What to Expect When First Wearing Contacts | Vision Pro Optical (2024)

FAQs

What to expect when you first start wearing contacts? ›

Contact lenses sometimes cause mild eye irritation during the first few days of use as you get used to the new sensation. You may feel uncomfortable that there is something in your eye or notice when your contact lenses begin to dry out. After a day or two, these symptoms typically go away.

Taking the Measurements

First, they will take a measurement to check the curve and diameter you are going to need in your lenses. Next, the eye doctor will take a measurement of your pupil and your iris. Finally, the eye doctor will make sure that your eyes make enough tears to keep your contacts moist.

Blurred Vision

Some blurriness is common for new contact lens wearers. The distortion usually results from dryness. To counteract the moisture loss, talk to your eye care practitioner about medicated eye drops or pick up over-the-counter drops from your favourite drugstore.

While contact lenses can be an attractive alternative to wearing glasses because they don't change your appearance, contacts do also require a bit of an adjustment period. Most professionals will tell you that you can expect it to take as long as two weeks to get adjusted to your new lenses.

Are RGP contact lenses comfortable to wear? Yes, but it may take between 10 days and 1 month before they settle in. They are certainly less comfortable initially than soft contact lenses but after they have settled they are equally comfortable, and GP lenses are more comfortable in the long term.

When you start wearing contacts, it's best to gradually increase the time you wear your contacts each day. On your first day, you might wear your contacts for four hours and add one hour each day. Your eye doctor will recommend a schedule for you when you start wearing contacts.

On your first day of contact lens use, try to wear them for about eight hours or as much as recommended by your doctor to give your eyes a chance to adapt. Use this time to make sure that your eyes are adjusting nicely to the contact lenses, and that no discomfort or irritation has occurred.

Dilation is often a normal part of an eye exam for people who wear glasses or contacts.

What Happens During the Exam? During the tests for the contact lenses, your eye doctor will likely use a keratometer to accurately measure the surface of your corneas. Additional scans will be performed to obtain other measurements, with your pupils among the things measured.

During the check-up, your optometrist will: ask you if are having any problems with your lenses, and how long you wear them for. check your vision. examine the front of your eyes using a slit lamp microscope.

Can you shower with contacts in? ›

Say It With Us: Nope. To recap: Contacts and water don't mix. When wearing contacts, keep them away from water to prevent discomfort, infection, and other eye issues. Even if you've showered with your lenses in before and didn't experience any problems, that still doesn't make it a good idea.

New Prescription

Wearing contact lenses for the first time or getting a new prescription can cause eye strain and blurry vision as your eyes and brain adjust. It may take 2 weeks to feel comfortable wearing a new prescription.

When you wear contact lenses there is no minimizing or maximizing the images you see. When you wear glasses, image size is being introduced into the equation. Think about it like using a magnifying glass.

Some of the possible causes of blurry vision while wearing contacts include a change in your prescription, deposits (like dirt) on the lens surface, dry eyes, allergies, infections, or other eye health problems.

Discomfort: Burning, stinginging or itching eyes may mean you have a contact lens prescription that is off. Check to see whether your lenses are clean. If that's not the case, be sure to consult with your optometrist. Impaired Vision: Reduced sharpness or blurriness can be signs that you need a new prescription.

Limit your contact wear to a few hours a day until your eyes adjust to the lenses. If you notice that your eyes are dry or irritated, use some drops or switch out your contacts for glasses to let your eyes rest.

Hard contacts, or rigid gas permeable contacts, are not as flexible as soft lenses, but they are more durable. These lenses also let oxygen flow through to your eyes, which helps increase comfort. Unlike soft lenses, hard lenses do not change shape when you put them on.

Contact wearers should take the lenses out for a full day once a week. Many choose a day on the weekend when they are not out in public. Removing the contacts for a full day gives the eyes time to rest. It also allows extra oxygen to reach the eyes during those 24 hours.

Contact Lens Solution TSA Rules

As long as you follow the 3-1-1 rule* you will be ok with TSA. The container of liquid must be 3.4 ounces or less. Pack your liquids containers in 1 quart-sized clear zip-top bag. You get 1 bag per person to hold your liquids, aerosols, gels, creams and pastes.

When should you not wear contacts? ›

If you sleep with your contacts in, you may dry out your eyes or worse — risk infection, corneal ulcers or an inflammatory reaction known as contact lens-induced acute red eye (CLARE). When you're in any type of water, do not wear your contacts. This includes showers, hot tubs, pools, lakes, rivers and the ocean.

Remember that if you wear your contacts all waking hours that your eyes are never getting pure air to breathe. Put your contacts in a few hours after waking up, and take them out a few hours before going to bed.

