Q: I have worn glasses for years, but would like to be free of them for outdoor activities , especially in colder weather. Do they make “part time” contacts for people like me?
A: I have noticed in recent years, more and more people are just like you. Many folks are fine wearing their eyewear to work and for general indoor use, but enjoy being glasses free outdoors. While we do not keep statistics on our patients wearing contacts part time, it is clearly growing each year.
Since COVID, we do have good eyeglass lens drops to prevent fogging when you go indoors from the cold. These lens treatment drops can work for several days to keep your lenses clear when the cold weather arrives. So lens fogging is preventable.
Most of our patients asking about part time contacts want the full field of vision without glasses and/or just seeing clearly without concerns about their eyewear getting damaged or lost in outdoor sports. Whether riding a bike, or paddling a kayak, or just walking in the woods, being glasses free is very appealing. What has made this part time wear easy and safe has been the advent of daily contacts!
Dailies are lenses designed for single day wear. You open a sterile lens pack in the morning and pop in brand new, clean, perfect lenses. At the end of the day, simply discard them in the trash, or recycle. Dailies are the fastest growing type of contacts. Generally, once patients begin wearing new lenses each morning, they never go back to “re-usable” lenses. I would predict that all contacts will be dailies in a few years. The comfort and no need to clean lenses each night are big advantages.
Today, most vision prescriptions are available in both conventional ( monthly use ) lenses and dailies. We now have single day lenses for nearsightedness, farsightedness, astigmatism, and even bifocal needs. While dailies cost more than monthlies, more and more people find the convenience worthwhile. And generally, dailies are packaged in 90 lens packs, so for part time wear, a couple of 90 packs may last you a full year.
As with most contacts, your eye doctor should be able to give you some sample or diagnostic lenses to try out if contacts are new for you. We recommend this, as wearing new contacts in your real life activities a few days is very helpful in your decision. Your regular eye exam will provide your eye doctor with your vision prescription for glasses, and usually only one additional test is needed for contacts. We take an image of the surface of your eye, specifically the cornea, to determine the perfect shape of lenses best for you and to be sure there is no corneal abnormality.
The bottom line: ask your eye doctor at your next exam if contacts are right for your vision. Try them out a few days and most likely you could join the growing number of people enjoying clear vision without glasses whenever you wish!
