Carrie wrote:
I have very very nearsighted eyes, and I have worn contact lenses for a long, long time.
My Optometrist told me that there is no other option but to wear a toric lens in my right eye. I agreed to wear a trial lens, but I’m finding that my vision is blurry, close up and farther away.  I went back and he ordered me another toric lens with a -10 something-or other.  (The lenses are taken out of the packaging before given to me, so I really have no idea what the fine details are, I just remember something about him saying something about -10)  So THAT lens is HORRIBLE, and I refuse to wear it.
Now I know I have very bad eyesight, but I’m convinced I see better with regular lenses, BUT the Optometrist insists I get toric lenses.
Really, what should I do?

ANSWER

Dear Carrie:
Toric lenses are prescribed/fitted when a patient has astigmatism and regular spherical lenses do not adequately correct the patient’s vision. Fitting toric lenses to someone who is “very very nearsighted” is clinically challenging and it is not unusual for the fitting process to require several “trial” pair before a final lens design is achieved. That being said, the ultimate goal of contact lens fitting is to provide you with lenses that give you the best vision and ocular health.  In my own experience, I have found that in some instances, the patient felt they saw better with their spherical lenses than with the toric lenses that I had painstakingly fitted. In those cases, if the spherical lenses were a good option for the health of the eyes, I usually deferred to the patient’s visual preference.
You should have a candid conversation with your optometrist to express your concerns about the clarity of your vision with your trial toric contact lenses. It may well be that you need to try some alternative toric lens designs, but if none of those provide you with clearer vision, spherical lenses may be a practical option.
Thank you for your question.
Dr. Smit

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zara wrote:

hi, I was wondering is it safe to put honey in your eyes? I have heard that it makes the eye colour lighter and clears the eyes.

ANSWER

Dear Zara

Considering putting honey in your eyes is really quite a surprising idea for the purpose of making them whiter or giving them a lighter tint. Ocular redness is habitually a sign of ocular pathology: dryness induced by environment, lid diseases or tear film rupture, and/or associated with contact lens wear. This could be also an early sign of infections or inflammation. Over the counter products that claim to “clear the eye” are in fact alcohol-based solutions that constrict the blood vessels. You cannot alter the natural blood flow on a chronic basis without causing side effects or dysfunction in the system. Also, most of these products trigger a rebound effect: that means that as soon as you cease to use them the redness is back twice as bad as it was before. It is a kind of vicious circle that can compromise ocular health on a long term basis.

For the natural color of the eye, this is linked to your genetics. You can’t do anything about it except to be fitted with cosmetic contact lenses. For this purpose, remember that contact lenses are foreign bodies that can alter the ocular surface if they are not fitted appropriately and maintained with regular good hygiene habits.

For both situations, you have to consult your optometrist or an ophthalmologist to get a proper diagnosis of your ocular redness. If you want to change the color of your eyes, consult also your optometrist to be fitted with state-of-the art products.

You have only 2 eyes and it is not wise to deal with their health by putting anything in them …. like honey. I have also read on internet sites that some people recommend instilling urine to clear the eyes. On top of the fact that this is purely disgusting, anything that is not sterile - any drop that is not approved by health Canada and has a DIN number SHOULD NOT BE USED or instilled in the eyes. Don’t play foolish games; please and consult a professional that knows what is best for your eyes: your family optometrist.

Dr. Langis Michaud, OD, MSc, FAAO (Dipl)
Professeur Agrégé
Université de Montréal

Diane wrote:
I am trying out contact lenses (monovision) to replace my glasses.  Also, I am looking at and have been accepted as a candidate for Lasik eye correction, also monovision.  Somewhat worried about the end result.  Having problems with my non-dominant eye for reading leads me to wonder if I might also have this problem after Lasik.  Wearing my second pair of contacts: first pair were multifocal which were not successful for reading, now wearing mono: a little better but still quite blurry for reading (which I do a lot at work and leisure).  Any suggestions would be helpful.  Also, would the prescription differ for laser as compared to contacts?

ANSWER

Hello Diane,
Mono-vision or (blended-vision) is not successful on all patients.  If it works, its great, otherwise its new sense.

Generally, mono-vision will give you the convenience of near and far vision but slight compromised clarity.  So not a perfect world.  Before your laser correction, ask your Surgeon,  After mono-vision correction, if unhappy with the end result, is enhancement an option on the reading eye for distance (which means you will need reading glasses) or not?

Please keep in mind with mono-vision laser correction, you are not off glasses 100%, you actually usually will still need a pair for distance (at least for night drive) and another pair for reading (when you are doing long time near work).  So depending on your life style, if you do a lot of near work as well as a lot of sports and out door activities, I would advise against mono-vision laser correction.  I would suggest a full correction for distance in both eyes, and just a pair of reading glasses for work and books.
Good luck,
Sally Aldayeh

Chantal wrote:
Hello,
I am a psychotherapist working with a client who has an eye phobia. She would like to desensitize to this phobia so as to allow her to wear contact lenses.

