I’ve been wearing contact lenses for a few years now. I like them better than wearing glasses and I’m thinking about LASIK but am not ready to do that yet. Many other people wear contacts and there are probably a few people you know that wear them along with some that you may not know wear them. Since so many people wear contacts, there’s a lot of competition amongst contact lens manufacturers and you can really get some great deals or even free contact lenses. I’ll explain how.
The first thing you want to do is see your eye doctor or eye care professional. I go to an eye doctor at a local, well known department store but when I was a child, I went to an Optometrist. I even got a prescription for glasses and had that prescription filled when I was on a trip to India, so you can get quality eye care anywhere really. Tell your eye doctor that you would like to wear contacts. A prescription for contacts is different than a prescription for glasses and that makes sense since contacts are right on your eyes and glasses are farther from your eyes.
There are pros and cons to wearing contact lenses. Putting them in and taking them out can take some getting used to. Some people need to use re-wetting drops during the day and that can also take some getting used to. You have to take good care of your contact, too. The great thing is you don’t have to keep cleaning your glasses, you can better enjoy most sporting activities and many people look better without glasses. Oh, and you can wear normal sunglasses, too!
When you get your contact lens prescription, your eye doctor can order free, trial lenses for you. You’ll often have the choice of several different contact lens manufacturers like:
Acuvue
Durasoft
Air Optix
Focus Dalies
Purevision
Cooper Vision
O2 Optix
Johnson & Johnson
Bausch & Lomb
You should order free, trial pairs from several of the manufacturers available to you. Each pair may only be good for 30 days, but with enough trial pairs of contacts, you can get free contacts for several months. During this time, take notes about how you like each one. Some things to write down are:
Did the contacts feel comfortable?
Were they easy to put in and take out?
Did you need to use re-wetting drops often?
Did you have clearer vision with these lenses compared to others?
If you have astigmatism then you can still wear contacts. I do. I wear toric contact lenses, which have small weights in them so that they line up correctly on my eyes. With toric lenses, you may have to go through several sets of free, trial lenses and wear them only about a week because your eye doctor will need to adjust where that small weight is so that the contacts sit correctly in your eyes. I went through about 4 trial pairs myself.
There’s also many people that are interested in getting non corrective colored contacts. These are also called cosmetic contact lenses and are really fun to wear. You can wear them when you go out on the town or for every day use, too. They are available in a variety of different colors for people with light and dark colored eyes. You can either just go for colored contacts that enhance the color of your eyes or for something more dramatic. Many people will get the more dramatic ones as a great addition to their Halloween costume.
Again, since there is a lot of competition for contacts, you can very easily take advantage of free contact lens offers. It’s good to do this so that you find a brand of contacts that suits you and ones you are comfortable with. Your eyes are very important, so you want to find the best ones that you can. Take your time, keep some notes about each manufacturer and then make the best decision. And remember, if you take good care of your contacts, they’ll take good care of you.