Travel Products - Contact Lens

OK, I am stretching to figure out which forum this goes in.
I have lost ANOTHER pair of expensive titanium, tinted, scratch and smudge resistant blah blah blah glasses. Took them off in a lounge today and walked out without them. I called but no one has seen them, oh well.... so, I decided to go with contacts, harder to take them off and forget them
:)
however, I have NO IDEA whatsoever about contacts. What are the best for someone with astigmatism? Also, I don't want to have to carry around a bunch of liquids so are daily wears better? You wear them once and throw them away, right? What are the downsides to these?

Here is the last prescription from zenni optical. Is this all I need or do I have to go get an eye exam?

Right
OD SPH -2.25
OD CYL 0.00
OD AXIS 0

Left
OS SPH -0.50
OS CYL -0.50
OS AXIS 80

My left eye looks like I can see pretty good, Can I just buy for the right eye?

Every question you have should be answered by an eye care professional.

They will do the evaluation and make decisions based on what's available for the corrections you need.

Personally, I use the 30 day disposables and love them. My wife hates them and has the daily disposables.

You may not have as many choices with astigmatism, and it may take some trial and error for them to find the right ones for you.

There is a base curve that is required for contact fitting. In my experience, a 2 second "contact fitting" is $70-$85. Probably because you walk out with a pair of contacts, but most 2-week boxes are under $20 for 6 contacts so I'm not sure why a contact fitting is so fricken expensive. They of course have to do it each year for the new prescription even if you aren't changing contact brands or prescriptions.

I wear Acuvue Oasys for astigmatism and am very happy with them. I'm sure there are other good brands of toric lenses (that's what astigmatism lenses are called).

I wear them nonstop for a week and then replace them. I could also choose to wear them for 2 weeks if I took them out at night. A slightly different model is also made for those who prefer a 1-day schedule, but I don't have the patience for that.

And I'm sure you can buy just for one eye.

I used to wear Acuview disposables which are compatible with astigmatism. Go see any eye doctor for a fresh new prescription and training on how to take care of your lenses, put them in, take them out, etc.

I had laser eye surgery a few years ago and my vision (including astigmatism) has been perfect since. If you are absent minded or don't like traveling with liquids that's another option to look at. I would strongly recommend avoiding LASIK and go with one of the surface procedures instead though (PRK, epi-lasik, etc). The surface procedures give you sore eyes for a few days, but they also have a much lower chance of complications (for the rest of your life).

Just a callout for traveling: I find if I sleep on planes with contacts in my eyes dry out extremely fast (worse than at home). I have switched to wearing glasses on travel days where I might sleep. Either way, you may need to bring glasses.

I have NO IDEA whatsoever about contacts. What are the best for someone with astigmatism? Also, I don't want to have to carry around a bunch of liquids so are daily wears better? You wear them once and throw them away, right? What are the downsides to these?

Here is the last prescription from zenni optical. Is this all I need or do I have to go get an eye exam?

Right
OD SPH -2.25
OD CYL 0.00
OD AXIS 0

Left
OS SPH -0.50
OS CYL -0.50
OS AXIS 80

My left eye looks like I can see pretty good, Can I just buy for the right eye?

In my real life, when I'm not collecting miles and points, I'm an ophthalmologist. I don't dispense contacts, but I can answer some of your questions.

First of all, you are a young person. I'll guess your age at 40 or under. If you were in your 40s or older, you would realize that you naturally have what is called monovision. Once you reach the age where most people start to need reading glasses, and if you are not wearing a lens correction, you will be able to read without glasses using your right eye and you will use your left eye for distance vision because your unaided distance vision in the left eye is fairly decent (probably 20/40 or thereabouts). You will probably really like this when you are older. But I digress....

I agree with the poster who advised you to see an eye care professional if you wish to try contacts. Contacts need to be fit properly. Poorly fit contact lenses can cause a wide variety of problems, some quite serious. Also, remember that if you try contacts, you MUST follow the advice that your contact lens fitter gives you. NO CHEATING. Do not keep your lenses longer than recommended in order to try to save money. But again, I digress....

