h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

I just put my lenses in (soft toric for astigmatism correction), and I got them in first time. As usual. Then I had to take the right-hand one out and rinse it with saline before putting it back in, but nothing's perfect...

And I don't have to rub them with cleansing stuff before I put them in either - I do that when I take them out, then in the morning they're ready to wear straightaway (or after a rinse in saline solution).

Contact lenses are of course wonderful, they've done wonders for me, but there is one slight disadvantage to mine - I'm on _annual_ replacement. Two years wearing lenses and I'm now on my third pair... this means lots, and lots, and lots, and lots of cleaning...

Sorry for the slight technical delay. Bisquits and soft drinks will be served in a moment ...

You're right in cleaning the lenses after taking them out in the evening (that's the way I do it too), but I put it this way for the sake of having a better flow of reading.

After some 10 months with contacts I must say that lenses require /less/ time for cleaning than glasses! Mainly because they need their treatment only once in a day (plus once a week), whereas I had to clean my glasses several times a day because of fingerprints, dust, kitchen steam, rain and whatnot.

Yes, glasses are very, very irritating. But then so are contacts in their own way. Still, they're more comfortable to wear. Since I got my contact lenses I've really noticed how heavy my glasses are, and it's not a nice thing.

You forgot to mention to make sure the contacts are right-side out... I've put them in backwards once or twice, and it HURTS! Worse than leaving them unrinsed.

I'd disagree on it being worse than not rinsing them, for me it's more of an irritating sensation of something rubbing the inside of my eyelid. Still not very nice though!

Well, maybe not worse. It's been a few years since I did either... But I do remember that an inside-out contact will fall out easily...

Yes, they do...

But actually, so do unrinsed ones. With my cleaning solutions, unclean ones seem drier, and dry lenses always fall out more easily than nice soggy ones.

Yeah, staring at a monitor all day does nothing to keep them moist either, believe me! I'm having probs this morning though; I had to put a new one in cos I lost one (the MAJOR disadvantage to contacs; at least with specs I have two pairs) and there's something wrong. There's something on the lens and I can't see out my left eye! Eek!

duff_account, standing in for fords_prefect

I'm waiting for the day when contacts are fitted with a microphone and a beeper (like some car keys are). You just clap your hands, and the lens beeps a beacon signal which makes it easier to find it

Oh wow, how cool would that BE?! I have to sit with a mirror on my knee to catch them, the amount of times I've tried to balance a lens on my finger and it falls off..grrrr...it's so much easier to find it on a mirror than on the carpet, that's for sure. Today, I KNOW it fell on the carpet, but I couldn't find it. I must have looked some sight; I couldn't see out of my left eye so I put my specs on, but of course the right lens was in, so all I could see with a contact lens and a spectacle lens was what I see on Saturday nights!

fords_prefect
(come as duff_account)

You could do the following: put a funnel into the pipe of a vacuum cleaner (the narrow side into the pipe). Then strap a kitchen sieve or perhaps better, a piece of cotton fabric over the wide side of the funnel. Now start vacuuming the carpet and wait for the lens to be sucked to the surface of the fabric...

What a great idea, I'm gonna seriously consider that one next time, thanks!

Ah, the joy I've had crawling on the bathroom floor looking for a tiny little contact lens amid the deep-pile carpet...

hmmm, the joy of knowing to have found it, where the 'knowing' part comes from a tiny little 'crack' sound...

Lucky I have soft lenses then, they don't crack - they tear!