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From: rlr@pyuxn.UUCP
Newsgroups: net.med
Subject: Re: 3-week contact lenses
Message-ID: <294@pyuxn.UUCP>
Date: Mon, 10-Oct-83 14:47:10 EDT
Article-I.D.: pyuxn.294
Posted: Mon Oct 10 14:47:10 1983
Date-Received: Tue, 11-Oct-83 01:10:42 EDT
References: <213@hlexa.UUCP>
Organization: Bell Labs, Piscataway
Lines: 28

After wearing "regular" soft contact lenses for a year, I decided to try
the extended wear lenses.  My incentive was not so much the famed ability
to see when you wake up, but the notion that I didn't have to go through
the process of insertion and removal so frequently.  I have had a number
of problems with these lenses:
	1) I was told to put wetting/saline solution drops in my eyes on
		a regular basis before going to sleep and after waking up.
		Despite this I awakened many times in the middle of the
		night due to extreme dryness in the eyes.
	2) After wearing the lenses in my eyes for several days straight
		(< 5) I had severe pain in one eye and was unable to wear
		any lenses for a week.

My problem (which others have had as well) is that my eyes do not produce
enough tears to keep the lenses wet while I sleep.  Thus I am unable to
wear these lenses during sleep, at least not with great frequency or for
multiple nights in a row.  I *am* able to wear these lenses for close to
20 hours at a time, which is a great improvement over normal soft lenses
(where my limit was about 11 hours), so I continue to use them.  Hopefully,
newer technology will arise that will let me wear lenses continuously.

This problem is far from universal.  Many people have little or no problems
adjusting to these lenses.  But if you are not currently wearing lenses, or
are having dryness problems with existing lenses, you should probably check
with your eye doctor.  A good eye doctor will know whether or not you are
suited for these lenses in the long term.		Rich

P.S. Has anyone else out there had similar extended wear lens problems??