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Prescription eye glasses vs. contacts

bmwgsrider

Member
The cooler temperatures are approaching...

I wear prescription eye glasses and I am tired of my glasses fogging up and/or moving in my helmet. I am thinking about seeing if I can wear a pair of contacts instead of having to mess with wearing a pair of glasses under the helmet.

I would like to hear the pros and cons about wearing contacts. I have never worn a pair of contacts before.

Has anyone switched from prescription eye glasses to contacts? Was it a good choice?

I am sure it is ymmv... I just like to hear other people's thoughts or experiences.

Thanks in advance.
 
The cooler temperatures are approaching...

I wear prescription eye glasses and I am tired of my glasses fogging up and/or moving in my helmet. I am thinking about seeing if I can wear a pair of contacts instead of having to mess with wearing a pair of glasses under the helmet.

I would like to hear the pros and cons about wearing contacts. I have never worn a pair of contacts before.

Has anyone switched from prescription eye glasses to contacts? Was it a good choice?

I am sure it is ymmv... I just like to hear other people's thoughts or experiences.

Thanks in advance.

I loved my contacts until I had to go the bifocal route. I did find I had to keep my shield closed or wear sunglasses to keep the airflow from drying them.
Most eye docs will give you a 30 day trial to see if they work out for you, give it a shot.
 
take your glasses along

take your glasses along

until you get use to contacts they can (and will) fold up, usually at 80 mph in traffic, leaving you blind as a bat. But other wise, cantacts are the only way to go.
 
contacts

If you're correcting for short sightedness, you may, depending on your age, need glasses for reading, when wearing your contacts.

If you do get contacts, pay careful attention to your optometrist's advice about wearing them for extended periods of time.

Rinty
 
If you're correcting for short sightedness, you may, depending on your age, need glasses for reading, when wearing your contacts.

If you do get contacts, pay careful attention to your optometrist's advice about wearing them for extended periods of time.

Rinty

Very good point. I think the extended wear (leave the contacts in for a week or two) are not very popular any more as people developed eye problems.

I switched many years ago, and contacts continue to get better and easier to wear all the time. I love mine, especially in the winter!
 
I've worn them since I was 16...I wear extended wear, meaning I take them out every couple of weeks. I could not imagine camping with the hastle of taking them out every night, plus I can't see anything with out them.

You add a bottle of drops to your things to bring with you. I pack an extra lens when I travel, I don't bring my glasses. I've never lost a lens.

If you have the right kind for you...you'll never know they are in.

Costs me about $150 year for lenses, almost nothing for paraphernalia.
 
Nut brain solution...

I've worn them since I was 16...I wear extended wear, meaning I take them out every couple of weeks. I could not imagine camping with the hastle of taking them out every night, plus I can't see anything with out them.

You add a bottle of drops to your things to bring with you. I pack an extra lens when I travel, I don't bring my glasses. I've never lost a lens.

If you have the right kind for you...you'll never know they are in.

Costs me about $150 year for lenses, almost nothing for paraphernalia.

Since I now have graduated from the university of almost blind (UAB) I have graduated into tri focals; I have opted not to do the contact lense thing, plus touching the eyeball eeeeeeueeeee! Not me. I considered it, but cant go there...

I have some non-fog spray I got at the Yearly motorcycle show that works pretty good, and I always leave my visor open to keep the fog on the lenses low. The other trick is sort of a nutty trick, but it helps:When it is really cold out and fogging is an issue, I do my best to hold my breath at stop lights. Laugh if you want, I can really hold my breath for a long time; the secret is to let it out s-l-o-w-l-y after resuming travel.

I warned you it is a nut case thing to do, but WTH it works for me!

Red
 
I wore contacts for many years, and then my eyes would no longer tolerate them. Shortly thereafter my prescription changed, and I needed bifocals.

If your glasses fog up, that is a ventilation issue in your helmet. Look at helmets that have several venting ports.

Consider riding with your face shield cracked open a bit. You will get a bit more noise, but you are wearing ear plugs anyway, right?

There is no shortage of gear to keep your nose warm in cooler weather if you do ride with your face shield cracked open a bit.
 
Check some of the prepared eyeglass cleaners some will have a anti fog property built right in, or just quit breathing when at a stop. I also have a little shield that goes in the helmet to direct breathing down and out of the hemet rather that just in the helmet it seals off just above your nose.
 
contacts

...people developed eye problems....DanCogan

My wife is an eye surgeon, and she has had patients who left their lenses in too long, and ended up with corneal ulcers. Sometimes these can be difficult to treat. But most users are aware of this, and remove them at regular intervals.

Rinty
 
Since I now have graduated from the university of almost blind (UAB) I have graduated into tri focals; I have opted not to do the contact lense thing, plus touching the eyeball eeeeeeueeeee! Not me. I considered it, but cant go there...