Your questions:
1. Astigmatism can be dealt with by fitting a hard lens or fitting a toric soft lens. But you have minimal astigmatism (only half a diopter in your left eye). You'd likely do fine without requiring any fancy contact for astigmatism.
2. If you want to wear contact lenses, you are going to carry some liquid(s) around. Get used to it, girl. If you fly a lot, you'll probably need some sort of wetting drop because airplanes are very low humidity environments. Females are especially prone to dryness issues (more so than men). You are also going to need some sort of solution to soak your lenses in at night after you remove them.
3. Yes, you could wear a lens in one eye only. That would mean fitting the more nearsighted right eye. You could go without a contact in your left eye if you could accept the mild blur from the left eye. Right now the left eye seems "pretty good" because your right eye is more nearsighted, but this might change if the right eye is fit with a lens and sees sharply.
4. You are still going to want to have glasses. There may be some situations where you won't want to wear your contacts. Or perhaps you will have some sort of problem that will prevent you from wearing your contacts. So it is important to have back-up glasses for use when needed.

Another suggestion is to get less expensive glasses for travel. I have had great luck with glasses from the chain ForEyes. At $90, you can get a couple pair without breaking the bank.

My wife swears by the Air Optix 30-day lenses. She's worn them on airplanes before, and found that her eyes were less dry with them than with glasses. (I don't wear vision correction, so her statement seems strange to me, but I'll go with it.)

Also, if you have a Costco membership, they've got the ability to do eye exams in many stores, and many people have told me that it's a good place to pick up an inexpensive backup pair of glasses.

In my real life, when I'm not collecting miles and points, I'm an ophthalmologist. I don't dispense contacts, but I can answer some of your questions.

First of all, you are a young person. I'll guess your age at 40 or under. If you were in your 40s or older, you would realize that you naturally have what is called monovision. Once you reach the age where most people start to need reading glasses, and if you are not wearing a lens correction, you will be able to read without glasses using your right eye and you will use your left eye for distance vision because your unaided distance vision in the left eye is fairly decent (probably 20/40 or thereabouts). You will probably really like this when you are older. But I digress....

I agree with the poster who advised you to see an eye care professional if you wish to try contacts. Contacts need to be fit properly. Poorly fit contact lenses can cause a wide variety of problems, some quite serious. Also, remember that if you try contacts, you MUST follow the advice that your contact lens fitter gives you. NO CHEATING. Do not keep your lenses longer than recommended in order to try to save money. But again, I digress....

Your questions:
1. Astigmatism can be dealt with by fitting a hard lens or fitting a toric soft lens. But you have minimal astigmatism (only half a diopter in your left eye). You'd likely do fine without requiring any fancy contact for astigmatism.
2. If you want to wear contact lenses, you are going to carry some liquid(s) around. Get used to it, girl. If you fly a lot, you'll probably need some sort of wetting drop because airplanes are very low humidity environments. Females are especially prone to dryness issues (more so than men). You are also going to need some sort of solution to soak your lenses in at night after you remove them.
3. Yes, you could wear a lens in one eye only. That would mean fitting the more nearsighted right eye. You could go without a contact in your left eye if you could accept the mild blur from the left eye. Right now the left eye seems "pretty good" because your right eye is more nearsighted, but this might change if the right eye is fit with a lens and sees sharply.
4. You are still going to want to have glasses. There may be some situations where you won't want to wear your contacts. Or perhaps you will have some sort of problem that will prevent you from wearing your contacts. So it is important to have back-up glasses for use when needed.

Thanks so much for the Great response! You were off a bit about my age, why do you think I am under 40?

I only wear the glasses when I am trying to watch a TV as it sure clears it up. I don't wear anything to read as I can see fine up close. Perhaps the reason I keep leaving the glasses behind is I wear them so infrequently. Probably 3 or 4 hours per week total and sometimes I don't wear them for weeks when I lose them and have to order another pair. I would LOVE to have clear vision all the time though.

