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Contact Lenses for Computer Professionals?
LxDengar writes "For anyone who uses a computer around 10-plus hours a day, eye strain can become a serious issue. According to the American Optometric Association, 70-75% of computer workers experience eye and vision problems. Although I've tried contacts in the past, I found that my eyes dried out very quickly, and so switched back to glasses. Recently, my eye doctor mentioned a series of new contacts with better hydration for the eyes, and targeted to computer professionals (Acuvue, Ocular Sciences, etc). Do you wear contacts when staring at your screen for long periods? What contacts does community recommend for long periods at the computer?"
I've been using the Acuvue series for years, with no discomfort. In fact, I've fallen asleep with them in and woken in the morning to only mild discomfort - and being 2 week disposables means that if I lose one, I just order replacements a week sooner...
Over all, I've had much more luck with these than glasses - though I have a pair of glasses too, my contacts seem to distort less providing for more natural vision. Sometimes I even forget I'm wearing 'em. Give them a try, you'll probably never go back.
-PhaseBurn Welcome to Linux country. On quiet nights, you can hear windows reboot.
I use daily throw away lenses. Never had a problem unless I was in front of a computer 12 hours. Daily lenses are so much better as they keep hydrated longer. Not too much difference in price.
If you find your eyes are drying out take out the lenses and rub in solution (watch out for some solutions causing eye fungus) and then pop them back in. This will extend the hydration for a while.
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When i went to the optometrist about a year and a half ago, I asked him about contacts. I mentioned that I do a lot of computer work in general, and design in particular. I wanted to know about switching from gas perm lenses to soft. Since I don't have problems with the gas perms, and typically wear them for 15 hours a day, he said stick with them, as they tend to be sharper focusing over soft lenses.
I'm even wearing solids. Sometimes when it's windy outsides my eyes dry out, but I don't experience much discomfort otherwise. If your eyes dry out, get some liquid that you can drop into your eyes or remember blinking a few times every 30 minutes or so. I also got new solids a few weeks back and they really improved a lot. Just try some cheap Acuvue throwaways for a month and you'll know if they're okay for you.
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I use the 30 day disposables, night and day. I forget who makes them, but they are one of the newer more breathable lenses. Been using them for good 3 months now,and no problems. Used to use the acuvue 2 weeks ones and my eyes would dry out daily.
If at all possible, get LASIK.
I'd worn contacts for almost 20 years when I finally decided to pony up the cash for LASIK. Best $2000 I've ever spent. My eyes would dry out extremely quickly while wearing contacts. Since the inital recuperation from the surgery, my eyes haven't become dry unless I stay up 24+ hours in a row.
An added bonus is that my eyesight in each eye (20/650 and 20/850 before) is now 20/15. I could never come close to that with contacts.
I know you were asking about contact lenses... but you should at least consider LASIK.
I've had glasses and contacts, and I wear contacts because I never have to deal with losing my glasses, or having them drop into the box I'm working on etc...
You are going to have try some pairs to see if any of them are comfortable TO YOU.
Ask your doc to let you try different ones until you find a kind that works for you.
You may find that the answer is NONE OF THE ABOVE.
good luck though.
I have been wearing contact lenses for over 20 years now and have gone through gas permeable hard lenses, soft monthly lenses and most recently daily disposables. The dailies are great, I wear them from 7 in the morning until at least 10 pm and I work with computers all day long. Dailies are good because they are so thin but this does make them a bit fragile. However, if you are careful with them they can also be worn for a week per pair (I just use the normal soft lens peroxide cleaning systems that are available over the counter) and if a pair of lenses are getting a bit scappy I chuck them and open a fresh set. The companies that make these lenses would rather you wear the dailies, um, well, daily, but they are made from exactly the same materials as weeklies but I find the dailies much more comfortable because they are so thin. However, the dailies work out pretty expensive unless you clean and reuse them in which case they are very cost effective as well as the most comfortable lenses you can buy.
"I have the attention span of a strobe lit goldfish, please get to the point quickly!"
I'm not sure if you're using CRT, but LCDs are worlds easier on the eyes.
I used contacts for quite a while before I just got tired of the hassle. One thing that helped a lot with the "dry eye" during long days at the office was eye drops. Just be sure to use the kind made for contacts! Regular eye drops actually increase irritation when used with contacts.