I have some non-fog spray I got at the Yearly motorcycle show that works pretty good, and I always leave my visor open to keep the fog on the lenses low. The other trick is sort of a nutty trick, but it helps:When it is really cold out and fogging is an issue, I do my best to hold my breath at stop lights. Laugh if you want, I can really hold my breath for a long time; the secret is to let it out s-l-o-w-l-y after resuming travel.

I warned you it is a nut case thing to do, but WTH it works for me!

Red

I tried holding my breath until I turned blue, but that clashes with the color of my bike!

What works well for me is to inhale thru my nose and exhale forcefully thru my mouth with lips pursed as if to whistle, but pointing down. This clears the warm, moist air out the bottom of the helmet. Helps a lot, whether moving or stopped.
 
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I wore contacts for years with no problems. then on a trip to Key West my eyes got so dry they hurt. I put my glasses on for the rest of the trip. but here's the deal... I have very bad styegmatizems (sp) in both eyes an needed to wear the hard lenses. they are much harder to get used to, and dry out faster. I also wear an open faced helmet. I also had to carry reading glasses. so I just went back to glasses... :violin
 
I've worn them since I was 16...I wear extended wear, meaning I take them out every couple of weeks. I could not imagine camping with the hastle of taking them out every night, plus I can't see anything with out them.

You add a bottle of drops to your things to bring with you. I pack an extra lens when I travel, I don't bring my glasses. I've never lost a lens.

If you have the right kind for you...you'll never know they are in.

Costs me about $150 year for lenses, almost nothing for paraphernalia.

I have to wear gas permeable (hard) lenses and have to take them out every night. I love them for riding. When camping I carry a small white towel with me to put down for taking them out because like Gail I can't see without them. If they drop they don't bounce and are easy to find on the towel. Just carry lens case and small bottle of solution.
The most important thing about contacts is following your doctors instructions and keeping them clean.

So check with your eye doctor and see what works for you. You will not regret it. It also gives you lots of options for sunglasses.
 
I've worn toric soft lenses that correct for my astigmatism for several years. Wrap around sunglasses help keep the wind out of the full face and open helmets. Wetting drops when needed, and I take them out every night.

Also carry the dreaded reading glasses, but I need them to read the menus as well as the map.
 
Since I now have graduated from the university of almost blind (UAB) I have graduated into tri focals; I have opted not to do the contact lense thing, plus touching the eyeball eeeeeeueeeee! Not me. I considered it, but cant go there...

I have been wearing contacts for more than ten years, off and on. The whole stick-your-finger-in-your-eye thing isn't as bad as it seems.

When the tip of my finger hits the back of the inside of my skull, or my eye pops out, I know I've gone too far and back out! :brad

Seriously, I really like my contacts, especially in the Fall and Winter. I have tried EVERYTHING on the market to prevent fogging and--contrary to the marketing--none is foolproof, at least when the fool is me. :)

The only thing you have to be careful of is to give yourself enough time to get used to it. I would also bring a small bottle of visine or saline. Even with a full face helmet, I have found that the wind can dry out the lenses especially on trips and with temperature extremes.

I'm finally being drug--kicking and screaming at the top of my 40+ year old lungs-- into bi-focals. (I'm getting old, body's falling apart, time to starting digging a hole in the backyard, etc.) While I finally am ready to admit I look like a major idiot squinting over my glases, which I wear at home, I do not look forward to having a fisheye lens in the bottom quarter of my glasses, even with "no lines." It's going to take a while to get used to looking out of the top third of my lenses for distant vision. Sigh. :violin

But what can you do? :)

Even with the BFL jump, I'm still going to use contacts for the bike. It's a great option to have. I'll just carry some of those cheap drugstore granny glases. :wave
 
I tried contacts and found they dried out my eyes and irritated them significantly. I went back to glasses happily. I also use transition lenses so that I don't need dark glasses in the day time. I've had surgery on my eyes before, the experiance was not pleasant either time and I'd just as soon reduce the possibility of trauma to the only set of eyes I'll ever have.
 
I'm quite happy with progressive lens glasses that change with the light (Transition). :usa Ride Safe
 
contacts

I've had progressives (bi-focals) for a couple of years now and really like them. I just re lensed an old pair of Ray Ban Aviators, which work well under a helmet.

Rinty
 
Contacts are an indivdual choice, not for everyone maybe, but if you want to see all around there is no comparison. I have worn hard and hard gas permeable lenses for 32 years. I have severe astigmatism, take a high degree of correction, have kerrotconus (sp) and now wear progressive bifocal lenses. I have never had problems with the dryness or redness that everyone talks about here. There is no comparison to the correction I would receive with glasses, to my vision with contacts. I haven't had glasses as a back up either for the 32 years. I wear my lenses from when I get up until I go to bed and have worn them for two days at a time when needed. I work for a utility and when a storm hits sometimes you have to stay until it's done. If you think you want to try them do. Let the decision on if you are a good canidate be between you and your eye specialist. If you can find a doctor who specializes in contacts do, I think they have much better results than the places that have you come in the door and out with the lenses in an hour. As you can tell I wouldn't trade my contacts for anything and they don't prevent me from doing anything either.
 
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