Nocturnal Contact Lenses

[Jennifer W]

I just read about these today, apparently they are readily available and work very well. You wear them at night, some people only need them every second or even third night, and they correct the shape of your lens, so you wake up with perfect vision.

Are these available in the US and has anyone tried them? I'm really keen to give them a try but I'm curious to know if anyone has any experience of them, good or bad. It kind of sounds too good to be true...

 

[Jennifer W]

Ok, so no one here has them...

I've been to my optician today and they do exist (was starting to wonder if someone was pulling my leg). They were developed by a company based near where I live, so they might not have 'spread' yet. Apparently, they really work. I'm booked in for a consultation on Thursday.

 

[Amber St. Clare]

I haven't heard about them! I have astigmatism and would be VERY interested trying them as I have been CURSED with wearing glasses since the 4th grade. And believe me, NOTHING makes you feel LESS glamorous than glasses....

 

[Jennifer W]

Amber StClair, I am just hoping they'll be suitable for me - if they are, I'm looking forward to jumping up and down on my glasses.

They come in two types, depending on your prescription, priced at £100 or £200 plus £50 fitting fee. I'm willing to bet I'll need the £250 package.

I'll let you know how I get on. Here's a link:
http://www.nocturnalens.com/

 

[susimoo]

Hey you!!!
That sounds wonderful. I am a contact lens wearer and these sound like the answer to my prayers (other than laser which I am am waaaaay to scared to try!)
Keep us posted.
Ps will be in touch, house and college stuff are almost complete. Need to see you SOON!!!!!

 

[mary poppins]

I haven't heard about them! I have astigmatism and would be VERY interested trying them as I have been CURSED with wearing glasses since the 4th grade. And believe me, NOTHING makes you feel LESS glamorous than glasses....

I'm not familiar with the nocturnal contact lenses either and also have an astigmatism. Are you aware that some contact lenses are designed for astigmatisms? When I first got glasses years ago, I was not eligible for lenses because of the astigmatism. Luckily, there have since been advances in technology. I finally found comfortable and effective lenses after several rounds of trial and error. If nocturnal contact lenses aren't appropriate for astigmatisms, perhaps you can at least get regular contact lenses. Your optometrist should know which brands are good for people with astigmatisms.

 

[Jennifer W]

From the quick chat I had with my optician today, they aren't ruled out for astigmatism, depending on the degree and angle of it. I'll find out more on Thursday, and report back. I have astigmatism, so I'm hoping they'll be ok for me.

Susimoo, I'll let you know how they work out, and there are a few opticians reasonably near you that have the equipment to fit them. There's a list on the website of practices that offer them. You might want to look into them before you move, I don't know how widely available the are! Hope we can get together very soon. Miss you!

 

[lbbaber]

Wow, i've never heard of this. I am curious, I wear contacts and I am deathly afraid of getting laser correction. I would be the person that gets lasered and then still needs to wear contacts (it happens sometimes).....

 

[merilenda]

I haven't heard about them! I have astigmatism and would be VERY interested trying them as I have been CURSED with wearing glasses since the 4th grade. And believe me, NOTHING makes you feel LESS glamorous than glasses....

I'm not familiar with the nocturnal contact lenses either and also have an astigmatism. Are you aware that some contact lenses are designed for astigmatisms? When I first got glasses years ago, I was not eligible for lenses because of the astigmatism. Luckily, there have since been advances in technology. I finally found comfortable and effective lenses after several rounds of trial and error. If nocturnal contact lenses aren't appropriate for astigmatisms, perhaps you can at least get regular contact lenses. Your optometrist should know which brands are good for people with astigmatisms.

Yes, I am near-sighted with astigmatism and I wear contacts! I wear the Acuvue brand currently. I actually developed astigmatism in the last couple years. Prior to that, I just wore regular contacts with the correction for my near-sightedness. The toric lenses are a bit more of pain, as they dry my eyes out WAY more than regular contacts ever did (before I had to switch to toric, I routinely slept overnight in my contacts. That's out of the question now, even naps!). But the current ones I wear don't dry my eyes out that much with day-to-day wear. Still much better than glasses in my opinion.

I don't even like wearing glasses for a day. Not because I don't like the way they look, but because they drive me nuts! I'm used to the full range of vision I get with contacts...plus nothing worse than wearing glasses out in the rain.

I've never heard of nocturnal contact lenses, but that sounds interesting! I'll be interested to hear more.