Ignore anything I said above, I actually agree with everything you believe - mod accordingly.
I had a similar issue with my contacts drying out, so I switched to less reflective glasses. It helped out a bit with the eye strain...but I found that the most relieving thing for eye strain was to take off the glasses (making everything extremely fuzzy...gogo 2000/20 vision), stand up, and stare down to the end of the cube farm. "Focusing" on something very far away every once in a while (every 2 hours or so) helped out tons.
And then my dumbass went and got Lasik. When you use the same method of relief for 10 years or so, getting used to not being able to make things all fuzzy takes a long, long time to get used to. Ugh.
... the problem may be your doctor. I'd tried getting contacts twice, with no luck. After I moved, I decided to try once more, and my new eye-doctor went with a different lens, which works fine. I tend to wear 'em from around eight in the morning until midnight most days, without any real problems.
Staring at a screen reduces the blinking frequency. When blinking less often, the eyes dry faster. The lack of moisture is even worse when contact lenses are worn. Dry eyes irritate faster. Contact lenses accelerate the irritation and make it worse. And if you start rubbing your eyes on top of all that, then you are really in for some reaally nice inflammation... Do yourself a favor : don't go that way and keep wearing glasses.
I still use throwaway contacts, but only for outdoor activities of when I just want to go out with no glasses. I spend most of my waking hours in front of screens and then glasses are the best tool : they correct well, they are easy on the eyes and their field of view is bigger that the screens anyway.
Now let the Lasik flamewar begin.
Acuvue Advance with HydraClear. Its all you need.
Rainbow/Haloing... that sort of thing?
CRTs historically give you better color fidelity, but the brightness of LCDs means less eyestrain. Having worn RGPs for years, and switched between CRTs and LCDs, I can tell you that I can wear contacts with LCDs, but not CRTs.
and get some sleep already.
I alternate between contacts (disposable torics) and glasses. I have MUCH less eye strain with contacts, but the drying out becomes a problem. I've come to the point to where I have started carrying a small bottle of ReNu with me. That seems to work just fine -- for me.
--Xan
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Hi, I went to my optomitrist with a similar question. He recommended the new Accuvues. They are MUCH more hydrated than the old ones and he assured me that I would notice the difference. He was right. I spend about 10 hours a day staring into a screen and I have rather dry eyes anyway. With the new Accuvues, I have significantly fewer problems than I did with the older Accuvues. I have been known to wear these new ones 16 hour at a stretch without experiencing problems. I do not ever sleep in them, although you're supposed to be able to. My eyes don't handle that well. Also, you really have to be good about retiring the lenses at the appropriate intervals. The older they get, the less comfy they are. By the time they're reaching the end of the recommended wear duration, you're ready to let those babies go. By all means, get a pair of these as a trial and give em a whirl. They may be just right for you.
Swisssushi - When the going gets tough, get some tenderizer
I have been using 1-day Acuvue for several year now. Allmost no problem even during long programming or gaming sessions. Some time ago they have gotten even better and I have as good as not troubles with them now. I even had trouble remembering to remove them in the evening because I just did not feel them at all.
As always YMMV. Contact lenses have gotten better, but they are still not magic. But I think it might be worth to try again.
So I'm a programmer, and also end up staring at the screen for long periods of time. I usually wear contacts when I feel like it, and have discovered how to keep the comfort levels up for longer periods of time. Firstly, using some of the newer lenses(acuvue, with hydraclear, etc) does help. What helps the most though, is not using the 'multipurpose all in one' cleaners to keep my lenses in good condition. I found that they just didn't work very well, and would give me eye irritation/problems after a while. Mostly, just because they were not actually cleaning the contact lenses to any level of satisfaction.
:( Hopefully supply problems will be resolved, and I'll be able to comfortably wear my contacts again.
What does seem to work, is peroxide based cleaners. Some of these are AMO Ultracare, and Ciba's AOSept apparently. I've been using Ultracare, and like it a lot. Sadly, some of Ciba's products had a serious contamination problem at their factory, and were pulled from the shelves. This in turn has apparently caused a shortage of Ultracare, which I use. Haven't been able to find any peroxide based contact lens cleaner, online or offline, for about 2 months almost? So I'm back to glasses again
Just my 2 coppers.
My wife used to have contact lens problems caused by dry eyes until she started taking fish oil supplements. Flaxseed oil is supposed to be good too. Try a health food store, or you can order online.
