[pf] Disposable contacts

by Fitzsimmons, Diane

07 December 2000 19:50 UTC

My 14yo daughter has requested contact lenses for Christmas.  My husband and
I are considering her request.  One concern is if she can properly care for
them.  I myself once got a severe eye infection from  improper cleaning and
returned to wearing glasses after wearing contacts for 17 years.  That was
13 years ago.

In researching information, I have found that contacts have changed quite a
bit since I wore them last.  Namely, according to our optometry office, that
*everyone* uses disposables, where you wear them for a month and throw them
away.  I am trying to find out if one can buy contacts that can be worn for
extended periods of time -- say years, for example (taken out nightly, of
course, while sleeping).

My husband and I separately came to the conclusion that we have an automatic
abhorrence of the idea of disposable lenses.  Naturally, this was hard to
explain to the optometry receptionist.  I just keep thinking about all those
boxes of eyeglasses our local Lions Clubs collect to send to Third World
countries.  People there go through the shipments and just find the closest
pair of glasses they can that fit their needs and take them.  I remember
seeing a little 4-yea- old girl from Russia once with severe
near-sightedness who got her first pair of glasses this way -- they were
big, black-framed glasses (looked circa 1966 to me) and had obvisouly been
meant for a man.  The kid was thrilled, though, because she could see.

I know this is straining at a gnat while swallowing a camel, but (to mix my
metaphors) this is the straw that broke the back of the swallowed camel.  I
would welcome any sustainable justification for disposable contacts :^)

Diane Fitzsimmons
Norman, Okla.