Buying glasses or contacts?

[XXX-er]

I got buddy who just buys 7 pairs of those cheap drug store glasses which he leaves every where, in his pocket (s) on his head all over his house, in his car, he does not care about his eyeglasses he just hopes a pair is close by when he reaches for them in absentminded professor style, cuz he is an idiot, cuz he can be

[adrenalated]

Way before Lasik, I had contacts for a year and a half. I never got over the feeling that something was in my eye.

This is why I stand by my claim that you should buy contacts (at least your first supply) from your optometrist, not online.

There are a LOT of different types of contacts out there. And if you have a fairly normal prescription, there are tons of options. Dailies, weekly, bi-weekly, monthly, many different brands, soft, hard, hybrid, etc...
You need to get samples and you need to try several different ones. Hell, I have an extremely rare prescription (both severe nearsightedness and severe astigmatism, which limits me to toric lenses) and even I have a half dozen options. And lens are constantly getting better and better too. I think that most people, in this day and age, can probably find a contact that works for them, but it will take some time and experimentation to get there.

And yes, if you wear contacts, you need glasses too. The thing is, if you're wearing contacts the majority of the time, you won't need to replace your glasses very often. I get lenses as needed if my vision changes significantly (small changes I don't bother) and frames last me 5-10 years. So I'm fine with not being a cheapskate on them.

[skiing-in-jackson]

Have you considered buying your glasses in Costa Rica?

Heh. That’s when I realized my Spanish was pretty good.

[AK47bp]

My script is -7.5 so I’m blind. I’ve been wearing contacts for 30 years. Even if I get glasses my script is so powerful even the low profile lenses look like coke bottles. Can’t stand only being able to see directly in front of me with the blur framing everything.

I use Air Optix day and night. I sleep in them for 2-3 weeks and change them when i notice they need changed.

Highly permeable.

They are awesome. .

[Supermoon]

My script is -7.5 so I’m blind. I’ve been wearing contacts for 30 years. Even if I get glasses my script is so powerful even the low profile lenses look like coke bottles. Can’t stand only being able to see directly in front of me with the blur framing everything.

I use Air Optix day and night. I sleep in them for 2-3 weeks and change them when i notice they need changed.

Highly permeable.

They are awesome. .

This was my strategy for years til my new optometrist told me that the whole day and night thing is now considered kinda bullshit

[XXX-er]

I used to recreate with a radiologist who would peer thru his glasses as he told me "yeah I could get the lasik surgery but chances of a fuck up are 1 in yadayada and a radiologist who can't see ain't gona make any money "

[Boissal]

If you're gonna wear glasses get Transitions lenses and never have to fuck with sunglasses. I have the darkest ones, they get quite dark quite fast. Takes them a bit longer to lighten back up but not a real problem. There may be other good brands, I don't know.

This.
Although the transition lenses I have are definitely not as good as sunglasses. I wear glasses mostly when tired/driving/end of day and morning while camping and the transition lenses really make life better.

[RootSkier]

Secret upside of contacts: sitting around a campfire. Little plastic shields make your eyes impervious to smoke.

Also applies to cutting onions.

[AK47bp]

Also applies to cutting onions.

They also have some UV protection.

[Kevo]

Thanks for all the info everyone.

Well, I got some not so great news at the eye doctor today. I knew I had a corneal dystrophy that had caused vision issues. Last check in 2007 was that I had 20/20 vision, but that it was always going to be a bit blurry because of the dystrophy. I was hoping that the increased blurriness in my vision was just my eyes getting older.

We went through the classic "Which is better- better one or two, two or three?" thing. Nothing was really better. This led to a corneal topography screening and my corneas have apparently gotten really bad. There are thousands of mini cysts and erosions in my outer cornea, so bad in fact that the lens has sort of like waves across it as if it was glass or plastic that was damaged by heat (just an analogy, it wasn't actually damaged by heat).

