Conference turris::womannotes-v2

I wore contacts from high school through college, and a year or two after that,
never tearing one. Then I got lazy for a few years. Then, I was in a play. So,
I got my eyes rechecked, and got new contacts; definately a  different brand,
but I don't remember which brand either was. After tearing 2 within a year, I
gave it up.

So, it could be the brand. I assumed it was, and was too lazy to work at it.
	Mez

    You might consider hard contact lenses.  I got mine because I have an
    astigmatism in one eye; it's really easy to handle with hard contacts
    but soft lenses have to be customized.  The advantages:  can't tear
    them; they're a lot less delicate in general.  Disadvantages:  can't
    wear them around the clock (can't sleep in them); adjustment period
    (mine wasn't bad at all).  It takes me about a minute to put them in
    each morning, about two minutes to take them out and clean them each
    night.  With hard contacts, it's vital to get a good fit.  Look for
    someone with special training in contacts.

    	My thoughts would be to try a different brand.  I have an
    astigmatism also, and have special soft lenses.  They're very
    comfortable, and durable.  I had them checked at 6 months, and
    there wasn't even a lot of buildup.

    	It was a long time before I was able to be fitted for lenses..
    and now I swear it's been one of the best things I did for myself!
    So I don't mind the daily cleanings...as Chelsea said, it doesn't
    take all that long.

    	Amy

    Where did you get a replacement lens for $18? I also wear ciba
    contacts, and I ripped one 3 weeks ago (I had only had it for 1
    month), it cost me $60 to replace it....mine are tinted also so when I
    got the new contact it wasnt the right color. I thought the same thing
    is it really worth it to have them? I think it is for me, I'm much more
    cafeful now when I clean them!!!!! 
    
                      Lee

    I've worn contacts for 17 years and have never torn one.  The 
    brand I'm currently wearing is American Hydron.  How did you 
    tear your lens?  While taking it out of storage or while cleaning?
    And how old was it?
    
    The way you care for your lens and the age of it can play a big
    factor in how easily soft lenses can tear.
    
    Carol
    

    Do you use wetting drops before you take your lenses out?  It
    definitely increases the life the lens...haven't torn one since
    I've been using the drops.
    
    Judi
    

    I have been wearing soft contacts for a couple of
    years now and I like them.  I didn't need glasses
    until a couple of years ago (when I was around 23),
    so it was hard to get used to wearing anything on my face.
    I pretty much went right into contacts, and after the
    initial adjustment period they felt fine.  For me, playing 
    sports is basically impossible with glasses - contacts
    don't fog or slip or get knocked off.
    
    One thing I notice though is that work is a basically dry 
    environment where you stare at a terminal all day (which 
    decreases the amount you blink), and that causes my eyes 
    to get very dry.  I use wetting drops and that helps
    a lot.
    
    As far as finding replacement lenses for $18, that seems
    reasonable if you have contact insurance which costs around
    $25 a year and is available through most eye care places.
    
    Barb

    You might try the extended wear lenses.  They aren't any tougher, but
    you don't have to take them out and clean them every night, so that
    would reduce the likelihood of tearing one. I've been wearing them for
    about 5 or 6 years, and have never had even a hint of a problem.  I do
    clean them weekly, though, instead of every two weeks like the
    manufacturer suggests. 
    
    							Pat

    Nix on the extended wear lenses, IMHO.  More and more cases are
    cropping up, showing that the extended wear lenses are causing 
    increased cases of corneal damage.
    
    Carol
    

    It looks like I've got to head back to my opticians and ask some 
    good questions.
    
    	.4 - I have an agreement through Cambridge Eye that covers lost
             or damaged lenses.
    
    	.5 - This contact was only 6 months old.  I may not be the most
    	     careful person but I've been more conscious of my cleaning
    	     and handling procedures in the past months.
    
    	.6, .7 - Using the wetting drops is a good suggestion, thx
                                   	   
    	.8 - I've been told that I can't wear the extended wear because I
    	     now need help with seeing far and near (advancing age)
    
    Thanks, Julia

    I've been wearing Bausch and Lomb soft contact lenses for over ten
    years.  I'm not overly careful and most lenses last about a year.
    I've been very happy with B&L.
    
    I decided to get tinted contact lenses a couple of years ago.  I was
    sick of dropping the lens in the sink, or on the floor, or on the side
    of the vanity, and not being able to see the dang thing. It's just like
    in those ads they ran a while back, with the drops of water on a leaf,
    which one is the contact lens?  You have to poke at all the drops of
    water in the sink to find out.  Anyway, I tried B&L's color lenses
    and I didn't like the way they seated on the eye.  So I switched to
    Ciba.  I went through two pairs of Cibas in two weeks!  They are much
    too fragile for daily wear.  I went back to B&L.
      
    I would suggest that .0 try a brand other than Ciba.
    
