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Have contacts (for eyesight) gotten more comfortable over the last 10-15 years?

z1ggy

z1ggy

Lifer
Got fit for contacts about 15yrs ago. Hated it... hurt my eyes, made them itchy and they felt very dry. Got rid of them after a week or so. Moved to glasses. Want to try contacts again because vision is getting worse and I'm starting to have to wear them during situations I'd rather not, such as playing golf, hockey or at the gym. Concerned it will still bother my eyes and I'll end up being stuck in glasses and having to play sports and do other things with worse than 20/20 vision.
 
If you didn't get daily wear, try those. They are much more comfortable than reusable ones. I tend to wear them just for sports, etc. Also brand can make a difference. You should be able to get trial packs of a bunch of different brands from your doc.
 
I think he wouldn't be wearing them...

That said there are plenty of situations in which glasses won't give 20/20 (or anywhere near it necessarily). I'm barely legal to drive with glasses (one eye @ 20/30, the other at 20/60 or so) but custom laser fit sclerals get me to ~20/25 in both.

Viper GTS
 
Muadib said:
Why would your glasses not give up 20/20 vision? I thought that was the point of wearing them.
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They do but I'm not wearing glasses while playing hockey and I do wear them right now playing golf and I find it mega distracting. When it's sunny, I have to take them off and use sun glasses so then there are times when I hit the ball and once it gets further than like 200 yards, it pretty much just disappears from view.

Pretty sure my insurance won't do lasik so that's not really an option for me right now. Im reconsidering contacts so I can have as close to 20/20 as possible while doing sports. I don't mind glasses while at the office.
 
z1ggy said:
They do but I'm not wearing glasses while playing hockey and I do wear them right now playing golf and I find it mega distracting. When it's sunny, I have to take them off and use sun glasses so then there are times when I hit the ball and once it gets further than like 200 yards, it pretty much just disappears from view.

Pretty sure my insurance won't do lasik so that's not really an option for me right now. Im reconsidering contacts so I can have as close to 20/20 as possible while doing sports. I don't mind glasses while at the office.
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Ah yes of course. I don't know what I was thinking. :blush: I've worn glasses for the last 5 years, and don't like wearing them. Lasik would be the best move for me, but I'm pretty sure my insurance won't cover them either. I'm not sure getting contacts would work for me. I wear bi focals, and I don't even know if that's a thing when it comes to contacts.
 
I tried contacts last year for the first time in 20 years and I couldn't do it. I have the same issues as you and it happened again. If you try contacts again and can't do it then it may be time for prescription sport glasses.
 
rstrohkirch said:
I tried contacts last year for the first time in 20 years and I couldn't do it. I have the same issues as you and it happened again. If you try contacts again and can't do it then it may be time for prescription sport glasses.
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Yeah I've thought about getting my Rx put into my Oakley's that I use for golf. It just makes me nervous because I've been prone to losing or breaking glasses quite often. My frames I wear on the daily were like $40, and it's my 3rd pair in 4 yrs.
 
z1ggy said:
It just makes me nervous because I've been prone to losing or breaking glasses quite often. My frames I wear on the daily were like $40, and it's my 3rd pair in 4 yrs.
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That's 8¢/day. How much is good vision and comfortable glasses worth to you?
 
lxskllr said:
That's 8¢/day. How much is good vision and comfortable glasses worth to you?
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My point is that buying specific tinted sports glasses for golf would probably be many hundred, and I'm only willing to spend like $40 because I lose them or break them in what I assume to be a higher than normal amount. I can't even believe I spent the $100 or whatever it was on these Oakley's that I currently use.

I assume contacts would be like $300 a year or something like that but at least I can't really lose or break them.
 
FWIW you can get really cheap tinted glasses though zenni, etc. $40 would totally buy a set of RX sunglasses. Not brand name frames, but they'll work.
 
I've only been wearing contacts for about 5 years but last year switched from i think weekly or monthly to dailies. Complete difference in comfort between the two. My vision insurance is shit though and only covered the first 3 mos. I pay $145 every 90 days after until my next annual. I have dual coverage and will be getting rx sunglasses that should be covered with my secondary.
 
Consider LASIK. Best money I ever spent. I'm super squeemish when it comes to eyes, I just can't imagine trying to fiddle around with contacts. The LASIK was not pleasant to go through but the entire procedure was faster than the time it would take me to put on contacts.

