Contact Lenses v Glasses

[A2QFI]

I am no longer flying as a pilot and am considering a change to contact lenses. Any broad thoughts on the pros and cons please, plus, is it likely that one could get a completely non-prescription pair to try? This would just be to see how I reacted to having bits of plastic floating around on my eye balls and the problems, if any, of getting them in and more particularly, out! It looks painful!

[LastMinute]

Most opticians offer a free one- or two-week trial of contact lenses.

Pros: with contact lenses you have much better peripheral vision, and there's no lens flare from bright lights. Cons: depends what type of lens you get - biggest drawback I've found is that you can't just fall asleep with your lenses in. (Well, you can - but you regret it when you wake up!) The daily insert/extract/clean routine is not really a chore, in my opinion. Certainly not painful - just takes a little bit of getting used to.

[dontpressthat]

Been wearing contacts for about 13yrs... (not the same pair obviously) and I cant praise them enough, just like having real eyes!!

I am, however, fortunate in having very tolerant eyes and frequently have the same pair of daily disposables in for upto a week, sleeping in them every night with no adverse affects.. My optician says Im very unusual with that but all the same, its a 2 second job to whip them in and out once yve got the hang of it.

Ive tried pretty much every type over the years and your optician will tell you whats best for you but I find FOCUS DAILIES the best.

Id say, definately give em a go.. especially as the enhanced peripeheral vision stops you whacking the old nut on things 5 times a week.

DPT

[niknak]

I use disposables for sport etc but still find them impossible for work due to the air conditioned environment.
I understand that everyone is different in this respect, and having tried virtually everything on the market I still can't cope with contacts at work.

[SAS-A321]

After using a type of lenses that you could wear for 30 days and sleep with I got inflamation on my inner-upper eyelid. I think it different person to person, but I will not recommend sleeping with lenses.

I now use 14 days lenses that I take out every night.

niknak: You can get small ampoules with saltwater to reduce the dryness of your eyes.

[chipmunkj]

I have worn a variety of different soft contact lenses for over 35 years--i have also held a PPL and worked as cabin crew for the same amount of time.
In all my years of lens wear, i can honestly say the best lens i have ever worn is CIBA Focus Dailies.
I get my eyes tested at Boots and then buy them on line --- very good value.

[deltahotel]

Now use daily disposables from specsavers (£22 for 30 pairs), but only for a few things - skiing, yachting, dinghies, light aircraft. Probably get through 70 pairs a year. Everything else use normal short sight specs. The problem is that with age (all of 48) I can no longer read through my prescription lenses which makes reading charts, ski maps or worst of all menus difficult. So ... take glasses off at work, or look underneath them, but with contacts need reading glasses - bought from Boots with opticians advice and prescription!!! Sometimes get dry so keep bottle of optrex or similar as artificial tears.

[richatom]

Why not get laser surgery? I had one of my eyes done a few years ago and it was the best thing I have ever spent money on.

The investment has paid itself back easily in savings on lost/broken pairs of glasses, and contact lense hassle.

I tired contact lenses for a while but I couldn't get on with them as I swim a lot. They also had a tendency to dry up and fall out, usually just when I needed them most.

[soggyboxers]

I have been wearing multifocal contact lenses for a few years now and have found them to be the most liberating experience. I wear the monthly disposables which I take out every night. The major pluses are good peripheral vision and as I work in the tropics, I can buy any sunglasses I like. During our very humid rainy season they don't constantly mist up like spectacles and I am not constantly misplacing them and sitting on them. I also wear them for swimming and diving. For the very rare occasions when my eyes get a bit dry I carry a little container of eye drops. When I fly home on leave I often fall asleep in the back of aircraft and have no problems when I wake up. I'd hate to go back to wearing spectacles for any length of time again now.

[surfer-101]

Personally, I think it all depends if you have a tendency to have dry eyes. I have been wearing acuvue 2 (http://www.contactlens-online.co.uk/) which are meant to be worn daily for two weeks, but taken out every night. I do this but find that I have to use eye drops frequently as my eyes have got dryer in the last few years, of course wearing contacts doesn't help. I am actually considering laser eye surgery soon, but have found that this is not a foolproof method so am still a bit wary, especially as one of my friends has had both eyes done, and he has had a few teething problems, with very watery and irritated eyes at times. To decide, I would say your best bet is to pay for a consultation at an optician/specsavers, get a set of lenses and keep your prescription ( your right/left eye powers, base curves and diameters) and use it to buy discount contact lenses (http://www.contactlens-online.co.uk/) if you find them bearable.

[Katherine Alexandra]

I've only been using Contacts for about 18 months but I've not had any real problems with them as yet, and no dry eyes. Guess that's all a case of "yet" though; we'll see what the future brings in that respect.

Would love laser surgery as, despite them being easy enough to get in and out etc., it'd be much nicer not to have to use contacts or glasses. However, I always fear it'd go wrong...scary thought.

[5711N0205W]

but still find them impossible for work due to the air conditioned environment

ditto, had a run with lenses for a while and while I like the freedom they give I do find you need to be able to wear them regularly to get the full benefit. As it was becoming only really practical to wear them at weekends and on holidays I have effectively given up and reverted to spectacles full time.

[PGA]

A lot of people now use daily disposable "soft" contact lenses. These are actually quite a bit larger then the rigid gas permeable which only cover the cornea. Because of this they allow a much better supply of oxygen to the eye which has several advantages. One of the main ones being that the eyes don't get nowhere near as dry as they do with "soft" contact lenses. Furthmore they can completely correct out any astigmatism which "soft' contacts at the moment can't, thereby giving much sharper vision.

I have been wearing the for over 8 years now and been flying commercially for the last 3, never with any problems what so ever.

Disadvantages which put a lot of people off them are the fact that it takes up to 3 weeks to get used to them, you sort of have to build it up hour by hour in the first 2 weeks. Especially the first couple of days are not comfortable at all, since many people give up in the first few days and revert to "soft" lenses which don't give these problems there are actually less and less people wearing them. They also require you to clean them every day, but this only takes 5 minutes and really is now part of my before-I-go-to-bed routine. It is also claimend you can't wear them all day long. I very regularly wear them for 18 - 20 hours a day without any problems but do give my eyes a little rest sometimes by just wearing my normal specs when I'm at home watching telly or something.

As for the price. I've got them insured through my optician but the first pair, including eye tests will cost you around 120, replacement value then around 30 quid. If you don't loose them they easily last for a few years depending on how much your prescription changes. The solution sets me back about 30 quid a month.

All in all according to most opticians I spoke to healthier for your eye since they are smaller and allow more oxygen to reach your eye, better for your vision. They just take a little more taking care off which some people don't want to put up with but if you're having problems flying with contacts I would most certainly recommend them.