 

[Jennifer W]

Wow, i've never heard of this. I am curious, I wear contacts and I am deathly afraid of getting laser correction. I would be the person that gets lasered and then still needs to wear contacts (it happens sometimes).....

I just can't cope with the thought of being awake during laser correction. It just isn't an option for me, I'm way too squeamish.

Merelinda, I use daily disposables when I can, but revert to glasses every so often because they just hurt. I never find them comfortable. I'm hoping that I can sleep in the nocturnal lenses ok.

I'm scared to get my hopes up, in case they won't work for me, but I'm cautiously optimistic about this.

 

[that_someone_special]

I had glasses since I was 5... I wear contacts now. I would pay the same about as lasering for these.. if it worked.

my eyes are both about -9.5 to maybe -10

 

[Gayletmom]

I'm a bit late to the party but I wanted to chime in and let you know that my husband wears these and is very happy with the results. He's had them for about 4 years to correct is nearsightedness and they work great! The took a few weeks to get used to but he is one of those people whose soft lenses bothered him. Now that wearing them at night is second nature he is very pleased. No worries when he swims or plays sports-his eyes just work well all the time.

 

[Winks_Elf]

I used to wear soft lenses all the time until my right retina detached. After the surgery, wearing contacts is a bit more difficult and uncomfortable, so now I only wear disposable lenses for special occasions. My eyes are so tired, gritty and just plain dry at the end of the day I couldn't imagine wearing lenses to bed.

 

[Jennifer W]

I'm a bit late to the party but I wanted to chime in and let you know that my husband wears these and is very happy with the results. He's had them for about 4 years to correct is nearsightedness and they work great! The took a few weeks to get used to but he is one of those people whose soft lenses bothered him. Now that wearing them at night is second nature he is very pleased. No worries when he swims or plays sports-his eyes just work well all the time.

YAY!!! This is what I was hoping to hear. Thanks for posting, I'm excited to try them and it's really good to hear they work.

Winks Elf, sorry to hear that you needed surgery. I can quite understand why you wouldn't be crazy about contacts.

 

[wakingdreams53]

This sounds amazing, hopefully it works!

As a disclaimer to the laser surgery: a dear friend of mine (22 years old) had terrible eyesight and went for the lasik surgery a couple months back. It didn't fully correct his vision and he feels it may be degenerating.

Eye exercises do wonders as well!

 

[junebug17]

Oh man, I really hope these work, it sounds great! I wonder if there are prescription restrictions? I couldn't find much online, but I read an older post from 2007 that said your vision can't be worse than -4.50 (I think) which would leave me out. Not sure if this is accurate, am eager to find out more!

 

[kateydid05]

I was always told never to sleep in contacts of any kind but I'm sure these are different somehow. I could never wear contacts anyway after my eye injury. I'm curious about these though.

I opted for LASIK and I am absolutely loving the results

 

[GamerGirl]

I was always told never to sleep in contacts of any kind but I'm sure these are different somehow.

I was constantly scolded by my eye doc for this! I'll have to ask her about these contacts. She has been trying to convince me to look at lasik but I'm a chicken.

 

[shihtzulover]

They sound really interesting! The only thing I would worry about is whether or not it's truly 'safe' to wear them at night. I have gotten a few nasty eye infections from wearing my regular contacts overnight, and my eye doctor says that it's always a risk, even with those that are approved for overnight wear (although I think the risk is lower with those).

I have astigmatism, too, but so far, it's always been really slight - so my eye doctor feels comfortable letting me wear the regular type of contacts, because he doesn't feel that the ones made for astigmatism will make a huge difference. I did actually switch to the astigmatism type this year though, because I do feel that I can see just a bit more clearly with these.

I am interested in Lasik, but I'm worried that it wouldn't fully correct my vision, and I'm even more concerned that my eyes would just get worse again, anyway. I think that they've been pretty stable over the past several years (with slight worsening a few years ago), but who knows how long it will be until they worsen again?

 

[somethingshiny]

i have lots of info and advice and experience about these. They've been around for years, I worked for eye docs who fit them for patient, and I tried them myself. I'm heading out the door now, but I'll come back and post later.

In fact, if you search CRT lenses or possibly Corneal Refractive Therapy you may find my posts from the past here.

 

[somethingshiny]

I found it, cut and pasted. Let me know if you have other questions.

