Contact Lens Wearers...

[etwahl]

i currently wear acuvue 2 and i've found that my eyes are a lot more sore and irritated these days - for no reason. it doesn't matter if i've just popped in a new pair of if i'm at the end of a cycle.

any ideas? are my eyes starting to reject contacts? i just don't know what to think. i hate glasses, so i really don't want to start wearing them full-time.

Tammy,
Mom to Lauren Genevieve
03/12/2003
www.evantammy.com

[mamahill]

Hmmm... I wear hard ones, so I don't know first-hand, but I know that when mine get irritated, a good little cleaning helps.

I think DH wears acuvue 2 - are they they ones that you wear 24 hours? He was having trouble with them and once he began taking them out at night to let his eyes "breathe" he stopped having problems. Also, he would "scrub" them with the solution to get off any deposits that might be bothering him.

I don't know that eyes can reject contacts, but I know that my dad quit wearing them after several bouts of irritis (sp?) in a row. Maybe your eyes are just irritated about the whole Evan mess? (weak laugh - such a bad joke - time for me to turn off the computer:) )

[etwahl]

i actually do take mine out at night.

but if it were a cleaning issue, wouldn't they feel good when i put a new pair in? icky! i've been wearing contacts for...holy crap, 19 years.

Tammy,
Mom to Lauren Genevieve
03/12/2003
www.evantammy.com

[mamahill]

oh, true - I forgot about that. I don't know:(. Are you getting enough sleep? (yeah right!) Are you taking them out at least an hour before you go to sleep? I had an eye doctor said that taking them out and then shutting your eyes, and then getting them up and putting the contacts back in doesn't let your eyes "breathe." But maybe it's different with soft contacts? Maybe visine? Allergies? (grabbing at straws!)

[Kimberly H]

Tammy, I'd been wearing Accuvue for years and then while I was on a business trip a couple of years back, my eyes turned REALLY red and were very dry.

When I got home, I went to the optometrist and he switched me to a different contact that allowed more ventilation and moisture to the eye. My eyes are naturally more dry than some peoples and I guess the trip with long hours really pushed me over the edge.

Just a couple of weeks ago I got some samples of the daily disposables to try out for our trip to China and I can REALLY tell the difference between these and my regular contacts. My eyes dry out so much faster with these!

Oh, the contacts I love are called Preference by CooperVision (I get the "standard") and you replace them quarterly.

Hope that helps!

[etwahl]

hmmm, i wonder. these are 2 week lenses, and my eyes have always been on the dry side. i wonder if that is a possible solution. the reason i switched to disposables years and years ago, was because i've always been lazy in cleaning mine, and i got protein build-up, so my doctor thought i'd be better with disposables.

and sarah, heck no, i don't give myself enough time for the eyes to breath :) i do put the glasses on at night (bedtime) but they're not on for too long.

i realized this morning i probably should be wearing my glasses more often when lauren looked at me and started really grinning. she's never really seen me in glasses. of course i do need a new pair. the ones i'm wearing now are my old prescription (-2.50 vs -2.75) and the frames are pretty old anyway, so it's definitely time.

Tammy,
Mom to Lauren Genevieve
03/12/2003
www.evantammy.com

[mharling]

Tammy -
I had the same problem and saw my eye doctor a few weeks a go. My eyes have more of a stigmatism (sp?) than they used to. With the curvature of my eye changing more, my contacts no longer fit properly and my eyes got sore and red. I am wearing a different kind of contacts now that are 'weighted' on the sides to help correct the curvature. They feel SO MUCH better. The eye doctor said that this is a pretty common side effect from pregnancy, so I would definitely go see one (have you found a new one yet?). I can sympathize!! I wore my glasses for a while and got so tired of them.

Mary & Lane 4/6/03
http://www.shutterfly.com/osnt.jsp?i=67b0de21b356c32425b2 - Halloween Pics!

[malisa]

Tammy,
Both dh and I wear your same lenses and we both have problems with very dry and sore eyes. I've been wearing soft contacts for 20 years and I started having a problem about 10 years ago. My dh only started having a problem a couple years ago.

OTC eyedrops may be a good solution. You want to look for ones that are ONLY preservative free. I guess the preservatives can iritate the eye. The ones we like are TheraTears, Genteal and Refresh. Within each of these brands they have varrying degrees of thickness of the drops. Using a thicker kind at night often helps, but I'm not to fond of thicker ones during the day--they goob up my eyes.

This works pretty good for me. But, I don't wear my contacts all of the time, sometimes if it's late afternoon and I'm home I take them out. My dh does about 50/50 contacts glasses. He also found he had allergies that affected his eyes, so they gave him a presciption eyedrop---can't remember the name maybe Pantanol? They really seem to help. We also have had our tear ducts plugged and cauterized. That keeps more moiture in your eyes. This has been the biggest relief.

This was long, hth

Malisa
mom to Isabella 11-9-02

[houseof3boys]

I had the exact same thing with my left eye. They changed the curvature prescription and now it's great. I wear acuvue 2 as well.

[sbaker]

I used to wear the Acuvue 2 lenses, but my eyes started getting really itchy. I wanted to try something different, so my doctor recommended daily disposables. I was hesitant at first because I thought they were really expensive. I went ahead and tried them out anyway. They are WONDERFUL!! I can't express how much better my eyes feel wearing them. Being able to put in a new pair every morning and not have to mess with any type of storage or cleaning is wonderful, too. Anyway...the ones I wear now are Focus Dailies. They don't cost much more than the Acuvue's. If you have any questions about them please ask.


Just my two cents...
:) :+ :)
Sara
Mom to Rayce 02/09/02
Baby #2 due 01/05/04

[Melanie]

I also switched to a brand w/ more ventilation...I can't remember the name right now, it's nothing I'd heard of but if you ask your Optometrist they probably have a cheat sheet which tells which have the highest rate.