Soft, supple and flexible that make your vision crystal clear (Johnson & Johnson Acuvue Advance for Astigmatism)

Member Name: taker4376

Product:	Johnson & Johnson Acuvue Advance for Astigmatism
Date:	06/11/08 (325 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Corrects astigmatism, freedom from glasses

Disadvantages: Expensive, dry out the eyes after around 9 hours

I had never worn contact lenses before until just over a year and a half ago. I was fed up of going everywhere and having to wear glasses. When I had photos taken of me I had to take my glasses off and when I went to the gym I had to either wear them, which was not very nice when you're sweaty or walk around without them not being able to see very much. So I took the plunge and went to D&A to see what they could offer me in the way of contact lenses.

The initial consultation took a long time, during which we discovered that had astigmatism. This automatically pushes the price up of contact lenses. We decided that two weeklys would be best for my eyes, apparently cheaper than dailys but they allow more oxygen through to the eye than monthlys. As I had never had contact lenses before I was fairly in the dark and so only had what the optician said to go on. So I agreed to pay the £30 a month price and had them ordered.

I had previously seen my friends contact lenses which were also two weeklys but were quite small. So when I got back to the opticians to try them for the first time i was horrified to see the size of the lens they expected me to fit into my eye. It was huge, probably about twice the size of my friends contact lens had been. However after a few tries I managed to successfully get them in and out of my eyes and went away satisfied that I would now have a new freedom with my contact lenses.

To start off with I was very pleased. I enjoyed not wearing my glasses. But i soon noticed that they made my eyes very dry and tired after the recommended 8 hours. As i wore them more often I managed to beable to get to around 10 hours before my eyes would start to dry out but when you've got a long day ahead of you it really is frustrating to find your eyes are sore and you've still got a few hours before you can get home to take them out. Several times I have actually given in and taken them out without having anything to put them and so had to throw them away as I coudnt stand it any longer.

It is also very hard to keep them grit free. I found that even after soaking in solution over night they often made my eyes itch uncontrollably the next morning so that I had to take them out and wash them again with solution, which normally solved the problem but a pain if you're in rush.

Another problem I found with them is that if you look down or up alot, for example if your reading they would start to feel like they were being dislodged. As a student this really got on my nerves when doing essays as I would find that when i had been reading for a while they would become uncomfortable and i have to move them around to stop them moving themselves.

Another problem is you cant sleep in them, although this is true of most contact lenses, I have M.E and so often nap during the day which resulted in me wearing my glasses more and more often and only wearing my contact lenses when I was going out on a special event of some sort. In the end, also due to the current economic climate, I have decided that contact lenses, for the moment are an unnecessary expense that I can cut back on, especially as their convenience have many inconvenient draw backs to them.

As I have no experience of any other contact lenses I will just have to tell you about these. They come in a box just like the picture. Two sets come in a box for one eye. They are in a tray sachet which houses the contact lens and solution to keep it moist. These are sometimes difficult to open and can spurt the solution at you when you do open it. The lenses are easy to slide out with your finger when you open them. They feel soft and moist and cold. Its hard to describe the texture of them, they are flexible and I was suprised at how flexible they were when you consider how hard glasses are and I was amazed that they would enable me to see just as well as my glasses. They feel a little slimy with the solution on them but if they are dry they will stick to your finger and you wont beable to put them in. Mine were about 1cm x 1cm in size. It doesnt sound very big but when you have to fit them in your eye its rather massive.

As i didnt wear them all the time I was able to make them last 2 weeks but I imagine that if you did wear them all day every day they would become quite irritable after about a week and a half. At least with 2 weeklys they are more enviromentally friendly.

Overall I would say that these contact lenses were great and I would go back to them when I feel i would wear them more often, but at the moment I find glasses more convenient and comfortable.

Summary: Good contact lenses but could do with allowing more oxygen through to the eye