Contact lenses - best type and brand?

My eye sight, keeps getting worse, and I'm supposed to wear my glasses just for TV and computing, but whenever I go out I cant see peoples faces, and in shopping I have to kneel and look at prices. I buy my eye stuf from specsavers, they're the best, but they dont have that monthly free trial like vision express did. I did try the trial a couple of years ago and I just couldnt get the contact lense in, so I gave up on it, but I will try again.
I've decided for definate to buy contact lenses, and wheres the best place to ask for advice, why on here :tsr:

1) I would want to wear them all day, 20 hours the most, not during sleep though. Should I get daily disposables or monthly ones?

2) Which brand is the most comfortable, and feel as though you're not wearing them at all, and clear enough for driving in?

Love BlueAngel xxx

Reply 1

Juno

20

It depends really. The curvature of each lens brand varies, as the curvature of everyone's eye varies and they each have one they work with. If you go to an optician they will fit them for you and check that they fit you, and then you'll see what they're like when you've been wearing them for a while.

Putting them in does get easier. It just takes a bit of practice.

If you go to D&A for their free trial they want your bank details to do a direct debit each month, which you have to cancel 3 weeks before the next month so you don't get long enough to try them before you have to cancel.

Reply 2

AngelofnoColour

OP

14

thanks Juno_the for keeping me aware of d&a. Heres rep, for being so nice to me :smile:

Reply 3

Monii

1

each person is different therefore it's impossible to say which brand is the best...

i have Bausch&Lomb "Soflens66" contact and Frequency liquid

Reply 4

djk_99

13

I started off with dailys which were ok, easy to look after. I am now on monthlys which are a little cheaper I think, and still pretty much as easy to look after, you just have to wash them.
I havent experienced the ones where you can leave them in all the time, but they sound good. Only for certain prescriptions though.
All lenses are different, and they REALLY need to be fitted, and the wearing supervised, by an optician. I have to go for a check up every 6 months.
And I had a nightmare the first time I put lenses in (it broke and I was in huge pain, it was not nice!) and I was so scared to put them in again. You get used to it really really quickly, and now I can just whip them out in about 3 seconds.
All contact lenses *should* correct your vision so it is 20/20, so you should be able to drive in them. Your eyes may adjust after a while, and you may have to change the prescription, so goes back to the point about having them checked regularly.
And if you leave them in for ages, buy some eyedrops (I get mine from boots) so you can put them in when your eyes get a bit dry.
Hope that helps! :smile:

Reply 5

AngelofnoColour

OP

14

Thanks for the replies, both of u. I have this feeling that Im going to end up giving my eye an infection and the monthly ones are cheaper but it also means you have to clean them, being a busy person should I just stick to the daily disposables then?

Shame no other opticians do free trials anymore, do you think after Ive bought a months supply and I dont like them, they will let me return them?

Ive seen the Bausch&Lomb ones in specsavers. :smile:

Reply 6

jessicarabbit

8

whatever you do dont get the One-day contact lenses.

they suck ass. My eyes were always dry on them. The two week ones are much better....well, when you actually use them for two weeks and not two months like me...

Reply 7

AngelofnoColour

OP

14

jessicarabbit

whatever you do dont get the One-day contact lenses.

they suck ass. My eyes were always dry on them. The two week ones are much better....well, when you actually use them for two weeks and not two months like me...

really? so the daily ones are *****? What brand do you use?

Reply 8

Monii

1

oh i can't live without eyp drops - mine are called Visine (dunno if they're sold in the UK) and they help against having red eyes (and i think they also make my eyes less sensitive)

Reply 9

rah2

6

I've got daily acuvues and they are lovely, can cope happily with my leaving them in overnight :rolleyes:

I wouldn't go the leave in ones simply because they restrict oxygen to eye and not enough studies have been done to show the long term effects, similar to lazar eye correction

Reply 10

musicbloke

17

just wears specs - cheaper, easier, and better for you.

MB

Reply 11

Flicker

13

rah2

I've got daily acuvues and they are lovely, can cope happily with my leaving them in overnight :rolleyes:

I wouldn't go the leave in ones simply because they restrict oxygen to eye and not enough studies have been done to show the long term effects, similar to lazar eye correction

surely the dailies restrict oxygen more than day and nights which are designed to be left in overnight??

Reply 12

Pete2406

If you want the best ones in terms of health of your eye go for hard, gas permeable ones. They work out cheaper then monthlies dailies etc. You buy a one off pair and use them for a year. When the years up you go get another pair. You take them out at night and clean them. Depending on whether you have astigmatism you might have to wear gas permeables or toric lenses.

Reply 13

Adhsur

15

Johnson and Johnson's one day Acuvue is great. They are daily ones and though more expensive than the monthly kind, they are so practical and don't need taking care of.

Also, good advice for anyone buying contact lenses - you will probably find them much cheaper online! Unless you can help it, don't get them from your opticians.

Here are some good sites:

www.getlenses.com
www.contactlenses.co.uk

Reply 14

Adhsur

15

Pete2406

If you want the best ones in terms of health of your eye go for hard, gas permeable ones. They work out cheaper then monthlies dailies etc. You buy a one off pair and use them for a year. When the years up you go get another pair. You take them out at night and clean them. Depending on whether you have astigmatism you might have to wear gas permeables or toric lenses.

A year?? What if you drop them or something!

Reply 15

Pete2406

Well ive had mine for about half a year now and i don't think ive dropped one once! and if you do, you find it and clean it.

Reply 16

AngelofnoColour

OP

14

Pete2406

you find it and clean it.

I thought that too.

Reply 17

hypomania

10

Acuvue is the best brand in terms of comfort for me personally.
I very much prefer daily ones if you want to wear them all day because they are hygenic enough to wear all day.
But costly.

Reply 18

goku999

3

U better off taking a trial at ur opticians.
They will try a lot of different brands and ask u for comfort.
They will take a closer examination using the funny machine to see if the contact lens will move when u look in all directions.

I am using Acuvue Advance and they are quite good.
They are 2 weekly disposable by the way.

Reply 19

Jonathan

12

I'm on D&A monthlies, and they're really great. They're Mid Water so I can wear them 10 hours a day, EVERY day, for £15 a month I think, and the High Water ones are a few quid more but are 15 or 18 hours or something.

I've had one eye infection in a year of wearing them, but I got eye infections before I got lenses, and it's because I rub my eyes too much. It's not really a risk, and if you do have one, it's not a big deal: you just wear glasses until it goes.

Mine are *really* comfortable, and when my 10 hours are up they tend to get a bit itchy and remind me to take them out. Usually, as soon as I put them in and blink, I can't feel them any more.

Cleaning isn't really a problem - all you have to do is give them a quick rinse in the palm of your hand with the solution before you put them back in the pot (full of solution). If you drop it at home you go and wash it with solution and put it back in.

I think if you drop soft lenses away from home they'll dry up and become little crispy things after a few minutes, so you open another pair.

I wouldn't recommend getting lenses off the internet. The only way to do it is to have your cornea properly measured and assessed by an optician's equipment, before you get lenses and occasionally while you use them. It's about your health, and if you make a slip-up from not having a proper consultant, you're risking your sight.

Oh - I can see far better in my lenses than my glasses!

Contact lenses - best type and brand?

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