Help with my contacts!

[chaoticbear]

I got contacts again today. I’ve worn them before, and wasn’t too impressed with them, but then again, I had never gone back to my optometrist for a follow-up. I have a pretty severe astigmatism, and so my choice in contacts is limited, but I’m determined to get it to work. My main beef is that occasionally (read: once every 30 minutes or so), one of my contacts will rotate, meaning that my vision does this cool thing where it looks like I’m looking at a 3D image without the glasses. Are contacts ever going to work for me? Would switching brands help?

If it helps re: brand availability, I’ve done only a cursory search for different brands online. My prescription is:

OD: -.50 -3.75 180
OS: -.75 -2.75 015

(My reasons for contacts are COMPLETELY vain. I wanna be able to wear cute sunglasses. :o)

[Reply]

I have the same problem you do… pretty severe astigmatism. I’ve tried contacts at various points in my life, but have never been satisfied with them until very recently when I found a certain brand (for me, it happened to be the Acuvue Advance Torics). I had to go through several different brands/models because none of them would stay comfortable or clear for very long, but after three weeks and about 3 different brands, the doc suggested the Acuvues and they blew me away. They were instantly more comfortable than any of the other ones and I never had the random vision shifts again. YMMV, of course… I’m not suggesting that you try the Acuvues in particular, just that you try out all the different brands until you find a good match. It can make a big difference.

[Aeschines]

I couldn’t stand soft lenses, personally, and went back to RGPs. They are great for astigmatism and there is no “up” or “down” to them, so you don’t have that rotation problem.

[chaoticbear]

@Reply

I have the same problem you do… pretty severe astigmatism. I’ve tried contacts at various points in my life, but have never been satisfied with them until very recently when I found a certain brand (for me, it happened to be the Acuvue Advance Torics). I had to go through several different brands/models because none of them would stay comfortable or clear for very long, but after three weeks and about 3 different brands, the doc suggested the Acuvues and they blew me away. They were instantly more comfortable than any of the other ones and I never had the random vision shifts again. YMMV, of course… I’m not suggesting that you try the Acuvues in particular, just that you try out all the different brands until you find a good match. It can make a big difference.

Unfortunately, according to 1800contacts.com, they don’t come strong enough for my eyes.

Is there a comprehensive list of suppliers for various things like this online, so that I may go to my optometrist with suggestions after considering prices? The current ones I’m wearing are 60 bucks a box, which isn’t awful, but it’s pretty damn expensive.

[chaoticbear]

Also, these Synergeyes contacts look SO NEAT! If I can’t get this soft lens thing to work out, I’m totally going to ask about them. I just know they’d be like 200 dollars an eye or something, but it’dbe worth it for the novelty.

[NinetyWt]

If you can’t bear (sorry, no pun intended) the soft, RGP may be the way to go. I second Reply’s advice. Try until you get something that works.

[chaoticbear]

@NinetyWt

If you can’t bear (sorry, no pun intended) the soft, RGP may be the way to go. I second Reply’s advice. Try until you get something that works.

That was my plan, but I was hoping for a shortcut. Apparently, they have to be custom-made for my eyes or they have a REALLY slow distro center, because it takes 3 WEEKS for my contacts to come in. I was just wanting to be in contacts before 2008.