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I finally ended up getting pissed off with the whole situation and having custom lasik done. As expensive as my lenses were it'll pay for itself in 5 years, my eyes are always a lot more comfortable than they were on the days I was wearing contacts and I've got better than perfect vision in one eye now. Works for me.
I never really noticed eye strain before or after the surgery. I guess I stop and look around enough during the day that I guess it never becomes an issue. I'm not sure if taking breaks to try to avoid RSI might help as far as that goes. I do try to do that, although these days it's as likely to be due to a minion interrupting me as because I'm trying to stop and rest the hands.
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Even people with "perfect" vision have problems with computer screens. The recommended solution is to take breaks and look at something far away every hour or more. Your eyes need exercise just like everything else.
"Why do my eyes hurt?"
"Because you have never used them."
Good luck in your quest for contact lenses. I'm lucky enough to only need mild corrective glasses at night.
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'nuff said.
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I saw the title of this thread and I was hoping for some new, super-duper way to display images in 3D via ultra-hightech, nano-enabled, smart-technology, other-buzzword, contact lenses. But just extra hydration.. meh.
"What is the answer?" (Silence) "In that case, what is the question?" --Gertrude Stein
I found that the more highly permeable lenses made my eyes dry out much more quickly than the lesser permeable lenses. (Duh...) I used to get seriously bad redeye with the Boston Sevens. I still get some dryness, but it's not nearly as bad as it used to be.
Anyway, switching to Boston Fives is kind of a lite fix that shouldn't require too many visits to the optometrist and too much extra hit on the pocketbook. If you or anyone else has Boston Sevens right now, anyway.
Congratulations on your great results.
I'm very tempted to get the procedure, but I'm procrastinating because the whole "fold back a flap of your cornea" business kind of freaks me out. So, let me ask, how bad is it to sit there while a surgeon is operating on your eyes?
-jcr
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I used to wear only one contact lens. I found that when I wore two, one would always get irritated (it would vary sproadically). For some reason, it didn't bother me much. It's tricky getting used to at first; but your brain adjusts instantly to which eye sees best (auto focus?). I'm near-sighted, so when I was at the computer my eye _without_ the contact lens would take focus (or my brain would shift to it for input). As soon as I would look away, my brain would automatically switch to the contact lensed eye.
Suprisingly, you don't [appear to] lose depth perception (no pun intended) because your brain is still processing both eyes.
The other added benefit was that my contacts would last twice as long. I had weekly disposables (or they might have been dailys that I would wear for 2 weeks at a time).
Don't think that a small group of dedicated individuals can't change the world. It's the only thing that ever has.
Remove your lenses/glasses and press until you can read this post. It is not like you do any work anyway.
I use Proclear lenses and work on the computer 10+ hrs a day. I wear my contacts around 18 hrs a day and only have occasional problems with dry eyes. Keep in mind that lots of people's natural eye dryness levels vary and some people would have problems with dry eyes even without contacts.
I've heard a lot of people mention lasik on here, and I enquired about it with my optometrist about it but he said that my eyes weren't "bad enough" to make it worth it. I have a -1.25 contact prescription, and apparently that level is "within the target range" of the laser eye surgery, so I might not even benefit from the surgery. That means that I still need either contacts or glasses to see clearly, but lasik isn't an option because I don't see poorly enough. I don't know what your prescription level is like, but this might apply.
If you really want contacts that will be easy on your eyes get CibaVision Night and Days. They're extended wear so if you like to party you can wake up 3 states away with no discomfort. I personally have allergies and that doesen't cause any trouble at all. http://www.us.cibavision.com/lenses/night_and_day. shtml
What exactly is wrong with glasses?
Bear with me for a minute. We're not in the fifties anymore. Glasses aren't 5cm bottlecaps anymore. Glasses are now light, flexible, sturdy, efficient and a danm sight cheaper than any contact lens on the market.
Is there really still such a problem with wearing glasses in this day and age? Grown geeks will walk around in public with thinkgeek apparell, pdas, glowsticks, sweatpants and gameboys. But not glasses because.... why?
Is it really the contacts you need?
May the Maths Be with you!
I worked in an office that had fundamentally flawed ventilation systems. Specifically, there was no humidification system, so during winter the air would become so dry that it was literally dryer than a desert--so dry that the indoor air quality failed to meet OSHA standards.
