A Tale of woe and contact lenses

Bigtallfatbloke

Today I lost my shades and went riding anyway..

I wear contacts when riding. This afternoon I forgot to take the container with me. I realized when a small midge or something flew into my left eye and refused to come out. I moved the lense across my eye but no joy. So i decided to take the lense out and remove the bugger. At that precise moment the wind arrived and took the lense for a sight seeing trip around a nearby field. Bugger I thought...hmm...ok so I have one lense left and headed home hoping nobody thought I was odd because of the winking....
...then I did something really...well not good...as the sweat ran down my face I wiped my eyes with the back of my glove, dunno why, I dont ever do that usually...out popped lense no.2 and I'm as good as blind (ish)....last time things were this blurred I was on the last train home from liverpool street...

I made it back slowly. I couldnt see the road surface well enough to see the potholes and had one near miss.

What did I learn today?

Take a second set, take the bloody container and wear bike GLASSES!

Gravity sucks

jay_clock

get them lasered. cost me 4k but a stunning change to my life. Started swimming, now doing triathlons, lost 3 stone....

---

my trip round Corsica: http://www.crazyguyonabike.com/doc/corsica

cyclesmiles

Hahaha, I know how you feel. I once lost one contact lens(the wind whipped it out on a fast downhill) and I had to cycle the whole way home with one eye closed. It was an interesting ride, but at least I only saw the funny looks I was getting from the people on my left side only!![:D]
The lesson I learned that day was to wear snug fitting glasses instead of the cool looking ones that slide to the end of my nose every two seconds!

ooooh, what beautiful hairy baby elephant legs you have!

rafletcher

Jay Clock wrote:

get them lasered. cost me 4k but a stunning change to my life. Started swimming, now doing triathlons, lost 3 stone....

---

my trip round Corsica: http://www.crazyguyonabike.com/doc/corsica

Sadly not an option for many of use, even if we could afford it. I wear contacts, and have always worn Oakley Mumbo/M frame glasses as well. lately hoewever I have been advised to reduce the amount of time I wear my lenses - so I cycle without them! And still wear the Oakley's

richardjallen

Almost exactly the same thing happened to me while riding home one night. Stopped to remove some dust/grit from my eye. Took out the lens and the wind blew it off my finger. Luckily I did not lose the other one as well. However the lenses I wear are not disposable so I had to suffer the expense of getting new ones and waiting about 10 weeks for them. In that time I had to wear my only pair of glasses that are so old the (plastic) lenses have gone yellow. I got the nickname 'Harry' at work as I apparently looked like Harry Potter.

Laser treatment is not suitable for everyone.

Bigtallfatbloke

I have learnt a lesson about opticians as a result of this....they rip us off on contacts. I went to vision express for a lens test having checked out lenses on line. I went ot VE because it's local. The did an eye test and a lense test and charged me about £57 for both which is steep, especially since I told them I am not working...anyway...I needed the prescription. They wanted to sign me up on a direct debit plan, and I refused, which pissed them off. Then they tried to sell me 6 months lenses at jus tunder £70. I refused and went online to www.contactlenses.co.uk where I saved around £17 on my lenses which arrived the next morning and are perfect. This lot were also most helpful on th ephone in confirming I was ordering the correct lenses etc

My prescription has not change din 10 years, and I told th eoptician that...who then charged £57 to confirm my belief.

From now on I will re order the same prescription on line when i need to, so long as my eyes arnt telling me something has changed.

Basically all Vision express do is take a make of lens, re brand it as their own and charge you a load more.

You will need a prescription though to buy on line, so keep it once you hav eit.

rafletcher

Bigtallfatbloke wrote:

I have learnt a lesson about opticians as a result of this....they rip us off on contacts. I went to vision express for a lens test having checked out lenses on line. I went ot VE because it's local. The did an eye test and a lense test and charged me about £57 for both which is steep, especially since I told them I am not working...anyway...I needed the prescription. They wanted to sign me up on a direct debit plan, and I refused, which pissed them off. Then they tried to sell me 6 months lenses at jus tunder £70. I refused and went online to www.contactlenses.co.uk where I saved around £17 on my lenses which arrived the next morning and are perfect. This lot were also most helpful on th ephone in confirming I was ordering the correct lenses etc

My prescription has not change din 10 years, and I told th eoptician that...who then charged £57 to confirm my belief.

From now on I will re order the same prescription on line when i need to, so long as my eyes arnt telling me something has changed.

Basically all Vision express do is take a make of lens, re brand it as their own and charge you a load more.

You will need a prescription though to buy on line, so keep it once you hav eit.

6 months lenses for £70 - that's not bad at all, I pay £20 a month for my (Toric) lenses. That includes solutions as I can't (yet) get dailies. And even when I can get dailies the cost will be about the same. Did your online purchase include solutions? Did the VE one? And as for the eye test - they cannot legally supply you with lenses if your prescription is over two years (I think, may even be 1 year) old. Additionally having the annual lens check means that the health of your eyes is regularly checked. Many things can start to go wrong without you noticing, but with a check up they can be spotted early.

southlaker

Jay Clock wrote:

get them lasered. cost me 4k but a stunning change to my life. Started swimming, now doing triathlons, lost 3 stone....

My cousin had it done in Bordeaux, perfect job, prescription was -7 and -8, cost 1400 euro. What's that about rip-off Britain again?

Ashley_R

I wear contacts/glasses, considered having the laser treatment, just that when I read up on what they do it put me off somewhat
I mean, slicing the outside of your eyball off and folding it over, you're just supposed to sit there when they do this!!

I wear daily disposibles, always have a couple of spares with me whatever I'm doing

Wynne G Oldman

Get yourself a pair of glasses from Specsavers. You get free reactions lenses for glasses that are £75 and above. I got some a couple of months ago. Best pair of specs I've had for £75, and they ain't going to blow off!

Rockhopper

You will need a prescription that is under two years old to buy lenses on line.

Its also very important to have a specific contact lens check now and again as they can pick up problems caused by your lenses such as damage casued by weraing them for too long (like i used to - and as a result i can only wear lenses for a few hours two or three times a week now. A check up would have spotted this before it became a problem but i thought i knew best and didn't bother to have one).