So you're thinking about contact lenses? I have been using J&J's Acuve contact lenses for about three years now and have recently converted to the newer version: J&J's Acuve 2. Now if you ask me, I can't see much of a difference except in the durability department.

I've just finished reading a review recommending these contacts for their use overnight and also, for lasting much longer than their two week usage period. I can't stress to you enough that this is wrong!!! Firstly, if you have ever slept with your contacts in, you may have experienced dryness and perhaps even red eyes. This is because you have not allowed your eye to 'breathe' during your sleep time. These contacts are designed for use in the waking hours. There are some contacts on the market that will allow you to sleep with them in- but these are specially designed to let the air in. These disposables are NOT and should never be left in the eyes. This could potentially cause damage to the surface of the eye.
If you have ever consulted an optometrist, they will tell you this- you should never wear your contacts overnight and furthermore, wearing your contacts for more than their prescribed usage will cause damage to your eyes.

How do I know?

I'm not an optometrist, no. But I have been to various ones, including Laubman and Pank, OPSM and Bausch and Lombe. And they have all examined my eyes and seen my records. Each one of them has told me that my extensive over use of these contacts has begun to damage my eyes. You see, I too thought that it was great to wear the contacts for more than their 2 week limit. I would even wear them for a month or two at a time until they physically ripped. But now I know better. There is a way to tell if your contacts need replacing- they begin to feel harder and less bendable towards the end of their wearing-life. It is important for you to take note of this and to look for any damage to the contact before attempting to put it in your eye. Replace your contacts as soon as you see signs of damage or ageing (and PLEASE dont wear the contact for longer than it's recommended life, you'll end up paying more to correct the damage you've done to your eyes than what you'll save from holding out on buying more)

I have found that these contacts seem to be more prone to breakage. I'm not sure if that is due to a different composition of materials, but they definitely tend to break a little bit sooner and more easily. But on the upside, these are a lot easier to put into the eyes.

The packaging on J&J's Acuve 1 was a little silly - it gave mixed messages about how to check if your contact was sitting right before you put it in. But I have found that the diagram on the J&J Acuve 2 is much more easy to understand. That is a big plus for beginner contact users.

Other things that you must take into consideration are regular care and cleaning of the contacts. This is vital to keep them in optimum condition. The disinfecting solution should be changed every night and contacts should be cleaned every day before being used. It's a simple process to clean them, takes less than a minute and is well worth making time for...

One last point. If you have been diagnosed with Astigmatism*, you may find that the contacts may tend to move around more than you would like them to. They may also cause some discomfort when blinking or become uncomfortable or cause soreness and redness of the eye after only a few hours. This is because the eye is not perfectly round and so the contact may move around more. Personally, I have this condition and in my experience, the contact hasn't ever caused any discomfort except for when it is becoming old or has been damaged in some way while in my eye.

*Astigmatism is a defect of the eye or of a lens in which rays of light from an outer point converge at different points, thus causing imperfect vision or images. Put simply, it is a defect (eg size or shape) in the eye which causes imperfect sight.




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