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Ask HN: What kind of eyewear do you use?

by pstinnett on 12/22/10, 4:30 AM with 8 comments

I've been wearing glasses/contacts since second grade. When I first started in my career of staring at a monitor for 8-12+ hours a day my contacts would become irritated easily by the mid afternoon. I switched contact brands to Acuvue 2 Oasys which helped a lot, but my eyes still get tired / irritated by the end of the day (even when taking a short break every hour or so).

Which kind of contacts / glasses do you use? Do you like them? How long can you go without your eyes becoming irritated?

  • by copper on 12/22/10, 5:11 AM

    OP: this could be a vote, maybe?

    I use glasses. Higher-n glass for them would be really nice, and light, but it's above my budget, and apparently too fragile for clumsy people. I don't like them, but given the alternative, there isn't really a choice :) I wear them almost all the time when I'm awake (anything between 14-20 hours a day), and my eyes usually don't get irritated from just wearing them. Sitting in front of badly configured monitors, though, is a different matter.

    I'm scared of the initial starting pain with contacts, else I'd consider using them.

  • by kevinherron on 12/22/10, 5:19 AM

    I wear my glasses at work and my contacts when I'm going out or cycling/running/golfing/sporting.

    I haven't found a pair of contacts I can wear for 8-12 hours in front of a monitor.

  • by gcheong on 12/22/10, 6:23 PM

    I wear glasses, having stopped wearing contacts for the same reasons you give, but have recently been considering an implantable contact lens (e.g. visian). They sound good but don't seem to have made the headway in the market that lasik has which gives me some pause, but this might have more to do with doctors having made early investments in lasik before icl were approved. Anyway, I'm not in any hurry as day to day glasses work fine for me.

  • by CyberFonic on 12/22/10, 5:04 AM

    I gave up on contacts a long time ago. But some of my co-workers wear them. You need eye drops to keep your eyes from drying out (blame it on air-con and your eyes moving less due to looking at the monitor). Personally, I prefer glasses, but even then I sometimes need eye drops by mid-afternoon.

  • by anigbrowl on 12/22/10, 5:17 AM

    Glasses. Contacts are OK for walking around and not really painful at all, I was surprised how quickly I got used to them (and that was a long time ago). But if you're spending long periods focused on the same distance for reading or coding then they wear one's eyes out much faster.

  • by kakaylor on 12/22/10, 6:30 PM

    I use contacts (same brand, Acuvue Oasys) + glasses.

    I wear contacts much more than glasses, and have some trouble when I put on my glasses. In particular the loss of peripheral vision (I have extremely bad eyesight) when I put on glasses is tough to get used to.

  • by stoney on 12/22/10, 7:23 AM

    I gave up on contacts - didn't like the idea of jabbing my fingers in my eyes every day for the rest of my life. I wear glasses all day every day, no problem. Thinking about getting them lasered.

  • by anonymous246 on 12/22/10, 6:31 PM

    Not single, don't need to be presentable for work either. Gave up contacts. :) Five-yr old titanium, rimless glasses are doing great.

    I loved my daily disposable Acuvue contacts when I wore them. Absolutely couldn't feel them after about 2 weeks of wearing them. They would dry out more in winter, but great otherwise. Still miss them when doing physical activity.