Eye laser treatment/Contact lenses

[Willow]

Long story but I went for laser treatment and it was aborted on the table. I was gutted. I am now thinking about contacts as I find varifocals a total pain, either I can't find them, or it rains on them or whatever. I want to go for mono vision and I know that would be ok as I trialled it for the laser treatment but can you swim in contacts? Someone I was speaking to on holiday says he swims in his but the everything I read seems to indicate you can't.

Answers please.

 

[cisamcgu]

Yes you can, but you need goggles. However, it is now possible to get prescription goggles (£30) which take away the risk of losing the lenses.


Andrew

 

[Willow]

Not at all. Excuse the lack of technical jargon though.

They have to get suction on the eye ball you are supposed just to feel slight pressure but it was agh.. bl...painful. turns out my eye socket was not big enough to get enough suction. I was gutted having got through all the issues in my head and finally having made the decision. I could have another method (lasek) for those of you in the know. The other clinic I went to (I sought two opinions before going ahead) said they wouldn't do that on my prescription, in fact they wouldn't give me mono vision at all which would make it pointless as my I'd still need reading glasses and that's my biggest problem distance is only a small prescription. I am now thinking if these guys differ in their opinion perhaps I should leave it alone even though I want no glasses/contacts.

 

[Sh4rkyBloke]

That's a bugger - I had laser treatment about 5 1/2 years ago, best thing I've done (sorry - don't mean to rub it in!).

It was a bizarre sensation, the clamping of the eyeball etc., but not especially painful so I would guess that it's best it was aborted rather than damaging your eyes in any way.

Regarding the swimming, I never really went swimming in contacts - always took them out as I didn't eant to lose one. Diving from the high board was interesting as I couldn't accurately judge the distance to the water!!! Adds to the fun and excitement I guess!!

My prescription was just shy of -5 in each eye, and I think I was pretty much at the limit of what they'd operate on. What prescription are you then?!?!? (also IIRC goes on eyeball shape / astigmatism etc.)

 

[Willow]

I'm only something like +1 and +1.5 but the difficulty with my prescription is that when the muscles are anethetised the prescription more than doubles. Ultralese therefore don't really want to touch it until my distance is much worse whereas focus in London were going to laser at 2, part way between the two figures. They gave me mono contacts trial and it was fantastic. But like you say I think perhaps it may be a lucky escape on the other hand there is this voice telling me to go back to Focus and do lasek. But it's not cheap and there are perhaps even more what ifs now than there were on the first attempt. I keep hoping eventually I'll forget about it but 3 months on I'm resisting the need for new glasses and/or contacts just in case I go for the laser. In a way I wish I'd never looked into it in the first place.

 

[Sh4rkyBloke]

In a way I wish I'd never looked into it in the first place.

Nice, even if a little unintended, pun.

 

[LLB]

Guy I work with wears contacts all the time as he is chronically short sighted and uses a pair of reading glasses to correct his vision for looking at a monitor.

I wear daily disposables at the weekends, but not at all for work as I find them too much of a strain on the eyes when staring at the screen.

 

[jay clock]

Sorry to hear it didn't work, but better to stop then than to "have a go"

I had mine done 3 years ago and it has changed my life. It helped me start swimming, and now I am very busy with triathlons.

Good luck

 

[Globalti]

Can't abide contact lenses, tried hard micros and have just tried disposables, can't stand all the hassle and discomfort. Back to glasses.

 

[gavintc]

I wore contacts for around 30 yrs. Initially, I wore hard ones and then as they became available moved over to gas permeable. I was advised that the permeability of these lenses would mean that the lenses could absorb some of the chemicals from the water and make them unusable. I used the lenses from time to time in the pool, but had to close my eyes when underwater as they would have floated out. The GP lenses are smaller than soft lenses. I found swimming goggles worked fine for a training session in a pool, but lacked the 'cool' factor when on the beach.

The reason I stopped wearing contacts; had my eyes LASEKed about 3 yrs ago.

 

[4F]

I have been wearing soft contacts (monthlies) for going on 20 years now and after the initial few weeks / months found them very comfortable. Some days I will have them in for 15 - 16 hours with no signs of discomfort and even though the bloke at the opticians says this is too long by his own admission my eyes have not deterioated due to over use.

I was always put off the laser surgery by the small risk of permanent damage.

 

[fossyant]

Big chicken here as well......although would be good to lose the specs..even have sport specs for the bike..so it all adds up in cost !

 

[Night Train]

I choose to wear daily disposable lenses when swimming as I can't be bothered about getting prescription goggles. I have a couple of pairs of goggles, one clear and one tinted, and as long I keep them on when swimming then I am fine, only lost a lense once and that was swimming in the Med. I sometimes swim in my glasses but because I don't like getting pool water in my eyes I tend to keep my face dry anyway then.

I fancied the idea of laser treatment but a GP friend told me that there is a reason why GP's and their families don't have it done. Also once it has been done once it can't be done again later for further correction.

My ex gf had her eyes done and she still couldn't read subtitles on TV. She had the same prescription as me in both eyes and I, wearing glasses, could still see better then her afterwards.

 

[Speck]

The Rosen Eye Clinic do lens implants, a friend of mine had them inserted by them. He is over the moon with them. The web site sends you to this site!! http://uk.opticalexpress.com/intraocular-lenses.html

 

[Willow]

I had a friend who also has those. I don't know why but it feels a much bigger step than having eyes lasered.