Contact lens wearers?

[sugarplum]

i accidentally posted this topic in the "shopping" section when i meant to post it over here. so let''s try this again...

i wear contact lenses and the other night, out of nowhere, my eyes started burning and stinging and itching and watering (i had the contacts on). i was just sitting there watching tv...didn''t do anything unusual or irritate my eyes in any way. i just started to get this burning/stinging sensation so i started blinking hoping to blink it away but it continued and got more intense...then on top of that my eyes started to itch like crazy.

i got put some contact lens drops in my eyes hoping to stop it but it just continued and my eyes were red and watering like crazy so i took the lenses out.

even after i took them out, my eyes were still itching (the burning/stinging slowly subsided) and bloodshot for a little while. i examined the lenses and there weren''t any rips or tears (i wear soft contacts) so i don''t know what happened. it was the second time that has happened to me...although the first time it was just the burning/stinging and it went away after a minute or so.

to those of you who wear contacts, has this ever happened to you before??

 

[marcy]

I wear gas perms but I do have problems like that. I have allergies though and I always think that is what happens. Maybe try different solutions to see if that helps. It''s amazing how quickly you can go from not knowing you have anything in your eyes to OMG - what is wrong with my eyes?

 

[goldenstar]

It might have been an eyelash or a piece of lint irritating your eye. When you have contacts on the tiniest particle can hurt like crazy. An eyelash feels really intense. I''ve experienced it many times. I just rinse the lens out and its all better. The irritation can take a little while to go away. Are you new to contacts?

 

[sugarplum]

Date: 8/2/2007 12:38:35 AM
Author: marcyc
I wear gas perms but I do have problems like that. I have allergies though and I always think that is what happens. Maybe try different solutions to see if that helps. It''s amazing how quickly you can go from not knowing you have anything in your eyes to OMG - what is wrong with my eyes?

seriously!! when you wear contacts, your eyes are a magnet for flying/floating things (dust, lint, mascara flakes, etc.)! i''ve been using my current contact solution for a long time now and haven''t had any problems with it...maybe it is allergies but i don''t have allergies (not that i know of). bleh. well i''m going to be at the optometrist''s office sometime soon so i''ll ask the doctor about it too. i was just wondering if anyone else has experienced this. it was intense!

 

[sugarplum]

Date: 8/2/2007 12:43:16 AM
Author: goldenstar
It might have been an eyelash or a piece of lint irritating your eye. When you have contacts on the tiniest particle can hurt like crazy. An eyelash feels really intense. I''ve experienced it many times. I just rinse the lens out and its all better. The irritation can take a little while to go away. Are you new to contacts?

hi goldenstar,

i''ve been wearing contacts for 10 years now. it wasn''t an eyelash because both of my eyes were burning, stinging, itching and watering. it happened out of nowhere and i started to panic a little when it got really intense. it was not pleasant!

 

[AmberWaves]

Sugarplum, I don''t wear contacts but I do have artificial lenses in due to cataract surgery a few years ago. I would get this feeling, with the burning and watering where it was so bad I couldn''t see. Open or closed it didn''t help! The only thing that would make it marginally better was benadryl and I couldn''t take it because it would knock me out at work. I went to an eye doctor who diagnosed me with the worse case of allergies she has ever seen (yeah, what a great thing to be known for), and gave me special eyedrops via a prescription. One day my eyes were so bad, the burning and watering and stinging was so intense she tried a "thing she read about in her medical journal"- I was given antihistamine SHOTS into the inside of my eyelids. Ugh. it was terrible but it worked.

Anyway, the inside my your lid gets affected by weather/allergies/food and tends to almost turn into little bumps or something. My lids were so aggravated that the bumps caused my lenses to really get scratched up. My implanted artificial lenses. Not fun. Maybe this is a problem?

Good luck! It''s painful!

 

[OUpearlgirl]

That happens to me every time my allergies/sinus infections pop up. Some people get bumps on the inside of their eyelid and they usually start to irritate your eyes out of the blue, causing you to think there is something in your eye. It is a painful painful feeling, and I usually can''t get my contacts back in until I have used eye drops for a few days.I had a prescription but I found that any old over the counter eye drops work just as well.

Hope I helped!

