For me, and I believe many people, contact lenses are a matter of self-esteem rather then simply preference or anything else. I believe (and have been told) that I look so much better in lenses then I do glasses. However, I don't like faffing around with them every day taking them out, cleaning, putting them in etc. So, when I found out that I could wear continuous wear lenses I jumped at the chance. The particular kind of continuous wear lenses I use are these; Bausch and Lomb purevision.


What Are They?
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Bausch and Lomb do many different kinds of lenses, these ones in particular are designed to be used either as a 30 day monthly disposable or as a 30 day continuous wear lenses. Bausch and Lomb claim that these are made with a "unique AerGel material"; they say that this means that more oxygen is allowed through to your eyes meaning that you can see "rich contrast and detail" while ensuring that you remain comfortable. Apparently this AerGel material also helps to repel debris and provide long term moisture to your lens.

They are available on prescription between -12 and +6, a base curve of 8.3 or 8.6 and a diameter of 14.0.


My Experience
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Technically, since I have a mild astigmatism, I should wear lenses designed especially for that but they don't do those in continuous wear and since I cope with these ok my optician is happy for me to keep using them. This does however mean that my vision isn't quite as sharp and clear as it could be with some lenses.

I haven't found this to be a problem at all with these lenses though. I'm short-sighted and when wearing these, even objects in the distance are very sharp. I have experienced no blurring, difficulty making out images or reading road signs in the distance. I've also experienced no halo like effect around lights that you get with glasses and some lenses.

I take out the lenses weekly to give them a quick clean and besides a little protein build up I haven't no debris or other dirt on the lens but then I never experienced this with other lenses either so it's hard to say if this is due to their AerGel material as they claim or if they would have been clean anyway.

Comfort wise I do find that my eyes can get a little dryer with these then with other lenses I have tried, this may be better if you use them as a monthly disposable rather then continuous wear but I combat this by using rewetting drops and this solves the problem completely for me. Besides this these lenses are very comfortable and they stay in place perfectly without slipping round my eye.

I'm going to give them 5 out of 5 and highly recommend them. However, as with all lenses consult your optician before changing brands.


Price And Availability
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I buy my lenses from Lensway, they retail for £39.89 (for a box of six) at usual price but are almost always on offer, Currently you can buy them for £19 per box, on top of this there is 5% handling and insurance and postage charges.

They are however available from almost all opticians but prices vary so it's worth shopping around.