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Contact Lenses for Computer Professionals? 171

Posted by Cliff from the that-invisible-second-pair dept.
LxDengar writes "For anyone who uses a computer around 10-plus hours a day, eye strain can become a serious issue. According to the American Optometric Association, 70-75% of computer workers experience eye and vision problems. Although I've tried contacts in the past, I found that my eyes dried out very quickly, and so switched back to glasses. Recently, my eye doctor mentioned a series of new contacts with better hydration for the eyes, and targeted to computer professionals (Acuvue, Ocular Sciences, etc). Do you wear contacts when staring at your screen for long periods? What contacts does community recommend for long periods at the computer?"
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Contact Lenses for Computer Professionals? More

Contact Lenses for Computer Professionals?

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  • I've been using the Acuvue series for years, with no discomfort. In fact, I've fallen asleep with them in and woken in the morning to only mild discomfort - and being 2 week disposables means that if I lose one, I just order replacements a week sooner...

    Over all, I've had much more luck with these than glasses - though I have a pair of glasses too, my contacts seem to distort less providing for more natural vision. Sometimes I even forget I'm wearing 'em. Give them a try, you'll probably never go back.
    • Ditto for the most part. My eyes are really bad (-5.75) too.

      One thing to note is that it's VERY hard to find an optometrist that can actually give you a good glasses prescription. Get the thinner lenses too - they reduce distortion.

      My glasses now are the best I've had in 15 years. Just as good as my contacts - I find myself wearing them much more frequently. It's good to give your eyes a break from contacts anyway.
      • My glasses now are the best I've had in 15 years. Just as good as my contacts

        umm..? I don't know anyone for whom their contacts are nearly as good as their glasses. for me, glasses are much better than contacts but contacts are acceptable. I do need toric lenses though.

        dave
      • Get the thinner lenses too - they reduce distortion.

        this is not true. To get the same power in a thinner lens, you have to go to higher index of refraction material. This will lead to chromatic distortion (colored edges to objects) as well as image field distortion.

        Related to this: no matter how well eyeglasses correct, they can only do so on axis because your eyeball rotates behind the glases. Contact lenses allow off-axis viewing to have the same image quality as on-axis.
  • I use daily throw away lenses. Never had a problem unless I was in front of a computer 12 hours. Daily lenses are so much better as they keep hydrated longer. Not too much difference in price.

    If you find your eyes are drying out take out the lenses and rub in solution (watch out for some solutions causing eye fungus) and then pop them back in. This will extend the hydration for a while.
  • I'm even wearing solids. Sometimes when it's windy outsides my eyes dry out, but I don't experience much discomfort otherwise. If your eyes dry out, get some liquid that you can drop into your eyes or remember blinking a few times every 30 minutes or so. I also got new solids a few weeks back and they really improved a lot. Just try some cheap Acuvue throwaways for a month and you'll know if they're okay for you.
  • I use the 30 day disposables, night and day. I forget who makes them, but they are one of the newer more breathable lenses. Been using them for good 3 months now,and no problems. Used to use the acuvue 2 weeks ones and my eyes would dry out daily.
    • 30-day disposables rock.
      I've been using them for about two years now.
      My optometrist recommends I clean them over night once a week, but I usually go with them for 1½ - 2 weeks at a time.

      The best thing is obviously the lack of dry eyes that regular 12h contacts gives,
      but the second best is something I treasure a lot - waking up, and actually being able to see things.
    • Comment removed based on user account deletion

  • Best solution? (Score:4, Insightful)

    by br4dh4x0r ( 137273 ) on Thursday April 13, 2006 @04:56PM (#15124752)
    If at all possible, get LASIK.

    I'd worn contacts for almost 20 years when I finally decided to pony up the cash for LASIK. Best $2000 I've ever spent. My eyes would dry out extremely quickly while wearing contacts. Since the inital recuperation from the surgery, my eyes haven't become dry unless I stay up 24+ hours in a row.

    An added bonus is that my eyesight in each eye (20/650 and 20/850 before) is now 20/15. I could never come close to that with contacts.

    I know you were asking about contact lenses... but you should at least consider LASIK.
    • Just sprung for LASIK myself. I paid about twice what you did, I went and got WaveFront analysis and IntraLase added into the package, which boosted the price considerably. If you managed to get all that for 2 large, you are the man (woman?, nah...) I'm still healing (in fact it's time for more awesome steroid drops) but it was worth every penny.
      • Just curious if you'd explain what WaveFront analysis and IntraLase are?

