I love wearing glasses, I really do. I love finding bold and unique glasses that make an impression. My pink glasses are one of my very favorite accessories (God, I love that photo of HB), my Buddy Holly-inspired ones come in a close second, but the truth is, I don’t want to wear them ALL of the time.
I started wearing glasses when I was about twelve or thirteen years old. I was diagnosed as farsighted, so I really only needed to wear glasses while reading. Fast forward twenty years, add in several hours on the computer daily and my forgetfulness to take them off otherwise, and you’ve got a person who can’t read a damn thing anymore. Who am I kidding, if ANYTHING is within two feet of my face, it’s a big blurry blob.
One of the great things about being farsighted is the ability to see distances perfectly. I can drive without my glasses, read billboards, see leaves on trees, etc, however I have recently had issues with my night vision while driving. Signs are starting to get blurry, I get headaches, well, IT SUCKS.
While we’re on the subject of suckage, whenever anyone tries to show me something, I have to hold it as far away from my face as possible to see it. Like I’m eighty years old. My husband is constantly taking photos and when he tries to show me on the LCD display, I just pretend I can see it. “Yeah, honey! That’s a great photo!” (UM, WHAT IN THE HELL IS IT?)
OR the other thing that sucks? I don’t have prescription sunglasses, so if I’m driving and lost and trying to use my GPS on my iPhone, I have to pull over, take off my sunglasses, find my real glasses, put them on and figure out what’s going on. Or if someone texts me while in my car? Same thing. Wait until a stoplight, do the switcheroo, etc. Highly annoying.
Don’t even get me started on nights out – I have to use my glasses to read menus or even see my food. If I happen to forget my glasses, my husband has to read me the full menu like I’m illiterate. That’s fun! (Frankly, I would rather people think I can’t read than assume D reading the menu is some sort of romantic gesture. BLECH.) Last week while having martinis with this lovely lady, she had to complete my tab for me, including showing me where I had to sign. I couldn’t even see the line to sign on! It was like looking at a piece of white toilet paper!
This has to stop. And it will! This Thursday, I have an appointment to get contacts. Wheeeeee!
This is where you come in. I know choosing your type of contacts is highly personal, but I’m wondering if you all have any opinions on the matter. Some things to consider:
1) I will still be wearing my glasses most of the time.
2) I will only wear the contacts on nights out, special occasions and such.
3) I don’t have an astigmatism. Run of the mill farsightedness.
Help me! Do you just love a certain brand? Should I get disposable ones? What about that dry eye biznass? THE QUESTIONS.
I’m officially in your capable hands!
Mandee
January 19, 2009 at 12:01 pmI have the Oasys and have found them to be more comfortable when worn for a longer period of time. They really bother me when I first put them in, but are much more comfortable in the long run. Sounds like that may not be the best option for you.
Also, if you buy a brand of solution that provides a special container (the old-fashioned kind that stand up rather than the more modern ones that lie flat)–use that container with that solution. Otherwise, you might wake up one morning all ready to go to court and impress the jurors and burn your eyeball with the fire of 10,000 suns and go to court looking like a fool instead.
tricia
January 19, 2009 at 12:07 pmDefinitely disposables – I’m like you in that I still wear my glasses most of the time. Contacts for playing tennis (where is that ball, anyways? when do i swing??).
When I had the 30-day-lenses, they always felt grimy after sitting in solution between tennis matches. Plus I could never remember when the month was up to throw them out.
Sue
January 19, 2009 at 12:08 pmI’ve tried them all, and the daily disposables are THE ONES! And – if you order them online, instead of through your ophthalmologist, they are not expensive. If your eyes get dry, go directly to restasis – a prescription drop put in at night. Enjoy!
Amanda Nicole
January 19, 2009 at 12:09 pmLike you, I often wear my glasses and I’ve found that the Acuvue Daily Disposables are the best. I order them through clearlycontacts.ca, and they arrive on my doorstep overnight. Also: love both of your pairs of glasses!
Kristin
January 19, 2009 at 12:11 pmI use the Acuvue 2’s and really like them. They are the kind that you dispose of after 2 weeks. I wear my glasses a few hours each day and my contacts most of the day, and I’ve had very little problem with them drying out or anything yucky like that. Although, I have to say, all these people talking about the daily disposables makes me want to try them!
jonniker
January 19, 2009 at 12:13 pmWe are the same. I wear my glasses most of the time, but do whip out my contacts when I feel like it. For me, I have VERY dry eyes, and staring at a computer screen all day while wearing contacts is a VERY BAD IDEA for most people (people! trust me on this!), much less people like me.
