Hi all,

I’ve just been fitted with contacts (last Thursday), left eye for reading, right eye for distance. The first left eye one was a standard spherical one and didn’t work at all, so they ordered me 2 different ones for my astigmatic correction. The first one Air Optix was horrendous, it was like looking through a fisheye lens, the second Comfilcon I wore yesterday and it was much, much more comfortable, but still, made my vision feel weird and certainly wasn’t improving my reading.

My question is this; is this reaction normal, am I expecting too much and things will improve over time, I am very happy to keep plugging away if things will get better, but whilst my right eye is good (not as good as with glasses yet) the left is hopeless and I would give up if there were no further improvement.

I know my prescription is right as my two pairs of glasses are perfect, but I know that with varifocals people are told that it gets worse before it gets better and it can take a couple of weeks, is this the same with mixed contacts ? It would make perfect sense if it was, after all, you are asking your brain to take over…..and mine is slow !!!!!!!!!!

ANY advice would be brilliant here guys, I know no-one who wears them.

Thanks
Sean

Seems odd to me. My glasses are strong enough to give a fish-eye effect, but my contacts are distortion-free. Never had any visual distortion.

I was expecting to hear about problems with dryness or comfort tbh.

Are you sure you aren’t just considering your glasses as ‘normal’ and now contacts give you distortion-free vision which now seems weird to you?

Contact lens prescription should differ slightly from glasses one I think (does for me). My toric lenses are weighed so they should naturally rotate on the eye to get correct alignment, but I find if eyes are dry they can stick a bit and then eveything looks slightly fuzzy and out of focus.

I find the monovision (different focus ranges for each eye) works really well, both with lenses and specs, but it does take a couple of hours to get used to it. However, I never got on with toric lenses, which would constantly swivel as I blinked leaving me with hopelessly blurred vision 30% of the time 🙁

missus has had ‘script changed to the same as yours, one eye distance one eye reading, it messed with her head for a bit as well. She’s fine now. just the extremes are a bit weird (ie if she looks out of the corner of her eye at close up things they can get a bit blurry. )

Thanks guys, I have now put them in again, so its day 2 with the Comfilcon ones (on the reading eye) which are definitely better, I’m not having problems with dry eyes, but whilst my distance eye is perfect, the reading eye is no question weird. In short, with the contacts in my general eyesight is IMHO worse than without. I will give it a week of wearing this every day and see how it is then, I am still not wearing the reading one for a whole day yet (there is no way I could anyway,they are doing my head in !!)

The toric lenses are what I have now and they are way better than the standard spherical.

My God, what we go through just so as not to have to constantly have 2 pairs of specs all the time !

some torics are a bit funny. Mine are.
When I’m wearing contacts, things look bigger, especially cylindrical things.

this is a good thing 😉

this is a good thing

unless she’s wearing them in which case it might be a disappointment 🙁

LOL !

If you’re totally new to contacts, then:

1) NEVER use tapwater, always use the recommended saline solution
2) get used to carrying your specs with you – you never know when you’ll have to take your lenses out
3) if your eyes are getting tired, take them out
4) be scrupulous with your hand hygiene before putting them in/taking them out
And
5) enjoy not wearing glasses

new to contacts too

had to have toric lenses on both, which when i first wore for about 2 days seemed to blur my vision (reg numbers on cars for example, that i could see clearly with glasses)…so i rang specsavers and they told me my eyes should correct themselves to get used to them…

low and behold 2 weeks on, my vision is spot on, can now actually see when i go riding (what a difference 😆 ) and driving etc etc is like wearing glasses!

only slight problem is being in front of a computer all day i do find my vision blurs alot when focusing on the screen, im guessing thats cos my eyes are getting dry as it tends to happen nearer the end of the day…

they also recommended a cycle for the first 4 days to ease your eyes in…1st day 4 hours wearing, 2nd day 6 hours, 3rd 8 hours and then i generally just wore them all day after that…

does any one know where to get cheap monthly toric lenses? specsavers want me to pay 18 a month on direct debit for there services which i am not paying 🙁

I tried contact lenses to give monovision effect prior to having my eyes lasered. It was a few years ago, but IIRC it took 3-4 days of continual wearing before the brain adjusted itself and balanced up the vision. It is possible your optician has gone a bit too overboard with the short range prescription. Your long range vision with your short range eye should not be too blurred

Didzy2009 – what does the £18 a month include?

My lenses are standard single vision soft lenses, I get monthly replacements for £12 a month from Optical Express (I think that’s what they’re called these days) – all solutions & cases included

If you have a problem with dry eyes get the silicone based lenses.