        • Re:Best solution? (Score:4, Funny)

          by jayhawk88 ( 160512 ) <jayhawk88@gmail.com> on Thursday April 13, 2006 @05:15PM (#15124941)
          Powers. He has them.

        • Re:Best solution? (Score:4, Informative)

          by John Courtland ( 585609 ) on Thursday April 13, 2006 @05:19PM (#15124980)
          Wavefront allows the surgeon to create custom LASIK procedures specific to your cornea, rather than using some standard pattern meant for your prescribed level of refraction. It usually generates a better result as far as clarity goes and results in less occurance of aberrations (LASIK induced astigmatism, for example).

          IntraLase is a trade name for a laser system. Instead of using a blade to slice the cornea, the surgeon uses a femto-second laser to (rather slowly) open the cornea. It's a more precise cut and hence better. According to my doctor there is no tissue removal with IntraLase, as opposed to the microkeratome, which means if the laser makes an error (more likely the surgeon makes an error) you lose no corneal matter. There are also some horror stories where the microkeratome (the blade) actually will *jam* in the patients' *eye*. The extra $1500 that procedure tacked on to the total bill is WELL worth it to me to have a 0% chance of that type of problem happening.

        • Re:Best solution? (Score:3, Informative)

          by Sangui5 ( 12317 )
          WaveFront is where they analyze for "more complex" distortion. Most glasses have two portions--the spherical (simple near-sightedness), and cylindrical (for basic astigmatism). Most contact lenses only do spherical--Toric lenses do cylindrical too.

          However, there are more ways your vision can be distorted than spherical and cylindrical. The idea behind WaveFront is to analyse these other forms of astigmatism and include a correction for them, too.

          You can also get expensive contacts with these corrective t
      • I got Wavefront done on both eyes. The $2000 includes a lifetime of checkups and corrections. I went to LasikPlus [lasikplus.com] in Louisville. They've got centers all over, though.

        I'm assuming you got the milky white steroid drops. Worst tasting eyedrops ever.
        • Prednisolone. And I agree, I'd almost rather eat anything else than drop these things. Oh well, only a week left.

          • Re:Best solution? (Score:3, Informative)

            by bergeron76 ( 176351 )
            For those of you that aren't following, your olfactory senses are connected via the sinuses to your tear ducts (that produce mucous lube for your eyes), and they are related to taste.

            Not only that, but you can taste the drop fluid as it comes into your sinuses. Yum.

            Controversely, you can also blow air bubbles out of your tear ducts. Next time you're underwater, close your nose (and mouth) and blow really hard. You'll become airheaded underwater, and you may feel tiny air bubbles coming up. Wee.
      • I went and got WaveFront analysis and IntraLase added into the package

        "See, they install that TruCoat at the factory, there's nothin' we can do..."
        • I know it sounds like "you don't need this shit, it's just marketing, dumbass" but it does help. Especially IntraLase. Sorry, I don't want a blade in my eye.
          • Actually, I just thought it was a great excuse to use a Fargo quote :)

            But I go one step closer and don't want anything messing with my eye, even a laser, much like Scwartzenegger's friend in Total Recall: "Don't fuck with your eyes, pal -- it 'aint worth it!"
    • Rainbow/Haloing... that sort of thing?
      • Usually not. The only time I get any is when my eyes are dry, it's night and there's a really bright light (street lamps and headlights usually don't produce any... but high beams do).

        Other than that, no problems at all.
      • I had it done 5 years ago. Paid $3200, insurance covered about $50. I would do it again in a heartbeat.

        I had complications the first night ( the flaps shifted ) and had to have them redone the next day, but even with that things were better than contacts within a week. I had starring / halo issues at night for about six months but those gradually faded.

        I'm 20/15. Best $3200 I've ever spent.
      • hell, i get that without Lasik.. a headlight stretches up and down almost all the way to my fields of vision.