The first time you try on contact lenses, it may be difficult and feel a bit uncomfortable. However, after wearing them a few times, they should feel completely comfortable, as if they are part of your eyes.

Contact lenses are never supposed to hurt. While there might be some getting used to them the first time you try contacts, the discomfort should go away pretty quickly. Contact lenses should feel natural and be unnoticeable throughout your day. So if your eyes are hurting, something is wrong.

How Does it Feel to Have Dilated Eyes? Once your eyes are dilated, there is an increase in light sensitivity because the pupil is large and more light is coming through, so bring your sunglasses, or your ophthalmologist may provide some disposable shades for your use.

Contacts may feel a little uncomfortable as your eyes adjust, particularly when you first get them, but they should never hurt. This feeling of discomfort should go away relatively quickly — typically within a few hours as your eyes become acclimated.

Don't: Wear Your Contacts To Your Eye Exam

It's best to wear your glasses and take them off when asked. To be safe, bring your contact lenses to your appointment.

Comprehensive eye exams are an in-depth vision and eye health exams that test your visual acuity and for certain eye diseases. Exams for contacts, by contrast, only check your visual acuity and fit you for contact lenses.

Can I cry with contacts in? ›

Absolutely! Crying with contacts doesn't damage your eye and isn't cause for major concern. But it can make seeing tricky because the glands in your eyelids produce extra tears, which leave deposits on the lenses. Even though this won't create problems, you might sometimes experience cloudy lenses because of it.

Contact lenses break down into particles that are not filtered and therefore end up in our seas, increasing water pollution. Contact lenses should never be thrown into the household waste, but thrown into the unsorted.

Many people who wear contact lenses do not know that contact lenses and water are a bad combination—even when showering, swimming, or using a hot tub ^1-4. Water can cause soft contact lenses to change shape, swell, and stick to the eye.

To provide clear vision, the contact lens should be centered on your eye. If your lens is moving around on the eye, it may make your vision blurry with contacts, especially for those fine folks with astigmatism (where the lens of your eye isn't perfectly round).

You can try on your new lenses, but wear them no longer than 2-4 HOURS. DAY 2: Experiment! If you are comfortable, try extending wearing time to 4-6 HOURS. DAY 3: Great progress!

Dry Eyes and Contact Lenses

Dry Eye Syndrome can also cause blurred vision. Often these symptoms can sometimes worsen by the use of contacts. In fact, many people who do not normally suffer from chronic dry eyes, will experience some of these symptoms as a result of contact lens wear.

Some of the possible serious hazards of wearing contact lenses are corneal ulcers, eye infections, and even blindness. Corneal ulcers are open sores in the outer layer of the cornea. They are usually caused by infections.

For the best eye protection when wearing contacts, choose sunglasses with lightweight, impact-resistant Trivex or polycarbonate lenses and a comfortable, durable frame of adequate size to fully shield the eyes.

Eye drops can be used to treat allergies, dry eyes, and can even be prescribed for conditions such as glaucoma. If you wear contacts you may be wondering if you can use eye drops. The answer: you can.

Blurry lenses are also a common occurrence with dry eyes. To test if dry eyes are the culprit, all you need to do is blink. If your vision improves a little bit, then dry eyes are causing blurriness in your lenses. We recommend using rewetting drops or artificial tears to rehydrate your contact lenses.

Is putting contacts in for the first time hard? ›

You may find it difficult to put in your contact lenses at first, and they may initially feel slightly uncomfortable in your eyes. Like everything, however, applying your lenses comes with practice, and your eyes will eventually adjust to having lenses in them, as you become an expert at applying and removing them.

1) Blurred Vision

Stare straight ahead with the other eye. Is your vision hazy or blurred? Repeat with the other eye. A cloudy or blurred vision in one eye, while the other is closed is a sure sign that the power of your glasses or lenses is incorrect.

take off your contact lenses

Don't be. Putting contact lenses on and taking them off is easier than you might think. It may take a few days for your eyes to get used to the feeling of wearing lenses. If you're having trouble don't force it, give yourself plenty of time to get comfortable.

One of the leading causes of blurry contact is dirty lenses from protein buildup. Wearing contacts for longer than is recommended can lead to protein deposits on the lenses. These deposits can blur your vision and possibly lead to further eye health problems.

Why do I get blurry vision when I wear my contacts? The most common reasons for blurry vision with contacts are an outdated prescription, a new prescription you haven't adjusted to yet, wearing your contacts for too long, contacts that don't fit correctly, and allergies.

New Prescription

Wearing contact lenses for the first time or getting a new prescription can cause eye strain and blurry vision as your eyes and brain adjust. It may take 2 weeks to feel comfortable wearing a new prescription.