I hated glasses too especially during any kind of physical activity.
 
Red Squirrel said:
Consider LASIK. Best money I ever spent. I'm super squeemish when it comes to eyes, I just can't imagine trying to fiddle around with contacts. The LASIK was not pleasant to go through but the entire procedure was faster than the time it would take me to put on contacts.

I hated glasses too especially during any kind of physical activity.
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Was it you who said they got sparkles at night? If I could be guaranteed 100% success, I'd get lasik, but glasses are fairly harmless, so even if they're wrong, it's no real damage.
 
lxskllr said:
Was it you who said they got sparkles at night? If I could be guaranteed 100% success, I'd get lasik, but glasses are fairly harmless, so even if they're wrong, it's no real damage.
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Yeah I got halos at night for a couple years. It's not super bad or annoying, but it's there. Now I find I don't get halos as much, but I get more starbursts now. Actually this pic describes it well:

xLasik-side-effects.jpg.pagespeed.ic.96VV3gbDlq.jpg


Only thing that's different is for the starbursts, the lines are smaller for me, and there's more of them. So it's kinda like if you took a pencil and drew a bunch of lines coming out of the bulb but lines are white.

This is not as bad as it sounds though, like the biggest time it's noticeable is driving at night and I always hated driving at night even before this surgery, mostly because of the assholes with HID lights. My sister said she is sensitive to light at night too and that it's a red head thing. So it probably just got amplified a bit for me. For every day activities in a normally lit room or in daylight then it's business as usual.
 
I don't think my vision is bad enough to warrant lasik. I'm leaning toward maybe talking to Dr. about daily wear contacts, but only buying maybe 30-40 pair, and just use them during sports or other times where I don't want glasses. User above saying $50 a month or whatever is pretty expensive for using them every single day when I'm fairly happy just using glasses at the office.
 
lxskllr said:
Was it you who said they got sparkles at night? If I could be guaranteed 100% success, I'd get lasik, but glasses are fairly harmless, so even if they're wrong, it's no real damage.
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It has a lot to do with your pupil size. If your fully dilated pupil is under the optical zone (not blend or treatment zone, optical) of about 6.4mm you are much less likely to have night issues. Unfortunately a sizable portion of the population is over this and lasik docs seem less than forthcoming about the implications of this.
 
Even with glasses I have a really high sensitivity to light at night while driving. With contacts it's definitely amp'ed up though. I pretty much try to avoid driving at night when possible because of the starburst effect from on-coming traffic. Now that it's darker earlier, I'm dreading my commute. Most of it is a 2 lane highway so I have on-coming traffic most of the way to and from work. I've considered lasik in the past, but back then, my dr said I wasn't a good candidate due to my diabetes. That was about 10 years ago though. I wonder if that has changed.
 
Go talk with an Optometrist - they will give you a couple of pairs to try. acuvue Oasys are pretty nice for dry eyes. Use Clear Care to clean them, and don't wear them for more than ten hours at a time.
 
z1ggy said:
Got fit for contacts about 15yrs ago. Hated it... hurt my eyes, made them itchy and they felt very dry. Got rid of them after a week or so. Moved to glasses. Want to try contacts again because vision is getting worse and I'm starting to have to wear them during situations I'd rather not, such as playing golf, hockey or at the gym. Concerned it will still bother my eyes and I'll end up being stuck in glasses and having to play sports and do other things with worse than 20/20 vision.
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I can relate to your experience. Contact lenses can be tricky for some people, especially if you had a bad experience in the past. However, contact lens technology has advanced significantly over the last 15 years, and there are now many options that might be more comfortable for you.

Here are a few tips that could help:

1. Consult an Eye Specialist: It's worth getting a new fitting with an eye specialist who can recommend the latest types of lenses that suit your eyes best.
2. Daily Disposables: These are often more comfortable and hygienic as you use a fresh pair every day.
3. Hydration Drops: There are specific eye drops designed to keep your eyes moist while wearing contacts.
4. Lens Material: Newer materials like silicone hydrogel allow more oxygen to pass through to your eyes, reducing dryness and discomfort.

Trying out these newer options might give you a better experience than before. It’s definitely worth discussing all these possibilities with your optometrist.

Good luck!
 
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