    • Re:Best solution? (Score:2, Interesting)

      by toleraen ( 831634 )
      Probably see my response further below...but to respond to yours:

      Since the inital recuperation from the surgery

      I had my Lasik surgery done January 2005. My eyes are still going through the "initial recuperation". For the first 9 months or so my eye sight would fluctuate, one day my right eye would be clear, the next my left. Now it's fairly steady, but they dry out much more frequently than yours do. My night vision is absolutely terrible compared to what it was, though it's getting better. I als
      • I'm sorry to hear you had such bad luck.

        I had mine done in June of 05. For two months, I had the same problems you had for nine. One minute my right eye would be crystal clear and my left would be so fuzzy I could barely see a foot in front of my face. I would blink and it would reverse (right eye horrible, left eye clear). Pretty freaky stuff when you think that sort of thing might be permanent.

        The surgeon at LasikPlus was very candid before the surgery. He told me about the possible complications and

        • The surgeon at LasikPlus was very candid before the surgery.

          My surgeon was as well, but that's because he was legally obligated to =) I agree that my 20/20 vision now is much better than the 20/2000 vision I had before, but I just wanted to point out that there are a lot of bad things that can and will go along with it. The fact that you're gambling with your eyesight, taking the risk of going permanently blind, is something you really want to look into! To me nothing has been scarier than wondering if

      • Thanks for posting. I looked into LASIK, but was scared away by the 1% risk of complications. I figured, I see just fine with corrective lenses, and I'm used to corrective lenses, and the chances of the surgery correcting my eyes to the point that I wouldn't need to use them for things like driving was already low enough that I should just stick with the plan that I know gives me good vision rather than taking the one that has a 1 in 100 chance of hosing my vision for the rest of my life.

        But then I notice
      • According to Wikipedia, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lasik [http]">3 to 6% of the Lasik patients still have complications after 6 months... You seem to be the one out of twenty with bad luck.

        (I personally would not take a 1:20 chance to spoil my eyesight, however myopic I am.)

      • Comment removed (Score:4, Informative)

        by account_deleted ( 4530225 ) on Thursday April 13, 2006 @05:49PM (#15125257)
        Comment removed based on user account deletion
        • While I don't get floaters, I get the occasional tear film debris, also mentioned in the wiki. I don't know if my near-sightedness has anything to do with, but I can actually focus on them. It's kinda cool seeing a hydra float by every now and then. I've also seen some smaller bacteria in the "string of pearls" configuration.
        • Silly Eyeball Tricks: using your own lenses as a bio-microscope!

          If I'm gazing into space, I can see my floaters; one is a fairly long Y-shaped string, anchored well enough that it's been in the same spot since I first noticed it at age 4. When the light is just right, I can even see individual cells in the string, nucleus and all.

          Over the years (I'm now 50) this long floater has deteriorated from clearly-visible, completely intact individual cells, down to really obvious cellular junk. Most of its cells hav
          • when the light is *exactly* right, I can see my own retina (or tapetum to be precise), apparently as a reflected image against the backside of the lens (IOW, as if my lens was a mirror so the retina can "look at itself").

            Coolio! Can you explain that a bit further? That sounds really neat!

            • I assume you know how the eye is constructed? there's about an inch of gap between retina at the back of the eye (the part you actually see with) and the lens (the focusing mechanism). When light hits the retina from just the right angle, it apparently reflects off the back of the lens, and then the retina picks up the reflection just like it would from any mirror surface.

              I've examined enough dogs' eyes (to check breeding stock against inherited blindness) to know what I'm seeing :) The tapetum is the refl
              • Yes, i understand how the eye is constructed, but have never (to my knowledge) heard of the reflection phenomena you're describing. Must check that out. Floaters i've been fascinated with since i was a kid.

                people who've had whiplash or a similar demonstration of the laws of physics

                LOL!
                • I've never run into anyone else who has managed to see their own retinas either, maybe folks don't spend enough time lying on the grass gazing at the sky (which I vaguely recall was when I noticed it). And I doubt most people would know what they were seeing, even if they noticed it.

                  Can you see individual cells in your floaters? mine were very visible (nucleus and all) when I was younger.

                  Sometimes I amuse myself yanking the y-shaped floater back and forth, just because I can :)

    • Re:Best solution? (Score:5, Funny)

      by pcgc1xn ( 922943 ) on Thursday April 13, 2006 @05:29PM (#15125065) Homepage
      $2K is a lot of coin. You can save some serious money by checking out www.lasikathome.com

      Best money I ever spent. Just don't blink.
    • Comment removed based on user account deletion
      • I'm another Lasik poster child. Make sure the guys give you a happy pill before you agree to let them operate on you. The guys who did mine gave me some valium before they got going and I was pretty detached through the whole thing. You still know what's going on but somehow you just don't care as much as you normally would. I'd have freaked out at least 3 times during the procedure if they hadn't provided a happy pill.

