View Full Version : Contacts and shooting?
I've come to the conclusion that I can't shoot wearing my contacts. During sustained shot strings they go dry on me, I had been told that the long wear contacts do not do this... any one have experience with these? Or any contact advice?
The thought of having to purchase several RX Oakley lenses has my wallet saying, "NOOOOOOOO:eek:"
Never had an issue. Can't shoot with anything but
Do you normally get dry eyes or just notice it while shooting? If I'm on a scope for a bit I'll have to blink, especially in the wind or the famous Illinois 20% humidity winters. I believe they have contacts designed to help with dryness. I only really notice it if I wear them too long. For instance I worked a midnight shift a few times (6a-6p) then had a range session a 7 am. That does bother them some.
lethal dose
03-01-10, 18:31
I'd advise against oakley. They fall off my face easily. Very frustrating.
Thomas M-4
03-01-10, 18:32
I use the long wearing contacts they work great for me as long as I change them out at the recommended time.
Is it possible the gas is irritating your eyes? How about a different pair of glasses that offer more protection around the eyes? Goggles.
I wear contacts that I take out daily...I don't have any issues shooting. Cold + wind can present a problem, but it's mitigated by eyewear. I have Oakleys on my face outdoors from dawn till dusk so that helps.
I love my Oakley Radars, its just when my eyes stay open thru a shot string following thru. I keep my eyes open "thru" the shot and then they go dry and blur out. It could just be my eyes. At the Multigun shoot this weekend it was worse than normal and I was having to sit there and blink till moist a few times during strings. It was liking shooting thru Vasoline:mad:
I got the contacts specifically to help shoot irons (close focus) and it helped immensely being able to see my front sight:p for a change, but they dry out on me and they cause my Red Dot to go supernova, so I might just have to go RX glasses which will be a bummer:mad: I'm glad that others aren't suffering this problem.
I love my Oakley Radars, its just when my eyes stay open thru a shot string following thru. I keep my eyes open "thru" the shot and then they go dry and blur out. It could just be my eyes. At the Multigun shoot this weekend it was worse than normal and I was having to sit there and blink till moist a few times during strings. It was liking shooting thru Vasoline:mad:
I got the contacts specifically to help shoot irons (close focus) and it helped immensely being able to see my front sight:p for a change, but they dry out on me and they cause my Red Dot to go supernova, so I might just have to go RX glasses which will be a bummer:mad: I'm glad that others aren't suffering this problem.
Perhaps a different brand or type may improve the situation. I wear a different lens in each eye (left eye is a toric, right eye is not; different brands) and I can notice a difference in how they feel for instance after having them in for 15+ hours. Maybe those long wear lenses would help.
I had trouble with dry eyes and contacts for years.
Laser vision corrective surgery was well worth the cost.
I know it can't fix astigmatism and it won't alleviate me from the need for reading glasses as I age, but I am still 100% happy with the resulting freedom from glasses and contacts.
I have worn both long wear and daily lenses, and any physical activity seemed tough with my eyes. They get dry to begin with, so the extended wears were a big help. Also, the extended wears have changed recently to ones that are much better than before. I have been using them for 8 years now, and they have improved drastically. I have tried to use the nike contacts that were tinted, and they dried quickly for me.
One suggestion I have is to talk to your eye doctor, establishing a relationship with them will get you a plethora of free stuff. Discuss extended wear contacts for your purpose, and also ask about drops. I went through 5-6 different trials of drops for free before finding what helps me the most.
iwouldntknow
03-01-10, 21:08
I had trouble with dry eyes and contacts for years.
Laser vision corrective surgery was well worth the cost.
I know it can't fix astigmatism and it won't alleviate me from the need for reading glasses as I age, but I am still 100% happy with the resulting freedom from glasses and contacts.
I have been looking at laser eye surgery and from my reading any respectable doctor should be able to fix astigmatism. I have mild astigmatism and they told me they could fix it. Unfortunately, I'm a - 7.5 in both eyes and Sutton Linder and Sutton in Lincoln NE told me to wait till I was 24 or 25 (I'm going on 22 now) til I get it for best results. Oh well, that gives me more time to get in shape for the .mil
I use the extended wear contacts. Technically they are 1 month but I stretch them far beyond that. I have never had any issues with them however.
