Glasses, Contact Lenses, Cycling etc

Use this board for general non-cycling-related chat, or to introduce yourself to the forum.
User avatar
531colin
Posts: 16083
Joined: 4 Dec 2009, 6:56pm
Location: North Yorkshire

Re: Glasses, Contact Lenses, Cycling etc

Post by 531colin »

Tangled Metal wrote:Glasses would be my recommendation. ......... My old contacts used to have me clawing my eyes out after less than 3 hours.

.......... You can't wear them all day i think even the new ones.

........... You'll need glasses with contacts anyway

I've been wearing glasses for 37 out of my 44 years so far. I have never found any issue with wearing glasses while doing sports such as running or cycling. ............



.....and thats just from one post..... :roll:
Tangled Metal
Posts: 9505
Joined: 13 Feb 2015, 8:32pm

Re: Glasses, Contact Lenses, Cycling etc

Post by Tangled Metal »

531colin wrote:Glasses stink.
Monthly disposable contact lenses...no brainer....

Actually that's one of the posts that made me point out there's only opinions and experience unique to each of us. Strong views i reckon.

I gave my views, not as strong, because i tried contacts a few times. I'm open to the idea because I've had positive and negative experiences with them.

In my case they worked with my first pair. Non-disposable ones that lasted 18 months. Optician gave me a 12 month lifetime so bargain right? Second set many years later after i developed astigmatism needed to be toric. Monthly disposable torics were only just out at reasonable prices. Daily disposal torics were available for stupidly expensive prices. These toric were excruciating after 2 hours. I might try contacts again under a free months trial. Nothing to lose like for the op. That is the only no brainer. Glasses or contacts isn't a no brainer in any way. It's a choice with the potential for cost implications at the very least if you choose wrong.

PS the above post has a lot of snips in it. Sorry about the rambling posts!
User avatar
531colin
Posts: 16083
Joined: 4 Dec 2009, 6:56pm
Location: North Yorkshire

Re: Glasses, Contact Lenses, Cycling etc

Post by 531colin »

You are so much better at handing out criticism than taking it. It was your OTT post, and others like it, that made me come in a bit strong to attempt to balance it up a bit.

If you're ready, perhaps we could get back to the OP?

OP has only just fallen foul of the driving eyesight requirements, so several things follow....
He doesn't need to put his lenses in first thing in the morning and take them out last thing at night, he can cope perfectly well indoors with no lenses.
He can choose to wear them on the bike, or not to wear them.
He can choose at work, also. (unless somebody else's safety might be compromised in his work, in which case wearing them would seem prudent)
If he chooses to only wear them for driving, then glasses are the obvious choice.
I'm guessing the OP is slightly short-sighted, not above about 2 dioptres.....this will be written on the prescription as -2 (minus 2)...or -1.5, etc.
Wearing glasses on a bike stinks.....although the smaller your prescription, the less it stinks.
It stinks because the best bit of the lens (optically) is the middle.....the bit you always look through with contacts.
The optician will place your lenses in your frames so you are looking through the (optical) centre of the lens when you are walking along. So leaning forward to cycle, you are looking through the top of the lens, and craning your neck to do that. Glancing to the side, or behind, gives barrel distortion, which isn't what makes rainbows, thats total internal reflection. With a big prescription, the image moves when you move your head.....glasses wearers are used to this and compensate automatically, but if you change back from contacts it is "interesting" until the right reflexes cut in.
Varifocals are cylindrical lenses rather than spherical, and are worse.
Then theres rain, dust, condensation, scratched lenses, snow, spray, sweat......

If you want a "money no object" recommendation, then its hard lenses which you wear overnight, so in the morning you can see with nothing in your eyes.....ideal for dirty environments. I would have them in a heartbeat, except my prescription is too great, and age/stiffness of the cornea doesn't seem to be on my side. http://www.allaboutvision.com/contacts/orthok.htm .
Edwards
Posts: 5982
Joined: 16 Mar 2007, 10:09pm
Location: Birmingham

Re: Glasses, Contact Lenses, Cycling etc

Post by Edwards »

Colin the first line of your first post about this was"Glases stink" that is hardly a balanced view. There are advantages and disadvantages to both. You like contact lenses good for you but please show some respect for others views as this is about personal preference.

Glases are one less bit of stuff in your eye and give protection from flying objects also getting in there. For me the main advantage is this protection.
Keith Edwards
I do not care about spelling and grammar
User avatar
531colin
Posts: 16083
Joined: 4 Dec 2009, 6:56pm
Location: North Yorkshire

Re: Glasses, Contact Lenses, Cycling etc

Post by 531colin »

Edwards wrote:Colin the first line of your first post about this was"Glases stink" that is hardly a balanced view. There are advantages and disadvantages to both. You like contact lenses good for you but please show some respect for others views as this is about personal preference.

Glases are one less bit of stuff in your eye and give protection from flying objects also getting in there. For me the main advantage is this protection.


By your own admission, you have never tried contact lenses......so yours is a balanced view from the point of view of somebody who has never tried one of the two things which we are comparing?
Please don't presume to lecture me about "respect", or how I should conduct myself on a public forum, that is between me, my conscience and the mods.
If you don't like what I write, don't read it.
Vorpal
Moderator
Posts: 20700
Joined: 19 Jan 2009, 3:34pm
Location: Not there ;)

Re: Glasses, Contact Lenses, Cycling etc

Post by Vorpal »

I had no idea that glasses v contacts would result in heated arguments :shock: :shock:
“In some ways, it is easier to be a dissident, for then one is without responsibility.”
― Nelson Mandela, Long Walk to Freedom
Edwards
Posts: 5982
Joined: 16 Mar 2007, 10:09pm
Location: Birmingham

Re: Glasses, Contact Lenses, Cycling etc

Post by Edwards »

Vorpal is correct.
Keith Edwards
I do not care about spelling and grammar
Edwards
Posts: 5982
Joined: 16 Mar 2007, 10:09pm
Location: Birmingham

Re: Glasses, Contact Lenses, Cycling etc

Post by Edwards »

Just a few questions about contact lenses.