        I'd suggest shelling out the extra cash for the custom job, doing some research on the

    • I wear glasses for nearsightedness, astigmatism, and inward prism. My optometrist told me last year that I can take care of the first two with laser surgery, but the prism is likely going to have me wearing glasses for the rest of my life. Have you heard of anything that can deal with prism? I realize it's not directly related to the vision clarity, but glasses are annoying.
  • I've had glasses and contacts, and I wear contacts because I never have to deal with losing my glasses, or having them drop into the box I'm working on etc...

    You are going to have try some pairs to see if any of them are comfortable TO YOU.

    Ask your doc to let you try different ones until you find a kind that works for you.

    You may find that the answer is NONE OF THE ABOVE.

    good luck though.

    • If you work only with computers lenses are probably a better idea.

      If you also work with chemicals or anything that can splash into your eye (even trivial cleaner fluid) never ever even think of a contact lens. Once you get something nasty in your eye the body will refuse to keep it open for you to take the lens out. Washing, eye rinse, etc will not help because whatever got in your eye will get under the lens. Best case - eye damage. Worst case loss of an eye.

      I saw this only once and I still cannot forg

      • Never EVER peel peppers without latex gloves and then take your contacts out several hours later. That's the kind of mistake you only make once (Ditto for anything involving peppermint or cinnamon oil...)

  • Daily disposables are great (Score:5, Informative)

    by GreatDrok ( 684119 ) on Thursday April 13, 2006 @04:57PM (#15124758) Journal
    I have been wearing contact lenses for over 20 years now and have gone through gas permeable hard lenses, soft monthly lenses and most recently daily disposables. The dailies are great, I wear them from 7 in the morning until at least 10 pm and I work with computers all day long. Dailies are good because they are so thin but this does make them a bit fragile. However, if you are careful with them they can also be worn for a week per pair (I just use the normal soft lens peroxide cleaning systems that are available over the counter) and if a pair of lenses are getting a bit scappy I chuck them and open a fresh set. The companies that make these lenses would rather you wear the dailies, um, well, daily, but they are made from exactly the same materials as weeklies but I find the dailies much more comfortable because they are so thin. However, the dailies work out pretty expensive unless you clean and reuse them in which case they are very cost effective as well as the most comfortable lenses you can buy.
    • I'll have to agree - I've recently started using daily contact lenses and my experience has been excellent. I used to use monthly lenses, but found that after the first few days of use, they'd get quite dry and uncomfortable. Like the story poster, I went back to glasses for a while, but tried dailies in the last few months. They're much easier on the eyes, and there's no messing about with solutions or storage.

      They are more expensive though - three months of lenses (six boxes of thirty) just cost me about
  • I used contacts for quite a while before I just got tired of the hassle. One thing that helped a lot with the "dry eye" during long days at the office was eye drops. Just be sure to use the kind made for contacts! Regular eye drops actually increase irritation when used with contacts.
  • I had a similar issue with my contacts drying out, so I switched to less reflective glasses. It helped out a bit with the eye strain...but I found that the most relieving thing for eye strain was to take off the glasses (making everything extremely fuzzy...gogo 2000/20 vision), stand up, and stare down to the end of the cube farm. "Focusing" on something very far away every once in a while (every 2 hours or so) helped out tons.

    And then my dumbass went and got Lasik. When you use the same method of reli
  • ... the problem may be your doctor. I'd tried getting contacts twice, with no luck. After I moved, I decided to try once more, and my new eye-doctor went with a different lens, which works fine. I tend to wear 'em from around eight in the morning until midnight most days, without any real problems.

  • Staring at screens and contact lenses don't mix (Score:5, Informative)

    by BigJim.fr ( 40893 ) <jim@liotier.org> on Thursday April 13, 2006 @04:59PM (#15124789) Homepage

    Staring at a screen reduces the blinking frequency. When blinking less often, the eyes dry faster. The lack of moisture is even worse when contact lenses are worn. Dry eyes irritate faster. Contact lenses accelerate the irritation and make it worse. And if you start rubbing your eyes on top of all that, then you are really in for some reaally nice inflammation... Do yourself a favor : don't go that way and keep wearing glasses.