I have gone 6 months up until December, with 3 months straight once. Peroxide based cleaners work great, I have reverted to buying 6 months worth of lenses and using them for 2 months. Month 1 is stored during month 2 and worn-tossed after month 3.
Thomas M-4
03-01-10, 22:27
I have gone alot longer with them in my early 20's . Now days 3 months max then toss them.
spamsammich
03-01-10, 22:44
I used to have a similar issue when I would go snowboarding with contacts. The dry air and high speeds would cause my contacts to dry and curl at the edges. When I would blink my lenses would pop right out into my goggles and I'd instantly lose my depth perception on the hill. This was mostly annoying, but several times on Mt. Baker it got downright dangerous because of the already flat lighting and tough terrain.
I consulted with my eye doctor and he prescribed a set of lenses with lower water content, I think he only dropped it about 10% and all of my issues went away. I don't recall what lenses I ended up with but I'm fairly sure they're considered long wear. I sometimes have to stop using contacts during allergy season or during extended travel sessions because I spend lots of time in dry A/C environments that play havoc with my eyes.
Lately I've taken to shooting with RX inserts in my Rudy Project Rydons. I took advantage of that promotional deal and got my whole kit (5 lenses + RX) for 54% off retail. So far I am very pleased with the results. There is a little difference in vertex distance between the inserts and my normal Oakley frame prescription lenses, but my eyes adjust pretty quickly on the range. I am actually considering selling my Half Jackets now that I have the RP lenses, I never thought I'd say that.
Bottom line, ask your doctor if you can play around with water content in your lenses.
Just some thoughts...
Dry eyes are somewhat of a contraindication for LASIK. Depending on the technique your ophthalmologist employs, corneal nerves do get severed while creating the flap. It is thought that this, in addition to the reshaping of the cornea contributed to the dry eyes that many post-LASIK patients experience. Dry eye is one of the main side effects and people generally have it between 6 months to 2 years following the surgery...sometimes more.
LASIK does correct astigmatism to a certain degree. The amount possible depends on your corneal shape and thickness. The newer wavefront surgeries actually can fix some of the higher order aberrations that cause your red dots to turn into commas, or irregularly shaped stars.
Keep in mind, many/most people past 40 generally prefer to be slightly nearsighted rather than perfectly corrected for distance. Why? We do spend more of our time per day doing things up close and it is a drag to have to wear reading glasses. I have met many a patient in their 40s, who had their doctor set their correction to distance, get upset that they couldn't do a single thing up close without readers when in the past they could.
Also, as your get older, 40-70s, your eyes will become less nearsighted and more farsighted, due to age-related physiological changes, thus causing a perfect LASIK correction to be imperfect over time.
I had trouble with dry eyes and contacts for years.
Laser vision corrective surgery was well worth the cost.
I know it can't fix astigmatism and it won't alleviate me from the need for reading glasses as I age, but I am still 100% happy with the resulting freedom from glasses and contacts.
Sorry guys, I just had to chime in on this one. First of all, there are established FDA/industry guidelines for replacement of overnight wear contacts. They are there for a reason, and just as there is a replacement schedule of parts for our rifles and handguns, there is one for your contacts. Remember this thing goes into your eye, you only get two. Replacing your lenses on time minimizes the chances of you developing issues in the future. We do all sorts of stuff to our guns to keep them running and skimp on $100 bucks to have fresh lenses in our eyes. It is possible to buy a year supply of overnight wear contacts for $200.
Keep in mind, if you are wearing your contacts overnight for the full 30 days, your are already engaging in one of the higher risk wear schedules. Most 30 day contacts have surface treatments on them to prevent protein and other unwanted things from sticking to them. That treatment does wear off over time. Going longer on the replacement schedule by double (2 months) or triple (3 months) just invites failure.
You also have to define what you mean by extended wear as you'll find this term is just thrown around without any clear consensus on what it refers to. Do you mean extended as in 16 hours of wear? Do you mean overnight wear? If so, how many nights straight do the lenses spend in your eye? Some brands are overnight wear and last 30 days, but it is recommended that you remove them once a week to clean them.
