Anything I need to know about contact lens?!

Best Answer - Chosen by Voters

First of all, you should always get a pair of glasses, even if you plan on wearing your contacts most of the time. In the case of an astigmatism, your clearest vision with come from glasses, and also, you need the glasses in case you ever get an infection or an ulcer and you need to see.

Pros of contacts: They are very comfortable, and allow you to see very well without having to wear glasses. They are ideal for very high prescription patients as they will not have heavy or thick lenses on their face.

Cons: If they are not used properly, they can cause infections, neovascularization, and ulcers. Infections are generally irritating and painful and take up to two weeks to heal with RX drops, and you cannot wear contacts during that period. Neovasculatization is caused by sleeping and overwearing lenses, essentially the eye does not get enough oxygen, so to compensate, small blood vessels will grow into the center of your cornea to try and oxygenate it. This will cause blindness and is generally irreversible. Ulcers are a breakdown of the cornea, causing extreme pain (about a 7 or an 8 on the pain scale) and light sensitivity.

Also, toric (lenses for astigmatism) are slightly more expensive than spherical lenses. Aside from the cost, however, you can generally avoid all the cons with proper removal, storage, and cleansing of the lenses.

I work in an optometry office.