4 ms·

I liked the freedom contacts provided me in most situations, but I found two main problems: 1. I couldn't rub my eyes anymore in public. Rubbing my eyes would

I liked the freedom contacts provided me in most situations, but I found two main problems: 1. I couldn't rub my eyes anymore in public. Rubbing my eyes would often end to with one of my contacts in my hand. 2. I had to always plan when I was going to sleep. This pretty much made napping impossible. Going to sleep with contacts was horrible. Are there better contacts where the above two problems aren't an issue?

lern_too_spel 7y ago
Ortho-k lenses.
pacaro 7y ago
My prescription is moderately strong -6.5 and -7 Yes. I wear extended wear contacts that are supposed to be replaced once a month. I take them out and replace them when I notice a significant deterioration in vision, or when my eyes feel scratchy. For me has varied between a month and about 18 months. YMMV I have very occasionally rubbed my eyes to the point of accidentally removing a contact, mostly this is a habit I have trained myself out of Most days and nights I forget that I have contacts in, I always sleep in them, makes getting up in the night to pee much safer, and other night time activities more enjoyable
- Mirioron 7y ago
  That's great! Having to take contacts out every evening and to then clean them was quite a hassle. I should try contacts again. >makes getting up in the night to pee much safer Is that really the case? My vision is only slightly better than yours (although my last check was years ago) and I feel like I could do most things without glasses just fine. Anything that requires reading is difficult though, unless it's on my phone where I can just bring it very close to my face.
  - pacaro 7y ago
    Depends on the probability distribution of single Legos in your nocturnal environment. On a more serious note, when a fire alarm has gone off in the middle of the night and I have to grab a sleeping child and get out of the building, then it's one less thing to worry about for sure
joecool1029 7y ago
For soft contacts there's two primary types in use. Regular hydrogels and silicone hydrogels (SiHy's). Most doctors will prescribe SiHy's now as they provide some key benefits. Those being: better air permeability (dk/t number) and the ability to be used for continous wear (overnight). The SiHy's had a bit of a tradeoff though, despite being able to let a lot more oxygen through (which the corneas need, they can directly absorb it), they are not inherently wettable. Silicone is hydrophobic, it naturally repels water. So 3 generations of silicone hydrogel are in use. 1st gen has an external wetting agent that rubs off over time. 2nd gen has an internal wetting agent that some people are allergic to. 3rd gen has the molecular structure arranged in such a way they are inherently wettable. I wear 3rd gen SiHy's now. Cooper Biofinity is the name brand. These are approved for extended wear up to a week. I have done longer than this but risk of complications increase. However, these were a huge improvement over the regular hydrogels I used to wear. If I had them in over 17 hours or so my pupils began to dilate from my eyes being oxygen starved. They are a little stiffer (and hence, slightly less comfortable than my regular hydrogels were). They also have a slightly higher chance of feeling dry due to higher water content than most other SiHy lines. Anyways, hope that helps. There's a lot of options on the market and for you it might be better to look for a higher water content with lower stiffness, if you need to wear them when sleeping that really limits you to 4 or 5 continuous wear brands. Don't wear a non-approved regularly for sleep, it'll screw up your eyes in a mess of different ways (vascularization and such).
- Mirioron 7y ago
  Thank you very much for the write up! I had no idea that things had improved so much. I had switched back to glasses several years ago because of the complaints above. It sounds like I should check out contacts again.

lern_too_spel 7y ago

Ortho-k lenses.

pacaro 7y ago

My prescription is moderately strong -6.5 and -7 Yes. I wear extended wear contacts that are supposed to be replaced once a month. I take them out and replace them when I notice a significant deterioration in vision, or when my eyes feel scratchy. For me has varied between a month and about 18 months. YMMV I have very occasionally rubbed my eyes to the point of accidentally removing a contact, mostly this is a habit I have trained myself out of Most days and nights I forget that I have contacts in, I always sleep in them, makes getting up in the night to pee much safer, and other night time activities more enjoyable

Mirioron 7y ago
That's great! Having to take contacts out every evening and to then clean them was quite a hassle. I should try contacts again. >makes getting up in the night to pee much safer Is that really the case? My vision is only slightly better than yours (although my last check was years ago) and I feel like I could do most things without glasses just fine. Anything that requires reading is difficult though, unless it's on my phone where I can just bring it very close to my face.
- pacaro 7y ago
  Depends on the probability distribution of single Legos in your nocturnal environment. On a more serious note, when a fire alarm has gone off in the middle of the night and I have to grab a sleeping child and get out of the building, then it's one less thing to worry about for sure

joecool1029 7y ago

For soft contacts there's two primary types in use. Regular hydrogels and silicone hydrogels (SiHy's). Most doctors will prescribe SiHy's now as they provide some key benefits. Those being: better air permeability (dk/t number) and the ability to be used for continous wear (overnight). The SiHy's had a bit of a tradeoff though, despite being able to let a lot more oxygen through (which the corneas need, they can directly absorb it), they are not inherently wettable. Silicone is hydrophobic, it naturally repels water. So 3 generations of silicone hydrogel are in use. 1st gen has an external wetting agent that rubs off over time. 2nd gen has an internal wetting agent that some people are allergic to. 3rd gen has the molecular structure arranged in such a way they are inherently wettable. I wear 3rd gen SiHy's now. Cooper Biofinity is the name brand. These are approved for extended wear up to a week. I have done longer than this but risk of complications increase. However, these were a huge improvement over the regular hydrogels I used to wear. If I had them in over 17 hours or so my pupils began to dilate from my eyes being oxygen starved. They are a little stiffer (and hence, slightly less comfortable than my regular hydrogels were). They also have a slightly higher chance of feeling dry due to higher water content than most other SiHy lines. Anyways, hope that helps. There's a lot of options on the market and for you it might be better to look for a higher water content with lower stiffness, if you need to wear them when sleeping that really limits you to 4 or 5 continuous wear brands. Don't wear a non-approved regularly for sleep, it'll screw up your eyes in a mess of different ways (vascularization and such).

Mirioron 7y ago
Thank you very much for the write up! I had no idea that things had improved so much. I had switched back to glasses several years ago because of the complaints above. It sounds like I should check out contacts again.