Not sure if it is the contacts or the eye doctor

SBmini

So I got contacts two weeks ago. My glasses are a light progressive that correct for a small astigmatism. He told me that the contacts won't be as good as my glasses but should be good enough. Well, first set I returned because they were giving me headaches and my visit wasn't very clear. New set seems a little better, but I'm sitting here at my computer and everything is a little soft. And I can feel the lens in my left eye. I just took it out, cleaned it and put it back in. The lens just have my long vision prescription. So I think that's why they aren't working so hot on my computer. But I don't see as far as well as I do with my glasses either.

I don't know... maybe I'm just not right for contacts. Or maybe I should only be wearing them on weekends when I'm not staring at a screen two feet in front of me. Or maybe my eye doctor is not giving me the correct prescription. 

Couggal12

Is this your first time wearing contacts? I remember my vision being kind of wonky the first couple weeks I wore them and they always felt kind of "off" if that makes sense. But, you may also need to try out several different kinds/brands before the ones that work for you are found. I wear my contacts 99% of the time and never have problems staring at a computer so I think you should go back to the eye doctor and have him give you a couple more trial pairs of different brands. My eye doctor also told me last time I went in to change the solution I put my contacts in at night. He said they were leaving this film over them that might make my eyes feel irritated. Maybe you could try a  new contact  solution?

I actually have the opposite problem, my glasses never seem to be as good at my contacts are. I can't see as far away with them as I can in my contacts.

emmaaa

Contacts can take some time to adjust to. I have an extreme astigmatism and tried contacts. I hated them. They were uncomfortable to me and I didn't see as well. I'm also forgetful and forgot to take thm out or put them in.

Since your eyeballs are not completely round contacts don't fit as well. Even ones that are made for people with an astigmatism.

My vision has gotten progressively worse and now I feel like I need to try contacts again so I'm not fussig with my glasses while giving speeches and things. Some people can adjust, it may just take a while.

phira

Contacts definitely take time to get used to. When I first got them, I thought my doctor was a total liar for saying most people couldn't feel them. It took me maybe a month to get used to them.

I have astigmatism in both eyes and haven't had any issues with my contacts, but the nature of my astigmatism might not really make contacts weird/awkward for me (one of my eyes got scratched up by a metal fragment when I was little, so it's not naturally misshapen).

I'd go back to your doctor and explain what you've been experiencing (that you can't see as clearly still, and they're giving you headaches, especially with reading). If you don't have success with your doctor, I'd recommend trying a new eye doctor, and THEN I'd say that maybe you're just not cut out for contacts. Which is totally okay!

afox007

I think it may be a combination of getting used to them/the doctor not giving you the right ones. Whenever I switch from glasses to contacts or the other way around it throws me off for a while. The fact that you can feel the left one makes me think they don't fit properly. If you haven't already ask him if you can try the acuvue advance for astigmatism; so far those are the only ones that have fit me properly and I no longer remember I have contacts in. 

jessiray

I think your doctor is full of it. I have an astigmatism in both eyes, and as long as my contacts fit properly, they're so much better than my glasses! I had an eye dr try to lower my prescription when he first saw me (after I moved to a new state, I had been wearing contacts for like 10 years by then) than what I had been wearing bc apparently some doctors will raise the prescription so they don't have to address the astigmatism or something like that. I went in the next week and told him that I needed to have a stronger prescription. It sounds like your eye dr tried to do the same thing.  And I agree with @afox007, the acuvue advance for astigmatism contacts are really nice!

SBmini

Well, on top of it all, I managed to lose one of them today. Not sure if it is stuck in my eye (I've looked and felt around) or if it fell out some how. Back in glasses until I go back next week. 

Cookie Pusher

I'm jealous of all the ladies with astigmatisms that can comfortably wear contacts. Mine is so bad that I would need ridiculously expensive custom made hard lenses. I tried contacts last summer, the strongest astigmatism correction they make in disposables (these were 6 month ones), and I couldn't see squat.

phira

Ugh, also just occurred to me that if one of your contacts was really bothering you and NOW has gone missing, there's a pretty good chance that you had it in backwards and it fell out. It took me a while to figure out how to tell if contacts are inside out, but if you look closely, the lip of the contact should NOT be flared outwards:

Simky906

Also, are you wearing regular contact lenses or are you wearing toric lenses? The toric ones are shaped better for astigmitism and can make a big difference. They are a bit thicker so they can take some time to get used to though but they can prevent some blurriness if that's a problem for you. I used to wear a toric lens when my astigmatism was more severe but now I wear regular lenses.

