I had conjunctivitis last year, it was so mild as to be practically unnoticeable to other people but made my eyes incredibly itchy and I just couldn't get rid of it despite using drops the doctor gave me and practicing good eye hygiene (as I always do). It was during a well timed contact lens check-up that I found out why; the infection was lingering on my lenses, why I hadn't thought of this before is a mystery but it completely made sense when the optician told me! I was adamant I wasn't going to start wearing my glasses again (far too vain to wear specs out of the house) so he suggested daily lenses worn for shorter periods than usual.

Although it was pricier than my usual monthly lenses scheme I decided to temporarily switch to the daily option to give my eyes a chance to heal, the lenses I eventually opted for being the Ciba Vision Dailies Aquacomfort Plus type. The cost is roughly £25 per month from my local independent optician; this is for thirty lenses individually supplied in blister packs and is paid for through Direct Debit, although you can buy the lenses more cheaply online if you are prepared to buy in bulk.

The lenses themselves are very thin but much more durable than they look. I have long nails and have only damaged two in a years use, this is comparable to the durability of my monthly lenses but doesn't seem so bad as when you tear a monthly lens you can leave yourself stuck - this is obviously most irritating when it happens at the start of a month, but with a daily lens you know you've got (usually) a ready enough supply for it not to really matter too much. The Aquacomfort lenses have a slight blue tint but this doesn't alter the colour of your eyes at all and is only for ease of handling and insertion, it's also über handy when I drop my lens in the sink as it means I can track the lens as it falls and locate it instantly when it lands.

They're so comfortable, much more so than my monthly lenses. The science bit is that these contact lenses feature something called Triple Action Moisture properties - a trio of benefits designed to keep your eyes comfortable as you're wearing your lenses. Hydroxypropyl Methylcellulose is a lubricant that keeps your eyes comfortable as soon as your lenses are inserted through a cushioning ability; as far as I can tell this works, at least the lenses are always instantly comfortable and I never experience any irritation during the first few minutes of wear. Polyethylene Glycol acts as a wetting agent and keeps my eyes moisturised and free of any dryness all day, while Polyvinylalcohol is a 'blink activated moisturising agent' (taken from the Ciba Vision website) and works throughout your contact lens wear period to keep your eyes feeling fresh and preventing grittiness. I've never been anything less than comfortable while using the Aquacomfort lenses and if it's this set of scary sounding chemicals making them so natural feeling then so be it!

One thing I particularly like about them is that I can forget about them once they're inserted. This isn't always true of my monthly lenses as the further along their lifespan they get, the more the comfort aspect deteriorates. I've noticed this happens around the 28 day mark usually and at this point they'll be fine when they go in but will cause my eyes to become dryer and dryer as the day wears on. I've come to learn to live with it, but using daily lenses has really made me question whether I should put up with this (albeit minor) irritation. The curve is perfect so insertion and removal is always quick and easy, obviously there's no cleaning or soaking required for these lenses and you simply dispose of them at the end of the day - I wrap mine in loo roll and flush them away but you can bin them just as easily.

It's debatable how long you should wear them for, I've worn pairs for upwards of twelve hours but my (sometimes bizarrely over cautious) optician recommends wearing them for a maximum of eight hours. I stuck to this while my conjunctivitis was still causing me problems but am nowhere near that strict about how long I wear the lenses for now - I dozed off wearing them once for a couple of hours and don't recommend doing that as my eyes were sticky and sore when I woke up, the fact that one lens had almost stuck to my eyeball indicates this is an unhealthy thing to do! If you need reassurance regarding how long you should wear them for I'd suggest speaking to your optician, who can also give more specific advice about the Aquacomfort lenses.

My vision has always been perfect when wearing these lenses. I never experience haziness or blurring and everything always looks as sharp as it would if I had perfect eyesight, I've always found I can see better while wearing my lenses than when I have my glasses on even though the prescription is correct and up to date on my specs. The Aquacomfort lenses ensure my eyesight is spot on from the moment I insert them and the fact that they keep my eyes so moisturised means that they move smoothly as I move my eyes around so never get themselves into weird positions that will affect how I see things. I find when lenses start making my eyes dry my vision will definitely deteriorate slightly, so the bonus of the daily lenses is that this never happens as my eyes feel well lubricated and comfortable throughout the day.

I highly recommend these lenses. I've recently gone back to my monthly lenses and miss these daily lenses already; I do still have a few weeks supply thanks to an excellent bulk buy offer I found online but am keeping those to use when we go away to cut down on the amount of bumph I have to pack in my toiletries bag. I think eventually I'll change back to the daily lenses as they're so convenient and hassle free compared to my monthly ones; the cost isn't massively inflated, Dailies are roughly £11 a month dearer, and to be honest the comfort is so much better that they're worth every penny.