Hey Jillybean (love your name!!!) - no offense meant re: wearing contacts overnight. My contacts, due to my prescription, were like tupperware chips. My concern was that the thickness of them would inhibit oxygen getting to my cornea and retinas, that's all. The ones I had were permissible for sleeping in, but I chose not to. My only intention was to say that contact lenses are not maintenance free, and if not cleaned/disposed of on schedule/etc. could cause alot of damage such as corneal ulceration, retinal damage and infection. NOT a deal-breaker, but you do need to take proper care with them and know the risks. And, there are more maintenance issues with contacts than with glasses, that's for sure.
Long live contacts!

I agree completely!

Barbara and those experiencing difficulty w/contacts, things will get better with time and experience, I promise. Same thing with the length of time you are able to wear them. Your eyes should get used to wearing them for longer and longer periods as time goes by. I can get up to 14 hours, though I rarely need to. But like Aphil said, try different brands of lenses if the ones you have are not agreeing with you. The curvature of your eye, the type of vision correction, and the solution in which the lens manufacturer stores them in are only some of the the small factors affecting the comfort level for you. I really love wearing my contacts and can not feel anything at all when they are in. In fact, I have to open my eyes really wide and look in the mirror really closely to see the barely there rim of the lens over the iris of my eye.

I know what you mean about glasses being a fashion accessory, but really, I rather enjoy using colored lenses for the same reason. I actually feel a shift in my mood depending on which eye color I choose to put in Experiment and enjoy.

Noelle,

I remember you saying before that you use colored contact and your eye color is brown. Is it very easy to find colored contacts with brown eyes that look natural, like a certain brand is better?

Michelle, the only brand that I have tried (and have not had a problem with at all!) was the Fresh Look color blends made by CIBA Vision. I bought these because they finally came in daily disposable wear vs. the 2 week or longer colored lenses. I have what I consider medium toned skin with dark hair. I tried on gray, green and hazel lenses just to see what they would look like on me. I avoided blue completely, just because I didn't think it would look believable at all on me. They also offer several other different colors. Check this website and you can play around with the colors: http://www.freshlookcontacts.com/htm...selector.shtml .

Your optometrist should be able to give you samples to try right on the spot, but the lenses do say "demo" on them and will be non-corrective. I had to put a clear, regular prescription contact in one eye, and the sample colored one in the other, so I could "see" what the colored one looked like. It was fun trying them on though. The colored lenses are a bit larger than the normal clear ones so may take a little getting used to, but if it's going to be your first time trying them out, you won't know the difference. Just take your time and you'll get the hang of it.

Thanks so much! I went to that site and it was fun and I put my zip code in to find a place that sells them near me and my eye clinic was one listed so I will look into these.

Glasses AND contacts have come a long way. I hate glasses for so many reasons. Getting prints on the lenses, baby grabbing them, with an earring, blue tooth AND glasses over my ear it gets a bit crowded, slipping down the nose, taking them off to sleep, etc. etc. etc.

My ONLY problem with contacts is the time they take though. Used to be I had more of a problem with them. I was allergic to something and it took many pairs and awhile before we found it was the enzyme tablets. I use disposables now, no longer a problem. My eyes also don't form enough tears, so I had problems there. But they have better lenses out to help with that these days.

I agree with you so much on the glasses being dirty. No matter how many times I clean them, I can still see stuff on the lens. My appointment is this week so I'll see what the doctor says and gives me for a trial pair.

Thank you ALL for your advice and great help! I got my first trial pair of contact lens last Friday, and after three days of wearing them and having very irritated eyes and constantly having to put eye drops in, I was at the eye clinic first thing this morning. They put me in a different brand called FreshLook and I LOVE them! I didn't have to use eye drops once today and I didn't even know they were in my eyes. I tried a few different colors on, but my DD said they made me look like I had alien eyes, so I just went with the clear ones. I still find myself trying to push my glasses up at times and then realize they're not there. I also love being able to wear sunglasses again!

Well now, I licked this problem. I found these new sunglasses called FitsOver. You can wear them alone or over glasses. They're deeper lenses to stand out over glasses.

Michelle, glad you found one that suits you and sorry you had to experience a bad one. Freshlook is the one that makes the colored lenses, I'd say with your complexion and hair color, you could easily pull off blue or green eyes. Look at Paris Hilton--most people think her natural eyes are blue, but they are acutally brown. She wears contacts most of the time.

You know, I did bring the green nonprescription ones home and put them in a couple of times, but they just didn't seem to look real on me. I guess I'll probably just stick with my brown eyes, but the contacts are great and so comfortable.

When I had glasses I couldn't stand wearing them. I just didn't like the feeling of something on my face all day. I wore contacts for over 10 years. I definitely prefered the contacts you threw away every two weeks over the ones you had to clean. Now I've had LASIK and LOVE it. I have better than 20/20 vision and would highly recommend it. No glasses or contacts ever again! Good luck!

just want to put in my two cents.
when I was a kid, I desperately wanted glasses so I could "be like" mom, dad, and sister... and soon as I had them, I HATED them! They were so difficult to deal with when it was nice outside, when I wanted to do things without glasses (like swim, or run around) and just not very pleasant for me to deal with.
I got contacts at a very young age - my mom basically told our doctor that I had to have them NOW - I think I was 11. The basic care was not an issue, and I really enjoyed my glasses-less life. Unfortunately, I wore my contacts TOO much - all day from 6 am (when I got up for school) to 9 or 10 at night (later and later on as I got to high school) and my eyes just could NOT take it. At first I had issues during allergy season - lots of redness, eye infections, and LOTS of struggle with my eye doctor. She would tell me I could NOT wear my contacts for few weeks... I would ignore all instructions. Finally in the end, my eyes just completely rejected contacts and the doctor said THAT IS IT - no more contacts AT ALL. I was so uncomfortable in them that I finally had to face that I had to go back to glasses. This was fall of senior year, really pissed me off at the time - I had so many important events that I didn't want to wear glasses at coming up. I suffered through it for a year and half until I got lasar eye surgery. I just finished my freshman year of college and I got it during spring break.

I HIGHLY reccomend it, if you have the money. My parents understood my struggles and luckily they conceded to it being a very expensive 18th birthday present. I got Lasek, which is different from Lasik. My mom was very concerned about safety and risks of mistakes and blindness and all that, and she found that Lasek was a newer, safer procedure. The recovery period is longer, but the process doesn't weaken the cornea and it overall has a very very low risk of mess ups. The recovery period was very difficult, 4 days where I had to keep my eyes closed as much as possible. Lots of drops, even now (several months later) and I will have to continue them for the next 6 months or so. However, I could not be more thrilled. I had such a struggle with glasses & contacts that it is seriously a miracle to wake up in the morning, put some drops in my eyes, and see perfectly. I definitely reccommend the procedure to anyone who is looking into it, and if anyone has any more questions, ask away!

good luck with your choices

just to add, I know that many people haven't heard of lasek (the most popular surgery is lasik) so here is a website about it, if you are curious:
http://www.allaboutvision.com/visionsurgery/lasek.htm

I wish I could have the surgery, but we can't afford it at all. My aunt had it and is so happy with her outcome. I have 20/20 up close so I only need correction for the distance. Maybe someday I will be able to afford it like when I'm working again and we have two incomes.