    I still use throwaway contacts, but only for outdoor activities of when I just want to go out with no glasses. I spend most of my waking hours in front of screens and then glasses are the best tool : they correct well, they are easy on the eyes and their field of view is bigger that the screens anyway.

    Now let the Lasik flamewar begin.

  • I alternate between contacts (disposable torics) and glasses. I have MUCH less eye strain with contacts, but the drying out becomes a problem. I've come to the point to where I have started carrying a small bottle of ReNu with me. That seems to work just fine -- for me.

    --Xan

    • ReNu (Score:2)

      by NekoXP ( 67564 )
      http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=10000103&s i d=adOW2nqhjEKE&refer=us [bloomberg.com]

      April 13 (Bloomberg) -- Bausch & Lomb Inc., the maker of a contact lens cleaner linked to a dangerous eye infection, withdrew the product from the U.S. market and offered refunds to consumers.

      Wearers of contact lenses shouldn't use ReNu with MoistureLoc while the outbreak is being investigated, Rochester, New York- based Bausch & Lomb said today in a statement. The company asked retailers to remove the solution
  • My wife used to have contact lens problems caused by dry eyes until she started taking fish oil supplements. Flaxseed oil is supposed to be good too. Try a health food store, or you can order online.
  • This is only not really off-topic depending on how you read the title of story question...but does anybody know of any advances made in getting a computer screen displayed ON the actual contact lens ala Star Trek? I would love more than anything to have a contact that could display data on it, especially video. Of course it would probably be so thick that I couldn't shut my eye because it would protrude past my eyelids.

  • I was very badly nearsighted from the age of 10. When I first discovered contacts I started wearing them from the time I woke up in the morning until I went to bed. Eventually an optometrist told me that my eyes weren't getting enough oxygen (Despite my lenses supposedly being rated for sleeping in and stuff) and that if I didn't cut down on my usage I was risking my eyesight. I went back to glasses and found that with super high index (glass) lenses and small enough frames they were comfortable enough to w

  • Take a break. (Score:4, Informative)

    by twitter ( 104583 ) on Thursday April 13, 2006 @05:26PM (#15125036) Homepage Journal
    What contacts does community recommend for long periods at the computer?"

    Even people with "perfect" vision have problems with computer screens. The recommended solution is to take breaks and look at something far away every hour or more. Your eyes need exercise just like everything else.

    "Why do my eyes hurt?"
    "Because you have never used them."

    Good luck in your quest for contact lenses. I'm lucky enough to only need mild corrective glasses at night.

  • I used to wear only one contact lens. I found that when I wore two, one would always get irritated (it would vary sproadically). For some reason, it didn't bother me much. It's tricky getting used to at first; but your brain adjusts instantly to which eye sees best (auto focus?). I'm near-sighted, so when I was at the computer my eye _without_ the contact lens would take focus (or my brain would shift to it for input). As soon as I would look away, my brain would automatically switch to the contact l
    • Interesting trick -- I'm thinking about contacts -- I'm only a little nearsighted, but as my eyes age they've become much more glare-sensitive, and prescription lenses of sufficient darkness are between absurdly expensive and not available at any price.

      But my problem is that when my eyes are both corrected for distance vision, I can't read. And I'm a left-eyed reader (that is my more myopic eye, too), but right-eyed for everything else.

      So your odd suggestion might be just what I need to try! Thanks for the
  • Remove your lenses/glasses and press until you can read this post. It is not like you do any work anyway.
  • What exactly is wrong with glasses?

    Bear with me for a minute. We're not in the fifties anymore. Glasses aren't 5cm bottlecaps anymore. Glasses are now light, flexible, sturdy, efficient and a danm sight cheaper than any contact lens on the market.

    Is there really still such a problem with wearing glasses in this day and age? Grown geeks will walk around in public with thinkgeek apparell, pdas, glowsticks, sweatpants and gameboys. But not glasses because.... why?

    Is it really the contacts you need?
    • Maybe that's true for you, but my pre-lasik vision was so bad that my glasses were so heavy that they interfered with breathing _and_ gave me a serious fishbowl effect when turning my head. That's why I wore contacts unless there was a compelling reason not to -- and the pre-surgical month when I had to wear glasses was a nightmare.

