Back in contacts and love it!

[DebE13]

Years.....it's been years since I've been able to wear contacts. All the problems with the burning, grittiness, and eye pain are pretty much gone. I still have dry eyes and am still light sensitive (always have been) but am so happy to have some relief.

Anyone having difficulties with the comfort of their lenses should look into Dailies Total 1 lenses. Comfortable!! The are new and just came out this summer. They are a bit spendy though, $95 per box/3m supply. I decided its worth the comfort. It's hard to believe the thin layer of lense is protecting my eyeball from the inflammation of my eyelid. This now leads into the question of how do I prevent the inflammation in the first place? Common question for us all. For now, I'm just going to enjoy something that feels like the old me.

The only downfall is now I'm dealing with the bifocal issue. I think the solution to that is to quit my job. I can manage fine off hours, it's just trying to read at my desk job that's throwing a wrench into things. Need to do a little tweaking.

I suppose that falls into carma is a bit**. I laughed at my husband for years because he always used a magnifying glass or held papers three feet from his face to read. I knew it would catch up with me someday.

[tex]

Hi Deb,

That's great that the contact lenses are working so well. How about just slipping on a pair of narrow reading glasses whenever you need to read a document?

Tex

[DebE13]

That's what I have to do next, get a pair of cheaters. I tried the split prescription in each eye and didn't like that at all.

Finally, some GOOD news to share. It's amazing how something so minor can make such a difference

[Lesley]

Deb, I wore glasses since I was 5. I used contact lenses with varying degrees of discomfort for many years. The worst was having a pair of cheaters on a chain around my neck, in addition to a pair of sunglasses because I was in and out all the time. I could not do mono vision with contact lenses.
6 years ago I found a place where I got lasik surgery in my worse eye, (-8), leaving the "better" one (-4) as it was. I read with the latter and see 20/20 with the former.
It has been incredible to wake up in the morning, and SEE! To go out in the car with regular cheapo sunglasses and SEE!
My lenses cost about $500 a pair,, and I needed a new pair about every 18 months on average, maybe more.
Lasik on one eye cost $450 one time. 6 years without glasses. Do the maths.
Even if I have to make a change some time soon it has been worth it. I couldn't be happier.
I know how great it is to see and be comfortable with it. Glad for you!

[tex]

Deb,

My distance vision is fine, but after about the age of 40, my ability to focus at close reading distances headed south. I've tried prescription glasses several times over the years, but I have never been able to convince myself that I should force myself to adjust to them. I've always resorted to cheap (half-frame) reading glasses, because they work just fine for me.

Tex

[DebE13]

Leslie, I've been told I'm the perfect candidate for LASIK but I can't stand anyone poking around my eyes so I've never considered it. There are few things I'm squeamish about and that's one. Maybe someday I will get over it. It would be wonderful to see unassisted!

I never though I'd be wearing contacts again or daily lenses. Technology has come a long way. When I first tried daily lenses over ten years ago they were awful. I took me a half hour to put one in. The lense would either flop over around my finger or slide around making it impossible to get in my eye. I don't have that kind of time to spend in the bathroom just getting ready for the day. These are so much better. They are slippery little buggers but they're a breeze and feel great all day long. I still have to use drops but that's nothing new.

Tex, I will most likely go with cheapie cheaters at some point. I can do ok right now, it's just such a big change than before that I'm simply annoyed by it. We buy my husbands cheaters by the case. He sits on them, crushes them at work, looses them so it's best to buy in bulk.

I can't wait to get my cycle out in the spring and not have to deal with my glasses under the helmet. Kayaking with just sunglasses will be great! I was going to finally give in this year and get RX sunglasses but never got around to it. Glad I didn't. The doc says my eyes will probably change again in six months so I'm holding off on new anything.

Welcome to the club, I guess. What's next? Menopause.

[sunny]

Deb, that is great news, and i think it's great to celebrate every bit of good news that comes our way so.... HOORAY!!

I'm dealing with cataracts that are slowly creeping in and making things blurry... I will need that surgery to remove them soon and I'm like you, the thought of someonepoking around in my eyes makes me nervous.... but guess I will have to bite the bullet and just "get 'er done..." someday!
Sunny

[tex]

This discussion reminds me — roughly 10 years or so ago an optholmologist told me that I had cataracts, and would probably need surgery within a few years to remove them. I haven't been back since, because I've been waiting for that to happen. As far as I can tell, my vision is not noticeably worse now than it was then (and it wasn't bad back then). So apparently I'm either extremely lucky, or I'm doing something right. Since then, I've been taking lutein, and a lot of vitamin D, and of course I've been avoiding gluten. I'm just guessing, but I can't help but wonder if 1 or more of the items I listed is making a big difference in preserving my vision, especially since I've had drusen for over 30 years, and drusen is closely associated with macular degeneration. I sort of expected to be half-blind by now, but it hasn't happened.

Tex

[wmonique2]

Well, something very strange happened to me. My vision got better in the last year. I don't even use my glasses for reading or driving. I drove at night with my glasses and read with them too.

I've been wondering if it is due to the meds I am taking...Tex, you may have hit on something here: gluten. I didn't think about that option.

My friends are amazed that I can read without readers. Very strange. I wonder if anybody else has that experience because I never heard of vision getting seriously BETTER.


Monique

[Lesley]

Monique - I am almost 69. Imagine the look on new people's faces when I read the tiniest of print without glasses. I LOVE to do it. It's like a party trick.
Glad your vision is improving. Glad something good is coming from all of this, apart from getting to know all of you. My daughter's vision improved after her last pregnancy. I guess that is not the case with you, right?

Deb - there is way less messing around with eyes when you do lasik than you have to do with contacts. Examination, trial (I used one contact lens to see if I could tolerate monovision), the surgery which takes all of 3 seconds, and I am not exaggerating. Wear an eye shade for a night, drops and ointment for a week, and that's it.
My son, also a glasses wearer from fairly early on, also tried contacts for years, did lasik a couple of years ago. He had more problems getting used to it than I did, but now being able to see is so much part of his life he never mentions it.
I figure that even if I end up needing some sort of assistance in the future I have already enjoyed 6 years of freedom from glasses, and every extra day is a bonus.

[wmonique2]

Lesley----that is amazing! I had RK surgery (pre-lasik) some 20 years ago and got rid of the contacts and glasses but still needed readers when time came and glasses for night driving because my night vision was seriously diminished after RK. But this phenomenon that I am experiencing now I don't know what to attribute it to. No, it wasn't pregnancy (I don't have any kids). As you say, something good came out of all this...let's see how long it would last

Monique

[Lesley]

Monique - RK is primitive by comparison to lasik. With lasik you can correct any vision deficits, and, as in my son's case, under correct for short sightedness so that far sightedness is postponed for a while. He will need reading glasses at some point, as we all do, even those hugely myopic people like I was, but it will be later rather than sooner.
Scars are minimal, and recovery is extremely abbreviated. And the price is dropping and dropping.

[wmonique2]

Lesley----I wish they had it when I decided to do it! It didn't exist. It came out like a year or two later...and once you do it once you cannot redo it. That's it, you have to live with what you've got, unfortunately


Monique

[Lesley]

Monique - I know. I worked a a hospital where one of the ophthalmologists was doing it. He offered to do it for me. I refused because it was too new. I wanted to know more about it.
In retrospect I am glad I waited though it meant many years of struggling with 3 pairs of glasses, and never seeing properly.