When I get my drivers license they tell me I am not restricted to glasses as they say I am a "one-eyed" person!! I guess that is called monovision?

I only wear the glasses when I am trying to watch a TV as it sure clears it up. I don't wear anything to read as I can see fine up close. Perhaps the reason I keep leaving the glasses behind is I wear them so infrequently. Probably 3 or 4 hours per week total and sometimes I don't wear them for weeks when I lose them and have to order another pair. I would LOVE to have clear vision all the time though.

When I first started wearing glasses I had no prescription at all in one eye, and a similarly minor astigmatism in the other. My doctor suggested that I wear glasses, much like you do, "As needed." I moved and without a radical change in the prescription the doctor suggested that I actually would see better if I wore them all the time and that by wearing them all the time I'd get used to them more. Turns out he was right. After about a week of wearing the glasses all the time, I didn't want to go back. I still see ok without my glasses, but I notice things aren't as clear and get a headache eventually. Which is a long way around to say another option would be to wear your glasses all the time. For a short period of time you'll have to force yourself, then you'll get used to them. And if you are wearing them all the time you'll be much less likely to lose them.

I went from glasses -> contacts -> lasik. Slight astigmatism in my right eye. Currently at ~20/20 both eyes considered (left eye better than right). Look into that as well, and never worry about glasses or contacts.

[QUOTE=NC_Girl;19175866]Thanks so much for the Great response! You were off a bit about my age, why do you think I am under 40?
[QUOTE]

In the end, a major determinant of what you are going to want to do depends on your age. For simplicity, I'm going to talk about "focusing power" for near vision. Children have a tremendous amount of focusing power, and are able to hold things up close and focus on them clearly. But there is a very normal and predictable decline in our near focusing ability with age. For most of us, it is getting harder and harder to focus on a near object by the age of 40-45, and this is why you see so many people in their 40s starting to wear reading glasses or bifocals.

A lot of people just don't want to wear glasses and prefer contacts. But once you reach the age where declining focusing power is making it difficult to read, then people face a harder choice. The 40-45 plus year old person who is wearing contact lenses for clear distance vision may very well need reading glasses. There are bifocal contacts, but the success rate at fitting these is so-so. Some people will opt for what is called monovision. Monovision means that one eye is fit with a contact lens for distance and the fellow eye is fit with a contact for near vision. The brain learns to select the distance eye when looking at a distant object and select the eye fit for near when you want to read. You see with one eye at a time - monovision.

So you've naturally got monovision when you are not wearing glasses or contacts. One eye has a fairly weak distance prescription and sees fairly well for distance. The other eye is nearsighted, and can read without needing reading glasses even if you are age 40-45 plus.

Here is how age will fit into the picture:
1. If you are young (under 40-ish), you could wear a contact lens in the more nearsighted eye (or both eyes) to correct your distance vision. You would still have enough focusing power to read without needing reading glasses.
2. If you are 40-45 or older, however, things are very different. WITHOUT glasses or contacts, you've got monovision and can read with the nearsighted eye. However, if you fit the nearsighted eye with a contact lens to see clearly for distance, you are now no longer nearsighted in that eye when the contact lens is on. Bingo - you may very quickly need reading glasses since you no longer have the monovision. Perhaps the less nearsighted eye (if it does not wear a contact lens) will have enough nearsightedness to allow you to read with that eye without reading glasses for a few years, but somewhere along the way as you get older (and continue to lose focusing power) it is very likely that you'd need a pair of reading glasses.

I am on the wrong side of age 55. I also naturally have monovision - my right eye is only a bit nearsighted and my left eye is the more nearsighted. Although I do have bifocals (and I wear them when driving), I can manage most of the time without glasses by using my right eye for distance and my left eye to read. I've been this way since my teens and my brain just naturally does it for me. People ask me all the time where my glasses are because they are so surprised that they see me without glasses on. I'm also male, so I don't lose my glasses because my shirts have pockets in them. But a lot of clothing for women doesn't have pockets - that makes it a lot harder to not lose those expensive glasses.

