Depends on what you want
Jun 19 '00 (Updated Jul 06 '00)
[disclaimer: my references to "hard lenses" refer to the rigid gas-permeable (RGP) lenses which I wore for most of my life. I kept the "hard" vs "soft" analogy because this is the language most people use when comparing lenses, and because the topic subject is "hard vs soft"]
I got my first contacts in 6th grade -- at the (too young) age of 10.
It really wasn't very surprising -- my family was always a very vain group of people and I'd been taking my glasses off for photographs, for years.
My family decided that I needed hard lenses : I have a ferocious astigmatism which is uncorrectable with soft ones, and the doctor promised that wearing the hard contacts would actually -improve- my vision, somehow (It didn't, I was legally blind by age 16).
I'll never forget that agonising first day. I sat in the chair in the optometrist's office, my face bent over a mirror spread out on the table, my eyes red and watering, my hands shaking. I watched my finger move closer and closer to my eye, cringed a few times, then felt the contact slip in place. Once the lens was in I was amazed at how -clear- everything was. My vision was far better than with my glasses, and oh - the weightlessness on my face! To a 10 year old girl this was a near miracle and I danced around, blinking and giddy.
My joy quickly faded as I was told to take the lens out. The proper way to take out a hard contact lens, you see, is to open your eye wide, pull the corner of your eyelid sideways and blink hard. Ideally, your lens will pop out and you won't ever have to touch your eye or contact itself.
I was a failure at this and was given a tiny little blue plunger. This was even more frightening, and I spent an hour screaming and protesting and feeling completely incapacitated. I left the optometrist's office with my new lenses, the plunger, and a lot of nervousness about acclimating to my new way of life.
Within a few weeks, that hard little lens in my right eye had been knocked right out (no plunger necessary when force is involved) by a stray red rubber ball during four-square. I had to face the wrath of my family, and the expense -- $100 for a new custom-made lens.
This was to be the pattern for the rest of my life. I was a clumsy girl and I was young. Wearing contact lenses requires an amount of responsibility and some awareness of the importance of them. I became reckless, changing them without washing my hands, dropping them in dark buses after band competitions, forgetting to rinse them thoroughly before storing them overnight.
I had no idea that soft lenses were better, easier, more comfortable and far more practical. My childhood optometerist had told me that I couldn't wear soft lenses; I believed him.
A year ago -- 20 years after wearing my first lenses -- I discovered soft contacts. They are wonderful.
... How wonderful, you ask?
1)Soft lenses are far more comfortable than the hard ones.
when I get something in my eye it doesn't feel like my eye is being cut with a piece of glass or turning inside out. I can rub my eyes lightly with my soft lenses in -- something I could never do with hard contacts for fear of scratching my cornea. I can wear the soft lenses longer and my eyes aren't as red and tired when I'm finished with my day. Taking the soft lens out involves actually touching my eye, but that doesn't make me uncomfortable anymore.
2) Soft lenses are a great financial deal.
I wear disposable ones that I change every 2 weeks, so I always have a fresh pair available, and the cost is quite efficient. I don't worry about swimming in them and my long held paranoia of losing a contact has finally started to relax a little.
3) (Disposable) Soft lenses don't need as much care.
It's true that anything dealing with your eyes requires care and cleanliness. But having these disposable soft lenses makes wearing contacts nearly problem free. I don't have to use an enzyme ever because I change the lens before they get gunky and protein-covered. I don't have to use 3 different kinds of solution in order to clean, disinfect and wet, anymore. I also don't need to carry wetting drops around with me because my eyes don't seem to dry out as much.
There -are- 2 disconcerting things about my soft lenses:
1) They don't correct my astigmatism
My vision is NOT as clear as it is with the expensive, custom made hard lenses. Some of the edges of things are fuzzy and I can't read the sides of CD covers from my couch.
2) I'm at the highest level power already
If my vision gets any worse (as it has done the past 2 decades), these lenses will no longer be strong enough. I will be forced to buy custom contacts -- whether hard or soft -- and I will have to wear them. There is a chance at some point that they won't be able to correct 100% of my vision at all, and that is a sad thing.
I've had 21 years of experience with contact lenses, I've worn both hard and soft, and I definitely have a preference.
Soft!
As long as I am able to correct my vision, I will wear soft lenses. The comfort and convenience are worth the occasional fuzziness. The ability to have fresh new lenses every 2 weeks makes up for the fact that I have to actually stick my finger in my eye in order to take the soft contacts out.
Your mileage may vary.
If you want clear, crisp vision and you insist on having your astigmatism corrected to 100%, buy the hard (or gas perm) lenses. -Nothing- beats the clarity and sharpness of hard contacts -- not even glasses.
If you, however, need to be able to see well, but would rather have comfort and convenience over sparkling vision, go for the soft lenses. -Especially- go for the disposable soft lenses.
I wish I could have worn the lenses I'm wearing right now back in 6th grade. I'd rather have gone home, put in a fresh lens and continued on my day than stand around in my school clothes searching for a contact that had slipped out of my eye on the way in the door.
This really happened, you know, and when I -finally- found my hard lens, it had fallen down the front of my dress and was caught in the hem of the slip I was wearing underneath.
(one important note: don't let your vanity force your kids into contacts before they're ready. Live with a little glare in your photographs)
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