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wild turkey surprise
7th Jul 2001, 19:44
Currently working for low cost airline which means multiple, long, multi sector days.

I'm concerned that my contact lenses are causing headaches/tiredness which seems to be being caused by constant focusing in/out of the cockpit and wearing them for 10-12 hour stretches 5-6 days in a row.

Anybody else have any experience of this or can a medical/eye person comment on this possibility?

cheers
wts

martinf
9th Jul 2001, 12:24
Just a thought - I assume you ahve had your eyes checked to ensure that there is no deterioration of vision?
:eek:

upupnaway
9th Jul 2001, 14:38
I have been using "Focus night and day" 30 day soft contacts for a couple of months.
These are left in for 30 days then thrown away, i have to say they are the best thing since canned beer.

Spoonbill
9th Jul 2001, 15:58
I've yet to find a contact lens that can cope with the air conditioned environment of the tower/radar room.
I've tried both permanent and disposables, but after a few hours or so both become very uncomfortable.
I've had the allowance to use contants removed from my class one medical certificate as a result.
If anyone knows of anything that migh help, I'd be very grateful.

upupnaway
9th Jul 2001, 17:17
Spoonbill, I have been using soft contacts for a couple of years, with out any problems.
Both in aircon and aircraft, you name it. What really pissed me off was cleaning them every night. One day throw aways solved this but were expensive.
These "Focus night and day" are new to market, actually i am one of the first to try them in Oz, (so my optemerist tells me) and believe me they are terrific in all enviroments, from Aircraft to aircon to hot middle east climates.

martinf
9th Jul 2001, 18:55
Are the soft ones you are using Toric ones or are they run of the mill Soft lenses?

I did wonder this when I had gas permeables as they were often drying out.

I reckon the only solution to dry contact lenses is wearing glasses. Sounds severe but I know that some eyes can not produce enough 'water' to deal with the foreign object in the eye. This used to be a huige problem with people with the old 'hard' lenses but has been improved. However my opto tells me there are some people who just can't produce the moisture to keep the lenses moist and hence comfortable.

Bird Strike
9th Jul 2001, 19:16
wild turkey,

I've had headaches and light sensitivity for a while with contact lenses, and on seeing an optometrist it turned out that my eyesight has improved (!) and the lense in one of my eyes was too strong. The opposite can also cause problems too. It was only 3 months after I had the previous eye test, so even if it's not been long since your last one, it may be worth checking. Anyway, once I had the right strength lense in, the headache and light sensitivity stopped.

I am doing continuous wear with Acuvue 2 (although I'd like to give Focus Night & Day a try), and I am finding that I don't have any problem with flying (just as a passenger, mind you...), air-conditioning (which we leave on in the house almost all summer), or being in the strong sun. I must say I had problems with Acuvue, but not Acuvue 2, so it's worth giving different lenses a go.

Buffeting
10th Jul 2001, 05:23
Potato Head-
Re: Have you checked to make sure you don't have deteriorating vision.
As a youngen (high school student), I find that as everytime I go to the optometrist, my eyes (I'm short-sighted and I wear contacts everyday from dawn till dusk) get slightly worse, only by a small margin.
Is this deteriorating vision, or is it normal at my young age? Please inform the ill-informed. :)
Thanks very much.

[ 10 July 2001: Message edited by: Buffeting ]

upupnaway
10th Jul 2001, 15:36
P/H- i have no idea what a Toric is??
these contacts are new to market. Your right some eyes cannot produce enough moisture for contacts.
B/S- my right eye has improved from 1.5 to 1.25 since using contacts which has baffled my optometrist. Give Night n Day a go, you won't regret it.

wild turkey surprise
10th Jul 2001, 17:30
Thanks everybody for your replies.

I am seeing the optician this very afternoon (It has been a year so my prescription may indeed be out of date).

upupnaway: it has been suggested that i try the all day and night lenses (made with hydrogel apparently - lets more oxygen through(?)) so i might give them a go. Glad to hear you find them comfortable.

I have to say my eyes feel a lot better since I stopped wearing the lenses so i may have to bow to vanity and were glasses all the time!!

If I find out any more worth passing on I shall do so.

martinf
10th Jul 2001, 19:52
Toric lenses are for those of us with astigmatism where the eyeball is not spherical but more rugby ball shaped. This has a big effect on contact lens as they need to fit the eyeball well.