This may seem confusing at first. If you read it a few times, I hope it will start to make sense. I guessed you as young because you're very interested in a contact lens for your nearsighted eye. But if you're older, you may not like that contact lens because wearing it (correcting your nearsightedness) may muck up your reading vision in that eye when the contact lens is on.

Thanks for the very detailed post. I will turn 43 later this year. Only one question. Are you saying that if I wear a contact in my nearsighted eye I will lose the monovision and HAVE to go with reading glasses later? Or since I have natural monovision I will continue as is?

I went to the optician yesterday and they told me that I would do best wearing a contact in my right eye only. They gave me a 2 week tester to wear until I ordered some. I can't believe how great it is to be able to see the TV with no blurriness <big grin> The contact feels funny the first few minutes it is in then I can not even tell it is in, it is great!! I can't imagine why I never tried contacts before.

The acid test:
With your contact in, can you read comfortably with both eyes open?

So long as you can read comfortably, you'll be pleased. Your left eye (uncorrected - that is, with no contact lens on) has 3/4 diopter of myopia. That should be enough to tide you over and hopefully permit you to read comfortably (even though you are continuing to lose focusing power with age) until perhaps your late 40s or even early 50s. You may end up deciding to only wear the contact in your right eye and leave the left eye alone so that it helps out with reading (especially as you get a bit older - at 42 you are getting very close to the magic "reading glasses" age).

Wearing a contact lens does not permanently alter your nearsightedness. (LASIK does permanently alter nearsightedness, however.) So if you ever decide to stop wearing the contact, you'll just be back to where you started and your nearsightedness will still be there to help you read. You'll still have a natural form of monovision.

Being nearsighted seems horrible when we're young, but a mild amount of nearsightedness is really not such a bad thing because it can permit more comfortable near vision as we age. That's the "revenge of the nerds."

I wear Acuvue Oasys (no astigmatism). Sleep in them and do very well. I didn't start wearing glasses until I was 18. Now I am 42 and cannot read the E at the top of the eye chart with corrective lens!

I will echo another posters comments. I remove my contacts and go with glasses for any fight over 4 hours. Too dry in the cabin. My eyes get read and painful.

Good luck! Contacts are great. I love waking and being able to see.

OK, I am stretching to figure out which forum this goes in.
I have lost ANOTHER pair of expensive titanium, tinted, scratch and smudge resistant blah blah blah glasses. Took them off in a lounge today and walked out without them. I called but no one has seen them, oh well.... so, I decided to go with contacts, harder to take them off and forget them
:)
however, I have NO IDEA whatsoever about contacts. What are the best for someone with astigmatism? Also, I don't want to have to carry around a bunch of liquids so are daily wears better? You wear them once and throw them away, right? What are the downsides to these?

Here is the last prescription from zenni optical. Is this all I need or do I have to go get an eye exam?

Right
OD SPH -2.25
OD CYL 0.00
OD AXIS 0

Left
OS SPH -0.50
OS CYL -0.50
OS AXIS 80

My left eye looks like I can see pretty good, Can I just buy for the right eye?

with that RX you don't appear to have a (significant) astigmatism which makes life a lot easier. you could wear lenses in just one eye, you're probably after -2.25 or -2 but get it checked out.

I use J&J Trueye which are great, silicon based, like the Oasys (which I used for many years) but daily disposable.

Contact lens for astigmatism is very expensive. There are only a few brands on the market that I can use because I have very high near-sightedness and high astigmatism. Right now I'm using Borsch & Lomb monthly disposables, but I have tried Acuvue (monthly and daily disposables) and my eyes hated it. Especially the dailies; for some reason they dry out the minute I pop them in.

I wear my dorky throw-everywhere thick glasses when I fly because contact lens are too drying. If you travel to SE Asia, glasses are really cheap so you can use them for flying?