Ins & Outs of Contact Lenses

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New Contacts wearer.... eeek.

I lost my prescription glasses almost a week ago. Don't ask... I feel awfully stupid about that. I gave up on ever finding them again so I ordered a new pair of glasses today but they won't be ready for days & days. The shop (which I've been going to for years) suggested I wear contacts and had some that I could have. It was a bit of a struggle to get them into my left eye.

I'm a little anxious about this. I tried wearing contacts about five years ago and had a terrible time trying to get one out which completely put me off them. The only reason I'm trying them now is that I'm desperate to see and the "drugstore" glasses aren't cutting it.

The optometrist gave me loads of advice and his cell phone number in case I freak out again but I'm wondering if any a2kers have any good tips on the ins & outs of contacts.

<blink, blink>

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Oh poor Piffka.

I wish I could help.

I tried contacts briefly, during a rather vain period of college.

I have recounted the dreadful jalapeno contact disaster date on A2K before which lead to my forever divorce from contacts.

Days and days to make glasses?

The bastards.

I'll come up to Bombay and give those guys an ass-tasering if you need me to.

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Can't help with the contacts. I gave up on them when I was convinced I had one stuck in my eye, and almost popped my eyeball out. Confused

Order two pairs of glasses while you're at it. It's harder to lose a pair if you have a backup pair. I don't know why, but it works.

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What about LensCrafters?

I guess it's too late.

I love contacts for sports. I also like them 'cause they look better than glasses. I haven't worn them in about a year, though, for no particular reason. About ready to wear them again.

One thing is that whenever I go back to them I need to phase them in -- I can't just plop 'em in and leave 'em all day. Something like 2 hours for a couple of days, 4 hours for a couple of days... also probably not practical for you.

If I'm wearing them, I always but always carry lens rewetting drops, (forget the brand). And make sure I drink enough water. Having dry eyes and contacts is a bad itchy scratchy mix.

I'm terrible about putting them in and taking them out. The way I do it is tilt my face down, hold the bottom of the eye down with my left hand, stare at my pupil intensely, and put the contact by the lower eyelid, not exactly plopped in the middle. (Does that make sense?) Then I keep staring and it eases into position all by itself. That's the hardest part, not blinking, 'cause you blink it out.

I usually give myself 3 tries and if it doesn't work, come back to it later, because my eye gets irritated and watery and then it's much harder to get in.

Always keep it clean and wet -- don't let it dry out if you keep trying.

To get it out, I slide it over to the side and kinda pinch the edges -- that breaks the seal and then I can get it out. Always much easier for me than getting them in.

Hmm, that's all I can think of.

Modern contacts are actually really comfortable in general. I tried some in high school and it was absolutely awful (not least because I was on diuretics, they were hard, and if I didn't have enough fluids in me -- which was often -- they'd spontaneously pop outta my eye), but the new soft ones are really nice.

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Jalapeno contacts? Oh, lord, that sounds worse than awful. Thanks for the sympathy, Boomer. At least I can see, which is wonderful after these past few days of blurry vision.

Last time I tried contacts I said never again. At least this time (THIS time) I am not going to be forever putting them in and taking them out just "to practice." Once they're in... that's it 'til I have to go to sleep. Mostly I was told to remember to blink a lot.

No need for ass-tasering though, I like these folks. They've been making me glasses for fifteen years. Is days and days a long time for glasses to be made do you think? It's a long time to be without specs, but I didn't think it was excessively long to wait. They'll be in next week, maybe before Friday. I do like the new glasses... they're like my old ones, but with an even more flexible frame:

http://www.silhouette.com/imperia/md/images/products/aprilkoll_04/30.gif

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ehBeth wrote:

Can't help with the contacts. I gave up on them when I was convinced I had one stuck in my eye, and almost popped my eyeball out.

Order two pairs of glasses while you're at it. It's harder to lose a pair if you have a backup pair. I don't know why, but it works.

LOL... yeah. That's what I remember... scraping and scraping at my eyeball to get the screwy little thing out. Yuck. Whew... must keep breathing and not feeling anxious. The guy told me to allow an hour to get them in and another to get them out so I wouldn't feel rushed. I told him he needed to be part psychologist when he was fitting contacts.

The glasses are expensive so I'm hoping my old pair will turn up as soon as the new ones arrive. Seems like that should work, doesn't it? I have two back-up pairs of glasses but I have no idea... NONE... where they are. Haven't needed backups in years. If I were still working, I'd know. One would be in my desk, the other in my briefcase.

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sozobe wrote:

What about LensCrafters?

I guess it's too late.

