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There are four options for people with poor eyesight: glasses, contacts, surgery, or bumping into things. Glasses suit some people just fine: other people feel self-conscious in glasses and prefer contacts. My friend Wes detested his glasses, but was too lazy to take care of his contacts. He frequently slept in them; rarely cleaned them. So Wed went around with red-rimmed, swollen, crusty eyes for a couple of years. Since this was before they invented truly extended-wear lenses, he opted for having laser surgery for his nearsightedness. He had to have it redone in one eye (his eye changed shape again after the surgery), but that was more than ten years ago, and he loves his lens-free lifestyle.

Another friend of mine, Rebecca, hated her glasses so much that she just refused to wear them–all through school. It made life hard for her because she was very nearsighted and couldn’t even see people’s faces in the hallways. The second Rebecca heard about contacts, she started badgering her mom for them, and when she was fifteen, her mom finally decided that she was old enough. She’s worn contacts for 24 years, and only wears glasses late at night, too watch TV.

With contact lenses, you have several options in terms of how long you’ll wear them, how permeable and comfortable they are, and whether they’re fit for regular nearsightedness or astigmatism, where the eye is shaped differently and needs a more highly customized lens. By far the most options you have when it comes to contact are the number and type of salines, cleaners, disinfectants and eyedrops available to you. Particularly if you have allergies or sensitive eyes, the right saline matters, and the most expensive isn’t always what’s right.

It’s amazing really, that more people don’t have problems wearing contacts: it’s kind of a weird thing to stick a piece of plastic in your eye, which was pretty much designed to keep anything that’s not an eyeball out of the eye. But with the miracle of science, someone who can’t read a book unless it’s perched on her nose can drive a car across the country with the aid of two small pieces of plastic and a bottle of salt water.

Some of the problems lens wearers experience are dry, itchy eyes, redness, burning, or infection.

Rebecca, the glasses-hater, had to switch to lenses that she changes once every few weeks, after her optometrist diagnosed her with an allergy to protein deposits on her regular lenses, which only needed replacing once a year. The new lenses cost more than double the price of the old ones, but she didn’t really have a choice, because she couldn’t wear her old ones at all. With contacts that you throw out every couple of weeks, the protein deposits don’t have much time to become an issue before the lenses are replaced with new ones.

If your eyes are bothering you consistently, you might start by switching salines. Rebecca has a hard time, being allergic to soaps, perfumes, various chemicals and latex. She had been using the saline for sensitive eyes when she suddenly developed a new allergy and wound up using the generic, non-sensitive formula again. Changing salines solved the problem, which was nice, because she wasn’t crazy about her red, puffy eyelids.

If you decide to wear contacts, keeping them clean is the best way of avoiding problems with irritation and infections. Keeping lenses clean is pretty simple. Always wash your hands before taking lenses out or putting them in again. Change the saline or disinfectant in your lens case daily, and make sure to use disinfecting methods either by buying the combination disinfectant and saline, or by using a heat unit.. Use enzymatic cleaners on a weekly basis to remove deposits on extended-wear lenses, and rinse them well after enzyming them.

If you’re scrupulous about lens hygiene but still have troubles, you may have an allergy. Talk to your optometrist, and try changing salines, cleaners or lenses.