    By the way, color lenses are great!  In addition to being easy to 
    find when dropped, they do get people to look you in the eye ;-)
    
    			Bb

    I'll put a plug in for extended wear lenses. wouldn't give mine
    up. The daily cleaning solutions irritated my eyes to the point
    of having to take my lenses out early every night. I now take the
    extended wear out every 2 weeks (they are approved for 4 weeks)
    it takes about an hour to clean them. 
    
    I've had B&L lenses for 8 years never tore one (lost a few).
    
    Gail

    I heard  on  NPR  several  weeks  ago that the FDA has reduced the
    length of time that soft contacts can be left in. I don't remember
    the  number  off  hand,  but  they said that optometrists had been
    recommending the shorter time anyway.

--David

    
    re: extended wear lenses
    my optometrists have consistently recommended not wearing extended wear
    lenses for more than a week or 10 days. if one takes out the lenses and 
    cleans them every night there is a chance that they will not be 
    cleaned properly or that they will be ripped or scratched or otherwise 
    damaged; the idea being that the lenses should be handled as little as
    possible. if one takes out the lenses every 2 weeks or more there is a
    chance they will not be cleaned enough and infections will build up in
    the eye undetected (does that make any sense?)

    My opthamologist told me to take them out and clean them every week,
    regardless of what the manufacturer said.  I started wearing them
    because I travel on business and got sick of hauling around 5 pounds
    of contact paraphanalia, so taking them out every weekend is no
    bother anyway.  But my Dr. was very, very specific about cleaning
    them weekly, and warned about all sorts of dire consequences if
    I didn't.  So I do.  And lo these many years I haven't had any
    problem at all.  They're wonderful!
    
    							Pat

    I've been using Bausch & Laumb contacts for, oh, a little over
    a year and a half. I've torn one recently, but I'm not overly
    careful with handling them.
    
    --- jerry

    I wear B&L Ultrathins. They're the most comfortable lens I've ever
    worn. Unless they're dirty, I can't feel them at all.
    
    They're supposed to be extended wear, but I take them out ever night
    for heat treatment. I tried several extended wear lenses and something in
    my eyes destroyed every pair. The longest any set lasted was three
    months. My doctor was quite frustrated. But he says, as long as I
    don't mind the heat treatments (no big effort), it's better for
    the eyes not to have to contend with too many chemicals.
    
    I've ripped one once. Other than that, I have to replace them once a
    year anyway, usually when I go for my yearly exam. I pay $40 a lens
    and $80 a year insurance. 
    
    Traveling has become easier since I bought a lens case that has the
    heating element in it. I take that, a small bottle of daily cleaner,
    some of the individual tubes of saline solution and I'm all set. No
    heavy burdens here. 
    
    I think I must have weird eyes. I have no problem with regular saline
    solution, but the one for sensitive eyes makes mine burn.

    The aerosols are not supposed to have any preservatives in them, but I
    don't find them convenient to use. The can stops spraying while there's
    still some liquid left which not only wastes some of this expensive
    water, but makes it hard to tell when I need to go out and buy more.

    I've been wearing soft contact lenses (don't remember the brand, but
    they're toric lenses which are thicker anyway) for a year now and
    have never torn one.  My optometrist insisted that I should put
    rewetting drops in my eye before removing them to reduce the risk
    of damage.  Strangely enough, if I do that while holding my
    eyelid open, the lens will just drop into my hand without my touching
    it.  My optometrist had never heard of that before...
    
    If you find yourself damaging your lenses frequently, you might want
    to look into the "disposable" lenses, such as AccuVue.  These cost
    more, but you wear them for two weeks, then discard them and
    put in a new set.  No fussing with cleaning or disinfecting, almost
    no handling.  They are supposedly very comfortable.
    
    I have contact lens insurance - costs $25 per year but there's
    a $43 deductible!  Haven't needed to invoke it yet, though...
    
    Also, look at how you are handling the lens for cleaning.  I've
    watched others clean their lenses, and sometimes wonder how they
    avoid damaging them.  My optometrist recommended placing the lens
    on a knuckle for cleaning, instead of the palm like most people do.
    It tends to stay there, and is easy to clean with a finger from the
    other hand.  I've also found that some cleaners make cleaning more
    difficult, due to their relative "slipperiness".  I had started on
    Alcon OptiClean II, tried B+L and a generic brand after the
    Consumer Reports article suggesting that OptiClean II left particles
    on the lens, but the lenses were much harder to clean and felt
    awful - I went back to OptiClean II and am a happy camper.
    
    		Steve

    	If you can get your prescription from your doctor, CVS can supply
    contacts on the spot for $18-40 depending on the lens. The tough
    part is getting the opthamologist to give up the Rx.
    
    	My wife wears soft lens and she recently chipped an edge. She
    had to make an appointment, let the doctor "check the fit" and 
    she had a hell of a time getting the Rx. Cost = $107. She got the
    Rx and will seek another doctor who won't fleece her everytime that
    something happens. A Monday appointment at 4 is no good when something
    happens on Saturday morning......
    
