Thanks for the replies. In regards the Subscription vs Buy As You Need Them question, I will definitely investigate what they have to offer with their subscription. It would definitely take a lot to win me over though and I am almost certain I will end up just wanting to pay for my appointment outright and buy them online. (Perhaps even from them, but it's the pay-as-you-go angle I'm interested in).
For example, I'm a size 9, -1.00 in the right and -1.25 in the left
Gosh. I'm
really short-sighted then - mine (which I presume are in the right "ball park") are both -4.00. What are you even doing with lenses! You can see almost perfectly by comparison!!!
yes, look at the edges. they curve inwards when it's inside out
if they are the right way round they will be in a perfect "cup" shape. A smooth semi-circle
This is what I've been told but I've yet to see any difference. Through experimentation however I discovered my own nifty way of working this out - attempt to 'roll up' the lens. If it rolls into an "O" shape, it's the correct inversion, and if it rolls flat on itself (a "U" shape) it's inside out.
As for "you'll know when it's in the eye"... how uncomfortable is uncomfortable? Just an odd sensation or a painful experience that you'd like to avoid if at all humanly possible? And if it is, can you take the lens out, invert it, and put the exact same lens back in - or best to start with a fresh lens?
don't do it all the time, but if you're running a but short it won't do any harm.
Not worth taking a risk.
I suspected that would be the answer. I actaully did a bit of research and ran across
this article from the Daily Mail... which should have told me all I needed to know, I guess.
I do love a good eye rub when I take them out
Indeed - my new found eye paranoia has stopped me doing all forms of rubbing! Doubtless I will soon become cavalier about the things. For the moment though I have no fewer than seven eye-hygiene-related products. Pleasingly, my eye irritating has gone away all of its own accord - I shall have to keep an eye on it. (A-ho ho ho).
can mitigate against this by having a little saline container in your man bag. A few drops ahead of a long drive and you should be just fine til you get home.
Interesting - I bought some of
this stuff ("dry eyes mist") from Boots but was seriously unimpressed - mainly because it insists you spray it on closed eyelids and explicitly warns against using it whilst eyes are open. I did get some saline solution but not sure how one would "drop" it in one's eye - it comes in a reasonably large bottle...
There are lots of other brands of lens that promise to solve the 'drying-out' problem but my internet research just shows a lot of tortured souls who have been through a lot of different brands without success. I suspect that it is simply a problem that hasn't been solved and I should save myself the heartache of different brands, since the ones I've got are comfortable and great in every other way. Did you just decant some of the 'saline solution' into a smaller dispenser bottle to put it in your eye? Or should I be looking for a different product entirely? I have to say, actaully applying water does seem like the most logical response to dealing with dry eyes...
Great for 3D movies (2 pairs of glasses are a pain)
Absolutely! I am yet to experience that pleasure - I was desperately looking for a 3D movie to watch but the cinema is a void of entertainment at present. The other thing I am looking forward to is being able to go on holiday and buy a £5 pair of sunglasses that I can scratch, leave on the beach and generally mistreat. Up until now I have always had a pair of prescription sunglasses that 1) only got used about 10 days/year, and 2) always got lost/stepped on/scratched. I must have totalled about half a grand's worth of damage/loss there in my lifetime, so there's an instant saving...
Oh, and I can finally do fun things like water skiing and swimming while actually being able to see for a change. (Even though I was lectured about how I was never to so much as think of water whilst wearing them - hooey to that, especially if I remove them once done...)
As far as LASIK goes, I've been told I can't have it due to family history of glaucoma. In any case I'm not sure I like the idea all that much of permenantly altering my eye, given how much technology is likely to change in the forthcoming years. In any case, I've found lenses so comfortable and such a great replacement to glasses that I don't think I'm missing out - once they're in I literally forget about them which I never would have credited before I tried them!!
How did you cope with the initial sticking your fingers in your eyes thing? I've had glasses since forever[...]It's something I've wanted to do
YAY! A chance to be useful!
...Or not. You see a mere 5 days ago, I was asking everyone permutations of your exact question and wondering why the hell nobody would give me a straight answer. Now that I have finally managed it, you'd think I'd have the answer on my fingertips. But the fact is, explaining how to put contact lenses in is (IMO) a bit like explaining how to ride a bicycle: pretty much impossible to explain to other people.
Tacit knowledge is the technical term I believe.
I definitely think that your eyes just become less sensitive to touch the more you poke at them though. I found found touching my eye the nastiest experience imagineable only a few days ago, but since having practice putting in contact lenses have found it really easy to do.
It really helps to know that even though it feels really odd to touch your eyeball, it is actaully pretty resilient and it's hard to do any actual damage unless you have sharp fingernails or something. (For example, I presume you're able to touch your eye by pressing 'through' your eyelid). Also, touching your eyeball with a contact lens, or touching your eye on top of a contact lens, is and feels totally different: touching your eyeball directly has an immediate drawing back effect, which isn't the case with contact lenses. The actual 'trouble' with inserting contact lenses comes from the unique and weird sensation of 'suction' (for the want of a better word) when it is applied, combined with the realisation that you have to press the lens entirely onto your eye and hold it there for a second or two, rather than just letting the outermost rim touch for a microsecond and imagining that will be that. The problem
feels like it's one of not wanting to touch your eyes, but it's not (or rather, that's only the initial problem).
I think that's about as helpful as I can be. If any part of you is interested in contact lenses I'd whole heartedly recommend looking into it - but don't expect to get them in in the first appointment, especially if you don't have experience of touching your eyes.
What I'd highly recommend doing (doubtless to the cries of optometrists and health-vigilantes everywhere) is, having failed to get them in, to invest (/waste) £15 or whatever just ordering any lenses of the same brand. You can then settle down, with 60 of the things in front of you, no worries about losing the lenses since they're all headed for the bin in the end anyway, and no contact lens practicioner breathing down your neck, attempting to get the things in in your own time. This is what I did and it was after persistent practice trying this at home that I finally managed it. You can then go back to the opticians and pass their little test.
Once you've done it once, it's really very easy thenceforth - you just "get it". If your progress is anything like mine, you can let us know how you get on in 2017
[Incidentally, I've noticed that (Metropol excepted) not very many men wear contact lenses - based both on people I know and the proportions of people talking about it on the Internet. My theory about this is that women are used to fiddling about incessantly with their eyes, applying all sorts of mascara and eyeliner, while men rarely have cause to - hence contact lenses are a much bigger hurdle. (Of course, the other theory is that men just don't admit to wearing the things...)]
When I return to the opticians, they will be very keen to sign me up for some kind of direct debit as they have suggested as much. Should I do this or not? I think I'd prefer to buy them online owing to the fact I can get my very brand for just 10 quid a box (vs £25), and also I can't guarantee I will use precisely 30 per month which strikes me as very annoying. (Those paying attention will have noticed the similaries with X Minutes / Month mobile phone contracts...) In any case, are they allowed withhold your prescription / insist you order 8 trillion of them?
