Don't it make my brown eyes...green. Completely natural color change and vision correction.
Written: Apr 17 '05 (Updated Apr 17 '05)
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Product Rating:
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Pros: Natural looking colors, great vision correction, durable, long lasting
Cons: Costly. Can be difficult to get the exact toric RX you need
The Bottom Line: Natural looking color and great vision correction for those with astigmatism. More expensive than most contacts, these are worth the price. Quality, wearability, and durability are worth the extra $$.
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| PattyTherre's Full Review: Wesley Jessen Durasoft 2 Optifit Toric Opaques Con... |
I began having headaches after long periods of time online and scheduled and eye exam to be sure all was well with my eyesight. It seems I have an astigmatism in my left eye, which is basically that my cornea is football shaped as opposed to round, and that causes blurriness and some distortion. I needed vision correction for medium to far distances. The glasses I got sent me on an acid-like trip! No one told me that astigmatism correction can make you feel 100 feet tall and distort the whole world until you are used to the glasses. I tried and tried but the glasses only made me feel trippy and weird.
A trip back to my eye doctor’s revealed that contact lenses could help with the correction without the weird special effects I was experiencing with my glasses. I had never worn contacts but everyone does and it seemed simple enough so I decided to try them. And, in a wild streak of defiance against my naturally dark brown eyes, I decided to get colored contacts. I always wanted blue eyes but didn’t think I could pull off blue with my dark hair and slightly olive coloring so I decided I wanted green eyes.
It would have been so simple if I didn’t need toric (astigmatism correction) lenses. Regular color contacts are relatively inexpensive and produce results from subtle to vavoom! Toric lenses are somewhat limited in shades and styles.
My doctor suggested I get the best: Wesley Jessen Durasoft 2 Optifit Toric Opaques Contact Lenses
The Colors
I didn’t have a vast array of colors to choose from. I had simply blue, green, grey and hazel. People with light eyes can opt for some jazzy sounding colors like aquamarine, blue-violet, jade green, and sky blue in the toric line and there is also an array of “compliment” toric colors which enhance eye color. But I wanted to change the color of my eyes. Since I had already settled on green anyway, having only four colors to choose from wasn’t a problem for me. If you have to wear contacts, you might as well have some fun with them and going from dark brown to vivid green eyes seemed like fun.
The question was, would these contacts look fake? I see people all the time wearing contacts that I just know are, well, fake colors. They don’t look like the regular eye looks and they come off as sort of strange looking. I wanted to look completely natural in my new persona. My doctor assured me that these were not blends or enhancers but designed to really change the eye color in a very believable manner.
The Price
I was excited about correcting my vision and my new look until I heard the price of these lenses. Yikes. I has no idea toric lenses were so much more expensive than other types. Still, I had to have the torics in order to correct my vision and I don’t mess with my eyes. If I have to pay more to get good quality, I will, And I did. My green Wesley Jessen Durasoft 2 Optifit Toric Opaques Contact Lenses cost $135.00 a piece. Ouch. They are designed to last a full year though with proper care and I have gotten much more than a year from them because, after the initial excitement of having green eyes wore off, I also bought clear, much less expensive torics for at home and only wear the green for special occasions or when I want to change my look.
Quality
Each prescription is made to your exact specifications, unlike with those with far sightedness and nearsightedness. Those of us with an astigmatism have various degrees of curvature and each lens must be made to your unique needs. This assures you will not get a generic stock script and that the lenses should be perfect for your vision needs.
Each lens comes in a tiny bottle/vial in sterile solution. Once opened, you store these lenses in a conventional contact lens case. You store and clean them as you would any other contacts – with lens solution and, to keep protein build up to a minimum, a good lens cleaning solution. I put a lens in the palm of my hand, put some solution on the lens, and rub each side for a few seconds. I rinse with contact lens solution and keep them tightly covered in the solution until I am ready to wear them. I have had no problems with any sort of build up. Because toric contact lenses are thicker than regular lenses, and Durasoft lenses in particular are somewhat more durable than other brands, they are also sturdier and less apt to tear. I am not the gentlest person in the world with anything and I tend to whip my lenses out in mid stride when I my eyes feel they need a break. Even with somewhat rough handling, my lenses are in great shape. No tears, no spots, no problems!
The Color
While in the doctor’s office, I tried the blue lenses. They were super, super bright blue and just not realistic for me. They looked stunning but just too bright for my skin and hair tone.
The green lenses look absolutely natural. I don’t think anyone would guess that, hiding under those bright green eyes, is a pair of very dark brown ones. They don’t show any of my own color through and look like I was born with them. I was amazed at the transformation of my eyes because I expected that the natural color of my eyes would show through and I would end up with a blend of green and brown eyes. They make blends for that reason as I mentioned above, but I didn’t want that. And I didn’t get that. I can change my look from dark hair and eyes to dark hair and lighter eyes in under two minutes. And no one is the wiser.