 

[sugarplum]

Date: 8/2/2007 12:58:53 AM
Author: AmberWaves
Sugarplum, I don''t wear contacts but I do have artificial lenses in due to cataract surgery a few years ago. I would get this feeling, with the burning and watering where it was so bad I couldn''t see. Open or closed it didn''t help! The only thing that would make it marginally better was benadryl and I couldn''t take it because it would knock me out at work. I went to an eye doctor who diagnosed me with the worse case of allergies she has ever seen (yeah, what a great thing to be known for), and gave me special eyedrops via a prescription. One day my eyes were so bad, the burning and watering and stinging was so intense she tried a ''thing she read about in her medical journal''- I was given antihistamine SHOTS into the inside of my eyelids. Ugh. it was terrible but it worked.

Anyway, the inside my your lid gets affected by weather/allergies/food and tends to almost turn into little bumps or something. My lids were so aggravated that the bumps caused my lenses to really get scratched up. My implanted artificial lenses. Not fun. Maybe this is a problem?

Good luck! It''s painful!

oh my gosh, amber!!!

i would''ve freaked out! so you''re all better now right? i hope so!

well in an effort to reduce the risk of eye irritation, infections, diseases, etc. (from wearing contact lenses), i''ve decided to wear glasses more often and give my eyes a breather from contacts. i got some really cute new frames and they should be ready this week.

 

[sugarplum]

oupearlgirl- that''s a beautiful ring you''ve got as your avatar! i think that''s the first time i''ve seen it. do you have a link to more pics/specs?

i guess what i experienced was probably an allergic reaction of some sort. at first i thought it was because i might''ve had the contacts in too long that day but i''ve had them in for the same length of time before and didn''t have that reaction. oh well, i''ll ask my optometrist about it this week.

 

[Beacon]

I have worn contacts for years and years w/o trouble. But the recent rash of difficult to treat fungal infections coming from tainted solution and other unknown sources caused me to make a change.

I just updated my lenses to the daily wear contact lens. Meaning, you put it on right out of the carton and when you are done with it for the day you throw it away. It is awesome! I don''t even need contact solution. I am happy cause I know that every day my lenses are totally clean and pure. Plus when traveling I don''t worry that I might rip or lose my "only" pair, like I had before.

If you are having this burning and redness maybe you should have your doc take a look and make sure nothing serious is going on. The daily wear lenses are a great option too.

 

[mellyjm]

It sounds to me like you may have had some sort of allergic reaction to something. A couple of months ago I was living in Taos, NM with some of my friends and the exact same thing happened to one of my roommates. She had gotten bug spray in her eyes by accident and had an allergic reaction to it. She was just sitting on the couch when she told me she thought she had something in her eye. She came back from the bathroom and her entire eye was swollen. Even the white part of her eye was swelling, you could see fluid behind it. It was the scariest thing I had ever seen. She took out her contacts and flushed her eye for about 15 min. with water and we dosed her up on 50 mg of benadryl and 4 mg of chlorpheniramine. We are pharmacy students, and we were doing our clinical rotations at the time and so I think she was testing our knowledge! Something may have floated into your eyes, like dust or pollen and caused this to happen. Keep benadryl close by when something like that happens and some cold compresses also, that can help with swelling and burning.

 

[sugarplum]

Date: 8/2/2007 2:20:45 AM
Author: Beacon
I have worn contacts for years and years w/o trouble. But the recent rash of difficult to treat fungal infections coming from tainted solution and other unknown sources caused me to make a change.

I just updated my lenses to the daily wear contact lens. Meaning, you put it on right out of the carton and when you are done with it for the day you throw it away. It is awesome! I don''t even need contact solution. I am happy cause I know that every day my lenses are totally clean and pure. Plus when traveling I don''t worry that I might rip or lose my ''only'' pair, like I had before.

If you are having this burning and redness maybe you should have your doc take a look and make sure nothing serious is going on. The daily wear lenses are a great option too.

beacon- are the daily wear lenses significantly more expensive? i''d think that you save money on not having to use/buy contact solution but i wonder if the cost is more because you have to purchase more contacts (since you''re changing them daily). currently i wear the two week ones. the daily ones sound nice though...to have a fresh pair everyday. i will consider that next time i need to buy more contacts.

 

[FireGoddess]

The only time this sort of thing happened to me was when I developed an allergy to Opticon solution. I had to switch to Bausch and Lomb. However, now I use the kind that requires a special ''tank'' to put the contacts in - the solution is hydrogen peroxide that gets neutralized over the course of 6 hours. It is the only true ''no rub'' solution on the market.

