Extended Wear Contacts (inspired by Gail)

[becka]

I keep forgetting to ask you guys about this but Gail T Again's post reminded me (Thanks Gail! )

DS loves to pull on my glasses and they are starting to look it! I have worn contacts in the past but I just got sick of dealing with them everyday. I know that they now have extended wear contacts. Does anyone use this kind? How long can you wear them? Are they still something you have to deal with daily or do you just leave them in for a month at a time? Any problems?

Any info you can provide will be great. Thanks!

 

[janette]

I've worn them for years and can't imagine wearing anything else. I don't really do everything I'm supposed too but probably the best are the ones that you wear and take out about once a week and then throw away after a couple of cleanings.

I take mine out about once a week.

 

[SilverLily]

I have the Focus Day & Night contacts. They are the only ones that are FDA approved for continuous wear for up to 30 days. They are made of a different material (silicone hydrogel) than all other contacts out there, which allows the eyes to receive much more oxygen than with all other lenses. I used to wear Acuvue2 lenses, and occasionally I would wear them overnight and my eyes would be killing me the next day. With the Focus Day & Night, I wake up being able to see with no discomfort or dry eyes.

My doctor told me that with these contacts, you DON'T want to take them out and clean them very often because they have a special coating on them that repels bacteria and protein buildup. So if you take them out and clean them too often, the coating could wear off. He told me that I could take them out and clean them weekly, in which case they would only be cleaned 3 times before they were thrown away. Since I didn't have any problem wearing them for a week, we decided I would take them out every two weeks and clean them (but only keep one pair for 4 weeks total...use a new pair each month). I guess I could try to go longer in them, but 2 weeks is good for me.

Here's a link to read more about them: Focus Contacts

 

[SilverLily]

Oh, forgot to say...

You said you wore contacts in the past, so you may be aware of this. If your new contacts bother you and you can't get used to them after a few days, then your eye doctor may have prescribed the wrong size lenses. This has happened to me twice...once the diameter was too big and they were very uncomfortable. Another time, the base curve was wrong and the contact moved around too much, which made it seem like something was in my eye. Hopefully it won't happen to you. As I said, it only happened twice to me in the 15 years I have been wearing contacts.

 

[tstobb]

I've worn the Accuvue disposables since they came out. The ones I have, I put them in on Monday morning and take them out 1 week later on Sunday night & throw them away and put in a brand new pair again on Monday. When you consider that I spend $0 on solutions & cleaners, the cost is about equal to regular, daily wear lenses. They also have the newer daily disposables - put them in in the am & toss them each night.