They were invented for extended wear meaning you put them in at the beginning of the month and don’t take them out til the end – sleep and all. They are the best thing ever, for me. Plus they never dry out cos they are not water based, so even if you want to take them out at night you can still go right up til 3am or whatever with perfect vision.

Didzy, that is just what I want to hear !!

I believe that Costco is the very best place to get contacts, they are bargain buckets of joy ! I have been quoted £30 a month from my optician, so even £18 sounds a bargain !

John_drummer, Didzy (and my) Toric lenses are more expensive than the standard single vision ones.

But try Costco, they are brilliant and there is a few around the country now, worth checking on your location.

no worries sean – give them a few more days, i honestly believe they will change accordingly…..did seem unlikely at first, but it really did just happen after about 3 days and i was back to feeling like i had glasses on (being able to see) without being a speccy TW*T 😆

john_drummer as stated by sean – toric lenses are dearer, it includes the cleaning solution and any problems should i have, and any free contact lense tests etc in the future…..just cant justify 18 quid a month at the min, i can actually order the toric monthly lenses for 52quid for 6 months use from specsavers online, which is 8.66 a month and then probably 3 quid a bottle for the solution online somewhere, so gonna cost me 11-12 quid a month if i do it my way, or 18-20quid if i do it the specsavers direct debit way

That’s what I thought, so £18 a month is quite reasonable.
However, there’s always more solution than you need

JUst a question did you/your optician not consider actual varifocal contacy lenses?

A few things about Monovision which you’re trialling, you have to get your brain to swap between each eye for dist and near respectively, at first you might find your dominant eye taking over. Usually the dominiant eye is fitted with the distance lens, but if it’s very dominant it might still be taking over from the left reading eye.

If you have astigmatism in your left this can complicate things further. Toric CL’s will rarely be as good as spex because they rotate on the eye, depending on how much astigmatism you’ve got depends on how much this roation will effect your vision, the higher the astig the greater the effect of rotation.

Both the Air Optix and Comfilcon lenses are Silicon Hydrogel lenses, which let the most oxygen through to the cornea.

Monovision does take a little getting used to, so persevere for a few days, you could always getyour optometrist to fit the right eye with the reading lens to see if this feels more comfy.

Multifocal contact lenses are probably out of the question as they wouldn’t correct your astigmatism, so although both eyes would be working together the blur from the uncorrected astigmatism would be too much.

Hope that helps

P.S. I’m an Optometrist

you have to get your brain to swap between each eye for dist and near respectively

to me it feels more like you learn not to notice the out of focus image…

How do multifocal contact lenses work? Surely they move with your eye and hence you are always looking through the same spot?

Simon, basically yes, your brain learns to supress the eye that’s not being used.

Multifocals vary in design, the majority available today use a centre near design. Imagine a bullseye with your near power at the centre and distance surrounding it. They work on the principle that when your eyes accommodate and converge to read your pupil also constricts to look mainly through the near portion. In practice thay don’t work that well, as in bright light your pupil constricts!

You can get “translating” designs, which have a reading portion at the bottom of the CL, kind of like a bifocal, when you look down to read, the lens moves upwards so you look through the near portion. These kinds of lenses are normally hard or RGP.

Ah yes, I was thinking of a mobile lens.. I see.

I see, geddit? 🙂

go easy on chopping chilli’s (olive oil on your fingers first then it all washes off easily, but make sure you wash them well!

T666DOM, great info, thanks and to all of you, I knew I’d get the answer here !!!

There is no question that 1 short day and 1 longer day, they are feeling much, much better. I really did think I was going mad and they were a complete disaster, brain I guess is an amazing thing.

I always though the astigmatism in my right eye (dominant and therefore distance) was worse than that in my left, maybe not !

How long should I wait before keeping them in for the whole day and into the night ???

For a 1st time wearer I’d normally recommend a few days of daily wear, partly to let the eyes get used to the lenses, but also for the patient to get used to handling the CL’s. After that extended wear, but I’d go with the recommendation of the optom who’s fitting you with the CL’s, they may have a different procedure.

What everyone’s said, it’ll take a few days to get used to them.
When I switch between specs & lenses it makes everything seem weird for a short while.
I use “1 day acuvue moist for astigmatism” lenses. They’re not as comfortable as monthlies but work out cheaper for me as I only use them when cycling.
Get some drops to put in to keep your eyes lube’d too, they help make them more comfortable to wear.

I have the regular £10/month Specsavers contacts, although I only wear one in my right eye, which is my weakest for distance. My left is spot on for distance, but not so good for reading, so I put up with carrying a pair of poundshop reading specs. The one thing I’m so glad about is the change from Peroxide based sterilising solutions. You only forget to use the neutralising liquid once…