I used to wear soft contacts everyday, washing and heat-disinfecting them every night, and “enzyming” them to remove protein deposits every couple of weeks. With good care, I replaced them after two years, and they always felt fine (except after 14 or 15 hours on those loooooong workdays).
Recently I started wearing contacts again, and discovered single use type, two-week use, etc. Single use contacts are rather thin, but I got the two-week variety and they seem to be basically like the ones I used to wear. My friends say that they ARE the same and you can really use them much longer with careful cleaning. No eye doctor is going to recommend that, but what’s the truth of the matter?
My doctor says that the “3-in-1” saline solution will disinfect them, so I shouldn’t use a heater. And when I’d normally enzyme them, it’s time to throw them away for a new set. In Japan they’re about US$350 for a year’s worth of contacts, $120 in solutions…I can’t even FIND the old kind anymore. Some websites show the rare (and disgusting) cases of infection that can result from improper contact use, but what’s the unbiased truth? Is there any difference between two-week contacts and the old clean & disinfect type?
I don’t know. I used to wear hard, gas-permeable contacts, but after a radial keratotomy, I’ve stuck with glasses. However, I think it’s a bad idea to keep contacts in your eyes for two weeks w/o removing them.
I usually wear my Acuvue 2 disposables until everything starts to look blurry. I toss them out and rejoyce proclaiming “I can see!!” Really, every two weeks I ring out in jubilation after putting in a fresh pair. Have I ever had an eye infection? Yes, once in seven years. It appeared sty-esque but then disappeared after two days of medication. Ocassionally one eye gets slightly itchy.
IMO, the daily wear are a waste of time. Acuvue2 are awesome and I truly do have better than 20/20 vision.
I’m sorry, I should explain one part of my OP better (I misled barbitu8 there…)
By “two-week use contacts”, I mean that they are thrown away after being used for two weeks. But they have to be taken out and cleaned every night. My doctor recommends taking cleaning and storing them in a solution that cleans and disinfects–even recommending AGAINST using a heater.
I just seem to think that using a heater to kill bacteria and periodic enzyming should keep contacts safe and comfortable for at least longer than 2 weeks.
I used to try to remove and clean my Accuvues, but I’d have a tough time getting them clean without putting little tears in the edge.
I recently switched to Biomedics 55 (Ocufilcon D) lenses and they’re much tougher. I take them out every 2 or three days, soak them overnight in 3 in 1 soulution then clean them between my thumb and forefinger while flushing with solution before re-inserting them.
I can get 2 weeks out of ‘Daily Wear’ lenses this way.
Never had an eye infection.
I find the Biomedics lenses much easier to handle, too.
Here is a bit about the class action suit brought against Johnson & Johnson:
I remember hearing that the company lost the suit, but can’t seem to find any direct evidence to back that up. Perhaps one of the teeming millions of lawyers has a better cite ?
What do you do? Sleep in them?..This is what I do and recommend. I use Renu for my lenses and I never rub them or clean them and they last me for about a month or 2 months at the longest. I bought a years supply in January and I’m on my 3rd pair now and have had them in for about 3 weeks. I just soak them in my container over night in the Renu solution