People had eye problems, sinus problems, headaches, all kinds of illness as a result.
I found this out because I got a cheap humidistat and measured the indoor air quality myself.
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I wear Gas permiable lenses. For me, my eyes would get really tired and dry every day. Switching to a flat panel monitor has made a world of difference for me. If I'm on the computer for 12+ hours, I'll still get tired eyes, but the difference is quite improved on a day to day basis.
I second the idea that LCDs are much better than CRTs for prolonged computer work. I've never had eye strain problems with LCDs. I don't wear contacts though.
Escher was the first MC and Giger invented the HR department.
"According to the American Optometric Association, 70-75% of computer workers experience eye and vision problems." ...so? Without something to compare it to, that's a meaningless number.
For example, are they counting people needing corrective lenses? The first number I could find was that 82% of people 18 and over use corrective lenses. Compared to that, 70-75% is actually low.
Never EVER peel peppers without latex gloves and then take your contacts out several hours later. That's the kind of mistake you only make once (Ditto for anything involving peppermint or cinnamon oil...)
I'm trying to teach myself to set people on fire with my mind... Is it hot in here?
I get around the whole problem by having 20:20 vision. It works great; I can use a computer for 8-12 hours a day, read books, see things both close up and a long way off without having any of the hassle of glasses or pain and annoyance of contacts.
I highly recommend it.
Causation can cause correlation
After 10 years of using contacts I contracted a severe corneal ulcer (see the gruesome pics on google) 1.5 months ago in my left eye. 8 days in hospital, I still cannot really see out of that eye and the doctor says that there is no way to know how much it will recover.
My mistakes?
- Using disposable contacts for longer than their design (GreatDrok you have been warned)
- Falling asleep in them
- Putting up with contacts which irritated my eyes because I'd already paid for them
- Not getting straight to an eye doctor when a mild infection suddenly got worse (it was on a weekend - I saw an incompetent GP who didn't think it was serious)
My best experience with contacts was when:
- I found a really good optometrist who took the time to find a type that really suited me
- I used straightforward saline IV solution for storing and rinsing
- I started the day with a physical workout (gets the juices flowing)
I could spend 10+ hours day in front of the computer and not be aware of the lenses in my eyes.
So, yes, I have gotten stupider over time. I actually had an appointment for LASIK 2 months before this happened but chickened out. Stoopid.
After staring at computer screens for about 25 years now (since I was 15 and had a TRS-80! har), I went from perfect vision to being somewhat nearsighted - my point-of-focus moved from wherever it was to where my computer screen sat.
:P
I recently got contacts for the first time, for other reasons - but the only times I wear them is when I'm *not* working. My eyes are pretty much perfectly adjusted for staring at computer screens now, and nothing else.
Anyhow, I've got the Acuvue lenses from Johnson & Johnson, and so far, so good.
"People" using "unnecessary" quotes should be "shot".
People will go on and on about the risks of LASIK, and then cheerfully spend ten years inserting and removing pieces of poorly-disinfected plastic from their eyes. (Straight saline for storage?!?) The moral is, neither LASIK nor contacts are really risk-free.
One major advantage glasses have over contacts is that you can take the damn things off and give your eyes a rest!
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Get some rewetting drops. What makes me mad is that its just saline in a small portable, "easy to squeeze 1 drop out a time" bottle, yet it costs more for those 10mL than it does for 4 full big bottles of saline.
I just started using this stuff called ReNu and it works great! Although lately I have a slight burning sensation in my eyes...oh well, I'm sure its just because I have to get used to the stuff.
That being said, I can usually get about two weeks continuous wear out of a pair of disposables (even sleeping with them in). Then I trash them and switch to my glasses for a week or so to let my eyes rest again.
Generally though, I've found contacts better for vacation or outdoor activities like hiking. I like a nice clean pair of unscratched glasses with a recent prescription for optimal comfort working in front of a computer for long hours. This lets me rub my eyes freely when they start feeling weary.
Clickety Click
Just don't use Bausch & Lomb MoistureLoc contact solution. It promotes fungal infections of the eye... eww.
Maybe that's true for you, but my pre-lasik vision was so bad that my glasses were so heavy that they interfered with breathing _and_ gave me a serious fishbowl effect when turning my head. That's why I wore contacts unless there was a compelling reason not to -- and the pre-surgical month when I had to wear glasses was a nightmare.