Final 3 Greens
11th Jul 2001, 15:37
Wild Turkey Surprise

This may be too late seeing as your had an appt. yesterday, but I have a low tear rate and find that buying the highest quality, highest water content, lenses available is the only way for me.

Also Hydrogen Peroxide cleansing is worth the extra money.

I am not a professional pilot, but I do work in heavily air conditioned offices most of the time, where the drying effect is presumably similar to a flight deck.

The type of lenses that I use (sorry, can't remember the brand) are made from inert material that was developed for transplant work to reduce the risk if rejection.

Best of luck - if you like contacts, glasses are a poor second!

Ozgrade3
14th Jul 2001, 15:55
I've been wearing contact lenses for 16 years and for the last 12 months have been wearing Bausch & Lomb Purevision lenses. Thes are a new type, 30 day extended wear, polymer lenses. I have to say they are fantastic, very comfortable in any condidion, on the ground, in an aircraft, presurised or not, offices etc.

I wear them 18 hrs a day, 7 days a week with no problems, or vascularisation(dialaton of the blood vessels in the white part of the eye).

Contrary to the makers claims, these 30 day lenses should be taken out each night unless you really need to sleep in them ocasionally which is ok. Continued extended wear is causing a much higher infection rate than previously thought.

upupnaway
15th Jul 2001, 13:24
Ozgrade, you say contrary to makers claims ??
Is this your opinion or have you had a professional opinion.
I have been using my 30 day contacts for some months now, i leave them in for the whole 30 days then bang in a new set. No problems so far.???

Bird Strike
16th Jul 2001, 05:11
Some opticians say that even the continuous wear ones should be taken out and cleaned every day or at least every few days.

Personally, I haven't done that (defeats the object of continuous wear doesn't it), and wear them for the maximum time recommended by the manufacturer and not had any problem whatsoever. I think it's quite an individual thing though - some people seem to find that their eyes dry out if they don't do the maintenance all the time.

LLAMA
16th Jul 2001, 05:32
My optician explained it to me this way. The idea of removing extended wear lenses is do to the oxygen or lack of at altitude. The higher you go the harder for your eyes to breath. Long term effect is damage to the eyes that can eventually lead to not being able to wear contacts. This is in only a very few cases though. I personally have been wearing contacts (extended wear) for the last 10 years flying helicopters at altitudes as high as 10,000 ft. with the door off and have had no deterioration of vision and no odd side effects beside occasional drying. All depends on the person and their conditions I guess

Herod
16th Jul 2001, 14:52
Don't worry too much about the vanity thing. I need varifocals, and the British CAA will not allow them as contacts. However they do allow spectacles, and I find a pair of lightweight specs are fine. I forget I am wearing them. Ignore the "girls don't make passes" etc, it's just not true. The only drawback with flying is that, as well as a spare pair, you will probably need a pair of prescription sunglasses too.

Buffeting
23rd Jul 2001, 10:57
Sorry to bring this topic back from the graves, but I went to the Ophthamologist today to get checked out for my Class 1 med (Aussie).
When he was having a look at my eyes, he noticed that the inside right eye lid had a minor 'allergy' to my contacts. Just an irration I suppose. His words were "it looks like a cobble stone path." Personally I have been wearing contacts for a while now and have not had the slighest bit of problem or pain. Yet the doc informed me my contact lens wearing days will cease sometime in the nearish future, when I will no longer be able to 'handle' the contacts.
This just suprised me cause contacts have been the best thing to happen to me, and I have had no pain what-so-ever.
Has this ever been told to any contact lens wearers out there? How did you deal?
Or is this guy just anti-contacts?!
Thanks

necro
26th Jul 2001, 14:46
Hi Buffeting...in regards to your first post of deteriorating eyesight, I experienced the same thing. Script would change by 0.25 dioptres every six months when I was in my teens. Opthalmologist said to keep seeing him every year....well..chasing jobs in the outback made that impossible. 10 years down the track, both eyes were still getting worse to about -5.00 then one retina detached and the other had many tears in it. I noticed flying home after an overnight that I had a "black" area in my field of vision. I saw that same opthalmologist and he got up me for not making yearly visits. Luckily I did get my licence back.
I'm not suggesting you're a candidate for this but DO keep up regular appointments with an opthalmologist. Although having just read your OTHER post, seems you've already seen one. If they've not said anything I assume you're not a candidate.