Trying contact lenses

Prejudice

When my vision was good, I had some prejudice against contact lenses, believing that most corneal problems of wearers were due to contact lenses.

After I started wearing glasses, I considered wearing contact lenses. The response from optical stores was often: astigmatism requires custom-made (prescription) contact lenses, which are expensive, hard to buy, and unstable.

Opportunity

My sister told me that she felt much better after switching from frames to contacts, and they were very comfortable.

I asked an uncle who had been wearing contact lenses for a long time. He told me he had been wearing contacts for over a decade without any eye problems, but this can vary from person to person. Poor hygiene or individual differences can lead to eye issues or discomfort.

After learning more about contact lenses, I cleared up my prejudices about hygiene and diseases, and I agreed with my uncle’s view.

Astigmatism

Mild astigmatism isn’t as troublesome with contacts as I imagined. You just need to convert the astigmatism (cylinder) prescription¹ and add it to the myopia (sphere) prescription.

As someone who had worn glasses for many years, I learned for the first time that myopia prescriptions are divided into large minimum units of 0.25 diopters. This means you won’t see prescriptions like 2.13 diopters that can’t be divided by 0.25 on an eye exam.

So, unless the prescription is particularly high, “custom-made” contact lenses aren’t as difficult as I thought. For example, between 2.00 and 3.00, there are only 2.25, 2.50, and 2.75. Contact lens manufacturers only need to produce these few specifications.

Trying

With the mindset of “I only have one pair of eyes, and if I ruin them, they’re gone,” I decided to give it a try.

I ultimately chose a globally leading brand. My experience was: It feels like I’m not wearing anything, they’re easy to put in and take out, and everything is much better than I imagined.

However, I must say that caring for contact lenses - taking them out every day, putting them in your palm with cleaning solution, and rubbing both sides - was a concern. I found a very good solution (not daily disposables). Also, choosing different types within the same brand is particularly important, as discussed in the selection guide.

Summary

The impact of contact lenses on eye health is highly related to usage methods and eye hygiene. If you, like me, have needs and concerns, I suggest trying them. You don’t have to completely give up frame glasses; alternating between the two based on your needs is a good compromise.

Finally, here’s a useful tool: Contact Lens Prescription Calculator

1. If the astigmatism is less than -1.50 diopters, and the ratio of myopia to astigmatism is greater than 4, you can add half of the astigmatism to the eye exam prescription, then convert it to the corresponding contact lens prescription. (Example 1: Myopia -4.50, Astigmatism -0.75 converts to -4.50 diopters (from lower); Example 2: Myopia -4.50, Astigmatism -1.00 converts to -4.75 diopters.) ↩