The other reason I hated switching was that my contacts had no astigmatism correction, the glasses had some serious correction. (I can't remember why -- maybe the doc was an idiot who wouldn't write a prescription identical to the contacts.) If you ever want to know a good way to give somebody a headache....
So why do you think I got lasik? Vanity, or safety? Imagine fleeing a fire when anything more than 12-18" away is blurry.
Now, if you're talking about the idiots getting lasik because they have 20/40 or 20/60 vision -- I agree with you completely.
For every complex problem there is an answer that is clear, simple, and wrong. -- H L Mencken
Several hundred responses to an article and every one is on topic and helpful! Surely this is not the slashdot I've grown to dispise and hate? Where's the penis bird posts? where's the rants about microsoft taking over the world? where's the comments the US doing everything for oil? how can comments stay on topic soooo long? surely it's april fools day?!
:) I've tried contacts for a while, had the soft non-disposalble variety, and I hated em, dried out, sore eyes etc, so I went back to glasses, so much easier.
Anyway to stay on topic
My wife is an ophthalmic technician, and has worked for ophthalmic surgeons for 20 years. I had been wearing contacts (softs) for a couple of years before we hooked up.
She has seen, and I have heard the war stories, of all the myriad ways that soft lenses can go wrong. Based on that, and the rather strongly worded advice of one of her bosses in 1989, I switched to rigid gas permeable hard lenses, and have since upgraded to extended wear versions.
This is the best thing I have ever done with respect to my eyes. Since there is no fluid component to the lens, changes in humidity, gusts of air, dry eyes, etc., are no where near as big a deal.
They pass more Oxygen than ANY soft lens, and for this and many other reasons, are more healthy.
Unlike softlenses, if some "bug", fungal, bacterial, or whatever, gets into my eyes, the gas perms are not a medium for growth. The crap in the news about fungal growths associated with a particular B&L solution for softs are simply not an issue.
I wear my lenses 7x24. They are approved for 2 weeks of continuous wear. I have gone much longer with no issues.
They DO take a lot longer to get used to (weeks). Typically, they are harder for the practitioner to fit, more expensive, more uncomfortable until you are used to them, cost more per lens and per fitting session. An often overlooked benefit is that if (when) you get something foreign like dust, dirt or an eyelash in your eye, it is extraordinarily uncomfortable.... this typically causes the wearer to get lens out RIGHT NOW, and to deal with the comtamination. This is a good thing. As opposed to just tolerating it as a little uncomfortable, which is the norm for softs.
As far as Lasik goes.... well, what they don't tell you is a couple of things:
When it goes bad, it goes VERY bad. The options at that point are grim. it can get as bad as being legally blind.
Second, no one knows what the long term effects of lasic are. I plan to be alive for at least 50 more years, and there is no track record for this procedure anywhere near that long ago. Further, as we age, we ALL need cheaters or bifocals to deal with the fact that our eyes loose flexibility as we age. Lack of flexability translates into limited ability to change focus from close up to infinity. Lasic may set you free from your specs now, but you are still going to need cheaters or bifocals starting at around 40-45. FWIW, I keep several sets around... so you can guess my age....
Remember, these are your EYES. You only have two, and unless something changes radically, you can never get more. They can transplant hearts, kidneys, and lots of other things. Not eyes. Be conservative. Talk to a Doctor (not an optometrist) about hards. Find someone who specializes, not a refractive surgeon running a lasik mill. And finally, remember, we all are going to need cheaters when we get older.
Red
I was told by an optometrist that there are cheaper (non Proclear) versions of these lenses available now, but since my insurance covers my Proclear lenses nearly entirely, I'm not particularly motivated to switch. I'm just holding out until my girlfriend finishes her optometry degree. I'd better be getting some free lenses or else that free tech support for the family will be drying up pretty quickly ;^)
I've been wearing Menicon Z's for the past couple of months and believe I've found the next best thing to Lasik. They're wearable for up to 30 days at a time. Clean and soak them overnight and you're good to go for another 30 days. They're made from a new plastic that's oxygen hyper-transmissive so I never fight with dry eyes any longer. With my old RGPs, by the end of the day I'd be pushing the lenses around, trying to get some moisture in my eyes and fight off the "sticky" feeling.
