Wondering who in here wears contacts and if so what kind? I’m currently in the market for some new ones (as mine make my eyes red for some reason) and saw this site with a free trial pair offer of PureVision contacts. Anyone use these? I hear they’re good if you need extra help with low light settings. Anyone? Bueller?
No opinion about the PureVision contacts, but I would like to mention that sometimes the irritation is a function not of the kind of contacts you wear, but of their curvature. To be precise, for a given lens, there’s both a prescription and a curvature, and the curvature should ideally be matched to the curvature of your actual eyeball. I don’t know how many optometrists really care about this, but I can tell you that after years of wearing contacts, an adjustment to the curvature made a significant difference in the comfort of my lenses.
Contact lens wearer here. Accu-view disposables. I remove them at night, and treat them as non-disposible, including cleaning…I get six months or more on a set. My optomitrist says they are the same plastic, just thinner and more delicate, so as long as I don’t rip them this is fine.
Give yourself a month, and if your eyes aren’t happy you may need to experiment with different solutions, drops, and maybe a different brand of contact. One brand of cleaner (I forget which, but I know it when I see it) caused me all kinds of problems, for example.
I had Sun-Soft contacts in the past (made locally) and they were far less comfortable than the the accu-views.
Contacts also have size–how much of the cornea they cover.
You may also consider switching your cleaning method. You may not be cleaning well enough. Or, your eyes may be sensitive to the cleansing by-products. Try switching cleansers, and follow the directions.
Talking to your optometrist/opthamologist is your best bet. Persistently irritated eyes can mean a low-level infection that should be looked at by a professional.
Thanks for the advice. Yeah, my ophthalmologist and I have talked about it over time, and he mentioned possibly switching brands and/or using drops throughout the day to keep them hydrated. One of the reasons I was intrigued by the PureVision is that you can wear them for 30 days…continuously. I have 2-week disposables but I take them out at night. Was wondering if anyone had experience with this type of contact - may be worth talking to my doctor about - and then when I’m there I can ask him about the PureVision free trial. Thoughts?
I wear bifocal lenses, I currently wear Bausch & Lomb SofLens Multi-Focal Contact Lenses. I used to wear Acuvue Bifocal, but they started irritating my eyes, so my ophthalmologist switched me to these.
For the last few years that I wore contacts, I wore Johnson & Johnson Acuvue. I loved them- I had almost no trouble wearing them they way I did (I am a bad girl and slept in them quite a but) and no trouble whatsoever when I wore them as directed.
Then I got Lasik, and it’s all good.
The OP is really looking for informed opinions, so I can see this one doing better in IMHO.
samclem GQ moderator
I talked to my optometrist about these and he said that some people are more prone to infection due to genetics/lifestyle/etc. He said some people are better candidates than others and you’re free to try it, but know that if you have issues with contacts now (I don’t), using those may not be a good idea. There’s also the cost factor. The 30-day wears are really expensive.
If I can insert a teensy hijack question that I hope isn’t totally irrelevant to the discussion at hand, when you wear disposables, how are you supposed to know that it is time to dispose of them? Are there any signs?
My optometrist in the US (somewhat carelessly…gonna talk to him about this the next time I see him) switched my contact lens prescription w/o telling me that I was going from extended wear to disposable lenses. Imagine my amazement when I went on line to order a new pair, having worn the pair he handed me in his office off and on for a month including overnight, and discovered I was wearing DISPOSABLES not extended wear. :eek:
No harm done, that was months ago and my eyes are fine. But I still have no idea how to know when it is time to change lenses – I will wear them nonstop for a week, then not wear them at all for three days, then wear them for a few hours, etc…it is kind of erratic, in other words.
Anyone know of something that should tell me it is time to switch pairs?
I wear torvic lenses as I have astigmatism. They’re monthly disposables, that I take out every night.
I love them. Never had any problems, so I’ve never tried any other ones.
I think you’re supposed to be told. My lenses (Acuvue Advance for Astigmatism) get taken out each night and replaced every 2 weeks, and when I started wearing them I was told right up front that they get replaced every 2 weeks. Maybe I’m just paranoid about my eyes, but I’d be suspicious of any disposable lens with instructions along the lines of “replace them whenever you think it’s time.”
I use Pure Vision lenses. I find them good in general. I wear them for a month at a time normally, night and day. I find them a bit uncomfortable in the morning until my eyes are properly lubricated and they are not quite as comfortable as my old Acuvue 2s.
I’ve been wearing the Focus Night and Day contacts (30 days continuous wear) since they came out like 6 years ago, and my eye doctor says my eyes are perfectly healthy (although she tells me i’m only supposed to wear them a month at a time, not 2 months like I actually do). I’ve no complaints, so if the Pure Vision are anything like mine, why not give them a try.
And I completely agree with the suggestion to make sure your doc measures your base curvature. It made a huge difference in my eye comfort. Of course, the funny thing is one eye wears a different base curve than the other in my case. 
There is a recommended amount of time to keep them. I also wear the Focus Night & Day and I change them every month as recommended. I wear them all the time but I think I would change them out that way even if I didn’t wear them for a few days here and there. The lenses also tell me! Today is the last day for this pair and I can tell. They aren’t crazy uncomfortable but a tiny bit blurry and I am ready for a new pair.
I recommend this brand highly–very comfortable and convenient.
I wear PureVision. They’re my favorite lenses I’ve tried. Comfortable at any hour of the day or night, excellent visual acuity.
I appreciate all the feedback, guys! Thanks. To the person who asked about how you know when to take disposables out, well, I think it depends on the person and the contacts. I have two week disposables (which I take out every night), and sometimes I wear them for two weeks and sometimes I wear them longer, depending on how they feel. I’ve been wearing contacts for a long time so I can usually tell when I put them in whether it’s time for replacement - they’re just not as comfortable or clear. If all else fails, just go by what type they are. If they’re two week disposables and you change them every two weeks, you should be good to go.
As for the extended wear lenses, I’m definitely gonna ask my doctor about them. I have been wearing glasses/contacts for so long - I have no idea what it’s like to wake up and be able to see 
Gonna ask about the PureVision trial next time I’m in there…I’d love to have 30 days of not thinking about them
I wear Night & Day contact lenses, designed for 30-day continuous wear. They work as advertised. I put them in, and forget about them for a month. I don’t even need drops. They cost more than other lenses, but I spend next to nothing on lens fluid (which can be quite expensive).
When you need a chisel to get them off your eye, that’s a pretty good sign.
I did wear Night & Day for a while and was pleased with them to start, but they got to be too much of a hassle price-wise. A 6-month supply costs more than a 6-month supply of 2-week lenses, and you only have 12 lenses versus 24. If you lose one, or one rips, or you have to take them out early, it’s significantly more costly. Otherwise, they were great for a while, since I can never remember to take mine out and it’s easier to leave them in for a month.
Right now I’m using Biomedics XC, which were a little tough to find online but quite worth it. I don’t think I’ve ever gotten red eyes from irritation while wearing them, even though I tend to leave them in for up to 3 weeks (they’re 2-week lenses).
As for knowing when it’s time, I’ll add to the chorus of “follow the directions”. But if you don’t and you leave them in for too long, they can start to feel grainy and tight, and (at least for me) vision starts to get a little blurry and it’s hard to keep them clear for long. I usually try to aim for taking them out over the weekend, so that I can wear glasses at home for a day or two to let my eyes rest.