[East Texas Pine Rooter]

I wear lineless trifocals. i have gotten used to them, but i scratch them so much. They have to be replaced every 6-months. I mow the pasture with a brush hog, and it gets dusty. I hate it when the sweat get's on my lense. I take fish oil for my squeaky joints, as well as flax oil vitamin supplements. The lense get smudged, and i have to wash them off with water, and liquid soap. Do you think I would fair any better with contact lense? i never have tried them. My wife went to contact lense a couple of years ago, and loves them.

 

[coalroadcabin]

I love my contact lenses. I can see so much better with them. The only problem I have now is my contacts are for distance and since I'm getting older I am starting to have trouble with seeing to read. When I used to wear glasses I just took them off to do close work but you can't do that with contact lenses. My eye doctor has tried me on wearing two different lenses-right eye for distance and left eye for close up-this works for some people but I just couldn't get used to it. For now, I just wear my contacts all the time and use a pair of $12 reading glasses from WallyWorld when I read. I know that there are bifocal contact lenses but I'm not sure of the $$.

 

[RedneckWoman]

I have had mine for almost a year and love them. Now, when I am outside I am not constantly pulling glasses off my face to clean something off of them or clear fog off of them in winter. I do however go through a lot of rewetting drops. The only complaint I have is that I can't wear them more than twelve hours a day because they really kill my eyes after a long period of time. Aside from that they are much better than glasses.
If you have extremely sensitive eyes or have any qualms about sticking something in your eye you may want to get like a trial pair from your optometrist (sp?) and try them out before purchasing boxes of lenses. (My brother wanted contacts but rather than just getting one pair and checking them out he went ahead and ordered boxes from his optometrist, turns out he didn't like them and the optometrist wouldn't buy the unused lenses back so he was stuck with $90 worth of lenses he couldn't use.)

 

[deberosa]

I have bifocal contacts and love them! I worked with someone who had trifocal contacts. My eyesight is clear and I have my peripheral vision back. My eyes are a little more sensitive to direct sunlight so I wear sunglasses outside (never used to probably bad anyhow). My eye doctor was not enthusiastic about me trying bifocal contacts - I guess people can have problems with them. Mine worked from the moment I put them in. They are good for 10 days and then I start another set, but I wear them a bit longer. Next year I want to get daily wear - less fuss. You still have to take them out every night and clean them.

Before that I had daily wear distance contacts and then wore a pair of reading glasses propped on my head. It worked, but not perfect either...

You mentioned dusty work - I could not wear contacts in Denver in the polution. I am not sure if it was the older technology (they were the kind you didn't throw away so if you lost one you had to get a new prescription). I think maybe if you wear sunglasses or protective eyewear over your eyes you would be fine. Another thing I have done is get a pair of glasses - very simple - just for distance and wear them in situations where I don't want to wear contacts outside - haven't used them since I got my latest prescription though. I had those when I had the lineless glasses because going into brush to weed, work made me dizzy!!!

One thing I have avoided is the extended wear contacts that you wear 24/7. My doctor doesn't recommend it because it can cause problems with your eyes.

It's so frustrating trying to find the right combination. I could start an eyewear store with all of the stuff I have tried over the years!!!!

 

[Guest]

I like glasses better for dust and wind conditions contacts better for sweating conditions so you may be at a standoff. some options to try would be a sweat band to keep the sweat out of your eyes or contacts with cheap plastic safety glasses to keep trash out of your eyes. In general i favor glasses for trashy conditions but everyone has their own ideas. contacts do also tend to give more dry eye problems and you should only use the special drops made for contacts when using them. All i ever used were the soft lens but currently use just glasses. From my perspective contacts are best suited to indoor or urban type use and for the young and more vain or image concious. Also consider if you make a practice of looking at things without glasses since glasses can remove easy several times and hour, even, yet removing contacts is best done at the bathroom in front of the mirror. You may also want to carry some good cleaning cloth with you. one of my favorite cleaning materials is old t shirts seem soft enough not to scratch if you get much grit you do need water and detergent or soap. you can also get scratch resistant lenses. there are also stretchy straps to add to the back of your glasses to help prevent the sliding.

 

[Suzanne]

Have wore them over 28 years now, have always lived in the country. I also have 2 pairs of glasses, that don't see much use except before bedtime. Once your used to contacts, glasses are such a bother. But everyone is right about alot of dust conditions, or I should say particules, not dust. But I don't have that kind of dust with alot of particles in it, except cleaning the coop out. Doesn't bother me much, more important to wear a face mask then worry about the contacts. Now hard contacts can hurt if something gets under them, but haven't wore those kind in years. Mine are disposable for the first time this year, averages out compared to the old 6 to 10 month soft contact I used to wear. But liked them to. Would not dream of working around this farm with glasses......steam, dirt, bumping them, etc, etc.. Love my contacts! Get a good eye doc to work with you, lots of different kinds also....Good Luck

 

[Hank - Narita]

Loved the hard lenses when they came out. Then went to soft. Couldn't wear them very long. Next was gas permiable and liked them very much. Several years ago I had the lasik surgery. It is the only way to go. Do lots of research if you go that route and make sure your doctor has done lots of these.