I have a long and storied history with contact lenses — so detailed that my little eyes have been written up in medical journals more than once — and what I learned after talking to dozens of eye doctors is that no one else can tell you what contacts to get but you. Everyone’s eyes are different.
Everyone RAVES about Focus Dailies, but they feel baggy on my eyes, like they’re about to fall off. They aren’t, according to the doctor, but they aren’t comfortable. Some people feel that way about Acuvue. Personally, if I were you, I wouldn’t worry about dry eyes so much, since you aren’t wearing them 12 hours a day, but talk to your doctor — it’s a cost vs. benefit issue, plus convenience in being able to order them easily, etc.
When you get the contacts, ask your doctor for samples of a few different types, and try them at home for a few hours at a clip. It’s the ONLY way you’ll know what works for you, no matter what anyone — including the doctor — says. If he doesn’t give you samples, he’s a shitty doctor. Find someone else. (But he will. They all do.)
jonniker
January 19, 2009 at 12:15 pmOH! But one thing, and the only specific advice I have: If you *are* only wearing them occasionally, dailies are the way to go. And they make so many types, that won’t be hard.
Green Is The New Dots
January 19, 2009 at 12:27 pmI agree with others that the daily disposables are fabulous – I wore contacts for over 10 years before getting Lasik, which was the most amazing thing I ever did for myself – but I believe you are right to wait on that for further perfection on hyperopia. Also – next time you’re in the market for new glasses, my friend just got an AMAZING new pair at SEE (http://www.seeeyewear.com/). Made me jealous to not need glasses anymore…
Rebecca (Bearca)
January 19, 2009 at 12:30 pmI’m no help. I don’t wear contacts! Plus, they kind of frighten me.
Emily
January 19, 2009 at 1:10 pmDe-lurking to say that I love your blog…and to share my contact lense experience. I have pretty bad astigmatism and have the opposite problem…anything further than 2 feet from my face is a complete blur. The only suggestion I can make is to definitely go for the disposables. Coming from someone who has had both and has been wearing contacts for over 10 years, they are WAY better:) Good luck!
Kristy
January 19, 2009 at 1:10 pmI wear the Acuvue 2 disposable lenses. Like you, I only wear them on special occasions. Both of my eyes have the same perscription so I can buy one box (3 pair) and it will last 6 months (I don’t get out much with a 2 year old and 8 month old)! I sometimes have dry eye and use Baush & Lomb Sensitive Eye Rewetting Drops… works like a charm.
Lindsey
January 19, 2009 at 1:24 pmMy life changed this past year when a friend recommended Zenni Optical (www.zennioptical.com), an online shop for cheap fun glasses. If you want to have more variety you can get a pair on this site for $10-30, or buy a few and keep one in your purse, one in your car, one in every room in your house, etc. You can also turn any pair into sunglasses for an extra $5. Also prices include the cost of the prescription lenses! I have contacts but I definitely wear glasses a lot more often now that I have so many options. The only problem I’ve had from ordering online is that sometimes the frames are way too wide for my face, but now that I pay better attention to the specs they provide it’s not a big deal.
Rhi
January 19, 2009 at 1:29 pmI am blind, blind, blind and I love CIBA Night and Day contact lenses. They let lots of oxygen into your eye (so says my Dr.) and are very light.
Jen
January 19, 2009 at 2:40 pmI was born with astigmatism and way to vain to use glasses, so I’ve used contact lens since I can remember. I went through all of them: hard, semi hard and soft ones. Before Lasik (this was over 7 years ago and now it’s coming back again, yikes!) my favorite ones were Johnson & Johnson Acuvue Contact Lenses, you can wear them for weeks at a time and not even realize you have them on (they are that comfortable) and then just throw them out and get brand new ones the following time.
Hope you adapt to them some people can’t bear them, but I swear by them.
Darcey
January 19, 2009 at 2:40 pmI am a huge fan of the O2 Optix. I tried a bunch of other pairs out there (Acuvue, CIBA), and these are the only ones that I can wear all day and spend significant time at the computer without an issue. (And I work for an interactive ad agency – everything is online, and I spend 90% of my day at my desk). Hell, even when I forget to take them out at night, I have no problem the next day as long as I add a few drops. (Or when I went 3 days without drops or removal, since we were camping and I forgot my case, solution, drops and couldn’t get my hands clean enough to DARE get near my eyes. But shhh, don’t tell my doc.)
So yeah, these are great. Plus, they offer two different circumferences, so if you have larger eyes/pupils, you don’t see the edges of the contact in peripheral vision (a major problem I had with Acuvue).