Most of the people wearing "extended wear" contacts do not wear them in the overnight schedule. In fact many people trying to sleep continuously with their contacts quickly find that they aren't able to. Many of the studies show that regardless of the type of contact lens you are wearing, if you sleep in your contacts, the rate of eye infections increase. I have read numerous articles and attended a number of lectures on this, but the numbers that stick in my head are between 2-3 times more likely to suffer from eye infections if you sleep in your lenses. If you choose to sleep in your lenses, you choose to take on that risk and I inform all of my patients accordingly. Remember, this may never happen to you, so I'm not trying to engage in fear-mongering. Physiologically, we're different, and I've had patients sleep in their lenses (for 30 days a time) for over a decade without too many issues, and I've had others who suffer from a flow blown red eye when they even try to do it their first day. The overnight wear schedule just doesn't work for everyone. Also, there are many people who have abused the hell out of their eyes (with contacts) earlier in life, only to find that as they've gotten older their eyes with contacts are not as comfortable, nor do they see as well. Your body will take on the cumulative damages that you do to it over time and as you get older, you will become more aware of it.
I use the extended wear contacts. Technically they are 1 month but I stretch them far beyond that. I have never had any issues with them however.
I have gone 6 months up until December, with 3 months straight once. Peroxide based cleaners work great, I have reverted to buying 6 months worth of lenses and using them for 2 months. Month 1 is stored during month 2 and worn-tossed after month 3.
I have gone alot longer with them in my early 20's . Now days 3 months max then toss them.
I've come to the conclusion that I can't shoot wearing my contacts. During sustained shot strings they go dry on me, I had been told that the long wear contacts do not do this... any one have experience with these? Or any contact advice?
The thought of having to purchase several RX Oakley lenses has my wallet saying, "NOOOOOOOO:eek:"
What brand of contacts are you wearing?
I wear the Air Optix Night&Day series ( http://www.airoptix.com/AONDA/AIR_OPTIX_AONDA.shtml ) that are made for 30 days of continuous wearing with no maintenance and then you toss them. I tend to be a very bad person in regaurds to this, as I may go 1.5 to 3 months on a pair. Once they get uncomfortable (feel dry and irritating and I seem to be able to feel the edges) I take them out and wear glasses for at least a week, or like right now I have been wearing glasses for about a month.
I know I am bad to my eyes, but when I put contacts in... it's like my eyes are all better and I forget about them... until the contacts start to screw with me. Tehn I get scared and throw them out and go to glasses. A vicious cycle? Maybe.
I'm scared to death of lasik because my Aunt got it and her eyes are now forever hammer-****ed. She was much better off before. They have tried to fix her eyes and are to the point that they can not fix it and can not do surgery any more. That freaks me out, I really like looking at sexy women and all kinds of things.... I kind of need my eyes.
Of all the contacts I've worn, these do really seem to be the most comfortable. Highly recomended!
I'm scared to death of lasik because my Aunt got it and her eyes are now forever hammer-****ed. She was much better off before. They have tried to fix her eyes and are to the point that they can not fix it and can not do surgery any more. That freaks me out, I really like looking at sexy women and all kinds of things.... I kind of need my eyes.
Don't be afraid of Lasik. Just go to the best most experienced guys for it and not the budget Lasik. Make sure you use the intralase all laser version and that they have and use the newest lasik machines that do the curved lasik not the flat lasik (sorry for not being technical -- early machines worked on the surface and kind of flattened things out so you had funny artifacting on the periphery -- newer machines can keep the curvature of the eye bettetr). Earlier Lasik used a blade to cut the flap that they peel back and then laser underneath. Newer better machines use a laser to cut that flap.
The budget guys are the ones to be afraid of.
Regardless of experience and machines used, there is very little long-term systematic data. FDA's Quality of Life project started last year only. Durability of results, long-tern consequences of surgery itself and age-related corneal changes, frequency and need for repeated procedures, monovision vs. conventional Lasik - no data, is there?
I believe the procedure has been available for 12-15 years or so, and that's the extent of long-term data, and even that has not been analyzed systematically - somebody, correct me if I am wrong. I hate wearing glasses, and I am not a fan of contacts, but I am going to wait a bit to get my eyes lased.
Regardless of experience and machines used, there is very little long-term systematic data. FDA's Quality of Life project started last year only. Durability of results, long-tern consequences of surgery itself and age-related corneal changes, frequency and need for repeated procedures, monovision vs. conventional Lasik - no data, is there?
