Best colored annual-replace contact lenses?

July 9, 2011 8:52 PM

Best colored annual-replace contact lenses?

I've a few questions regarding opaque annual-replace (vial) colored contacts. Before starting with the questions I'll let you know that I'm a male with fairly pale skin and dark-brown eyes.

First question: Which brands make the best annual-replace colored lenses? After doing quick research I found that Illusions Opaques by Ciba Vision and Natural Touch by Cooper Vision sound promising. Which of the two are better? Are there other brands I should seek out?

Second question: What color would work best with dark brown eyes? After looking through various colors available from Illusions Opaques and Natural Touch, the ones that look most natural to my eyes are the grey ones. I'll only go through with getting a color that looks natural. I've seen lots of colored contacts and they always looked too fake for my liking.

Third question: Is it true that vial lenses, if taken proper care of, can last multiple years? I've read that vial lenses can even last a lifetime.

Fourth question: Do vial lenses work on people who have terrible sight, or do they work on most people regardless of how bad of eyesight they have?

Fifth question: Where online would be a good place to buy vial colored lenses (I live in Canada)?

Sixth question: How do I find out how strong of lenses to get? Would I simply have to request the info I need from the place where I last got my eyes checked?

I'm a contacts noob. So feel free to tell me everything you think I should know about colored vial lenses.

Thanks.

*Note - if any of you MetaFilter users own colored annual-replace contacts and would be willing to post pics of your eyes with your contacts on, go for it. It's quite hard to find photos online of people wearing colored annual-replace contacts.

posted by GlassHeart to Health & Fitness (3 answers total)

I don't think any contact lenses are meant to last forever. Eventually they break down from all the crap in your eyes. The ones in vials are meant to last longer than the more disposable ones, but they're not permanent. I only wear contacts occasionally now, but I switched from 3-month to 1-month because you don't have to be quite as careful with them. I don't think I'd want ones that last for a whole year - if you drop one or tear it or it falls out in the pool, you're out a lot of dough.

If you're going from glasses to contacts, you are going to need a new eye exam. The exam is similar but your prescription is going to be different. You can also talk to your eye doctor about whether they think you would be a good candidate for contacts, and they can show you how to put them in, take them out and clean them. It takes some getting used to. They will probably give you some trial lenses (non-colored) to wear home and play with before you plunk down the cash for the real ones.

It's not clear if you are currently wearing glasses or why you are so keen on colored contacts...do you know what kind of eye problem you have? If it's just myopia (nearsighted) or presbyopia (farsighted) it will be much easier to find contacts then if you have astigmatism or any other weird problems.

Out of curiosity, have you ever *looked* at someone wearing colored contacts? I think it's really obvious and weird-looking. Maybe I've only seen someone with shitty contacts but I wouldn't want to wear them on a regular basis, maybe only for parties or something.

Contacts are awesome but they are a bit of a commitment and not for everyone. You might want to try out the trials for a while or get some regular non-colored ones until you are sure you like them. Some people can't tolerate them. I wore gas-permeable (hard) lenses from about age 10-13, then soft 1-day disposable from 13-16. At 16 I had to get soft toric (astigmatism) lenses which was a pain - I had to try about 5 kinds until I found a brand that worked. I wore them every day for about the next 5 years and as I got older my eyes got progressively dryer. I got a cute pair of glasses in college and my eyes were a lot happier. Still wear contacts occasionally but mostly glasses now.
posted by radioamy at 11:22 PM on July 9, 2011

When I first got soft contacts a little more than 20 years ago, it was assumed that they would pretty much last forever, assuming you washed them each day and disinfected them once a week. Then eye doctors suggested that even under thos circumstances, you should still replace them once a year.

Now, getting one month disposable contacts cleaned with a basic multi-purpose solution is pretty much the standard.

Go to your eye doctor, get fitted for contact lenses, and then try out the "starter pack" of disposable contacts you get so you can try out contacts before deciding to buy colored contacts.
posted by deanc at 6:57 AM on July 10, 2011

FWIW, one problem I found with colored contacts is that in low light my pupil would dilate larger than the clear spot in the center, giving me terrible night vision. YMMV.
posted by thinkingwoman at 8:03 AM on July 10, 2011