      The other reason I hated switching was that my contacts had no astigmatism correction, the glasses had some serious correction. (I can't remember why -- maybe the doc was an id
      • I vaguely remember my optometrist stating that astigmatism couldn't be corrected with contact lenses. He may have qualified that as "soft lenses" (since they essentially hug the contours of your eyes and astig is caused by irregular curvature); I wasn't interested in getting hard lenses due to horror stories I'd heard.
    • Allergies force me to use glasses instead of contacts, and I really miss them.

      Some of the advantages contact lenses have over glasses include:

      1. When I'm out biking in the rain, I can still see. Raindrops quickly collect on my glasses and make it kind of difficult, if not downright dangerous, to see where I'm going.
      2. I gain better peripheral vision. I have almost nil with glasses.
      3. I'm not worried about breaking them; they don't snag on things.
      4. I can see while I'm kissing without taking them off.
    • In my case, because my eyes are VERY sensitive to bright light, and I can find neither flip-downs nor prescription lenses of sufficient darkness, plus the lenses would have to be quite large to cover the required area -- AND they have to be glass, because I can SEE plastic lenses (even the best ones *always* look slightly fogged to me), and that drives me nuts.

      With age my eyes have become more glare-sensitive, to the point where I'm thinking about contacts -- because the only practical solution to the glare
    • But not glasses because.... why?

      Vanity.

      I wear contact lenses almost all the time, glasses only very occasionally. I regularly get smiles/glances etc. from unknown females when wearing contacts, never when wearing glasses. So I prefer the contacts.

      JP

  • I worked in an office that had fundamentally flawed ventilation systems. Specifically, there was no humidification system, so during winter the air would become so dry that it was literally dryer than a desert--so dry that the indoor air quality failed to meet OSHA standards.

    People had eye problems, sinus problems, headaches, all kinds of illness as a result.

    I found this out because I got a cheap humidistat and measured the indoor air quality myself.
  • After 10 years of using contacts I contracted a severe corneal ulcer (see the gruesome pics on google [google.com]) 1.5 months ago in my left eye. 8 days in hospital, I still cannot really see out of that eye and the doctor says that there is no way to know how much it will recover.

    My mistakes?
    - Using disposable contacts for longer than their design (GreatDrok you have been warned)
    - Falling asleep in them
    - Putting up with contacts which irritated my eyes because I'd already paid for them
    - Not getting straight t

  • I'm in the opposite situation (Score:3, Insightful)

    by Samurai Cat! ( 15315 ) on Thursday April 13, 2006 @07:21PM (#15126010) Homepage
    After staring at computer screens for about 25 years now (since I was 15 and had a TRS-80! har), I went from perfect vision to being somewhat nearsighted - my point-of-focus moved from wherever it was to where my computer screen sat.

    I recently got contacts for the first time, for other reasons - but the only times I wear them is when I'm *not* working. My eyes are pretty much perfectly adjusted for staring at computer screens now, and nothing else. :P

    Anyhow, I've got the Acuvue lenses from Johnson & Johnson, and so far, so good.

  • Don't be so goddam vain (Score:3, Insightful)

    by ynohoo ( 234463 ) on Thursday April 13, 2006 @07:37PM (#15126113) Homepage Journal
    One major advantage glasses have over contacts is that you can take the damn things off and give your eyes a rest!
  • ... and keep your glasses handy. A big no-no is rubbing your eyes. Usually if your eye is bothering you, and you rub it while wearing contacts, you will typically aggravate the situation. In this case the best thing to do is pitch out the contacts and wear your glasses for a couple of days afterwards.

    That being said, I can usually get about two weeks continuous wear out of a pair of disposables (even sleeping with them in). Then I trash them and switch to my glasses for a week or so to let my eyes rest ag

  • Just don't use Bausch & Lomb MoistureLoc contact solution. It promotes fungal infections [consumerist.com] of the eye... eww.

  • View from the Inside (Score:5, Interesting)

    by RedLeg ( 22564 ) on Thursday April 13, 2006 @10:06PM (#15126810) Journal
    My wife is an ophthalmic technician, and has worked for ophthalmic surgeons for 20 years. I had been wearing contacts (softs) for a couple of years before we hooked up.

