Daily contact lenses – talk to me

I currently wear varifocal glasses and they are fine for most things but since starting the process of remodelling the car I have become increasingly aware of how much they distort and warp my vision. I had marked the centre line of the bonnet and a series of perpendicular lines across the bonnet. As I looked from close up to the far end, all of the straight lines bent and twisted which made it near impossible to see if the bonnet level and symmetrical (it wasn’t).

I don’t think my prescription is anything special, just old and tired eyes so I should be able to get contacts.

I will only use these when working in the garage, mostly when sanding either Epoxy body filler or wood so lots of dust. I normally have face mask and an open sided visor to stop me breathing it or getting big lumps in the eye but it is still dusty and I wash my face and flood my eyes to clean them when I finish.

Will contacts cope with dust?
Will I be able to wash my eyes while wearing them?
Does this sound like a good use case for contact lenses?

I’m a new wearer of contacts (did a trial etc. through my local Boots)

no dust, no showers or swimming so washing eyes is also probably out

I spend time on boats and was advised against wearing them if I was going to get spray

I’ve always worn full face mask respirators when grinding/sanding etc. which should be fine with contacts

I have been looking at getting a full face given how much epoxy I going to be sanding in the next few months.

I was hoping the contact lenses would be dust resilient enough to cope with my current set up.

At work, I’ve worn impact goggle and half masks with contacts, no issues, full face RPE no problem.

Will they cope with dust, maybe a bit but a decent amount won’t be nice.

Will you be able to wash your eyes? no, i’d reappraise your eye protection if that’s an issue

Why not get a pair of non-varifocal glasses?

For me contacts were awful with dust but fine for kayaking, coped fine with being underwater and looking around. Very occasionally would lose a lens due to spray, lost maybe a dozen in 10+ years of paddeling.

Daily disposables (can be recycled) aren’t expensive and quite easy to get used to so maybe worth trying.

if you can fully protect your eyes from dust then I’d imagine they’d be fine.
using them with your current set up – no I think that’s best avoided.

surely preventing the dust getting in them even with current set up would be better,  if possible.

@wukfit I’ve been wearing lenses for 20+ years and shower in them every day. I’d stop showering if I had to take them out every time I needed a shower ! Swimmimg – never had a problem. Clearly head above the surface only if no goggles

Non-varifocal don’t work as they either won’t focus on the close up stuff like reading the lines on the ruler or they won’t give me the long range focus to see where I left the bloody tool I need.

Proper dust protection is the answer, I was just trying to dodge the £100+ for a full face when I have a 3M half mask for breathing already.

Contacts should solve the warping lines.

Don’t you hate unexpected extra project costs

You are saying you need close up and distance, how you planning to do that with contacts ? Some folks get one eye set for close and the dominant one for distance contacts, doesn’t work for everyone though.

You are saying you need close up and distance, how you planning to do that with contacts ?

I’m guessing with multifocal contacts? It’s what I use.

Good point, I hadn’t thought that through. I just sort of assume, uh, you know, magic or something.

Bugger!

I might as well get some cheapo normal glasses and carry on as I am then.

Won’t they give me the same warped lines though?

https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m001zvw4

Won’t they give me the same warped lines though?

No, they work very differently. Some people get on with them (like Simon, it would appear, that’s cool), but some not so much. Will depend on your prescription and priorities, so probably best to talk to an optician.

Would bifocals be an option? I’ve never tried them but would assume that there’s less warping.

I use the same multifocal lenses as @simondbarnes.

Optician went to great lengths with prescription to get the balance right – one eye has a better reading ability than the other which, thanks to the human brain, I don’t even notice in normal situations.  If I need to look at minute detail I simply close my left eye.

1. Will contacts cope with dust?

2. Will I be able to wash my eyes while wearing them?
3. Does this sound like a good use case for contact lenses?

Been a contact lense wearer for decades and now use varifocals (Coopervision) which have a centre area for close up and outer for distance. They work well (especially for cycling) – are slightly compromised for really close up and long distance, but that’s because of my prescription and that my optician has set them up to work for middle distance best (ie. computer screens).

1. IMO they cope better than an eye without contacts as the lens keeps particle away from the pupil. You still have to get rid of it asap, but if, for example you get a fly in your eye while riding, it stays on the outside part of the eye away from where it’s really uncomfortable.

2. You can splash water on your eyes, or use contact cleaner like drops, but it’s better to take the lenses out

3. Any case is a good case for lenses if you ask me. They’re just so much more convenient than glasses.

Wife tried multifocal contacts and didn’t get on with them.

I usually only wear mine (plan lenses) on the bike (and when swimming…) for a few hours at a time but during the pandemic wore them for 14h+ a day due to need to wear eye protection at work. Gritty eyes a go go!

Can’t comment on the dust at work.

