Losing contact lenses / Rudy Rydons

itsnotarace

Hey all

I broke my 10 year old Oakley M Frames a little while ago so replaced them with some Rudy Project Rydons (which are fantastic glasses by the way) but recently have been losing contact lenses at speed while riding - seems to be in strong head and cross winds - sometimes when I blink the contact lens falls out. It's possibly due to the Rydon lens profile being shallower thus closer to the bottom of my eye which is creating an eddy behind the Rydons. It doesn't seem to be drying my eyes out as such.

Anyone else use contacts when riding and suffer from this, don't really want to have to replace the Rudy's but if needs must

Cheers

adr82

That sounds like a problem with the type of lenses you have, not the glasses! I wear lenses too and I've never had one even come close to falling out, not even when I've been riding into a strong wind in heavy rain (wasn't wearing glasses). If you have to rely on your glasses to keep the lenses from getting blown out something must be wrong...

jpj84

I get this issue with any specs, to the extent I never wear them any more. Thought I was the only one!

itsnotarace

I wear daily disposable soft contact lenses and have done for 15 years, I'm not sure any other type of contact lens would be less susceptible to blowing out but if you have a suggestion please feel free...

Have now taken to carrying some spares around, after losing two on the same ride and having a very dodgy 12 mile limp home. My prescription isn't that bad at -5 in both eyes but I don't want to use RX lenses in the glasses as I don't like the lack of peripheral vision that can be crucial when looking over your shoulder for traffic before a right hand turn for example

PS welcome to the forums jpj 8)

iandennis

I was using some BLOC leopards and the same thing happened so I wouldn't blame the glasses. I too use daily disposables and now carry at least a spare set in my saddle bag.

I guess it happens occasionally. Could it be dry eyes ? I find that after 20 years of lenses they do seem to be more prone to falling out nowadays

adr82

itsnotarace wrote:

I wear daily disposable soft contact lenses and have done for 15 years, I'm not sure any other type of contact lens would be less susceptible to blowing out but if you have a suggestion please feel free...

Have now taken to carrying some spares around, after losing two on the same ride and having a very dodgy 12 mile limp home. My prescription isn't that bad at -5 in both eyes but I don't want to use RX lenses in the glasses as I don't like the lack of peripheral vision that can be crucial when looking over your shoulder for traffic before a right hand turn for example

Sorry, never worn the daily disposable types (mine can be left in for a month) so I don't know if there's something different about them that might be causing it. If it's happening so often and you're not sure if it's because they're drying out maybe it'd be worth taking the time to moisten the lenses before a ride?

lakesluddite

Could be something about the dailies? I use the one-month disposables, and have never had any issue, and I tend to use Endura Snapper glasses.
Would this be an issue with your eyes drying out? I would have thought that going into wind your eyes would be more likely to water, rather than dry out, that is certainly what happens to me when go into a headwind or descend quickly (well, quickly for me). Could it be that your eyes water too much, thus flushing the lens out? Just a theory.

farrina

I use Oakley M frames with daily disposables. Not sure what speeds you are reaching but I have hit middle forties without any issues, so I suspect it may be a question of going back to Oakley that you have previously found satisfactory. ( btw I have always found Oakley dealers sympathetic towards broken bits so may be worth paying a personal visit).

It's funny how times change but when I first started riding properly (1980's) I used rigid lenses - this was before the days of Toric soft lenses. Your posting brought back painful memories of getting small bits of road grit under the lens whilst riding and trying to blink it away whilst continuing to ride my bike without firing the lens out ( rigid lens users will know what I mean).

The ultimate scary syndrome used to be taking my lens out after a long summers day riding where there had been high pollen. My eyes used to be blood red from the pollen, apart from where the lens had been which was still white, making me a scary sight

Regards

Alan

brucebomphrey

Your rydons have the benefit of being able to attach RX Inserts. You can get them pretty cheap of the internet and they will put your own prescription in if you supply it. As long as you don't have some extreme varifocal requirements it all works out quite reasonable. I have an astigmatism so contact lenses useless and irritating for me as they have to be a certain orientation in the eye to work properly and it takes nothing for them to revolve slightly so I use glasses - hence going for the RX inserts in my sunglasses. With the LAser Blue mirror finish lenses you can't even tell and they look very cool. Here is a link - about £62 for insert and basic single vision lenses. You will need to get your optician to tell you your PD (pupillary distance iirc) which not always on your prescription doc.
http://www.selectspecs.com/Glasses/Rudy ... 28.18.html

MountainMonster

Get yourself in to an optometrist for a lense fitting, poor fitting contacts will be much more susceptible to falling out. I used to have the same problems, but always put it down to air, until it happened when I wasn't riding. If the shape of the lens is a tiny bit off. This can catch inside the eyelid or roll up, causing it to pop out.

fsd61b

I had the same problem and moved to Oakley Jawbones with the ventilated lenses which have been great, even when riding my motorbike or wearing the lenses all day.

neeb

MountainMonster wrote:

Get yourself in to an optometrist for a lense fitting, poor fitting contacts will be much more susceptible to falling out. I used to have the same problems, but always put it down to air, until it happened when I wasn't riding. If the shape of the lens is a tiny bit off. This can catch inside the eyelid or roll up, causing it to pop out.

+1, the problem the OP is having shouldn't really happen if the lenses fit properly, or at least it should be extremely rare. I wear daily disposables too (acuvue) every day and have effectively never had this problem with a range of different sunglasses. I think it's the base curvature that matters here - if the lens is too curved or not curved enough it will tend not to sit happily on the eyeball and will be more prone to detaching in wind etc.

pardonthewait

Just how fast are you people riding?! Do you forget to blink for ten minute stretches?

I'm (trying) learning to kitesurf at the moment and fairly regularly get pulled with quite some force, face first into salt water with my eyes and mouth open and I haven't lost a lens yet.

Your lenses don't fit.

itsnotarace

Thanks all. Just to clarify that my contact lenses have been fitted by an optometrist less than 6 months ago (have been wearing contacts for 15 years now) and they are correct. This never used to happen with the deeper lens shape on my Oakley M Frames which sat a bit closer to my cheek and lower, so I think I will bite the bullet and get hold of another pair.

ManOfKent

Slightly but not entirely OT and tongue in cheek, have you considered laser eye surgery?

I had it done earlier in the year as an alternative to wearing contact lenses on the bike, and can't recommend it enough. You could then wear whatever cycling glasses you like or none at all.

(Disclaimer: I have no connection to any eye surgery providers, other than as a satisfied customer of one of the biggest.)

itsnotarace

Thought about it but couldn't handle being awake while they slice your eyes open

ManOfKent

itsnotarace wrote:

Thought about it but couldn't handle being awake while they slice your eyes open

It's certainly a weird experience, but you can't really tell what's going on and it's over very quickly.

A friend of mine had his done earlier in the year and now has 20:13 vision (i.e. 50% better than a "normal" person). Mine isn't at that standard but it's better than 20:20 and I have no regrets.