The optometrist brought in his partner for a second opinion and then things took a bit of a serious tone. They diagnosed with corneal degeneration. I've now got 20/80 vision. The best they can get it to is 20/40 with glasses. Apparently what I have is some kind of rare genetic disorder that isn't correctable and that can't be fixed with a transplant. They think what I have is progressive, but neither was willing to weigh in on long term prognosis. They said that historically there haven't been any medical cures, but there is possibly a newly approved procedure that could theoretically work but they aren't sure. Apparently some cornea dystrophy issues can be corrected by a special medical hard contact lens, but again they weren't sure if that would work for my condition. They referred me to an ophthalmologist who specializes in corneas.

Retina imaging came back good. Optic nerve looks fine. Every part of my eye is great, but my corneas are pretty messed up. I had put off visiting an eye doc for a long time because I was worried about getting this kind of news. I guess I always had hope that glasses or contacts could fix it and by putting off getting it looked at I was able to keep that idea in my head. Unfortunately that isn't the case. I ordered a cheap pair of glasses to get me by, but they told me the glasses will only help so much. Holding out hope for some kind of good news from a specialist. Will probably be 6-8 weeks before I can get in. I should find out about scheduling tomorrow.

[m2711c]

Jesus.... that fucking sucks. 6-8 weeks is along time to go with that kind of uncertainty. I hope the ophthalmologist has some good news for you when you finally get there.

[oftpiste]

ugh. sorry.

[iceman]

Wow that's no good. Sorry mang.

[Danno]

Damn Kevo, that blows. Hoping the ophthalmologist appointment goes well.

[muted]

FUCK WARBY PARKER
they have a store in Grand Central so I go in and tel them to fuck themselves occasionally

God bless you

[Ted Striker]

Hang in there kevo. Hopefully the specialist has some good news.

[billyk]

Well, that really sucks, Kevo.

[Kevo]

Thanks everyone. I'm trying to navigate the healthcare system. The place I was referred to isn't in network so I can't see them.

My health insurance company doesn't want to pay out for eye issues and my vision insurance doesn't want to pay out for anything other than glasses and contacts. I think I found an ophthalmologist who is in network for both my vision and health insurance. Hopefully they can figure out billing.

[Supermoon]

Fuck dude. That sucks. Hoping for the best for you.

[detrusor]

Where do you live Kevo? I work w some amazing ophthalmologists.....


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[abraham]

Thanks everyone. I'm trying to navigate the healthcare system. The place I was referred to isn't in network so I can't see them.

My health insurance company doesn't want to pay out for eye issues and my vision insurance doesn't want to pay out for anything other than glasses and contacts. I think I found an ophthalmologist who is in network for both my vision and health insurance. Hopefully they can figure out billing.

Damn, good luck. That sounds like a scary situation.

[muted]

God bless you

I hate it when i don't read the whole thread and post a joke in the middle of some bad news.

Sorry Kevo.

[Kevo]

Where do you live Kevo? I work w some amazing ophthalmologists.....

CO Front Range

Damn, good luck. That sounds like a scary situation.

Also you might want to log out of the alias

Whoops, yeah good call.

[billyk]

This should fall under health care insurance, in the same way that cataract surgery does. I guess it all depends on how crappy your health care insurance is, of course. They may have provisions that they don’t pay for anything to improve your vision (so they can avoid paying for lasik, etc). When I had my IOL surgery, the health care insurance covered the cost of non-corrective lenses for basic cataract treatment, and I had to cover the rest to get vision correction in the lenses, which ran about $10K.

[Kevo]

After much digging and calling around, I'm now scheduled for an ophthalmology appointment on 5/20 with a cornea specialist. I feel like I need to do a ton more research on both the healthcare front as well as researching the condition that I have.

From what I understand now after reading my policy documents (I searched through 152 pages, mostly of what's excluded from my company's insurance plan), my healthcare coverage should hopefully cover a specialist visit to the ophthalmologist. If medical hard contacts are the recommendation, there is some petitiining process to get vision insurance to cover them. If some kind of procedure is the recommendation, I'll have to fight my health insurance company and possibly pay out of pocket.