I hope it''s not you developing an allergy or something. One other time I can recall this happening was when I got pink eye.

 

[sugarplum]

i hope i''m not developing any allergies either! it only happened twice and only the second time was it intense and unbearable. i took my contacts out and after a little while everything went back to normal and i haven''t experienced it any other times (as of yet). hopefully it won''t happen again!

 

[baby monster]

I wear Focus Dailies and it has happened to me couple of times. I have 2 theories - dehydration and eye strain at the end of the day. Both times I took the contacts out and closed my eyes for a few min and the burning/tearing went away.

 

[nytemist]

It''s happened to me a few times when I got a whiff of a real strong odor, like being at the gas station or being too close to someone with powerful perfume/cologne. Once I''m away from it, I''m fine.

Could have been a smell at the time?

 

[sugarplum]

hi ny- no, there weren''t any smells at the time. i was just sitting there watching tv...wasn''t doing anything werid or out of the ordinary.

 

[Mara]

contacts can be random. something just could have floated into your eyes and irritated them. the other day i was walking outside and had taken like 3 steps and suddenly my left eye contact was stinging and blurring, i was rubbing it, it was red, it was painful, etc...i almost was like omg do i have to take it out, because i am practically blind without them. i didn''t have solution with me as i was outside, i thought how am i going to get home as i can''t drive with one eye in and one out etc. finally after a few minutes of blinking and rubbing like a madwoman, it went away and was better. totally random. but yeah i have had some times where i am totally unclear what happened but it burns and stings and is red for a while after. just one of the perils i suppose!!!

 

[icekid]

Date: 8/2/2007 1:35:53 AM
Author: sugarplum


well in an effort to reduce the risk of eye irritation, infections, diseases, etc. (from wearing contact lenses), i''ve decided to wear glasses more often and give my eyes a breather from contacts. i got some really cute new frames and they should be ready this week.

For the record, I am going to be an eye MD but am not yet

cutting down on the contact wear is probably the best thing you can do! It sounds to me like you may be having contact overwear syndrome. How many hours/day do you wear your lenses? Ever while sleeping?

And also over time, even people that previously had no problems wearing contacts can begin to tolerate them less and less. Younger eyes are more tolerant of our indiscretions.

 

[sugarplum]

Date: 8/2/2007 4:04:07 PM
Author: Mara
contacts can be random. something just could have floated into your eyes and irritated them. the other day i was walking outside and had taken like 3 steps and suddenly my left eye contact was stinging and blurring, i was rubbing it, it was red, it was painful, etc...i almost was like omg do i have to take it out, because i am practically blind without them. i didn''t have solution with me as i was outside, i thought how am i going to get home as i can''t drive with one eye in and one out etc. finally after a few minutes of blinking and rubbing like a madwoman, it went away and was better. totally random. but yeah i have had some times where i am totally unclear what happened but it burns and stings and is red for a while after. just one of the perils i suppose!!!

mara- so am i! haha. have you ever considered lasik? it''s kinda scary to me and i''m going to hold off on that since the procedure is still somewhat new...don''t know what the long-term effects are.

icekid- you''re going to be an eye MD. what are your thoughts on lasik? oh and to answer your questions, i wear my contacts for about 12-15 hours a day. i do not sleep with them in.

 

[ladyciel]

Sugarplum, I don''t know about you, but sometimes I find my contacts bother me when I''m watching tv and my best guess is that it''s because I''m not blinking as often. Similar problem when I spend too much time at the computer. Maybe your contacts got too dry and as your eyes realized it they freaked out?

 

[icekid]

Date: 8/2/2007 5:34:28 PM
Author: sugarplum

icekid- you''re going to be an eye MD. what are your thoughts on lasik? oh and to answer your questions, i wear my contacts for about 12-15 hours a day. i do not sleep with them in.

you know what is the most interesting- looking at what the ophthalmologists do regarding their eye health! And pretty much all of the residents that I know mostly wear glasses. There are just so many more complications and problems with contacts that you ever realize; I don''t know why the issues are not more well-known. Noticing that most of the eye docs wear glasses, I did ask if any of them get LASIK. And the response was yes, mos commonly the surgeons who do LASIK. And even then, they get the more old-fashioned PRK surgery often because with PRK they don''t cut a flap in the cornea. So after LASIK, if you sustain trauma to the eye, the flap may dehisce and that is a risk that never goes away following LASIK. Again, this is all my understanding thus far in my training

I admit that I also wear contacts, and for more hours that I am supposed to. Really it''s supposed to be 8 hours/day max. But glasses drive me crazy, so it''s tough. I am going to try and get a super comfy cute pair of glasses soon though; it''s just not healthy to wear contacts for too long.