 

[suelandress]

Contacts are also great for doing up onions without tears

 

[okgoatgal2]

i have needed corrective lenses for about 26 yrs. about 16? yrs ago, i started wearing contacts, it took a while to get used to putting them into my eye but now i can do it without a mirror. i'm having some problems with my eyes lately, but hopefully i can get into a dr soon and figure out why, because glasses are a pain once you are used to contacts. no clear peripheral vision, slide, get junk on them ALL the time, hurts about 800 times worse when a kid bumps your face, some day i'm gonna have that surgery. but w/my contacts, while i can actually see a tiny bit better waaaaaaay far off w/glasses, my vision is better overall-i can see stuff to the sides of me, w/glasses i can't. i even wore contacts when i was training horses. about once every couple months i'd have to go rinse a lense b/c of something getting on/under one (which hurts like almighty blazes, btw) but 99% of the time i had no problems with it. when i rode in glasses, i was constantly pushing them back up, or if i got tossed they would fly as i bounced off the ground.....or they'd get so dusty i couldn't see thru them anyway....i will need something for reading in a couple yrs....i'll go w/just reading glasses when that time comes.

 

[Guest]

I wore contacts for 10 yrs, but had to stop wearing them when I moved to WI. Air conditioning and/or heat are used year round here and I couldn't bear to wear my lenses for more than 4 hours.

Dust is a bigger problem with contacts than with glasses. The particles can get under the contact and then you will need 1) clean hands, 2) a place with no wind and 3) saline solution to wash off your lens before putting it back in. Sometimes you need a mirror to find the offending particle if it doesn't come out with the lens

Soft contacts easily absorb the splashes from any liquid...gas, fertilizer, etc and can also absorb vapors from chemicals. The problem here is that the contact actually holds these chemicals directly against your eye! That is the reason most college chemisty labs won't let students wear contacts in a chemistry lab, even if they have googles to wear. Don't think you work with chemicals? Gasoline, bleach, road tar, lye, turpentine are a few of the chemicals that get used around the homestead that can damage the eye from the liquid and vapor forms.

I buy an eye glass cleaner made for cleaning anti-reflective lenses, not soap. I give both sides of the lens a big spray before I wipe them off with a microfiber cloth. Using enough liquid to get the whole lens wet is really important to removing the dust quicky without abrading the lenses. Many fabrics can actually scratch plastic glass lens, so I just find it safer to use the microfiber eye glass clothes (from WalMart) then to take a chance.

good luck
henny

 

[rio002]

East Texas- Try the contacts, I have never had a problem with mine, I use the soft lenses extended wear. Currently due to a prescription change (and lack of $120) I am wearing my glasses, which are a great back up--wouldn't recommend not having glasses for back up. However I have the same problems regarding my glasses little peripheal vision, depth perception issue (because of trying to still see under my glasses without looking down throws me off, sweat and dust irritate the hell out of me when working outside--ie:try fixing something while bending over in the summer, glasses catch Everything and by then my shirt is too sweaty to clear them lol. For me contacts are wonderful, and when it's mowing time I just wear a pair of safety glasses when I get into the dusty parts. My biggest problem with glasses though is driving, hate looking through two "windshields" to see. They tend to be cheaper than glasses because places like LensExpress etc. let you order boxes of 4-6 pair for a fraction of the dr.s office, I always get my first pair through the dr. then order the rest, breaks down to 4 pair through lensexpress is the same cost as 1 pair through my dr. Good Luck!

BTW as for Lasik surgery, absolutley agree "do your homework" I spoke with my dr. last year about it and he recommended obviously not to go with the cheapest clinic out there and to do a backround check on the facility/dr. before having it done, he said the price in his opinion shows the experience they have, ie:if your really really good at it your not going to give it away for $300 per eye when you can get $2000 per eye with a great record. This is afterall regarding your vision.

 

[BamaSuzy]

I have line-less trifocals and have the kind that are "scratch resistent" which has really proven true because I am rough rough rough on glasses.

I have never worn contacts because I have so many eye problems and one tiny infection could do my sight in....I'd love the look of not wearing glasses now (and not having a sore nose from sweating and the eye pad rubbing my nose) BUT I love my eyesight more so it's no contacts for me...That's my doc's advice to me.

Since I've had to get these trifocals I am VERY CAREFUL and ALWAYS put them in a little pouch thingie by the bed, as opposed to just laying my previous glasses on the sewing machine! These things cost nearly $500 so that makes me extra careful with them!

 

[perennial]

I have lots of allergies, so I always had trouble with contacts around allergy season. 1 1/2 years ago my hubby and I went to montreal canada and had lasik surgery done on our eyes - we are near sited. It was half the price as here in the U.S. and the doctor there had done about 30,000 operations!

brural