Contact Lens Wearers--help!

You all have inspired me. I kept trying to put my 'one' contact in first thing in the morning and work with it that way. Just too hard to get used to when I am staring at a computer screen all day.
Think I'll give it a try 'after' work for a while. See if I can get used to it that way. Let the strong eye (distance) adjust first while watching TV. That may work better. and I shouldn't have a headache by end of day.

This was all prep work for lasik - they would only repair one eye for reading. But I was never able to tell if I could get used to it or not - I always gave up after a day or 2 of headaches.

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Originally Posted by mkwdood

This was all prep work for lasik - they would only repair one eye for reading. But I was never able to tell if I could get used to it or not - I always gave up after a day or 2 of headaches.

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I'm so jealous! I wish I could get lasik, but it's only for distance. If you have trouble reading you'll still need glasses.

Don't you think it's about time they figured out how to fix that? :crying

Another tip - I was taught to use my middle finger rather than my pointer finger because it can't apply as much force. Fill the lense with extra liquid, stare straight ahead into the mirror and guide the lense onto the iris.

Horror story - I had those hard contacts back in the 70's and one got stuck to my eye. Ended up in the emergency room where they floated it off with vegetable oil.

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Originally Posted by gagi

I'm so jealous! I wish I could get lasik, but it's only for distance. If you have trouble reading you'll still need glasses.

Don't you think it's about time they figured out how to fix that? :crying

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I was told they would fix the one eye for reading. Then I would have one good eye for reading, and the other eye in its original state for distance.
so, according to my Dr, they can fix the closeness.

I had a hell of a time trying to get my contacts in the first time. The optometrist was pulling eyelashes out by the end of the session - she sent me home, with the lenses and instructions to 'touch my eye' *shiver*. It worked! I had a really strong blink reflex so the more comfortable I became with touching my eye the more confidence I had that I could put my contacts in .. and get the damned things out again. By the end of the week I was wearing my contacts for 2 hours at a time by the end of the second week I was wearing them 12-14 hours a day no problem. When I went on mat. leave I stopped wearing my lenses and stuck to my glasses because you don't have to be vain at home right? :lol Now I very rarely wear my contacts and when I do they dry my eyes right out and make them itchy. I think I'm going to invest in a good new pair and see how that goes.
Good Luck Pam, practice makes perfect.

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Originally Posted by mkwdood

I was told they would fix the one eye for reading. Then I would have one good eye for reading, and the other eye in its original state for distance.
so, according to my Dr, they can fix the closeness.

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One eye for each job???? This is freakin bizarre. Do you still get good depth perception when two eyes are working different ways?

I'm about to go give the dang contact lenses another try. I have a really cute pair of Vera Wang sunglasses all picked out, to wear with them :lovestruc . If I have to get perscription lenses put in the vera wangs, I can't justify the $$$.

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Originally Posted by MalibuPam

Thank you everybody for you advice. I tried again last night. A few times, I managed to get the lense turned inside out on my finger, but I never got the darned thing in. I'm beginning to wonder if this just isn't for me. I think the lenses are Taurus or something like that. They seem really big. I like to think there's nothing I can't do . . . but . . . I might have to change that to there being just one thing I can't do. :sad

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Awww, Pam. One thing... that'll be okay, won't it??

Seriously though, did your optometrist spend any time showing you how to tell when the contact is inside out? You first mentioned that when you put them in it felt like cathairs... BIG indication that it was inside out... they'll never be comfortable then. If your contact is popping over on the top of your finger I'd also wonder if they were inside out, too, as their natural tendency is to just kind of cup around like a bowl.

I used to have to put a single drop of rewetting drops in my contacts before popping them in my eye, but I've gotten so used to doing it now that I dont even have to prop my eye open. :) It's a great great help, tho!

I had that problem with soft contacts. Couldn't get them in, couldn't get them out. Something creepy about sticking your fingers in your eye and squishing a contact out. Anyway, I had the best luck with gas permeable ones - not hard, not soft. It took me a few tries at first, but it gets easier. May take a couple of days and a lot of "am I ever going to get used to this?"

I couldn't look right at my finger into the contact, though, as someone suggested. I had luck looking at the white part of my eye, just next to the iris. That ways I was seeing my eye, but not directly. Does that make sense?

But I've abandoned contacts anyway and just wear my glasses for now until I'm brave enough for surgery.

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Originally Posted by MalibuPam

Thank you everybody for you advice. I tried again last night. A few times, I managed to get the lense turned inside out on my finger, but I never got the darned thing in. I'm beginning to wonder if this just isn't for me. I think the lenses are Taurus or something like that. They seem really big. I like to think there's nothing I can't do . . . but . . . I might have to change that to there being just one thing I can't do. :sad

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MalibuPam

Perhaps they are Toric lenses? (I have Toric lenses - they are weighted because I have a slight astigmatism in both eyes). They ARE big. My advice (been wearing contacts for about 20 years now - I don't even need a mirror anymore to put them in): place the contact on your middle finger, hold open the TOP your eyelid with the middle fingers of your other hand (less pressure using these fingers), and pull down your lower lid with the ring finger of the hand with the contact in it as you place your contact (or touch your eye if you're still practicing).

If you do it this way, your middle finger (with the contact) doesn't come straight AT your eye, and is at a more comfortable angle to gently place your contact in. (Hope that make sense). Look towards the bridge of your nose while you place the contact on your eye.

Try doing it first without even looking in the mirror. Really.

Toric lenses (if that is what you have) take a little while to "settle" into your eye and they feel a little funny floating around at first - until the weighted protion makes it to the bottom of your eye. If you blink gently then close your eye and GENTLY place your middle finger on your eyelid for a sec, then blink once or twice again they settle quicker.

Don't give up - you won't BELIEVE the difference

Good luck!

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Originally Posted by ADKLove

Perhaps they are Toric lenses? (I have Toric lenses - they are weighted because I have a slight astigmatism in both eyes). They ARE big.

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:blush Yes, Toric, not Taurus. I shouldn't have thrown out the package until I knew what I had. I have a slight astigmatism too, so that makes sense.