I love contacts for sports. I also like them 'cause they look better than glasses. I haven't worn them in about a year, though, for no particular reason. About ready to wear them again.

One thing is that whenever I go back to them I need to phase them in -- I can't just plop 'em in and leave 'em all day. Something like 2 hours for a couple of days, 4 hours for a couple of days... also probably not practical for you.

If I'm wearing them, I always but always carry lens rewetting drops, (forget the brand). And make sure I drink enough water. Having dry eyes and contacts is a bad itchy scratchy mix.

I'm terrible about putting them in and taking them out. The way I do it is tilt my face down, hold the bottom of the eye down with my left hand, stare at my pupil intensely, and put the contact by the lower eyelid, not exactly plopped in the middle. (Does that make sense?) Then I keep staring and it eases into position all by itself. That's the hardest part, not blinking, 'cause you blink it out.

I usually give myself 3 tries and if it doesn't work, come back to it later, because my eye gets irritated and watery and then it's much harder to get in.

Always keep it clean and wet -- don't let it dry out if you keep trying.

To get it out, I slide it over to the side and kinda pinch the edges -- that breaks the seal and then I can get it out. Always much easier for me than getting them in.

Hmm, that's all I can think of.

Modern contacts are actually really comfortable in general. I tried some in high school and it was absolutely awful (not least because I was on diuretics, they were hard, and if I didn't have enough fluids in me -- which was often -- they'd spontaneously pop outta my eye), but the new soft ones are really nice.

Yeah, Lenscrafters is too late and I have been a loyal customer to this shop for a long time. But, thanks, your description is what I need... the nuts & bolts of how-to-do it and yes, it does make sense. For some reason I begin to think I'm drowning <shrug, what can I say?> when I start to come towards my eye with the lens. <blink, blink> Honestly, it is like I am entering another universe.

I will keep your technique in mind for getting them out as that is when I had my anxiety attack last time. <shudder>

And drinking extra liquid? Great idea! Hadn't thought about that but I'll go get a glass of water right now.

I hate to be a whiner......

but I am.

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Hey Piffka, those glasses look exactly like mine! Are they Silhouettes?

I've worn glasses for 15 years and never tried contacts, so I can't help. But I consider them now and then - so thanks for starting this thread so I can hear more about it.

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Hi Mac! Yes, they are Silhouettes. I loved my last ones, my only complaint was they'd become nearly invisible when I set them down.

I'll tell you how it goes with the contacts. <blink, blink> Very Happy

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I was so lucky that my mom worked for an optomitrist for years and years - at one time I had more glasses than I knew what to do with.

Now I only have four - bifocals, sunglasses, regular and reading. I could probably dig out some old ones but I know the prescription has changed.

The first time I had to buy glasses after my mom retired I nearly fainted - they are very expensive.

I have a pair of frames like that stashed away for the next time I have glasses made. They are way cool. They take longer to make because the lenses have to be drilled for the earpiece and nosepiece but they are virtually indesctructable and very comfortable.

I have a friend who just had that laser surgery and they love not having to have correction. I've been thinking......

But I've worn glasses since I was a wee little thing. I'm not sure how I would even feel without them.

I understand contacts have come a loooonnnnngggg way since the last time I tried them but I'm still chicken.

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I've worn contacts since I was 17 and we all know that was a long time ago. If I could I'd wear the disposable ones. They are supposed to be the most comfortable. My prescription is in the nearly blind category, so it's contacts for me. If you are having trouble getting them in, make sure that your fingers are dry. The contacts will stick to you fingers if they are wet and they won't want to stick to your eye. When you're taking them out, put your index finger right on the edge of the contact and then look up. The contact will slide off of your iris. Then pinch the thing between your thumb and index finger to remove.

Some people need to use a mirror, but I don't.

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I've been wearing contacts for about 14 years and there are still times when I have trouble getting them out...but only when my eyes are dry. Try putting eye drops (the special ones made for contact wearers) 15 minutes before taking them out. That will make them more pliable and less ape to stick to your eye ball. It gets like suction sometimes. I have better luck if my finger is wet rather than dry...and before I could just stick it right onto my eyeball, I rolled my eye up ward (look up) and put it in under the pupil. Disposable are nice...you can get some now that you don't have to take out at night for 15 or 30 days. I don't know how I feel about those yet but ask your doctor maybe. I also don't need a mirror but that is after years of doing it. I figure I've put my contact in and out almost 5000 times! Wow. Shocked

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Thanks, Swimpy... I'll remember to keep my finger dry. These new contacts are so soft. They're like a half a bubble. There's a right way and a wrong way, too. Very scary stuff.

I can't imagine doing this without a mirror, but maybe that would work better. I'll have an hour to try tonight and I'll tell you how it goes.