 

[basil]

Hey IceKid - are you an ophtho resident too? I just started in July. It''s an awesome field!

I def agree re: risks of contacts. We see a ton of contact lens related infections, some of which can be sight-threatening. Mostly, in ''contact lens abusers''. People who sleep in them, don''t clean properly, or use them past the length of time they are supposed to. But occasionally in a person who doesn''t do those things.

Not to mention the amount of sight-threatening trauma we see that could have been avoided had the person been wearing glasses or safety glasses. A lot of times accidents happen when people aren''t even doing things most would consider dangerous (i.e. working on their car, tying something up with a bungee cord, etc.)

The best thing to do when your eye feels irritated is take your contacts out right away. And if it feels scratchy in the morning or the contacts don''t feel right, leave them out for a day. I have met so many young people who don''t even own glasses, yet can''t see a thing without their contacts. This is a really dangerous position to be in.

Most ophthalmologists think Lasik is great but don''t do it themselves. There is always a chance of being uncorrectable (even with glasses) to 20/20, and ophthalmologists depend on having really sharp vision for their jobs. Most people wouldn''t be bothered necessarily by being 20/25 or 20/30 in one eye or both and it would not be a problem, but some people are very vision sensitive and it bugs them. I''m like this - I want to be a crisp 20/15 and nothing less will do, whereas some people couldn''t care less. I have told my relatives who are interested in Lasik to try to determine whether they are this vision sensitive before they seriously consider the procedure.

Anyway, the whole point of this, I love my contacts and I have never had the slightest problem, but in the past month I''m wearing my glasses more and more for the above reasons. It''s really the safest option. Lucky for me we get a good discount on eyewear

 

[monarch64]

Date: 8/2/2007 12:28:47 PM
Author: FireGoddess
The only time this sort of thing happened to me was when I developed an allergy to Opticon solution. I had to switch to Bausch and Lomb. However, now I use the kind that requires a special ''tank'' to put the contacts in - the solution is hydrogen peroxide that gets neutralized over the course of 6 hours. It is the only true ''no rub'' solution on the market.

I hope it''s not you developing an allergy or something. One other time I can recall this happening was when I got pink eye.

I JUST got some of that "tank" stuff, FG! I loved it, I wear two week disposables and by the second week I can always tell they''re getting dirty even with my no-rub solution. I actually ended up trying this new stuff because I had a CVS coupon for a free trial.

I''ve definitely had the random eyelash or crumb of mascara get into my contacts and been miserable for a few minutes. I always keep a second pair of contacts on me no matter what, and when traveling I always bring my eyeglasses just in case. I haven''t kept up on the prescrip or frames for them, but they do in a pinch.

 

[marcy]

I guess when you think about all the gunk and dust that gets on your glasses during the day it is no wonder you get stuff in your contacts. I am so blind that I don''t think I could ever see well with my contacts. I have horrid astigmatism so the hard contacts are able to really correct my vision for that. However, I find them to be more of a pain and less comfortable all of the time.

 

[Julianna]

Date: 8/2/2007 4:04:07 PM
Author: Mara
contacts can be random. something just could have floated into your eyes and irritated them. the other day i was walking outside and had taken like 3 steps and suddenly my left eye contact was stinging and blurring, i was rubbing it, it was red, it was painful, etc...i almost was like omg do i have to take it out, because i am practically blind without them. i didn''t have solution with me as i was outside, i thought how am i going to get home as i can''t drive with one eye in and one out etc. finally after a few minutes of blinking and rubbing like a madwoman, it went away and was better. totally random. but yeah i have had some times where i am totally unclear what happened but it burns and stings and is red for a while after. just one of the perils i suppose!!!

Agreed! I''ve worn soft contacts for about 15 years and sometimes one or both just start to really sting out of nowhere. Sometimes rubbing helps, sometimes taking them out, washing them, and putting them back in helps. Sometimes I have to throw one away and move on. Sometimes I have to wear glasses for a while to get rid of the redness. Who knows? I am like Mara, I can not function without either contacts or glasses on, so I definitely bring an extra pair with me on even short trips.