    She has seen, and I have heard the war stories, of all the myriad ways that soft lenses can go wrong. Based on that, and the rather strongly worded advice of one of her bosses in 1989, I switched to rigid gas permeable hard lenses, and have since upgraded to extended wear versions.

    This is the best thing I have ever done with respect to my eyes. Since there is no fluid component to the lens, changes in humidity, gusts of air, dry eyes, etc., are no where near as big a deal.

    They pass more Oxygen than ANY soft lens, and for this and many other reasons, are more healthy.

    Unlike softlenses, if some "bug", fungal, bacterial, or whatever, gets into my eyes, the gas perms are not a medium for growth. The crap in the news about fungal growths associated with a particular B&L solution for softs are simply not an issue.

    I wear my lenses 7x24. They are approved for 2 weeks of continuous wear. I have gone much longer with no issues.

    They DO take a lot longer to get used to (weeks). Typically, they are harder for the practitioner to fit, more expensive, more uncomfortable until you are used to them, cost more per lens and per fitting session. An often overlooked benefit is that if (when) you get something foreign like dust, dirt or an eyelash in your eye, it is extraordinarily uncomfortable.... this typically causes the wearer to get lens out RIGHT NOW, and to deal with the comtamination. This is a good thing. As opposed to just tolerating it as a little uncomfortable, which is the norm for softs.

    As far as Lasik goes.... well, what they don't tell you is a couple of things:

    When it goes bad, it goes VERY bad. The options at that point are grim. it can get as bad as being legally blind.

    Second, no one knows what the long term effects of lasic are. I plan to be alive for at least 50 more years, and there is no track record for this procedure anywhere near that long ago. Further, as we age, we ALL need cheaters or bifocals to deal with the fact that our eyes loose flexibility as we age. Lack of flexability translates into limited ability to change focus from close up to infinity. Lasic may set you free from your specs now, but you are still going to need cheaters or bifocals starting at around 40-45. FWIW, I keep several sets around... so you can guess my age....

    Remember, these are your EYES. You only have two, and unless something changes radically, you can never get more. They can transplant hearts, kidneys, and lots of other things. Not eyes. Be conservative. Talk to a Doctor (not an optometrist) about hards. Find someone who specializes, not a refractive surgeon running a lasik mill. And finally, remember, we all are going to need cheaters when we get older.

    Red

  • I've been wearing Menicon Z's for the past couple of months and believe I've found the next best thing to Lasik. They're wearable for up to 30 days at a time. Clean and soak them overnight and you're good to go for another 30 days. They're made from a new plastic that's oxygen hyper-transmissive so I never fight with dry eyes any longer. With my old RGPs, by the end of the day I'd be pushing the lenses around, trying to get some moisture in my eyes and fight off the "sticky" feeling.

    And, according to the

  • The first two times I tried wearing contacts instead of glasses, my eyes got dry and I didn't last more than a week before putting the glasses back on (or squinting a lot, which was just bad news).

    A few years ago, I got a new set (They were Focus, but I wear Accuview Advanced Torric now because they don't rotate as much) and decided to stick with them for a month, because my doctor told me it would take that long for my eyes to get used to producing extra moisture. I'm glad I stuck with it, because I can't
  • I'm probably posting way too late for anyone to read this, but for the record:
    Ortho-Keratology [ortho-k.net] has turned out to be one of the best choices I've ever made.

    It's hard contact lenses which you wear only overnight. During that time they reshape your cornea, so that your vision is corrected for the entire day and then some without wearing contact lenses during the day. It has none of the risks you get with LASIK, and it's "future proof" - when I get older and longsightedness starts setting in, I won't be screw

  • Cost-saving Lasik option (Score:3, Funny)

    by mattbee ( 17533 ) <matthew@bytemark.co.uk> on Friday April 14, 2006 @08:02AM (#15128375) Homepage
    I've heard a lot of people here talk about Lasik being the best option but if you're on a shoestring, you could consider the new LasikAtHome [lasikathome.com] kit. Only $100, which is way cheaper than the $4000 you get charged for a "professional" job! Has anyone tried it?
  • Been using Acuvue 2 all day with agitation when they're in cleaning solution. They dry out indeed, but they're not painful and compared to having an appliance on your face or performing irreversable eye surgery, they're the best solution.

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