Is there a heightened risk of an eye infection with contact lenses?

If the lens goes to the back of the eye how is it removed?

If you go swiming and the chlorine inflames your eyes what do you do?
Keith Edwards
I do not care about spelling and grammar
User avatar
531colin
Posts: 16083
Joined: 4 Dec 2009, 6:56pm
Location: North Yorkshire

Re: Glasses, Contact Lenses, Cycling etc

Post by 531colin »

Edwards wrote:Just a few questions about contact lenses.

Is there a heightened risk of an eye infection with contact lenses?

If the lens goes to the back of the eye how is it removed?

If you go swiming and the chlorine inflames your eyes what do you do?


1) yes
2) it can't
3) if you go swimming on your bike, you're doing it wrong
User avatar
531colin
Posts: 16083
Joined: 4 Dec 2009, 6:56pm
Location: North Yorkshire

Re: Glasses, Contact Lenses, Cycling etc

Post by 531colin »

Vorpal wrote:I had no idea that glasses v contacts would result in heated arguments :shock: :shock:


More the manner in which the respondents conduct themselves, I think, than the subject under discussion.
If somebody makes a post which I think is absurd, then there is a chance that I might make a light-hearted response. Everybody is at liberty to ignore such responses, if they like.

now I could have constructed a response along these lines.......

Wearing contact lenses does increase the chance of an eye infection, however, if the average adult experiences 3 eye infections in 50 years, then this may be a risk they are prepared to take. (children are different, in that the immune system is not fully mature)
Contact lenses cannot migrate to the back of the eye, because there is a structure called the conjunctival sac which extends from the eyelids to the cornea.
The Op has only just run foul of the eyesight requirements for driving, so probably doesn't need to worry about swimming.
I am sufficiently short-sighted that if sea swimming I can't find my family on the beach. Contact lenses work better for sea swimming than glasses, in my experience, and are cheaper to replace if lost or damaged.
Chlorinated water is more unpleasant than sea water in your eye, but in the confined world of a swimming pool, is it necessary to use either?
I have tried both, when supervising people with disabilities swimming, and again contacts were more successful than glasses.

Thats my reasonably considered response. I don't expect it to be well received.
Vorpal
Moderator
Posts: 20700
Joined: 19 Jan 2009, 3:34pm
Location: Not there ;)

Re: Glasses, Contact Lenses, Cycling etc

Post by Vorpal »

Edwards wrote:Just a few questions about contact lenses.

Is there a heightened risk of an eye infection with contact lenses?
yes, but it is a small increase of a tiny risk
Edwards wrote:If the lens goes to the back of the eye how is it removed?
The farthest it can go is up under your eyelid. That usually only happens with torn or folded ones. I've had it happen, and it can be hard and uncomfortable to get out, but they do come out.

Edwards wrote:If you go swiming and the chlorine inflames your eyes what do you do?

I don't wear them swimming. I usually wear glasses. When I went snorkling, I used to use contacts with goggles.
“In some ways, it is easier to be a dissident, for then one is without responsibility.”
― Nelson Mandela, Long Walk to Freedom
geocycle
Posts: 2177
Joined: 11 Jan 2007, 9:46am

Re: Glasses, Contact Lenses, Cycling etc

Post by geocycle »

Can you get varifocals built into something like wraparound cycling glasses, or would I have to just go for the distance element? Any recommendations for where such things are to be purchased gratefully received.
Threevok
Posts: 195
Joined: 30 Sep 2016, 3:11pm

Re: Glasses, Contact Lenses, Cycling etc

Post by Threevok »

geocycle wrote:Can you get varifocals built into something like wraparound cycling glasses, or would I have to just go for the distance element? Any recommendations for where such things are to be purchased gratefully received.


I noticed Specsavers do prescription bike glasses - when I went for my last contact lens check

Not sure if they do them in varifocals though. may be worth an ask
geocycle
Posts: 2177
Joined: 11 Jan 2007, 9:46am

Re: Glasses, Contact Lenses, Cycling etc

Post by geocycle »

Threevok wrote:
geocycle wrote:Can you get varifocals built into something like wraparound cycling glasses, or would I have to just go for the distance element? Any recommendations for where such things are to be purchased gratefully received.


I noticed Specsavers do prescription bike glasses - when I went for my last contact lens check

Not sure if they do them in varifocals though. may be worth an ask


Thanks I will, sounds good.
User avatar
[XAP]Bob
Posts: 19793
Joined: 26 Sep 2008, 4:12pm

Re: Glasses, Contact Lenses, Cycling etc

Post by [XAP]Bob »

The eyeball is not a simple sphere, contacts are designed to stay on the cornea.

Additionally there are quite a lot of muscles attached to the eyeball, so lenses can't go 'round the back'.

However - you can end up with them being very hard to take out... The first time I tried contacts (I live in a family of contact lens wearers) I couldn't get them in - could not keep my eyes open.
The second time I got them in, and they were great. Comfy, decent vision (most of the time*) - no issue. But I couldn't get them out - and neither could the optician. 45 minutes and anaesthetic eye drops were needed. My eyes were involuntarily rolling up, taking the lenses with them.

I still wonder about trying again every so often, but glasses work pretty well for me, so I'm taking the simple route.
A shortcut has to be a challenge, otherwise it would just be the way. No situation is so dire that panic cannot make it worse.
There are two kinds of people in this world: those can extrapolate from incomplete data.
Post Reply