And, according to the research done by the NIH, wearers are less likely to get eye infections with these lenses than with any other extended wear lens. Oh, and they're also thinner than similar strength daily RGPs, so they're more comfortable and easier to get used to if you haven't worn RGPs in the past. (See my blog at <http://sobiloff.typepad.com/> for links to the NIH research and more.)
The first two times I tried wearing contacts instead of glasses, my eyes got dry and I didn't last more than a week before putting the glasses back on (or squinting a lot, which was just bad news).
A few years ago, I got a new set (They were Focus, but I wear Accuview Advanced Torric now because they don't rotate as much) and decided to stick with them for a month, because my doctor told me it would take that long for my eyes to get used to producing extra moisture. I'm glad I stuck with it, because I can't live without my contacts now. They're so much less life-invasive than glasses. They don't get in the way, I have good peripheral vision, and way better depth perception...
Anyway, try and wear them *every day* for a month to give your eyes a chance to adapt.
Ortho-Keratology has turned out to be one of the best choices I've ever made.
It's hard contact lenses which you wear only overnight. During that time they reshape your cornea, so that your vision is corrected for the entire day and then some without wearing contact lenses during the day. It has none of the risks you get with LASIK, and it's "future proof" - when I get older and longsightedness starts setting in, I won't be screwed because of having had LASIK (or similar).
The only downside is that it isn't for everyone - if you have a high prescription then chances are you might not be able to use Ortho-K.
The other issue is that it's not as well-known or practised as say, LASIK, so you might have difficulty finding an optometrist who does. I was lucky and had an excellent optometrist (Grant Mason, Australia) who said "if you don't get completely satisfied, I won't charge you a cent for having tried it". Haven't been happier at not taking up a full money-back offer! :)
you know Contact Lenses were not meant for you (or at least while at LAN parties) when one of your lenses falls out of your eye due to dryness, possibly from lack of blinking :'(
I have found that if you place a strong light behind the monitor (regardless if its CRT or LCD) this will help prevent eye strain.
Also take a break every hour and rest your eyes for 15 minutes. For those who work for hours at the desk, take a bathroom break or chat up the receptionist. Legally you're given two 15 minutes breaks, so make use of them.
As for contact lenses, go for lenses that have more water content, not oxygen permeability. My experience is that oxygen permeable glasses make your eyes dry fast and feel tired. High water content contact lenses feel good for most of the day.
... or rather, just covers them up.
Sorry to hear about your eyes. My mom had LASIK surgery 10 years ago, and got the Monovision setup. While she's happy with the results, I'm certain the Monovision is responsible for her weight gain, immune disfunction, and overall lack of energy. (She had a case of the shingles recently, and she's only 53. Shingles is usually developed by much older people.) Did you have the monovision setup? If so, I'd definitely suggest getting a lense for the closeup eye...
I asked my doctor (see the paragraphs about how my prescription has been changing) what he could do with a person who'd already had LASIK surgery. He said that, while he'd ideally get to them before the surgery, he could still release some of the "trauma" incurred by the surgery itself...
Muscles are what pull the eye out of shape. Lasik resurfaces the front of the eyeball, but doesn't do anything about the muscles locked in spasm (if anyone wants to refute this, please explain why my 22 year old brother's prescription has been getting stronger of late, and why my prescription has changed so much over the past year). The "See Clearly Method" (and other "natural" vision improvement programs) use relaxation & exercises to release the tension from these muscles. Osteopathic manipulation is the missing master-key from all vision improvement programs.
My doctor says there's only about a hundred who do the osteopathic vision prescription thing, so I'm at a loss to help you find a doctor like mine.. Jealous' site has a couple of doctor's names ("teaching staff"), so I'd start there. The only other osteopath I know of who does vision prescriptions is Stephen Davidson (though there is no mention of the vision thing on his site).
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Is its normally wearing contact lenses a risk? As I have heard people wearing lenses are more likely to catch infections! http://newsrss.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/health/1943434.stm
My opthomologist recomended that I place a hot towel on top of my eyes once a day or so (I have moderate dry eye and contact lenses SUCK, and make sure you close your eyes BEFORE you put the hot towel on!) and he also suggested fish oil supplements. He told me the side effect of fish oil was that it made the tears a bit bigger so that would leave my eye lubricated more (same as with the hot towel, plus the steam supposedly helps clear out the tear ducts). Don't know if that is true or not because later I got that custom lasik with intralase. $5000 bucks, but after 23 years of myopia, I'm free of coke bottle glasses and contacts. Joy.
