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Just wondering - I've been wearing contacts for 30 years and I rarely hear of anyone "of retirement age" talking about contacts - always glasses. When I realized I was only looking at pictures when reading the newspaper I figured out I needed readers but I recently got multifocal contacts on top of my regular prescription because the readers were really making me feel old!
If you used to wear contacts, why'd you switch to glasses? Dry eyes? Contacts too expensive? Insurance?
I am 65 and still wearing contacts and still doing fine with them, knock wood. (I started wearing hard contacts when I was 14 and then adjusted with each new type and have been wearing the multi-day without any issues for about 40 years now, I think.)
I will sometimes give my eyes a "rest" and wear glasses for a week, but I am always SO glad to go back to contacts. I see much better with them.
Just wondering - I've been wearing contacts for 30 years and I rarely hear of anyone "of retirement age" talking about contacts - always glasses. When I realized I was only looking at pictures when reading the newspaper I figured out I needed readers but I recently got multifocal contacts on top of my regular prescription because the readers were really making me feel old!
If you used to wear contacts, why'd you switch to glasses? Dry eyes? Contacts too expensive? Insurance?
I stopped using them for a long time but recently have started wearing them again.
Until a couple of years ago, I wore contacts and then carried readers. However, it got to the point where I was ALWAYS putting the readers on when I am indoors. There's no point in wearing contacts in the house or office or while shopping, because I can't read anything or see anything clearly indoors if I don't have the readers on.
But, when I am outdoors and not needing to see up close, I prefer having the contacts in. I like to swim, and I don't like being out in the ocean or on the lake and not being able to see. It's summer, and I've been swimming in the lake where I visit frequently, and so I put the contacts back in a few times last week when I was there, and it felt good.
How do you like the multi-focal contacts? I don't really understand how they work, but I haven't made much of an attempt to look at them, either.
I wear soft contacts and don't find them to be particularly expensive, so that's not a problem. I do have the vision plan that I took with me after I retired as part of the post-employment health care package, and that pays for a yearly eye exam plus something off on either glasses OR contacts, but it's not a huge amount, and I can afford it, thankfully.
Funny now that glasses are a lot more expensive than contacts. It used to be the other way. My parents had seven nearsighted kids, and they weren't going to be buying contact lenses for all of us, so when I got my first job at 16, I put my money away until I could afford contact lenses. I recall that they were $350 back for gas-permeable lenses and the exams. That was a LOT of money in 1974, especially for a 16-year-old, but I was desperate to not be called "Four-Eyes" anymore.
LOL, right after that, "Designer" glasses became a thing, and people who didn't even need glasses started wearing them for fashion. I remember thinking, "What is WRONG with these people????"
I am severely near sighted (just for point of reference -15). Back when I turned 16 my mother took me to have my first pair of contacts. She tried to talk the dr into giving them to me when I turned 14! She knew what it was like being a female teenager with glasses. I wore those and then the soft lenses until my early 40’s when they no longer could accommodate my astigmatism and extreme near sightedness. Don’t mind glasses at all. At my age they kind of hide my eye wrinkles!! Truthfully, the only time I miss contacts is when I go to weddings or other dressy events. Otherwise, not so much.
I know many women that wear contacts everyday and most I don’t think I’ve ever seen them in glasses.
I still have contacts, but I save them for special occasions like going to wedding, when I have to doll up with make up and such. For reading normally I don’t need to wear anything, I only have to wear glasses for driving and maybe looking at things in my garden.
They are bifocal or something like that but it gets blurry after a while, can’t see properly with contacts except for driving. It becomes a nuisance.
Keratoconus here. Been wearing contacts since 1974(RGP). Without wearing them literally 24/7 the world is a giant blur;can't even watch TV without the lenses;making me vulnerable with sleeping with them on even though they are not necessarily designed for constant wear.
Eyeglasses just don't work for Keratoconus. Even after having the vision tests and eyeglasses
made at Bascom Palmer(Miami's most renowned vision institution),I could barely see beyond not
bumping against the furniture...driving,reading,watching TV are out of the question without my hard lenses.
There are surgical alternatives, of course for keratoconus sufferers,but they sound scary and
unaffordable. So I guess I will be dependent on contacts forever.
Keratoconus here. Been wearing contacts since 1974(RGP). Without wearing them literally 24/7 the world is a giant blur;can't even watch TV without the lenses;making me vulnerable with sleeping with them on even though they are not necessarily designed for constant wear. Eyeglasses just don't work for Keratoconus. Even after having the vision tests and eyeglasses
made at Bascom Palmer(Miami's most renowned vision institution),I could barely see beyond not
bumping against the furniture...driving,reading,watching TV are out of the question without my hard lenses.
There are surgical alternatives, of course for keratoconus sufferers,but they sound scary and
unaffordable. So I guess I will be dependent on contacts forever.
This. I'm an ophthalmic technician and KC patients have unique needs and must wear contacts due to the irregular astigmatism of your corneas. I don't know if you are aware but contact lenses for keratoconus patients have gotten much better. If you are in rigid gas permeables, we now have hybrid and scleral lenses that can offer you more comfort. Talk to your doctor about these if you are interested. Also, your medical insurance should cover the cost of the fit and the lenses as they are considered medically necessary. Many KC patients can have a corneal transplant but I agree; you should avoid it if you can.
For the rest of you retirees, contacts have also gotten much better. Multifocal lenses are more comfortable and the daily lenses offer amazing comfort. The Focus Dailies Total 1 Multifocal are fanstastic in terms of comfort. They are expensive if you wear them every day but if you wear them once in a while they are very cost competitive.
Turning 60 in a few weeks and I will be wearing contacts forever.
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