I have never worn contact lenses before so I booked in for a consultation to get contact lenses and just few days before my appointment I started noticing that my eyes feel so dry. I still went for the consultation, told them that my eyes feel dry. While trying contact lenses my eyes got bloodshot red. So they asked me to book another appointment which is tomorrow.
The questions I wanted to ask ozbargainers before my second appointment are that
Can we use contact lenses with dry eyes?
Has anyone had any experience using contact lenses with dry eyes?
What contact lenses are best for dry eyes?
PS I haven't been diagnosed with dry eyes yet.
Dry Eyes and Contact Lenses
Pricebeat on 10/01/2016 - 16:19
Comments
Thanks I will check that :)
Polygel won't be comparable with contacts, too viscous and causes issues, you'd be needing to look at something like Polytears/systane ultra etc instead.
Contacts are OK with dry eyes but can limit your wearing time. A newer type of lens (dailies total 1) seems to offer very good (relative) comfort vs some other types (YMMV), but does cost a bit more.
Your optometrist should (hopefully) have a few things they might suggest to tackle the temporary issues you have
Systane ultra is the one I recommend.
Compatible with contact lenses and lasts for 6 months once opened (compared to 1 month for most other drops)
Have you got any allergy( eg hayfever,dust etc)
Are you using daily?
Do you sleep with your contact lenses on?
Did they check your base curve?I have hay fever and I never used contact lenses before. I had the eye test done before my first appointment but not sure if they checked base curve or not.
Just dropping by to mention that dry eyes + contacts can lead to terrible outcomes. I kept wearing contacts with dry eyes over years (coupled with poor lens habits), and developed serious vision problems that landed me in the Eye Hospital many times.
Now, I'm ultra-careful and vigilant! As someone else said above, having dry eyes can influence your prescription, so ideally you should try to resolve that first. Systane Ultra is great for use without contacts and with contacts - and I still use it once or twice a day.
Also, if you haven't used contacts before, it's totally normal for your eyes to freak out the first few times you put them in :) Mine were bloodshot for the first day, and in the first hour they wouldn't stop tearing up and crying etc. After one week, everything was fine and I couldn't feel them anymore at all.
I assume you've gone for your second appointment already, hope it's gone well! If you're near the Sydney CBD area, I know an incredible optometrist that can help if you ever want another opinion.
Also, if your optom is up to speed on the latest products etc, they can suggest a more-oxygen-permeable lens (to maintain eye health) instead of some of the older products. eg I was upgraded from my old lens, to a new one that's 8x more oxygen permeable eek. Generally, dailies are the healthiest for your eyes (since they're disposable so you don't have any cleaning concerns) - but the most expensive. Fortnightlies are in the middle, which could be a good compromise to start with. And monthlies need the most care / attention, but are the most affordable.
When my eye health was poor, I stuck with dailies for a while until things improved, then transitioned to fortnightlies and finally monthlies.
Let us know how you went!
Hi thank you for your suggestions. Yes, I have gone for my second appointment and I had similar problem at my second appointment. They gave me the daily contacts. I got them in at the optometrist but by the time I got home I could not keep them in my eyes any more.So, I just took them out and threw away.
After few days I made an appointment with an ophthalmologist at Melbourne. He told me that there was nothing wrong with my eyes just lumps/inflammation under my pupils that was causing dryness. He prescribed me with steroid eye drops. So I went to pharmacy and bought those eye drops plus omega triple supplement. I started taking the supplement and eye drops which really helped me. I stopped using steroid eye drops after after a week or so when I read about their side effects. I am still taking Omega triple supplement and have no significant issues. My eyes do tend to get a little itchy when I am near aircon. I am not confident enough to use contact lenses as I do not want to have that feeling of dry eyes again.
Do you still use contact lenses? and how are your eyes doing now? still dry?
I got dry eyes n use PolyGel. Not wearing contacts. But might be worthwhile to check if compatible. Better than normal eye drops. Also I had issue that dry eyes can change ur prescription. Make sure that the condition of ur eyes is the same when u get ur prescription measured and when u wear glasses or contacts. When I had mine measured few years back they used drops during consultation n later when wearing glasses had one eye dryer than other prior to using PolyGel. Took me 4 month n change of optometrist to sort out.