I have created a desensitization plan for this client, which includes having her lightly touch the whites of her eyes with a clean finger dipped in contact solution.  Would you advise against this? or would it be okay to proceed with this step?
My other question pertains to practicing putting on contact lenses.  My client must desensitize to putting on contacts prior to being fitted for them.  Can an optomotrist provide “dummy” contact lenses (unfitted) for practice?  If not, would it be advisable for my client to purchase FDA approved novelty lenses to practice with?

Finally, any overall suggestions you may have to help me to care for my client would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks

ANSWER

Hello,
This is exactly what I would do in my clinic, get the patient comfortable with eye area, by practice touching the white part of the eye.  Usually works very well, just make sure fingers are always clean, and avoid nails touching the eye.

As far as purchasing soft contact lenses or getting them from your local Optometrist, it is absolutely wise to get familiar with lens texture and handling, however when it comes to inserting lenses into your eyes for the first time and training, It is better to be under a contact lens technician or an Optometrist supervision, this is to avoid potential trauma and eye infections.  Usually Optometrist will not hand over lenses without a current contact lens prescription, for safety reasons.

My advise as far as caring for this patient is to work together with your local contact lens technician, to train your patient handling of soft contact lenses and getting over eye phobia, they are absolutely prepared to handle patients with eye phobia, and succeed every time.

Thank you,
Sally Aldayeh

Dawn wrote:
I am 53 wear contact lenses monovision. One for near vision and one for distance. I have recently noticed that my night vision is decreasing. Is this age related? How is this corrected?
Dawn

ANSWER

Dear Dawn
In a recent response to Mark and Charlene I have outlined some of the reason that our night vision naturally decreases as we age. In your case, the contact lens that you are wearing for near vision gives you limited distance vision even under ideal lighting conditions. Coupled with the normal decrease in night vision as we mature, it is not surprising that you are noticing that your vision has become compromised at night.
One solution might be to have, in addition to your monovision lenses, a pair of contacts to give you clear distance vision in both eyes, and then picking up a pair of reading glasses to use “in a pinch” when you are wearing two distance contact lenses. Hence, if you are going to the theatre, you could wear the distance pair for the evening – it would give you better vision for driving to and from the theatre and allow you to see the performance better. Sneak on your reading glasses (“cheaters”) to read the program, then tuck them away and enjoy the performance.
Hope this helps.
Dr. Smit

Laura wrote:
What is the minimum age requirement for someone to wear contact lenses?

ANSWER

There is no minimum age that someone can or cannot wear contact lenses.  I have fit children as young as 10 years of age.  I base my decision on the maturity of the child and make the decision jointly with their parents.  Wearing contact lenses is a huge responsibility.  Complications from contact lens wear can lead to vision loss or even blindness.  It is extremely important that the contact lenses are cleaned properly, thrown out at proper intervals and worn for the prescribed amount of time.  A lot of young children want contact lenses specifically for sports that they are involved in.  In this case I like prescribing daily disposables (contact lenses that are worn once and then thrown away).  These are a good starting point as there is no cleaning required and they are thrown out after every use.  The only downfall is that these tend to get more expensive than a monthly disposable lens if they are worn everyday.

Dr. Doman

Monica wrote:
Hello,

I’m from Brazil and I already have a prescription for lenses, I have astigmatism… I use glasses, but I would like to try contact lenses….
I would like to know if, with my prescription from Brazil, I can buy lenses here in Canada or should I book an appointment with an optometrist?
My mother tried use lenses and she couldn’t. It’s possible it will happen to me too?
Thanks

ANSWER

Dear Monica

This is a very interesting point you brought up here. First thing to say is that you NEVER should try/buy contact lenses without the recommendation and an appropriate follow-up from an optometrist or an ophthalmologist. These are medical devices that can cause harm to your eyes if they are not fitted well and not cleaned well. Internet purchase increases the risk to develop severe infections 5 times because the lack of professional recommendations and follow up.

Astigmatism is easily fitted nowadays in contact lenses. It should not be a problem for you to be fitted by a competent eye care practitioner.

If the first pair is not working, there are always others that can be considered.

Select an optometrist or an ophthalmologist that is experienced with contact lenses and follow his recommendations.

