People Who Hate Contacts

[blas87]

As in, contact lenses.

Look, I've always had a problem with some insecurity.....I know for a fact that I have a very round face with a huge forehead. The few years as a kid I had to wear glasses all the time, was the worst time of my life.

Ever since I was old enough to (age 11), I've worn contacts and nothing else. I only bought a pair of glasses because last year, we started HSAs and the company contributed a decent amount in there so I could have both for once.

Which is my main argument. Our insurance only allows us one or the other. Our alloted amount covered for the year only applies to whichever one you pick. You cannot get both (well, now you can with an HSA, as it'd be a seperate charge at 100% responsibility, but most people won't because most people I work with don't put any money in there).

I've never thought I look good in glasses. Ever. I like wearing contacts. I find them extremely comfortable (except colored ones). They've made my life very simple since a very young age.

And yet, people preach to me that contacts are going to "ruin" my eyes, scratch them all up, make me go blind (I want to know where all these fucktards when to eye doctor school), cost me far too much money, and why can't I wear glasses like everyone else?

Haha, newsflash....tons of people wear contact lenses. It's so hard to tell unless someone tells you or you look really closely at their eyes.

I can't even wear my glasses for more than an hour or so at a time because I feel nauseated. They are the right Rx, they were custom fitted for me....but just wearing them makes me feel sick.

[AmbrosiaWriter]

I feel off when I switch between my contacts and glasses, I think it's because while the contact moves with your eye's movement, the glasses don't so the eyes need to adjust to the different in terms of correction.

Seriously though... what?

Current technology soft lenses? Hell, I've gotten those crumpled in and lost in my eye. Several times.

[blas87]

My medical expert coworkers (lol what a joke) seem to think if I keep wearing contacts for the rest of my life, my eyes are going to be ruined.

[AmbrosiaWriter]

You know what'll ruin your eyes?

Not wearing sun glasses. That will ruin your eyes, especially if you have light colored eyes - I recently got this lecture from my eye doctor.

If contact lenses were going to ruin your eyes, then they wouldn't be sold and there would be ample, AMPLE scientific evidence to prove the point. (Especially since contacts have been around long enough now to be able to observe any effects long time lens wearing would have.)

[TheHuckster]

I don't wear contacts out of personal preference. The thought of having a foreign object touching my eye all day and the hearing of stories that sometimes contacts can lodge up above the eyelid kind of makes me shudder. I know everyone says you get used to it and as long as you don't sleep or swim with them on, you should be fine, but I have no problem with wearing glasses, and until they come out with a Star Trek-style device that cures nearsightedness without touching the eyeball, I think I'll stick with the glasses.

That being said, I have never heard any reputable study say contacts are harmful. Maybe that was true decades ago when they were just being introduced, but by now they've become so ubiquitous and supported by eye doctors that this simply can't be the case. For some people whose eyesight is really bad, like my father, it's either contacts and lasik or glasses which, technically, cannot be sold in New York City because they could be confused for 2 liter coke bottles.

[Greenday]

When I still had bad vision, I preferred contacts over glasses. Sure, I was more prone to eye infections, but I'd much rather wake up, put the contacts in, then go about my business for the day, then take them out at night instead of wearing glasses where I constantly have to clean them during the day and have a limited range of vision without turning my head. Plus, glasses break. Bad contact? Toss it and just pop in new ones.

But really, I did get sick of wearing them. Mostly at the end of the day when I was tired and just wanted to go to sleep. It was like a chore taking out my contacts, cleaning them, cleaning my case. LASEK ftw! Best investment ever.

[LexiaFira]

as a rule for myself and from what i have seen: its a good idea to try and have both for practicality reasons.
glasses for when your eyes hurt or are too sore or you are out of contacts if you don't have permanent.

contacts for when days where having glasses is a bad idea (or you refuse to wear the glasses catch string thing, whatever its called.

my mom and most contact wearing people in my family have both, and the glasses are usually the only ones they have. those that do have glasses have an emergency pair that are basically the cheaper ones

and those that preach about not wearing contacts probably had their eyes damaged because they don't put them in right, or abused them. agreed damage can occur to the eyeball. if you don't put your contacts in properly which i doubt is an issue with you blas. or don't take proper care of your contacts....
so a big flying bird to them.