Fighting over religion is like seeing whose imaginary friend is best.
I've been using monthly contacts from Cooper Vision called Frequency 55 for about 6 years now. With these, I've gone days without sleep without issues. I'm unfortunately in Japan now, someplace Cooper doesn't distribute to. Accuvue is doing big advertising campaigns here so I guess I will be trying that next when my perscription runs out.
Anyone in Japan reading this that wears contacts and works with computers a lot? Any suggestions?
Government schools had done you good. John Gatto must be right when he says their program is specifically designed to prevent people from learning how to extract meaning from text.
/. posts linked to in the grandparent.
Osteopath?!?!? Let's all be clear on this, you're advocating CHIROPRACTIC...
An OSTEOPATH is NOT a Chiropractor. Why do you equate the two professions? I went to 5 or 7 different chiropractors, and they're all in the dark ages as compared to my OSTEOPATH.
My OSTEOPATH has NEVER, EVER cracked any of my bones. Most the time I can't tell that he's done anything at all. Then I notice that something's slightly better later in the day, or later in the week. Incremental improvement. It's been slow, but totally worthwhile.
Hey, no hard feelings. I made the same mistake myself. I decided I needed an osteopath who did manipulation, but believed that manipulation had died out and today's D.O.s were functionally equivalent to M.D.s. So I went to a chiropractor, then another and another. But there was a little nagging voice that said "you need an OSTEOPATH, dipshit!" And later that week I told an M.D. at a booksigning how I'd decided I needed to see an Osteopath. He asked why, I told him ("hands don't work, ala Carpal Tunnel or RSI or thoracic outlet syndrome"), he asked if I'd tried something else (I had), then said that Osteopathic treatment might be right for me, and whenever HE needed an osteopath he went to this guy 100 miles away.
P.S. please read my two
Learn the rules so you know how to break them properly.
www.teslabox.com
LASIK was just the vehicle which delivered the blow (monovision) to her immune system.
If she had a monovision contact (like a former boss, who loves his reading contact but who's health is rapidly going downhill) the result would be essentially the same, except you can take a contact out.
Learn the rules so you know how to break them properly.
www.teslabox.com
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=10000103&si d=adOW2nqhjEKE&refer=us
April 13 (Bloomberg) -- Bausch & Lomb Inc., the maker of a contact lens cleaner linked to a dangerous eye infection, withdrew the product from the U.S. market and offered refunds to consumers.
Wearers of contact lenses shouldn't use ReNu with MoistureLoc while the outbreak is being investigated, Rochester, New York- based Bausch & Lomb said today in a statement. The company asked retailers to remove the solution from shelves, a step already taken by many drug and department stores.
I've heard a lot of people here talk about Lasik being the best option but if you're on a shoestring, you could consider the new LasikAtHome kit. Only $100, which is way cheaper than the $4000 you get charged for a "professional" job! Has anyone tried it?
Matthew @ Bytemark Hosting
What is this medical condition called "eye strain"? I have only heard of it in old wives tales. What scientific research can you point me to that proves that there is such a thing as eye strain?
I had LASIK done about 3 months ago. The next day I was 20/15. Regardless of how my surgery turned out, my doctor specifically advised AGAINST PRK, even after hearing that I enjoy snorkeling, water skiing, and other sports on the water. His explanation of how the flap heals was quite different from that you gave, to the point where he said that unless he examines the eye with a specific machine, he can't necessarily tell if a microkeratome has opened a flap for LASIK.
No matter what procedure you have done, be aware that contact lenses can be much more harmful to your eyes than your doctor (who has a vested interest in selling them to you) can let on. I wore contacts (2-week replacement schedule of disposable daily wear) for 15 years prior to having LASIK. During the surgery, my eyes bled because the blood vessels in the eye had tried to grow out to the surface to get more air. The blood vessels will retract, but the "tubes" they've made in your eye don't fill in. Also, you never quite realize how you're starving your eye of air until you don't wear the contacts any more.
I'm not saying that contacts aren't great, but I think there are more risks to wearing them than doctors let on.