Good luck,

Dr. Langis Michaud, OD, MSc, FAAO (Dipl)
Associate Professor
Université de Montréal

Caitlin wrote:
I wear contacts 95% of the time and I recently had my yearly check up. I found my vision less clear lately with my contacts, but my prescription hadn’t changed (-1.50 in both eyes). However, now when wearing my contacts, the left one is clearly not as sharp as the right. I’ve tried putting a new contact in, switching the contact, but nothing seems to help. It’s so annoying that I eventually give up after an hour and have to put my glasses on. What could be causing this? The obvious answer is that my left eye needs a stronger prescription, but my check up was only a month ago, and there was no change.

ANSWER

Caitlin,
Is your vision perfect with your glasses?  I would recommend returning to your optometrist to have them check this problem. Of course I haven’t examined your eyes, so it’s extremely hard to give you an answer, but I’ll give you some possibilities.  It’s possible if your glasses are perfect that you may have a small amount of astigmatism that your contact lenses are not correcting for and your glasses are.  A lot of times if there is a small amount of astigmatism it can be compensated for with regular contacts.  However if the astigmatism gets to a certain point, it will affect the vision and then a contact lens to correct astigmatism, called a toric contact lens may be required.  Astigmatism happens when the very front of your eye, the cornea is not perfectly spherical like a ball, but shaped more like a football. There are two different curvatures that need to be corrected, instead of only one.  Otherwise there could be an issue with your cornea or eyelid causing the problem.  Sometimes inflammation can develop in the cornea or eyelid, which will affect the quality of vision.  The main thing is to go back to your optometrist to make sure there is not an eye health issue which is causing your symptoms.

Dr. Doman

Timmy wrote:
Hi, i have a question regarding prescriptions for glasses and contacts. I understand you should not be using the degrees prescribed to you for glasses for buying contacts because contact lenses sits on your eyes directly as opposed to the glasses being a few inches away.
So my question is, would my eyes get worst or some sort of negative impact if I do wear contact lenses having the same degrees as my eye glasses?
the degrees for contacts should be slightly stronger or weaker? so if you wear contact lenses that are not exactly the same degree, what are the dangers of doing so? will it be merely less clear or will it make your eye sight worsen?

Thank you for your time

ANSWER

Hello Timmy,
Yes it is true that in most cases the prescription your optometrist gives you for your glasses is different than the one given for your contact  lenses.  Whether the contact lenses are stronger or weaker will depend on the prescription.  Wearing contact lenses that are the incorrect prescription (stronger or weaker) can cause symptoms of blur, headaches, dry, uncomfortable eyes and/or spasm of your focusing system.  Furthermore, if the lenses do not fit correctly, there are many other eye-health related problems that you would be at risk for.
When purchasing contact lenses from your optometrist, he/she will ensure that you have the correct strength and fit needed, and would be happy to give you a copy of that prescription for your records.

Thank you for your question. 
Dr. Donati

Stephanie wrote:
Three weeks ago I woke up with some crust around my eyes. I thought it was no big deal but it has been occurring ever since. I wear both contacts and glasses. Two weeks ago I noticed a dramatic decrease in the clarity of my vision. It has not worsened, but I just got my prescription changed in March and now I feel like I need a new one again. I also got new contacts with my updated prescription… about 3 months ago… The old one I wore were power: 2.25 and BC:8.5 in both eye’s and the new ones are power:2.5 in on and 3.00 by BC:9. Could the change in the BC be irritating my eyes and effecting the dramatic change in MY vision? And what about the crust around my eyes? I’m worried can you help?!

Thank you so much!

ANSWER

Dear Stephanie
If you are wearing soft contact lenses, dramatic changes in vision are not usually caused by a change in base curve (BC) such as you have described. Going from a BC 8.5 to a BC 8.9 lens means that the primary curve of the back surface of the lens is flatter on your new lenses than on your old lenses. If the material of the lens has been unchanged, then I would expect the new lens to fit a little bit looser on the eye. This normally does not cause a dramatic change in the clarity of the vision. However, different contact lens materials fit on the eyes differently and if your doctor has prescribed a different contact material, it is entirely possible that the new lens made up in an 8.9 base curve fits the same as your old lenses fit with an 8.5 base curve.
I also see that you used to wear the same prescription in both eyes and that now the prescription is different. If you accidentally reversed your contacts (put the left lens in the right eye and the right lens in the left eye), you would have perceived a dramatic change in vision. You could try switching the lenses to see if that clears the vision.
The crustiness of your lids in the morning suggests that your eyes are inflamed. This may be caused by a number of factors that include infection, sensitivity to your contact lens solutions or irritation from the fit of the contact lens to name a few. The only way to determine what is causing your symptoms is to see your optometrist, describe your symptoms and concerns, and have your eyes carefully examined and your contact lenses reassessed. Infections, contact lens fitting issues and sensitivity to solutions can arise at any time, and must be dealt with when they occur.
I hope this is helpful.

Dr. Smit