[blas87]

If my insurance covered Lasik, I'd have done it years ago.

My eye doctor really pushes it on me, because he says I'm the perfect age and have bad enough vision where it would be "life changing" for me.

If it wasn't $10,000 and not considered a necessary surgery.

[Ginger Tea]

I have an aversion to eyes, just pulling the eyelid down a bit and seeing more of it gets me gagging, so a daily dose of that to see better, no thank you.
Also I seemed to without fail fall asleep after finishing around 2pm watching a movie (or youtube series) and wake up 3 or 4 hours later still wearing my glasses, with contacts that's a no no, it's not as if I inteded to fall asleep 20 minutes into a film I had yet to stay awake through all week.

The beauty of contact's is that no one knows you are wearing them unless you say you are, 3 people at work before we closed started wearing glasses, I have no idea if they used to wear contacts or if their eyes all kinda went down hill at the same time, it seemed odd seeing them wearing glasses esp as the guy out of the three was wearing glasses the same style as his sister (another of the three).

As well as my eyeball aversion, years ago when I worked in a cake bakery, I had a dream where I was putting in a contact lense at work and between it and my eye was about an inch of cake mix a gritty one at that, so that put me off the idea altogether.

Years later I did ask about the daily disposable ones that were semi new or atleast more affordable, I have 'rugby ball' shaped eyes and thus not suited to disposables only hard ones, which then need TLC, which I don't do well with my glasses, might clean them once a week with my TShirt.

As for the laser treatments, one of the guys went back home to Hungary (I think) cos it was cheaper to do it there, spent a month or more having to wear sunglasses indoors to protect his eyes as much as possible, turns out he is back to wearing glasses again, either they botched the job or even with the best accuracy, eyes still detiriorate.
That and the scene from the last Final Destination with the laser op, I can watch any gore fest splatter, just don't show me that scene again.

[blas87]

Oh yes, some people do need Lasek done multiple times.

My ex's mother only needed it in one eye, she had it when the procedure first came out, so 10-15 years later she needed it done again.

I'm very, very naughty, but I don't take my contacts out every night.

[HYHYBT]

My stepmom had lasik once; her eyes hurt for weeks, and by the time they were healed up her sight was right where she'd started.

One problem I know with glasses is that they fog up, for example when walking into a freezer. Do contacts do that?

[Giggle Goose]

Wow, Blas, what are all your co-workers doing working at that place when they apparently all are trained eye doctors?

I started wearing contacts at 11, too. I only wore glasses to give my eyes a break sometimes, and yes, I slept in them a lot too. Which was bad, bad, bad. Then I joined the Lasik club....LOVE. IT. I've been right at about 20/20 for two years now. My employer had flex spending so I could do a payroll deduction pre-tax. Lowered my paycheck for a year, but it was well worth it. Except for having to put in eyedrops regularly. But anyone who uses a computer screen for most of the day should do that anyway.

Your co-workers need to shut it. I preferred contacts far more than glasses. They just get dirty and in the way all the time.

[siead_lietrathua]

see, i'm in the no-contacts boat. i have a really high script and an astigmatism. so at this point i would have to wear hard contact lenses only (which do risk damage with misuse and may be why your coworkers are confused). i'm squicky enough putting eyedrops in. i'll live with glasses.
as for lasik, it is great if you can afford it sure. but age will eventually have you in glasses again. my mum got lasik in her early 40's, and has readers again now that she's in the 50 mark. aging frigs with the best plans :P

[Greenday]

If my insurance covered Lasik, I'd have done it years ago.

My eye doctor really pushes it on me, because he says I'm the perfect age and have bad enough vision where it would be "life changing" for me.

If it wasn't $10,000 and not considered a necessary surgery.

Cost me ~$4,000, I didn't have insurance, and it was tax deductible. Free eye care for a year. Free touch-ups if necessary. I'd say within a couple days, almost all side effects were gone. I now have 20-20 vision in my left eye and 20-15 vision in my right eye. My sister got it done too and she has 20-20 vision in both eyes with no problems.

From what I'm told, it's basically just less effective the older you are.

[HYHYBT]

Only needing reading glasses is still a lot better than having to wear glasses all the time.