I believe the procedure has been available for 12-15 years or so, and that's the extent of long-term data, and even that has not been analyzed systematically - somebody, correct me if I am wrong. I hate wearing glasses, and I am not a fan of contacts, but I am going to wait a bit to get my eyes lased.
man, i was hoping that there was some more data out there...i was considering lasik but now you've got me thinking again about it...i remember several years ago when 20/20 did a story on laser eye surgery and the results were dry eyes, halos, poor night vision and the list goes on...that scared me from it back then...i have a co worker that rants about how great it was, although his was done 2/3 yrs ago...again not enough data...
I had a patient who had the Focus Night and Day contacts (not fit by me) and was wearing them overnight for 30 days quite successfully for years. One morning he awoke with a minor irritation in his right eye and as I'm sure many people would do, he ignored the discomfort and powered on through the day. After 6-8 additional hours, the minor pain became so intense that he couldn't even keep his eyes open and went to the ER. They got him right in, called the ophthalmolgist on call and found that he had a bacterial corneal infection that was chewing through the center of his cornea. After weeks of followup and treatment, his best corrected vision in that eye is 20/40 due to a thick scar obscuring the pupil.
With that said, I still fit Air Optix Night and Day lenses. They have a role in my practice and they work most of the time in their intended role. Patients who sleep in their contacts should understand the higher risks...i.e. blindness. They should also understand that if they're going to sleep in their contacts, then they should follow the manufacturer's recommended disposal periods. Above all else, if a lens is irritating your eye, throw it out. It isn't worth losing some of your eyesight over some stupid $10 lens.
Despite the popularity of a lens that says "Night and Day", many/most patients cannot comfortably wear these lenses for a full 30 days. There are many comfortable silicon lenses out there, all with their pros and cons and a good eye care practitioner should more or less know the differences.
I wear the Air Optix Night&Day series ( http://www.airoptix.com/AONDA/AIR_OPTIX_AONDA.shtml ) that are made for 30 days of continuous wearing with no maintenance and then you toss them. I tend to be a very bad person in regaurds to this, as I may go 1.5 to 3 months on a pair. Once they get uncomfortable (feel dry and irritating and I seem to be able to feel the edges) I take them out and wear glasses for at least a week, or like right now I have been wearing glasses for about a month.
I know I am bad to my eyes, but when I put contacts in... it's like my eyes are all better and I forget about them... until the contacts start to screw with me. Tehn I get scared and throw them out and go to glasses. A vicious cycle? Maybe.
I'm scared to death of lasik because my Aunt got it and her eyes are now forever hammer-****ed. She was much better off before. They have tried to fix her eyes and are to the point that they can not fix it and can not do surgery any more. That freaks me out, I really like looking at sexy women and all kinds of things.... I kind of need my eyes.
Of all the contacts I've worn, these do really seem to be the most comfortable. Highly recomended!
Regardless of experience and machines used, there is very little long-term systematic data. FDA's Quality of Life project started last year only. Durability of results, long-tern consequences of surgery itself and age-related corneal changes, frequency and need for repeated procedures, monovision vs. conventional Lasik - no data, is there?
I believe the procedure has been available for 12-15 years or so, and that's the extent of long-term data, and even that has not been analyzed systematically - somebody, correct me if I am wrong. I hate wearing glasses, and I am not a fan of contacts, but I am going to wait a bit to get my eyes lased.
You are correct, the procedure has only been around (somewhat mainstream) for about 15 years. I don't know the raw dates, nor is it important, but that is about the time frame.
Anyone considering monovision LASIK should go to their optometrist and get contacts for monovision first to determine if they truly want to have their eyes corrected in that fashion. While it is a good option, it isn't for everyone.
uwe1 thanks for the great info!
Robb Jensen
03-03-10, 07:06
I have a slight astigmatism in each eye, not enough to warrant wearing contacts to correct it. I wear Acuvue Oasis contacts which are very comfortable. Sometimes shooting suppressed guns they'll bother me a little as the gas coming out of the receivers makes it under my eye pro and into my eye.
Do any branches of the military accept laser surgery, or does it get lost in the shuffle? Do any branches provide the service?
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