As Nobby, I too use cooper vision with varifocal, stigmatism and one adjusted slightly for improved reading. The coopers are monthlies that you remove and rinse each night.

The only feature they don’t have is reactolight!

I ride, shower, bath and wash my face, no issues.

I swim in them too but wearing goggles.

I also use aquavue moist daily disposables for bikepacking trips.

But warning, sticking and removing a foreign body in your eye takes some getting used to!

I should probably add that I’m a spectacularly unenthusiastic swimmer so when I say swimming I mean ‘sitting in the pool/sea on holiday while the rest of my family swim’

I swim in them too but wearing goggles.

Yeah, same – they do get stuck to our eyeballs if you swim or bathe/shower in them. But I don’t think you can do those things wearing glasses at all 🙂

I thought wearing contacts while showering/swimming was a big no no because germs may get trapped behind the lense

Okay, looks like I might pop into Specsavers and talk to their optician.

If not Specsavers, then anyone esle in/near Southampton you would recommend?

Long term lens wearer here. Short answer – lenses are great, but you’ll need proper eye protection. Any muck in your eye can get under the lens (ie between lens and cornea, ouch), or stay on top of it and be irritating, or just accumulate around the edge. Whatever happens, jabbing your finger in your eye to dislodge it generally dislodges the lens.

I thought wearing contacts while showering/swimming was a big no no because germs may get trapped behind the lens

for swimming, esp rivers and lochs etc, it is really important to keep goggles on and the eye dry.  My optician is fine with me wearing them on this basis. Mine go in when I’m in the pool changing room and come out straight after my post swim shower, and are daily disposables.  I wear one reading lens and one distance lens, and only use them for swimming, using varifocal specs the rest of the time. There are some horrible diseases that can ruin your sight if not careful, esp occurring with the big uptake in wild swimming.

I wear MONTHLY disposables for cycling under a visor or sunglasses. Fixed distance focus, and not a lot of rubbish to throw away each day. I also have a pair of fixed focus reading glasses for correction for near field – these are prescription to correct my astigmatism. I wear varifocals for days when not cycling, and am typing this with a pair of fixed focus computer glasses.

If I was sanding I’d be covering the eyes when wearing contacts. Washing with saline is OK though, rubbing eyes is best avoided.

Long term lens wearer here.

Nicko74 +1

Dust is not their friend.  You’d definitely want goggles/or at clear wrap glasses on top.  I always wear shades over the top when riding or digging trails.  In the workshop at home I sometimes wear glasses instead if I’m doing dusty stuff.

The opticians always give a warning about showering and swimming but I’ve showered in mine for decades without issue.  I’ve scuba dived in them and they’ve been fine (obviously with a mask, but you get salt water in your eyes – and for OG exam you have to open your eyes under water without your mask…).  they’re better in salt water than fresh/chlorinated – if you’re swimming properly you want goggles, but splashing around with your head above water I wear them without incident.

Also – Daysoft – cheaper than any of the alternatives.  I find them really comfortable.

K has varivocal lenses.  Doesn’t wear them for workshop work at all (find the distortion problematic – has ‘working glasses’ set to arms length rather than normal reading distance).  She wears them for driving and mtb but says they’re compromised both at distance and close up

has ‘working glasses’ set to arms length rather than normal reading distance

Oh, that is an idea. I am wearing my ‘Computer Glasses’ which are pretty much the same thing. Fixed focus lens set for the distance between my face and a screen on the other side of the desk – about an arms length. Off to the garage to test them this lunch time.

I wear daily contacts and varifocals and computer glasses – not all at the same time 🙃

For your use I’d be using computer glasses for the fine, up close stuff and normal/single vision glasses for standing back and admiring stuff.

I find my vision is better with this set up than trying to use my contacts (or varifocals) . My contacts are single vision ones tho as I couldn’t get on with multifocals.

I only use contacts for cycling and running. I’m at that stage where I’m short sighted (have been forever) but need further (old person eyes) correction for close up work.

Even the varifocals aren’t as good as single vision computer glasses for close up/fine detail work.

WCA- contacts def not the answer here for reasons listed above. See if your computer specs work, which they should, then get some cheapies from specsavers made to same prescription.
A single vision pair is what you need, not a vocational varifocal.
PM me if you want more help.
I have computer specs, fixing bike specs and so on but varifocals for 90% of the time.
If your computer specs not quite right- get a new eye test and tell them the working distance, then buy the specs off the same place so they can change them off needed.

If fact, once you have a prescription that works, get it made up in safety specs, either polycarbonate or trivex lenses, given your history.

Computer glasses work for straight vision and bought this mask to keep the dust out my eyes. Works okay when wearing glasses which is a bonus. I am only sanding a car covered with epoxy filler so relatively big dust and well ventilateed so, while not the perfect solution, it will serve the purpose.

https://www.screwfix.com/p/jsp-filterspec-pro-valved-respirator-black-p3/1785g

Thanks all