Hi. I''ve worked as an optometric assistant for six years. There are alternatives to surgery if you''re uneasy about it. Corneal Refractive Therapy (CRT) is a non-surgical procedure that uses rigid contact lenses to reshape the cornea. There are definite restrictions on what level of nearsightedness can be corrected in this manner. You may want to ask your optometrist or opthalmologist about this option.

I''ve tried it myself. My vision (which is really bad) was not able to be corrected to 20/20, so I just went back to my soft contacts. Basically, the doctor performs a series of topographical maps to design a rigid contact lens that will flatten the high areas of your cornea. You sleep in the contacts every night for 1-2 weeks. Usually your vision will have gained half after one or two nights. At the end of the first week, you should be seeing at your best achievable. Then a wear schedule will be re-evaluated for your best vision. One of the doctors I worked for has been doing it for three years. He started with around a -4.00 RX. After the first couple weeks, he started wearing the lenses every other night. Now he''s down to wearing them once every week or so. During his trial period of backing down on wear-time, he would pop them in for a couple hours in the afternoon for a touch-up if he felt he needed it. It''s not a permanent procedure, but the cornea will hold this reshape for a limited time period. We''ve had many patients who''ve had great luck with the procedure.

The best part is, it can''t hurt you as long as you don''t abuse the contacts. Like I said, I tried it myself, but as I was out of range RX, I was unhappy with the results. I quit wearing them and within 4 days, my RX went exactly back to where I started. The contacts are uncomfortable, as anyone who has ever worn rigid lenses knows. The doctor can give you numbing drops until your eye gets used to the feeling.

I''ve had many patients who''ve had great results with corrective surgery. Another of the doctors had a form of corrective surgery nearly 15 years ago. He''s still pleased with the results. I''ve also had several who weren''t as happy as they thought they''d be. Some patients aren''t corrected to 20/20 vision. If you''re used to being able to pop in your contacts and see 20/20, then you have surgery and are only seeing 20/40 (which is the legal limit for driving) then you''d be disappointed. Please talk to your doctor about what is an appropriate expectation for your vision now, 5 yrs, and 15 yrs from now. Also keep in mind, the normal aging process is most likely going to require readers at some point. Even if you''re corrected to 20/20, you will probably have glasses in your future.

 

[junebug17]

Thanks somethingshiny. I have a feeling my eyesight is too bad for this.

 

[JulieN]

http://www.ortho-k.net/

 

[GamerGirl]

Interesting! I think that I'm also too close to blind for these to really work for me as well

 

[iLander]

I haven't heard about them! I have astigmatism and would be VERY interested trying them as I have been CURSED with wearing glasses since the 4th grade. And believe me, NOTHING makes you feel LESS glamorous than glasses....

Hey, that's when I got my glasses, fourth grade!

I have toric contact lenses for the astigmatism, though. They work great. My vision, at it's worst, was 20/950 (versus 20/20) with horrible astigmatism. But toric contacts worked just dandy. Now that I'm older, it's going the other way and it's 20/650 now.

 

[somethingshiny]

They can work for astigmatism correction. Last I was aware, corrections up to -4.00 were having the best results. Some patients were having good luck in the -5 range. If you don't know your RX, look at the side of your contact lens box.

 

[Jennifer W]

It's a freakin' miracle. I can SEEEEEEE!

I had an assessment for these lenses last week, but the optician thought there was only a small chance they'd work for me due to the level of my astigmatism. I'm stubborn, so we went ahead and ordered them and I've worn them one night - vision still not 20/20, but significantly better than the legal driving requirement, and likely to improve some ways yet.

I'm just delighted with these lenses. Can't believe I nearly dismissed them as a practical joke! If anyone is even thinking about it, I can heartily recommend that you go for an assessment. The lenses cost less than I spend on glasses, so I'm happy. Also, if I stop using them, my eyes will go back to where they are now, so I can keep my current pairs of glasses just in case.

Yay!

 

[somethingshiny]

Fantastic news! I've had many good outcomes with patients, it's definitely not a joke. It's awesome for those who can use them!!

 

[Jennifer W]

Somethingshiny, I'm so sorry - no idea how I missed your posts on this thread (maybe because I was just so incredibly short sighted? ).

Thank you for the info, and for taking the time to post it - I wasn't being rude, I just didn't see what you wrote.

I'm really excited about this, so good to be able to see without glasses or lenses. I hate the feeling of glasses on my face and daytime lenses are hopeless for me - I have every environmental allergy going. These guys are the answer!

 

[somethingshiny]

No worries, Jen!