Any hard contact lense wearer?

[Baptismbyfire]

I've been wearing contact lenses on and off for I guess about 15 years, and was a bit concerned about the condition of my eye. I don't feel completely comfortable with getting LASIK or any other eye surgery, but still want to keep wearing contacts.

So I've been told on several occasions, that wearing hard lense is actually better for your eyes because it allows more oxygen to your eyes, and that it actually provides sharper vision.

But I'm concerned about how comfortable it would be to wear it. Does it constantly feel like you have something in your eye? And also, since it's "hard", is there a risk of it breaking it in your eye, if you get hit or something?

Thanks for any input.

 

[FleshLight]

Ask your Ophtamologist to let you try Coopervision Biofinity, Acuvue Oasys, or Cibavision Airoptix. Your mind will be blown.

 

[dud]

OP, I used to wear Boston hard silicon lenses back in the 80s but now wear B&L Purevision 30-day gas permeable lenses.

I will NEVER go back to the hard lenses.

 

[ichy]

Different types of soft contacts allow more oxygen through as well. I recently switched to higher oxygen soft lenses, the optometrists said I didn't need to but I figured better safe than sorry and if there's anything worth spending money on it's your eyes. Dunno about sharper vision, I've always seen 20/20 or better with contacts.

 

[Oyeve]

When I wore contacts I preferred the hard ones as I have astigmatism in one eye and the hard lens was preferable. I hates soft lenses and they irritated the crap out of me. I eventually went back to glasses as I hated always falling asleep and waking up with blurred vision.

 

[Baptismbyfire]

Wow, I guess most people wear soft lenses. One thing that worries me is that they say you can't wear contact lenses forever? Something about it thinning the cornea(?) as it constantly rubs against it. But the thing with LASIK is, it's not foolproof, and I don't think there has been substantial research into its long-term effects (I'm not talking few years, but more like decades).

 

[Texashiker]

I wear boston semi-hard lenses, and have worn them since 1982. So next year will be 30 years I have been wearing semi-hard contacts? Wow, did not realize its been that long.

On average I get between 3 - 4 years out of one set of lenses. I clean them maybe twice a year, use spit to wash them off when on camping or hiking trips. I even use river water to wash them off when camping next to a local river.

 

[ichy]

I've never heard of contacts thinning the cornea. I believe that in the long term contacts cause more complications than LASIK, but that's because a lot of people are idiots when it comes to contact lenses. Change them when you should, don't wear them overnight and wash your hands before putting them in and you vastly reduce your chances of having issues.

 

[Texashiker]

Change them when you should, don't wear them overnight and wash your hands before putting them in and you vastly reduce your chances of having issues.

When sleeping, I only wear my contacts when I am hammock camping or taking a short nap. One night I rolled over in my hammock, stirred for a second, felt my contact pop out and heard it land on the leaves under my hammock. Grabbed the flashlight, found the contact, licked it, put it back in and went back to sleep.

I do not know what it is, but some people are prone to eye infections, while other people never have any issues.

In 2010, I went camping on a local river 3 times. All three times I washed my contacts off with muddy river water, put a couple of drops of saline solution on the contacts, put it them in my eyes and never had a bit of issues.

Pic of river just for the fun of it. This pic was taken from the back of the boat right after I washed up for the morning, brushed my teeth and put my contacts in.

 

[Baptismbyfire]

That water doesn't look too bad :biggrin:

 

[bobdole369]

As for specific lens brands, it all depends on how your eye is shaped. Your eye doctor has dozens of makers, with dozens of different parameters and the one that *fits* is the one you should get.

I wore hard (gas permeable) lenses from 2001 to 2008, before that was a single toric and one single vision, and before that coke bottles most of my life. My script is currently -3ish to -4 diopter for both eyes, with -2.25ish astigmatism correction. No longer can I wear normal soft lenses.

As for the GP's - honestly they provided the best, *unchanging* sharpest vision available. When wearing them I was corrected to better than 20/20 - up to 20/15 or 15/20 or (15/15) however it is noted. Thats down from barely being able to see the big E and nothing at all on the second line in both eyes to better than "normal" vision.

As for comfort - *once you are fitted and the fit is PROPER* GP's are more comfortable than soft lenses. I experienced no wear fatigue, but I did get mild spectacle blur (that is after taking them out - you see worse than without lenses. I got used to that - and my wear time was from 5:30am to 11pm every day without any real issues. RGP (rigid gas perm) lenses are easier to clean (you just do the ok motion with the goopy cleaning/conditioning solution for a few seconds, and the palm thing for a few seconds, rinse the lens under tap water and put in the case with the same solution). I've used spit to clean them in a pinch. Even gas station bathroom when something got under one. No biggie.

Taking them out is a practiced art, but they do have that suction cup thing for emergencies and drunk-time.

you get completely used to the feeling that something is in your eye. It takes roughly a week to get to that point. Stick it out its totally worth it.

In my case - I changed eye doctors in 2009 and ended up with a dud. He prescribed a poor fit and couldn't get it right. Then put me in hybrid lenses (called synergeyes) which trapped debris, and caused iritis in 3 occasions. I changed again after a year - and my new eye doctor is awesome. He found a soft toric that fits better than the available RGP's in my eyes, and I sacrificed a bit of sharp vision for the better fit this toric gives. I struggle to hit 20/20 but these are CHEAP lenses comparitively speaking, and disposables.

One other item - RGP's are buy 1 set - wear for 3 years. You can get them scrubbed around the midway point, but if you lose it - its over with - buy another one for $199 or whatever.

No risk of breaking IN your eye. Its not glass - its poly-something-or-other plastic. It's brittle, but you can bend it like a milk carton plastic.

Only once has it busted - I was in the engine room on a yacht reaching for the electronics I was working on and it popped out. My buddy I was working with stepped on the lens.

 

[Baptismbyfire]

Wow, thanks for the detailed info. Are GP and RGP the same thing? And I guess soft toric is just soft lense for people with astigmatism?

 

[bobdole369]

Wow, thanks for the detailed info. Are GP and RGP the same thing? And I guess soft toric is just soft lense for people with astigmatism?

Gas permeable, vs rigid gas permeable. Ostensibly the same thing. Soft Torics are soft lenses with a weighted edge so that the weight is pulled by gravity toward the earth. It allows the lens to have specific optics at specific parts of the lens. Yes its for astigmatism. Normal soft lenses spin in place with no such specific optics, the whole lens is a single script, while my toric might have stronger parts at the edges.

 

[ChAoTiCpInOy]

Gas Permeable is awesome. Don't even need to take it out for a month. It's amazing. Yes it feels better when you take it out, but since it's shaped to your eye you shouldn't have any comfort problems.

 

[Nebbers]

Another vote for Acuvue Oasys. These contacts are incredible. I'd fuck these contacts.

 

[Special K]

Wow, I guess most people wear soft lenses. One thing that worries me is that they say you can't wear contact lenses forever? Something about it thinning the cornea(?) as it constantly rubs against it. But the thing with LASIK is, it's not foolproof, and I don't think there has been substantial research into its long-term effects (I'm not talking few years, but more like decades).

With the way medical science and technology in general progresses, I wouldn't necessarily ever expect to see decades of long-term research on LASIK. By that time there will most likely be some newer procedure out for correcting vision, and the research will start all over again.

I'm certainly not saying you should have the procedure done because of that, only saying that if your criteria for having a procedure done is having decades of research behind it, you may be waiting forever. How many medical procedures from the 50's are still peformed today and in exactly the same manner as they were back then?