Do you wear glasses?

If you don't, it sounds as though you might need to.

For many years, I couldn't wear contacts because I have an astigmatism in my left eye. Visually, it means that I am slightly long sighted. However, the condition itself is due to the eye (or the crucial bit of the eye) not being perfectly spherical.

For years I wore glasses but found them to be a pain, especially when I was on stage. Trying to play when your glasses are permanently falling down your nose is really distracting.

About 10 years ago I first enquired about contacts (or contact - as I've only got one bad eye), and was told about the problems people with this condition had with trying to get lenses. In those days you had to opt for hard or gas permeable lenses to overcome the "moving around" symptom. At the time toric lenses where very new (and painfully expensive) - I think that my first lens was over £200. They have got a lot cheaper.

Toric lenses are weighted and pretty much made to measure and counteract the astigmatism, allowing the lens to remain in place.

Given that the lenses you are talking about are over-the-counter-types they will be made to a standard size and shape.

Have you tried swapping them around? - This should identify whether there's something up with the lens or with your eye.

I just had a friend ask me pretty much the same thing!

It sounds to me like it's simply a bad fit. Eyes come in a variety of different shapes and sizes, and contact lenses are usually shaped to fit. If you get them through an optician, they'll take all kinds of measurements to make sure the lens fits ok.

Like gobstopper suggested, the best way to check is to swap them over. If it is the fit, then there's not really a lot you can do, except try to get one that does fit!

I agree with the above and think that possibly they're just a bad fit as they're obviously a 'one size fits all' type. They sound really good though.
I've been wearing contacts but developed a rather horrible problem: blisters in the eyeball!!! I kid you not. The optician thought it was caused by my hay fever and that the lenses were trapping pollen against my eye. However, I haven't had the bottle to try them again so I don't know if that's true or not. It's really difficult to get them out again when the top layer of your eyeball is bulging out! I hate wearing glasses too

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by zepherine
The optician thought it was caused by my hay fever and that the lenses were trapping pollen against my eye. However, I haven't had the bottle to try them again so I don't know if that's true or not.

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I get this in the summer. I always end up with infections like conjuctivitus 'cos of the pollen. Wasn't too bad last year, but the year before was awful.

i've wanted colored contacts for ages..but iwear glases so i' have to get perscription coloured ones if i wanted to wera them without my glasses.

i tried regualr contatcs for a while but all the putting in and taking out was a right old pain. I hated it when i hadn't ahd them in for a few days then tried them again. It made my eyes sting i'll try 'em again eventually

Unf. I tend to be a lazy wotsit when it comes to my lenses, half the time when I have a late night out or something I just take them out and neglect to clean them :/ And I end up going back to glasses. Determined not to let that happen now though - 'specially since I don't like wearing glasses in the first place...

I believe I have toric lenses, they're gas permeable certainly, mainly because I've got an astigmatism as well. To be honest I don't put much truck into lenses you can buy over the counter...sounds suspiciously easy to me

Also since my eyes are so bad coloured lenses for a bit of variety are a bit out of the question, unless shelling out a few hundred quid on something I'll not use very often suddenly becomes a good idea...

(Edited by Spikeo 12/03/2002 17:38)

Do coloured contacts make you see in that colour?

thanks everyone, i'll try swaping them round tomorrow!!

Coloured contacts don't make you see in that colour cause they have a clear disc in the center where the pupil or your eye is when you wear them!! It only changes the colour of your iris!!

DDB xx

I've been wearing contact lenses for 15 years now - and due to being very long sighted can only wear hard gas permable ones and thy're not disposables.....

As stated above, eyes come in all different shapes and forms - they're not "standard" so the ones you probably bought don't actually "fit" the eye. If you want to invest in coloured lenses be it non-prescriptive best see an optician so they can measure up properly.

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by zepherine
The optician thought it was caused by my hay fever and that the lenses were trapping pollen against my eye.:

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i wear coloured contacts alot with my costumes and actually find when i wear them my eyes don't itch as much in the summer. may be thats due to them covering the eyeball enough to prevent the pollen etc iritaiting the eyeball.
i've used over the counter ones and they can be hit and miss with some people just due to eye shape, even if you haven't any problems with vision. So far for me i've had no problems.
What i'd really like to go for are black scherea lenses. there the ones that cover all the eye, like willows when she uses dark magic. but 1, they're very expensive £2-300 and they sometimes sit on the nerve of the eye so you constantly want to sneeze.maybe when i win the lottery!

urgh i could never wear contacts i'm supposed to wear glasses but not worn then for 5 years, but contacts no way could i put those things in my eyes i'm no good with eyes.

Dru's Dead Bird you could try contact lens drops - they sell them at most large opticians - these are for when lenses get dried out - for example I work in a really dry environment and so my lenses dry even after only a few hours so I put drops in to help stop them from feeling grainy and sticky. They are made by Allergen and they are called "Refresh Contacts"

fishie

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by nemesis
What i'd really like to go for are black scherea lenses. there the ones that cover all the eye, like willows when she uses dark magic. but 1, they're very expensive £2-300 and they sometimes sit on the nerve of the eye so you constantly want to sneeze.maybe when i win the lottery!

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Yeah, I'd love a set like that I understand they're very uncomfortable though, and have to be individually fitted - plus the process seems to involve making a cast of the eyeball, which does not sound nice They also have a reputation for causing extreme alergic reactions - the stories from the set of the X-Men were really scary...