Contacts, eyes, fings what I have done lerned

[F5 Dave]

Just some musings. perhaps may be useful to others.

I like contacts. I hate glasses. I've just changed back to my old glasses. they are tiny & light. I replaced them as the lenses were getting mullered but it turned out the anti-glare coating had deteriorated. My optometrist soaked them in some evil brew & good as new. (though with no coating)

But anyway I only wear them when I get up & get home (and the odd day a week to give eyes a breather). So I like contacts. I figure "why hide this beautiful face behind furniture?". Indeed.

But I like being able to wear sunnies & walk into a shop & be able to take them off & still see (or swap from my prescription sunnies to normal). Although I tend to plonk them on my head. Why that seems less convenient to the Maori youth in shopping malls who seem to wear them on their foreheads or draping on their neck from their ears, I have no idea how they stay on or how that is comfortable.

I generally hate the weight of glasses & even with light tiny plastic lenses it bothers me (oddly sunnies don't seem so bad).

So I've had times when I haven't been able to wear contacts. Eye irritations etc. Dreadful times.

Lately I had an issue with comfort & dryness, although I don't seem to feel dry of eye & never think to put drops in.

I'd had an issue with an eyelid getting puffy. The tear glands get a little greasy & block up. You can put a warm cloth on your eyes for 5 min, but a wheat pack from optometrist for $10 works much better. + they have this eyelid cleaner you use in the morning that helps clear it away (bottle is like $30 but lasts for months & months).

This helped me a heap, but I still have some residue gloop that was moving the contacts around. So I went to daylies that are thinner & that has been great.

What else I have learned is that the tear ducts don't always release enough fluid. as you get older this can be a problem. Skin treatments like Roaccutain(sp) to clear greasy skin also affect tear production so best to avoid despite their wonder powers of pimple clearing. Laser correction also cuts nerves & affects tear production as well apparently. I guess more people will find this as they age.

[husaberg]

Just some musings. ...... I guess more people will find this as they age.

I am not sure to make of this...unless you are starting into the Xmas sherry already?
Have a great Xmas Dave.

[F5 Dave]

Well I've just tucked into a can of Pepsi (choice of the new generation. . .well an older new generation).

I just figured there must be a heap of people out there having issues & eye irritations that are missed by hordes of sub-average optometrists out there that are bred by the new franchise system that keeps staff turnover high (& pay low I assume) to filter people out into the shop to buy stuff.

I got fed up having not seen the same person twice & moved to a practice to be seen by one of the partners with his name on the business. The contrast was stark & now I understand some things & have help where none was before. And the price is about the same.

[husaberg]

Well I've just tucked into a can of Pepsi (choice of the new generation. . .well an older new generation).

I just figured there must be a heap of people out there having issues & eye irritations that are missed by hordes of sub-average optometrists out there that are bred by the new franchise system that keeps staff turnover high (& pay low I assume) to filter people out into the shop to buy stuff.

I got fed up having not seen the same person twice & moved to a practice to be seen by one of the partners with his name on the business. The contrast was stark & now I understand some things & have help where none was before. And the price is about the same.

I generally piss off my optometrist when i visit, (about every 7 years) due to my attention span and lack of focus.
i wear glasses for long distance (ie driving riding), As i am lazy in one eye since a nipper and i generally i end up losing one lens from my glasses and i just use them anyway, strangely my eyesight in my lazy eye generally improves as a result, which they do not like. I have inquired about laser surgery (but they seem to hate the very idea of it) i often wonder if it is because it is dangerous or it potentially does them out of money for corrective lens etc..

[F5 Dave]

There is a heap of info about training your lazy eye to work. A man of your research skills should find it easy to find. Should help depth perception no end. My wife has had laser in UK. She gets Halos with car headlights at night so at least I can drive distance at night. But yes I think there is more to it with the tear ducts. Some people may will have no prob, some possibly will.

[husaberg]

There is a heap of info about training your lazy eye to work. A man of your research skills should find it easy to find. Should help depth perception no end. My wife has had laser in UK. She gets Halos with car headlights at night so at least I can drive distance at night. But yes I think there is more to it with the tear ducts. Some people may will have no prob, some possibly will.

