I've been wearing regular soft contact lenses for a little under a year now,
and I like them a lot.  Aside from the sticky feeling when I get sleepy or
stare at the screen too long, they are very comfortable.  I really like the
better distance vision (ok, now my close-up is not as good when wearing
contacts), and being able to be out in the rain w/o getting my glasses all
wet.

I'm curious about extended wear lenses.  I don't mind taking out my lenses
and cleaning them every night, but it would be great to be able to go camping,
etc. for a weeekend and not have to figure out how to clean them (or wear
glasses instead) properly without a bathroom sink to use.

Also, I'm worried that after a few years my eyes will get sensitive and start
rejecting contacts.  This has happened to at least a couple people I know,
including my sister.

21 responses total.

IMHO, a contact lens is a foreign body hanging around in your eye. Nightly
cleaning is a drag, but an infection is much worse. Extended wear lenses
should be taken out and cleaned as a habit, but a weekend camping trip without
doing so should not be a problem. You owe me $ .02.   B^}

(I'll send the 2 cents via mathom)  :)

I have asitigmatism and heavy near sightedness and look great  without glases
but have been told I can't wear contact lenses with my vision...not by a
doctor however....for  10 years i used a dry eye hand lotion for hte eyes like
product in my eyes at night..tht  worries me about contact lenses..ihave
stopped now and don't know if it was relaterd to preganancy and childbirth.
it felt like my eyeliwas beinripped off..they called it a corneal ulcer.

I also have astigmatism and myopia.  While these problems can be corrected
with gas-permeable or hard contact lenses, I was unable to tolerate them.  A
pity, too.  For awhile, I was able to get by on soft contact lenses, which
were great.  FWIW, contact lenses (properly prescribed) will always give
better vision than glasses, because they are closer to your eyeballs.

I wore extended wear contact lenses for several year, and it's o.k. to wear
them for a week at a time or so, but don't abuse it.  I would go for 2 or 3
weeks without taking them out, then one day, I got some bacteria in my eye
and got an infection.  Ouch!!! did that hurt!  now I have a scar on my cornea,
luckily it is not in my line of vision.  If you choose to wear the extended
wear lenses, be careful to make sure you clean them if you rub your eyes a
lot or if you have to take one out for some reason.  Use them wisely and
enjoy.

Maybe it's just me, but what amazes me about wearing contacts is that colors
seem so much brighter.

Colors are about the same for me, but the *clarity* is incredible.  

my daughter, angie (buzby) has been using the disposable contacts for 2 yrs.
She has had no trouble and i forget that she even has them.  if a 12 yr old
can do it, scott, i think you can :)  no muss no fuss!

my mom and lynne love theirs.  (pout)  meg wants disposables!!!

Well, I have an astigmatism and myopia also and I have soft contact lenses
that provide wonderful vision.  Considering that my contact lense prescription
reads as follows...
BC    8.60
SPH  -8.50
CYL  -2.25
AX    x 20
and 
BC    8.60
SPH  -8.00
CYL  -1.75
AX    x160

I think that it is remarkable that I can even wear the soft ones.  I, also,
could not wear the gas-permeable or the hard lenses.  I tried the weighted
lenses for astigmatism when they first came out and found that they spun on
my eye.  These new soft ones are a real wonder.  I do, however, wish they
would come out with the disposable ones for this kind of vision.  But cleaning
them daily is not such a bad price to pay.

i really ought to have the hards, but they are too thick and hard to put into
my eyes....jwithout damaginthe them, anyway..:)  i can't remeber exactly what
my numbers are, but i think the sph is something like -9.75 and the cyl -14.5,
it makes life difficult. 
(i've GOT to get ew lenses...:)

Heh!  I can relate!  The only problem I am having right now is that I do not
have an operable sink in my bathroom where the mirror is, so have not been
wearing mine..using the glasses instead...*sigh*

i've gotten to a point that i can put them in and take hem out without a
mirror....but he fact that i 've mangaged to grow my nails out causes me
problems....:)

heh!  nails can be a drag!

In a recent newspaper article, a study at the University of California
-Berkley announced that wearing extended wear contact lenses can increase 
the risk of infection greatly.  According to the study, certain strains of
the Pseudonomas(excuse my spelling) bacteria can kill healthy eye cells in
as litlle as two hours.  Previously, it was thought that the bacteria could
only attack damaged eye cells.  By blinking and crying, the majority of
bacterias get either wiped or flushed away.  By wearing extended wear contact
lenses, because the contact lens fits so snugly and tightly around the cornea,
this interupts the natural defense mechanisms for bacterial infection,
therefore creating the risk.  My opinion, don't wear them.  Try either
disposable (daily or bi weekly) and clean them every day!

Hi David, welcome to Grex!  It is Pseudomonas.  I wonder if you know how much
the disposables, of either type, cost as compared to the other types, over
the lifetime of the longest-lasting ones.  That would include the cleaners
and any other required accessories, also loss insurance, copay, loss, etc.
Another species of Pseudomonas is what we were told killed our apricot tree.

I'm using daily wear contacts (not disposable, though), due to dry eyes.  I'd
love to just leave the things in for a week like other people I know, but the
doc says that is a no-no.

Hey Dad, welcome back!  The only knowledge that I have is the bi-weekly
disposables that I wear.  With an eye exam included, every six months the
contacts are around $100.00 dollars for I believe  six boxes.  You also have
to add in the cost of a multi-purpose solution which costs around 3 bucks and
lasts about two weeks.  I figure with everything, probably a years total cost
would be around 272 big ones.  That's alot of dough, come to think of it! 
The daily wear contacts are much more expensive, while the ones you replace
every year are much more cheaper.

What is the difference between daily wear and every year types?   How many
different types are there?

I've got a coworker who buys the disposables but wears them for weeks (cleaned
every night).  According to him, it's the same product as the long-term
contacts, packaged and priced differently.  Mine get replaced when my
prescription changes... been about 2 years since that happened.  I did have
to have one replaced, which cost $55!

According to Consumer Reports, a couple years back, I couldn't remember which
company was doing this, but they were packaging the same contact lens in the
disposable cases as they were in the yearly ones(or the ones you replace every
time your percription changes).  I don't know if your coworker was using that
brand, but if the company still does that, it would be of great advantage to
the consumer who knows that.  You could save tons of money.  I bet your
optometrist wouldn't be happy though!

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