Comfort and Wear
I had never had a contact lens in my eye before and was put through the paces of inserting the lens, blinking to be sure it was in place, and then removing the lens and preparing it for storage. At first, every time I went to insert a lens, my eye would close as my green tipped finger approached. It took a lot to keep my eye open when something was coming at it with the intention of being put in it. I learned quickly (all good optometrists and ophthalmologists should work with you if you never had contacts before) the tricks and tips of how to get a lens in on the first try and how to know it they are inside out of not. With torics, their thickness allows for much easier control of whether the lens is inside out or not. Wesley Jensen has added a very light marking on the outside of the lenses to help you be sure you don’t accidentally put them in inside out. With color lenses, the chance of putting lenses in inside out is slim but happens. With clear, it can happen much more often.
They do not, however, mark the right and left lenses. You have to be sure to keep each lens in its case separately in the cup that has the correct eye marking (Right or Left) on it. Most people who put contact lenses in backwards know it. I sure did. I did it once and wow, I was back to trippyville.
When I first started wearing these lenses, they were uncomfortable. My eyes didn’t want foreign objects in them and they seemed to slide around a bit, causing me to blink a few times to get them to go back in their proper place in my eyes where I could see well. My vision, however, was impeccable. The correction was perfect and I had no weird astigmatism effects. Nothing was distorted or looked closer than it really was and I was able to walk down stairs without second-guessing where the actual step was, unlike with my glasses.
I started wearing the lenses for a few hours a day and built up to several hours a day. After a while, I had no problem keeping the lenses in place for several hours at a time. But I still do notice some occasional slipping of the lenses where I have to blink a few times to clear the blurriness and get the lenses to stay put. That could be because of my high level of astigmatism in my left eye or a result of thick lens mixing with my natural eye fluids. It isn’t painful, just a bit annoying. I notice that my clear lenses don’t slip at all and I don’t have that problem so perhaps the color is the reason. My doctor said it is a very natural occurrence and we could try a new prescription to see it worked better but, after shelling out over $250 for the ones I had, I opted to stick with them and the occasional slippage.
These lenses are not made to sleep in, so it is important that you remove them nightly and store them until the next wearing.
Durasoft makes a whole line of non torics in clear, colorblends, colors for light and dark eyes, and crazy special affect lenses. For those with astigmatism like me, they have the opaques, the compliments/colorblends, and the special colors for light eyes. They also make clear torics, which I own and wear quite a bit.
The Bottom Line
These contacts do exactly what they promise to do. They correct my vision and change my eye color from dark brown to vibrant green. While they are more expensive than regular contacts (non color and non toric), they are the best made contacts for my needs, according to my doctor whom I trust to care for my eyes and make sure I have access to the best vision correction.
While I do sometimes have to blink a few times to clear my vision if a contact slips a bit (you can’t see that if you are looking at me, it is just a tiny slip but enough to make me blink to get the lenses back in place), I think if I messed around long enough with prescriptions, I may be able to completely eliminate the problem. With a curvature of the cornea, a few degrees one way or the other can throw off the way the lens fits. Still, I can wear these lenses for many hours at a time with no irritation and no red eye.
Care is minimum. They are sturdy and thick and you don’t have to worry as much about tiny tears and the like with these lenses. With proper cleaning and storage, these lenses can last a very long time. If I were wearing them daily, all day and night, then I would need a new pair once a year. Because I don’t wear them that often, I can get away with wearing them for a much longer time, as long as my prescription doesn’t change dramatically.
The color is incredibly natural and stunning. I look like a totally different person with lighter eyes and I like that person now and then. I am toying with buying hazel lenses soon. They really make my eyes stand out and look awesome. I was leery at first of spending so much on contacts when glasses are cheaper, easier to deal with, and quicker to use, but even if I didn’t have trouble with wearing glasses with the astigmatism correction in them, I would still opt for these contacts. Together with the clear for everyday use, the color lenses really are worth the cost and stand up to even my rough handling. I have even fallen asleep with them in twice (oops) and have had no problems removing them with a few eye drops the next day.
If you have an astigmatism and long to try colored lenses, try these. You can sample the colors at the doctor’s office to see which are right for you. Often, you can get a sample of non-toric colors to wear for a couple days to be sure you like the color before investing. With proper care, these lenses will give you a whole new look for a year or much more depending on how often you wear them. And your vision will be crystal clear. You’ll be amazed at how you ever got along without them.
Because of the slight slippage, I am giving these lenses 4 stars. I am not sure if that is due to the manufacturer or my own eyes but, since they don’t completely make me forget I am wearing contacts all the time, I will not rate them as being perfect. But they are darn close and I encourage you to try them and see for yourself how easy and durable these lenses – in both colors and clear- are.
Buying Info
You can buy these lenses from your eye doctor (He or she will order them for you) or, if you have your prescription, you can opt to order them online. The prices online are somewhat lower than at the doctor’s office but the all important follow up visit isn’t included when you buy online. I suggest that you buy these lenses from your doctor the first time to get the perfect color and prescription for you. Once you know what fits and what you like, go online and comparison shop. I buy my clear lenses online all the time and will buy the hazel ones I am thinking about getting online as well. You can save quite a few dollars by checking around at reputable contact lens shops on the web. Either way, while the price is steep for contact lenses, Wesley Jessen Durasoft 2 Optifit Toric Opaques Contact Lenses live up to their claims, clear your vision, and change your eye color in the most natural of ways. You’ll look (and see) marvelous!
Recommended:
Yes
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