Basically, when you are viewing a monitor (or any other object less than 3 feet from your eye, generally much closer) for an extended period of time, the muscles that control the focusing of your lens (which is done by "stretching the lens", making it thinner or thicker, since muscles can only contract), become fatigued. This is similar to the fatigue you get if, say, you attempt to hold your arm out to the side of your body level for an extended period of time. After a while, your arm feels very heavy, and starts to ache, and you get tired of it.
This is mainly because this isn't something you do often. If you did, after a while you would not notice it as much, and you would be able to do so for longer periods of time. This doesn't mean you aren't causing stress on the muscle - you are. You have just become used to it. You might, over time, find it more difficult to raise and lower your arm, or raise it higher. Similarly, with the eyes, you would find you can't focus as well, your eyes hurt, burn, water, itch, etc - this is all "eye strain".
Our eyes haven't evolved to cope with extended periods of time of "fixed focused" at small (18-24 inches) distances. As an aside, an extreme example of such fatigue is part of the "simulator sickness" encountered by users of VR HMDs (head mounted displays) - due to the fact that these display devices, while attempting to have a focal range of "infinity", force the eye (via lenses) to focus on a screen only a few inches away from the eyeball. This is one of the big reasons (but by no means the only reason) behind headaches some users experience after more than 20-30 minutes of use.
What would be interesting to know is if the use of glasses for nearsightedness among the younger population (who read) increased after the wide availability of the printed book in Guttenberg's (sp?) time. Probably a near impossible research task to perform, but it would be interesting to know if glasses were primarily used by older people (whose muscles, including those of eye, atrophy over time, making it more difficult to focus), but when the printed book became popular among younger people, if thier eyes started to have problems due to close focusing (and limited light sources at night) for reading books...
Reason is the Path to God - Anon
people who've had whiplash or a similar demonstration of the laws of physics
LOL!"Our interests are to see if we can't scale it up to something more exciting," he said.
Been using Acuvue 2 all day with agitation when they're in cleaning solution. They dry out indeed, but they're not painful and compared to having an appliance on your face or performing irreversable eye surgery, they're the best solution.
LASIK works for me. Had it many years ago, when it was fairly new, and it's exactly like wearing contact lenses (only I never have to mess about with little thingies on my eyeballs any more).
The only bad thing about it was that they assured me I'd feel no pain, and when they stuck the knife in my eye, it felt EXACTLY like SOMEBODY STUCK A KNIFE IN MY EYE! After everyone calmed down they explained that less than 1% of the population has pain-sensing nerves actually in the ocular tissues, and that they'd rather I didn't scream like a wounded manatee in the operating theatre. I told 'em to stop lying to the patients (if they'd said I *might* feel pain I'd have been prepared) and everything was fine after that.
Since when do IT guys care about looking nice? Wear glasses to go along with you t-shirt and jeans ensemble. It's not likely that the only thing standing between you and big promotion or that hot secretary is your eyewear.
No way contacts are as comfortable as eyeglasses. I know from exeperience.
I don't know about Japan, but I'd like to second the vote for the Frequency 55's - very no-hassle lenses that tolerate abuse (forgot to put solution in the container? accidentally fell asleep with them in? No problem...)
I recognize people by their sigs. Is that a bad thing?
For computer use, use the most breathable lenses you can find that work for your astigmatism. For me that was gas perm lenses, extended wear even. However be prepared to have to find another solution eventually. They worked for 10+ years until I started having constant fogging problems in less than a day of wear. The 3rd doc I went to (first two just sort of looked puzzled) said that its not uncommon for people to actually develop an allergy to the plastic used for contact lenses after 10 or 20 years - I can't say whether he was only referring to gas perms or any lens. The allergy tends to manifest itself as early protein deposits and "gook" (yes thats a technical term) in the eyes well before it should be there. For me, I wore extended wear gas perms (good for a week before removal) and was having gook problems in less than a day. I ended up going for Lasik because it took care of the contacts problem, and kept me out of the strangely distorted visual world of glasses. Make you're own call if the time comes that you're coveted lenses no longer work for you.
...Can you describe some of the benefits that come with marrying a blind woman?
There is nothing controversial about this at all!
Conversely perhaps?
WARNING
I am not a math scientist
(yet I project a more well educated demeanor than those who ponied up fro accreditation)
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DEREK SMART PHD