Boomerang -- How nice to have too many pairs of glasses. And expensive.... shudder... I don't even know how much these will be. It is like an Eskimo woman once told me about paying the exorbitant cost for liquid milk north of the Arctic Circle. You pay what they tell you it costs and be happy to get it. I'll be paying whatever the insurance doesn't pay. I get a multi-focus lens so it'll likely be at least $350 and could be more than $500, which makes losing that last pair seem particularly dumb.

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It took me 15 minutes to get them out.

The only thing that seemed to work was peeling up the outside edge with my thumbnail & pinching it with my index finger nail. Ouch. God, I'm inept.

Everything is blurry again & this seems early in the evening, but we're going to a friend's firepit & I imagine smoke might be troublesome.

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Oh my!

Try this...

Put your thumb and index finger close together, like describing something very small (1/4 inch maybe.) Then put that handshape up to your eye, so the left edge of your index finger and the right edge of your thumb are up against your eye (don't have to touch yet) (and if you're left handed, reverse those.) Then after you've slid the lens over, take those fingers and GENTLY squeeze the two edges of the contact lense to break the seal. Then when it's not sealed to the eye it's easy to pluck out.

By the way Bella's advice of making sure your fingers are wet is good, that makes them "stickier" -- the inverse of Swimpy's good advice to make sure they're dry and NOT sticky when you put them in.

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Last night I thought carefully about how I actually take my contacts out. Who thinks about things that become second nature? Anyway, here's how I do it. All with one hand, I pull my lower lid down using the second finger. (You know, the one used for the international sign of ill will.) Then I lightly touch my index finger to the center of my eye and slide the contact off of the iris. Then I gring my thumb into the action to pinch the conact and remove it. A very light touch is required.

Give that a try, Piffka.

The blurriness after taking the contacts out is pretty normal. It should go away after an hour or so.

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Thanks, Soz and Swimpy, for the encouragement and good advice. I have been trying to follow all the directions. I did keep my finger dry when I put 'em in, moistened when I take 'em out. Yesterday they went in fairly quickly... took about fifteen minutes with several false starts. I very smartly realized that if I put the lens in my dominant eye first, I could see a lot better putting in the other. Very Happy

The initial adjustment of having a foreign body in my eyes went quickly and most of the day they felt fine. Kept them in when we went to a party last night, but I had them in fifteen hours. They were practically fused to my eyeballs and took me 45 minutes to take them out.

I started out using my "pinch" method. What a mistake!! I managed to pull up part of the white tissue on my eye... caused a little bleeding. I stupidly thought I had hold of the contact (I was so tired) but it was something different, some important part of my eye. Did it to both eyes before I realized I was totally screwing up. (I started with the right... had so much trouble and this strange bleeding so I switched to the right and did the same stupid thing.) Omigod. Finally, somehow, I got the blasted things out of my eyes.

This is going to be a day of rest for me from the contacts because both eyes hurt and are horribly blood-shot. Too bad, because I can really see well with the contacts in. There were a few moments where I'd go suddenly blurry but I'd blink a bit and everything would come back in focus. The good news of the day is Mr.P was rummaging around one of the boxes under my computer desk and found several old pairs of glasses including the back-up to my backups. These are a Cartier pair I was never supposed to lose, bought as "an investment" when I working and a LOT better than the "drugstore" pair I'd been wearing all week. Why didn't I find them before? I dunno. Couldn't see in the dark.

Do you think I could have permanently damaged my eyes? Have you ever heard of anyone pinching the white stuff in their eyes before?

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Remember this?

ehBeth wrote:

Can't help with the contacts. I gave up on them when I was convinced I had one stuck in my eye, and almost popped my eyeball out.

That was me pinching eye gunk out. Went to the emergency opthamologist because of my lovely red eye.

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Hi Beth, I remember your post. You pinched the white stuff, too? Horrible isn't it? How did you get to the emergency room? Was it in the middle of the night? What did the emergency opthamologist say?

Could you see well when they were in? That's the only reason I'd like to learn how to do this (though the thrill is nearly gone). I had some of my best vision with those suckers -- and they are suckers -- in. It was great.

You'd think somebody would make contact lenses that you could just leave in permanently and then they'd dissolve (or you could put in eyedrops to dissolve them). Why doesn't anybody invent the stuff *I* need??

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I haven't read through this entire post, but the process of taking a contact lens out of the eye is quite simple, really.

You don't even have to touch the lens. Simply lift your upper lid with a finger from your right hand, and pull down the lower lid with a finger from your left hand. Then pull sideways and the lens will pop right out.

Easy as hell.

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