    Ken

    I agree, eye doctors make a lot of money off contact lenses.
    Somebody (actually it was ex-WN Sandy Ciccolini) told me that
    she saw an advewrtisement in the back of "vogue" or some such
    magazine wherein you could send in your prescription and get 
    lenses for wholesale cost (typically $4-$8 per lens). Anybody
    know anything about this? 
    
    thanks - Dave

May I respectfully quote Click and Clack's motto: "it's the stingy person
who pays the most."

A competent eye doctor is doing more for the $107 than plopping the lens
in your eye and seeing if you scream.  And a mis-fitting contact lens
or an undetected infection can cause serious damage that your drug store
is ill-equipped to detect or treat.

If you're getting poor eye care, you might want to find another practitioner,
but you shouldn't expect to get better care at a pharmacy.


When I chip a lens and go into my doctor, he spends about 15-20 minutes
examining my eyes.  Both of them.  His insurance contract is $80/year
which includes all the office visits you need.  (Replacement lenses are
$40-50.)

In my case, I've had hard lenses for 31 years (plus or minus one week)
with "trouble" (mostly conjunctivitis) about once every five years.

Martin.

    Hell, it wasn't hard to get my prescription from my doctor. In
    fact, I didn't even have to ask -- he just gave it to me with
    the comment that it'll be useful if I ever need an emergency
    lense replacement while I'm on vacation or something.
    
    He always did the same thing back when I wore just glasses.
    
    --- jerry

    I believe it is now Federal law that optometrists MUST give you
    a copy of the prescription if you ask for it.
    
    I agree with Martin that you are paying for much more than the
    lens, and that it is money well spent - after all, it is your sight
    we are talking about!
    
    			Steve
    

    
    
    	I've had contacts for 6 years now.  When I first got them
    	I was told I had to have Toric lenses.  So I got them.  the
    	first pair lasted me a year and a half.  Then pairs after that
    	lasted me 6 months so I changed eye doctors.  The new doctor I
    	have now (that I think is great) told me that my astigmatism
    	isn't that bad and I can get regular lenses.  So I have B&L
    	soft lenses.  And they cost me about $75 less than Toric 
    	lenses.  I pay $27/year in insurance a year and they only
    	cost me $25/ea to replace.
    
    	And I wouldn't give them up for the world!!  Also with my
    	insurance I get 15% off glasses and 25% off sunglasses.
    
    	JJ
    

I love wearing contact lenses.  Due to a recurring inflammation under
my eyelids, I've tried just about every kind except "hard" lenses --
soft, extended wear, gas permeable (semi-soft).  Usually the lenses
would do fine for the first few check-ups (3-6 mos), then they would
start to bother me and I'd have to gradually cut back my wearing time.
There were several 1-2 year periods where I "gave up" entirely.      

For the past 6 months I've been wearing Acuvues, the disposable 
lenses.  Instead of wearing them for a week and throwing them away,
I take them out and clean them every night: my eyes are easily 
irritated and extremely sensitive to build-up of protein deposits.
(I still throw them away every week.)  This seems to be a good
solution (no pun intended) for me.  The price is astronomical, but
since they are the only kind I seem to be able to wear, it's worth
it to me.  No more glasses fogging up in winter, or flying off my
face during aerobics (those eyeglass bands make my head sweat more).
Best of all, I have improved peripheral vision, a real asset in my
bird-watching.  And I like the way they look, though I do get 
annoyed when people ask if they are tinted that blue ;-).

When I tear a lens, the doctor gives me another one free.

Jane H.

    I'm planning on going to the Accuvue next time I need new lenses.  What
    is the (approximate) cost for a supply of them?
    
    							Pat

    I was told about $500-$600 for a year's supply.
    
    		Steve

I tried the disposable lenses a month ago.  The initial cost was $35 -
including an eye exam, checking my prescription and two weeks of lenses.  Next,
is a fitting charge of $50.  From that point on, they cost $7/pair - which
are purchased 12 pairs at a time.  For me, that wasn't much more expensive
than my regular lenses.  I have a problem with build-up - no matter how often
I clean them - I replace approx. 3 to 4 lenses a year.  My insurance is
$25/year - then it's another $26/lens to replace.  Add in at least $100 for
solution - plus the enzyme tablets....

PROS - My vision was better than 20/20!  ...and it was SO clear!  I love new
lenses every week.
CONS - They were dry in the morning - couldn't wake up without putting a
drop of re-wetting solution in my eye.  (I hear that's common.)  It is also
difficult to tell if they are inside-out before you put them in each week.  

I still have one good pair of B&L's left (haven't torn one in 12 years).  Once
they get dirty - I'll go for the disposables.  The doctor I went to said they
have been a 'blessing' for anyone who has build-up problems or frequent eye
infections from dirty lenses.

-Kelly