AllOnOneDay

My astigmatism is so bad after LASIX, I still can't wear contacts as they can't sit flush, then I get corneal ulcers. But, at least I can see color and vague blobs without my glasses now.

One BIG issue for me is needing different focal distances. I have reading glasses, computer glasses, regular glasses and driving glasses. All are for near sightedness and astigmatism. I don't feel my doctor is scamming me as he gives me each prescription in explicit detail and will gladly check the ones I get from Zenni. I do buy my driving glasses from him, I can make do with those everywhere else, but I can't drive with my reading or computer versions and I'm very uncomfortable driving in my regular glasses.

My lenses still make Zenni not cheap, but better than $650 from the doctor as I've got VSP who only cover one exam yearly and balk at glasses more than every other year. I go every three months and change my reading and computer glasses every six months - I'm now adding far sightedness to everything.

lovesclimbing

SBmini said:

Well, on top of it all, I managed to lose one of them today. Not sure if it is stuck in my eye (I've looked and felt around) or if it fell out some how. Back in glasses until I go back next week. 

If you got it stuck in the corner of or the back of your eye, you would feel it, trust me. It's pretty obvious. It probably fell out if you rubbed your eye or something.

SBmini

I found the lost contact in a ball on the floor that night. It's beyond repair. The other one wasn't in backwards, when I removed it there was a small fiber on it that was casing me discomfort.

This pair is acuvue. Not sure what the first pair was, I never saw the packaging. 

bethsmiles

SBmini said:

I found the lost contact in a ball on the floor that night. It's beyond repair. The other one wasn't in backwards, when I removed it there was a small fiber on it that was casing me discomfort.

This pair is acuvue. Not sure what the first pair was, I never saw the packaging. 

I've worn contacts for years (since I was 12). When I first got contacts I couldn't feel them at all when I put them in. I switched from the brand I was using to acuvue about 2 years ago and it took me a couple of months to get used to the acuvue lenses.

Also, I have astigmatism in both my eyes (more severe in my left eye) and my contacts work wonderfully, even better than my glasses for correcting it. If you having this many problems, I suggest going to a different optometrist to see what they say. I've been wearing glasses since I was I was in elementary school and it wasn't until I went to grad school and got a new eye doctor that someone discovered my astigmatism! I had no idea the world was supposed to be this clear, so you definitely shouldn't settle for contacts that don't work 100% without getting a second opinion on what would really be best for you.

wandajune6

We have similar eyes. I picked up my first pair of non-reading glasses this weekend: progressives for minor astigmatisms. I'm having a horrible time getting used to them. It's been miserable.

Could it be that you've spent so long with your glasses that you need to re-train your eyes again?

HisGirlFriday13

I have a slight astimgatism in my left eye, and I find contacts help me see better than glasses do. But I also have really, really terrible myopia -- like 20/-9 terrible myopia.

My optometrist explained to me once that because contacts actually stick to your eyeball, they subtly change the shape of your eye, so you can (usually) see better with them than you can with glasses. My glasses prescription is 20/-10 or -11, actually, because of that. I just see better with contacts.

But I've also been wearing them since I was 10 (I'm 32), and I'm diligent about not sleeping with them in. The stronger the prescription, the thicker the contact, and thus the less air your eyeball gets.

My eye doc recommends something called the taco test for your lenses -- squish it between your fingers. if it looks like a taco shell, you're good, but if the edges flare out, it's inside out. Kind of like what @phira suggested, but I find the taco test easier than just eyeballing it (pun intended).

I have also tried different brands over the years, although with a prescription as strong as mine, there aren't a lot of brands available that carry my strength. 

Because I've had contacts for so long, I don't remember what kind of an adjustment period I had, but I do know that every time I get new contacts, if it's a new brand, it takes me a day or so to get used to them.

phira

My brand is Air Optix and I like them better than the Acuvue lenses I used to wear. I had a really crappy eye doctor for a long time; he kept insisting that I HAD to have 2-week contacts and that I wasn't responsible enough for 1-month contacts (... I was 23 years old). When I switched doctors and switched from 2-weeks to 1-month, we switched brands at the same time. I'm a lot happier, and the lenses are much less noticeable and irritating. The only problem is that they tend to be too weak, even when I'm wearing the right prescription. It's not a HUGE problem, but I definitely don't have QUITE 20-20 vision with them in.

SBmini

wandajune6 said:

We have similar eyes. I picked up my first pair of non-reading glasses this weekend: progressives for minor astigmatisms. I'm having a horrible time getting used to them. It's been miserable.

Could it be that you've spent so long with your glasses that you need to re-train your eyes again?

I just got my glasses about a year ago, so I don't think it is a retraining issue. You'll get used to the progressives. They are amazing once you get used to them!