Just as well it wasn't prior to moving in with you imagine if she could have seen what she was getting into without the rose coloured lens.
Halos is that a common thing? The glasses for driving have never worried me but are a SOB with a helmet.
I had the drops patches etc when i was a nipper helped but i am still lazy.
My bro had to stop wearing the contacts. He had far worse vision than me.

[awa355]

I find that with my riding, I am having more and more problems with my eyes ' burning '. Dont know if this is a case of the wind drying my eyes or a tear fluid problem. I wear sunglasses and keep the visor down. In my 60's now, and never had this hassle untill about a year ago. I got some drops from the chemist to put in prior to my riding. Doesn't make a lot of difference.

[F5 Dave]

Hmm, time for a glaucoma test? I don't know what the symptoms are but they blow in your eyes. Anyways, I'd take it as a chance to go see an optometrist & explain the issues. You're at the age where thse things start to crop up.

Don't go to a franchised group imho.

[The End]

My optometrist soaked them in some evil brew & good as new. (though with no coating)

Out of interest, where did you get this done? I've asked my old optometrist (OPSM) about removing the scratched coating in the past and they said they had no idea what I was talking about...

[paturoa]

I first got glasses at school, then when I went to university I got contacts as the optometry school at dorkland uni didn't charge fees. I was short sighted.

That was too many years ago! Anyway I started getting dry eyes during the day and only wore my lenses when riding. So I got laser surgery last year. It was expensive (don't look at the late model expensive European sports cars in the staff car park!).

Anyway no side effects for me and I've got better than 10/10 vision for distance.

What you need to know if you're short sighted is that you will most likely be trading good close vision for distance. I now need reading glasses for anything closer than about 2 meters.

[F5 Dave]

I hope you mean 20/20. 10/10. Would. Need quite some correction. My opt is black meek and gong in the Hutt. Opsm is a franchise. You were speaking to a monkey.

[huff3r]

I hope you mean 20/20. 10/10. Would. Need quite some correction. My opt is black meek and gong in the Hutt. Opsm is a franchise. You were speaking to a monkey.

10/10 is the same as 20/20 essentially. First number is your vision distance to make out a character, second is an average or normal person.

Corrected my vision is 20/10 so at 20 feet I can make out a character most would not make out until 10 feet away.

Also hay fever plays havoc with contact lenses. Not wearing them overnight and taking loratadine helps.

[F5 Dave]

How bout that, you're right, quick research , oh well odd system anyway but another thing learnt.

[paturoa]

I hope you mean 20/20. 10/10. Would. Need quite some correction. My opt is black meek and gong in the Hutt. Opsm is a franchise. You were speaking to a monkey.

Yeah, duh. I meant 6/6.

[MD]

I got laser surgery when it first came out circa the stone age (1994). The process then was to repeatedly drag the sharp-ish edge of a stone back and forth across the tender eye surface until you passed out.

At that time I had worn glasses since high school days and tried soft contacts - hated them. The laser worked a treat. 20 years later and I still have what I would call very good long distance sight in daylight. The Eye Doc. always said that laser does NOT cure the aging process and the need to have reading glasses, would still arrive as I got into my late 40s. He was spot on. Only decline I have noticed, which is probably the aging referred too, is my vision in dim light is worse now than it was 5 or 10 years ago. But again I have to accept all eyesight deteriorates with age. Your eyes are more sensitive to bright light though. Sudden bright sunstrike can bring on tears. Pays to have a ready supply of shades stashed in the car, with the bike, at work, home. I need a man bag actually. The joy of not having to wear any form of aids when riding, playing sport etc was well worth the cost. Ha, back then it was covered by my general medical insurance anyway. It cost $1500 an eye. Doc Logan charges $2500 now I believe. Good guy.

I can remember when young the embarrassment of coming out of the surf and not being able to find your friends! Wandering around a crowded beach pretending not to be lost. or someone says, hey whats that bobbing about out beyond the waves and you think..where's the ocean?

ps- the new techniques are painless. I knew one person who refused to go back for their other eye to be done because of the pain. It really did feel like, for 20 odd hours, someone was rubbing your eyeball with red hot sandpaper. Giving birth must be a breeze next to what we went through as eye surgery guinea pigs in the 90s