Contact Lenses Have Changed My Life!

Ok, so the title of this blog post may sound a little extreme to some people, but it’s the honest truth. Contact Lenses have seriously changed my life!

When I was a child I always wanted to have glasses. I’ve no idea why! Perhaps it was because my parents wore them, or maybe I thought they’d make me look more intelligent, who knows, but ever since I’ve actually had to wear them, I hate it!

I first started wearing glasses when I was around 20. I worked in an office and spent the majority of the day staring at a computer screen. One of the perks of my job was a free eye test and free or discounted glasses. 

I guess staring at a screen all day may well have been one of the contributing factors to having to wear glasses now, along with the fact that my parents also had to. 

Even my own children have on occasion said that they want to wear glasses, and it takes up all my passion for not wanting to wear them myself to convince my own children that they shouldn’t really want to wear glasses. 

For starters, I hate not being able to see things without glasses. For example, when picking my children up from school one, a figure emerged by the window inside the classroom and started waving. I waved back and then one of the school mums said to me, “You know that’s not your child right?”

How embarrassing! 

In addition, if I go to the cinema or a music gig, I have to wear my glasses. Even at my children’s sports day, and yes, I admit it’s a total vanity thing for me, but I just hate wearing them!

Of course, I also hate that my eye site is utter pants and I did even consider laser eye surgery once, but it’s just not for me. 

So anyway, getting back to the original point of this blog post! I had my regular eye test last week and had planned to ask about contact lenses. My optician was brilliant. I think it helps that she said she absolutely loves doing contact lenses for people!

There are of course lots of options available now such as some amazing John Lennon glasses but on this occasion, we decided we were going to talk about the contact lenses and what they could do for me.

She explained that you get daily or monthly contact lenses depending on how often you’ll wear them. 

Acuvue moists 90 daily contact lenses are only worn for one day and then discarded when you remove them.

Monthly contact lenses can be replaced either monthly or bi-weekly. They’re thicker than daily disposables because they need to be more durable and long-lasting. You need to clean them after each use every day. 

If you plan on wearing contact lenses occasionally then you’re best option is to go for daily lenses. You’ll usually get a pack of 30 which will last you quite a while.

If you plan on wearing contact lenses for the majority of the day, then monthly contact lenses are your best option.

I opted for monthly contact lenses My optician put the lenses in for me first and told me to go for a wander for 10-15 minutes to see how they feel and then return back to her. I did so and loved them! It helped that my optician is in ASDA so I wandered over to the aisles and was amazed that I could actually read the signs above each aisle that tells you what’s in that aisle. I’ve never been able to do that before without wearing glasses and as I usually don’t wear them shopping, I usually end up squinting to see what they say.

When I returned, my optician took the lenses out for me and asked if I wanted to proceed with getting them. Of course I did!

I was then sat down with another staff member who showed me how to put the contact lenses in and out and then I had a few practises myself. 

Top tip! If you plan on asking your optician about contact lenses, do not wear eyeliner and mascara! I looked like a panda at the end of my appointment, with mascara and eyeliner smudged everywhere!

The first time putting them in was pretty fiddly. The idea is to hold up your eye lid, along with eye lashes our of the way with the opposite hand. So use your right hand to hold up your left eye lid, and then with your left hand, put the contact lens on your index finger and use your middle finger to pull down your lower lid so that your eye is wide open. Then just pop the contact onto your eye – without blinking, that’s the hard part to start with, but you get used to it!

You’ll probably need to blink a few times to get the contact lens in the right position and your eye will most likely water, but it doesn’t hurt.

Removing the contact lense is trickier than putting them in. If you’re squeamish about touching your own eyeball, contact lenses are not for you! There are a few different ways you can take your contact lenses out, but I found it easiest to pull my eyelid down with one hand and then use a finger from the other hand to swipe the contact lense across to the inner corner of your eye and then either swipe it right across so it comes out by itself or pinch the lens gently with two fingers and pull it out. 

I will also recommend investing in a good magnifying mirror, preferably one that also lights up as it makes it so much easier to see what you’re doing!

I was given a pair of trial lenses and told to return in two weeks for the proper ones if I was happy with them, and I sure am!

The following day I was a bit nervous trying to put the lenses in by myself without having someone to guide me, but the first one went ok. The second one however took me a little longer and it stung. I took it out and turned to google for advice. It turns out you can actually put a contact lens inside out which is what I’d done hence the stinging so always make sure you put it in the right way! There are lots of pictures on google of how you can find out if it’s inside out. 

I really enjoy wearing contact lenses. It took my eyes a few days to get to used them, and for the first few days my eyes felt tireder than usual, but that’s to be expected. 

I love being able to drive, watch my children play, read a book etc without having to wear glasses! If you wear glasses and don’t yet wear contact lenses, I highly recommend giving them a go!