, unless you want your eyes to burn very painfully. So rinsing your hands with solution isn't general purpose advice unless you know its safe.
- tsukaisute 10y ago
  Oh yeah, for sure. The ClearCare bottle even has a red tip to signify that it's not eye-safe. For what I said, you'd only want to use a rinse/rewetting/saline solution. But because I use dailies only, don't even need to buy a disinfecting solution, and no chance of bacteria accumulating overnight. I'm actually curious why doesn't everyone just use dailies. They aren't much costlier, while being way more comfortable with less upkeep.
  - realityking 10y ago
    I only recently starting wearing contacts full time and switched after a month to monthly lenses. With dailies I never felt like I hard the same sharpness that I have with glasses while the monthly ones are perfect.

cholantesh 10y ago

That level of discipline is definitely beyond me! I'll continue to stick with glasses until I get my ICL surgery, I suppose.

Bluestrike2 10y ago
Daily disposables make the hygiene aspect ridiculously simple: wash and dry your hands, and throw them out when done. They're individually cheap enough that tossing a dropped lens every so often doesn't really hurt. Of course, when I started I ran into an interesting issue: occasionally I'd wind up pulling them out briefly and reseating them for comfort. Once or twice, that bit me in the, er, eye when an eyelash got inserted with the lens. I wound up trying a couple different brands as a result, before stumbling on my current choice (Dailies Total1 lenses). At the risk of sounding like an ad, they're beyond comfortable and practically impossible to feel. Which has its own disadvantages. On a couple of occasions, a lens got shifted to the side of my eye and I wound up putting another one in the following day. And let me tell you, that's painful as hell after a few seconds. I just wish there was a similar disposable lens designed to alleviate digital eyestrain. No way in hell would I willingly go to 30 day lenses.
- cholantesh 10y ago
  I don't think I'm a candidate for dailies; I have a very high prescription.
- e12e 10y ago
  What is "digital eyestrain"? I know some people claim yellow/orange glass glasses help - but if it's dry eyes, it might help to simply blink more often - maybe set a timer like for exercise/change position? And perhaps add in a round of focus exercise (focus far/focus close; repeat)?
  - Bluestrike2 10y ago
    It's also called computer vision syndrome, and is pretty common. Everything you mentioned helps alleviate it. But I've noticed that my contact lenses sometimes seem to precipitate it; at other times, they're perfectly fine. After doing a bit of reading, a relatively new aspheric lens design (Biofinity Energys) might help with that. But I'd rather just wear my glasses while working than deal with monthlies. 0. http://www.eyedolatryblog.com/2017/01/tired-eyes-understanding-aspheric.html http://www.eyedolatryblog.com/2017/01/tired-eyes-understandi...

mercer 10y ago

In my younger years I once put my (soft) contacts on the desk next to the bed in the hostel I was staying in. The next morning they had turned into wrinkly rock-hard bits of plastic. I massaged them with water for a while and put them in. It hurt like hell, but it 'worked'. I like to think I'm less stupid these days, and I'm thankful my eyes seem to be doing fine.

EtienneK 10y ago

You are way more disciplined than I am. I am definitely one of those people who wear contact lenses for as long as possible - more than a month for sure. If they fall on the floor, I'll try and rinse them off with contact solution - if I have it available - otherwise I'll just use tap water. I do wash my hands before touching my eyes, though. I know I am probably increasing my risk for some terrible eye infection, but so far I've never experienced any negative drawbacks.

Insanity 10y ago
I have lenses that you can wear for a month but sometimes slightly go over it as well. If they fall on the table - I'll pick them up and rinse them, if they fall on the floor, they're gone.

TheAdamist 10y ago

my contact solution (clearcare, which cleans very well) is 3% hydrogen peroxide, the bottle is very clear about not rinsing with solution prior to inserting, unless you want your eyes to burn very painfully. So rinsing your hands with solution isn't general purpose advice unless you know its safe.

tsukaisute 10y ago
Oh yeah, for sure. The ClearCare bottle even has a red tip to signify that it's not eye-safe. For what I said, you'd only want to use a rinse/rewetting/saline solution. But because I use dailies only, don't even need to buy a disinfecting solution, and no chance of bacteria accumulating overnight. I'm actually curious why doesn't everyone just use dailies. They aren't much costlier, while being way more comfortable with less upkeep.
- realityking 10y ago
  I only recently starting wearing contacts full time and switched after a month to monthly lenses. With dailies I never felt like I hard the same sharpness that I have with glasses while the monthly ones are perfect.