# Contact Lenses and Laser Eye Surgery **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [May 24, 2018, 4:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/contact-lenses-and-laser-eye-surgery/814736 "2018-05-24T16:43:46Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 7\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![CelticKnot](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/celticknot/32/3392_2.png) [@CelticKnot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CelticKnot)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2018, 11:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/contact-lenses-and-laser-eye-surgery/814736/21 "2018-06-04T23:41:44Z")
> [@Omar\_Little](#): > > You don’t need to get cataracts to have the IOL procedure. It can be done well before that. Now it may not be covered by insurance without the cataracts, but you should probably inquire with your doctor and insurance company. We are both aware that insurance will not pay for it, and there’s no way I could afford it. ---
**Author:** ![CelticKnot](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/celticknot/32/3392_2.png) [@CelticKnot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CelticKnot)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2018, 11:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/contact-lenses-and-laser-eye-surgery/814736/22 "2018-06-04T23:45:10Z")
> [@molten](#): > > Update: > > I have tried to put the contacts on and I just can’t do it. I did manage to touch the white part of my eye a little on the edge but I am terrified what will happen when I have to pinch to get them out. Having someone else do it wouldn’t help. > > Any tricks? > > Are there any upcoming treatments apart from contacts or risky (dry eyes etc) surgery the next 10 years or so? Rigid Gas Permeable lenses. Nearly indestructible, and easy to work with. All you do to remove them is pull the outer corner of your eye sideways, and they pop right out. ---
**Author:** ![Tim\_R.Mortiss](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tim_r.mortiss/32/142_2.png) [@Tim\_R.Mortiss](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tim_R.Mortiss)\ **Post date:** [June 5, 2018, 12:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/contact-lenses-and-laser-eye-surgery/814736/23 "2018-06-05T00:33:01Z")
> [@CelticKnot](#): > > Rigid Gas Permeable lenses. Nearly indestructible, and easy to work with. All you do to remove them is pull the outer corner of your eye sideways, and they pop right out. I loved my RGPs for about thirty years. But in my mid fifties, I suddenly couldn’t wear them anymore. Doc said my eyelids weren’t secreting enough lube. So I had to switch to soft. Definitely trickier both to insert and to remove, but not too bad. Hang in their, **molten** , it will get easier. ---
**Author:** ![The\_wind\_of\_my\_soul](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ecc23a/32.png) [@The\_wind\_of\_my\_soul](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_wind_of_my_soul)\ **Post date:** [June 5, 2018, 4:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/contact-lenses-and-laser-eye-surgery/814736/24 "2018-06-05T16:49:54Z")
> [@molten](#): > > Update: > > I have tried to put the contacts on and I just can’t do it. I did manage to touch the white part of my eye a little on the edge but I am terrified what will happen when I have to pinch to get them out. Having someone else do it wouldn’t help. > > Any tricks? > > Are there any upcoming treatments apart from contacts or risky (dry eyes etc) surgery the next 10 years or so? Unfortunately, not a trick, but something you should know. The act of putting contacts in takes an incredibly long time to master. It’s hard to remember now, but I think it took about five years of daily use before I could pop my contacts in pretty easily. In the first year of having contacts, it would sometimes take as long as half an hour to get them in. While you do eventually get to the point where putting both in takes under a minute, for your lifestyle, set aside a good amount of time specifically dedicated to putting contacts in if you want to commit to this. (Taking contacts out, on the other hand, was something I mastered quickly. I just squeezed at the edges and they popped right out. I’ve heard some people mention something about sliding them to the side or something, but I never did that maneuver.) Oh, actually I do have a tip!! Did anyone show you the difference between a lens that’s inside out versus the right way? If not, Google it. No one showed me until a follow-up visit. As a result, I spent the first few weeks finding contacts insanely uncomfortable, because contacts that are inserted inside out will still adhere to the eyeball, they just feel a lot worse when you wear them. ---
**Author:** ![Kent\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kent_clark/32/105_2.png) [@Kent\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kent_Clark)\ **Post date:** [June 5, 2018, 5:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/contact-lenses-and-laser-eye-surgery/814736/25 "2018-06-05T17:11:56Z")
I suppose I need to offer a caution here. When my wife needed cataract surgery, she went all-out and had the vision correction as well. Now, one of the things my wife was proudest of is that she never needed reading glasses. The surgeon didn’t explain very well what he was going to do, and wound up correcting her distance vision (to 20/40) but at the same time messing up her near vision. Now she needs reading glasses, and since she spends more time doing close-up work than distance, she considers that to be a loss. So before you decide on LASIK, you and your surgeon need to be exactly on the same page about what to expect. ---
**Author:** ![nelliebly](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/nelliebly/32/5422_2.png) [@nelliebly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nelliebly)\ **Post date:** [June 5, 2018, 5:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/contact-lenses-and-laser-eye-surgery/814736/26 "2018-06-05T17:22:08Z")
When I first got contact lenses, it took me weeks to override the natural tendency to blink when something gets close to the eye, whether it be a contact lens or the fingers to remove the lens. It just takes time. and patience with yourself. Now, 13 eye surgeries (12 of which did not involve general anesthesia) and innumerable stitch removals later, I can master the tendency to blink no matter what’s coming at me, which says nothing about me and a lot about human capabilities. Ironically, in my casethere’s nothing more that can be done. I’d love to have the choice of Lasik or contact lenses–NOT a bid for pity, just a reminder that it’s good to have the choice. ---
**Author:** ![molten](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ec9cab/32.png) [@molten](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/molten)\ **Post date:** [June 13, 2018, 7:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/contact-lenses-and-laser-eye-surgery/814736/27 "2018-06-13T19:57:03Z")
I am thinking to just do PRK (as it is safer than the other one), but I read that you have to wear soft contacts to recover… Although a doctor will place and remove them. For those of you who had trouble with contacts, how hard is it for the doctor to place and remove the contact bandages after the PRK surgery? [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/contact-lenses-and-laser-eye-surgery/814736.md?page=1)