Wellthatsucks
Accidently broke one of my contacts and now I'm gonna be basically blind for the foreseeable future :(
Discussion
*unforeseeable future. Sorry for your loss
😂
See what he did there? Oh wait...
Eye see yes
*eye dont see
Eye Captain
You don’t even have eyes
I bet you didn’t see that coming
I dont thonk hes gonna reply bud. He cant see your message. Or mine..
No backup glasses??
Not that blind then.
It’s not looking good
Hilarious eyesight jokes in comments vs what OP sees:
TIL when you break your contacts, you start seeing in Hungarian
Exactly, why is that Hungarian!?
https://giphy.com/gifs/reading-vision-distorted-d2Z7y5287z3Sm5uo
I'm Balázs Varga (Psyklon), a programmer from Hungary with artistic veins. Here's my GIF art.
Forunseeable
Damn. I knew I was way too late given the amount of comments but I still had hope
Is it.....is it because he cant see now....
It…is…
call your optometrist, you might be able to get a sample lense for free.
I don't live in a country where people just have optometrists
They are very hard to contact.
Oh, i see...
But OP doesn’t.
You’re horrible. Don’t contact me.
So what's the solution?
Not sure, need some Clariti
I wish I could see things through your lens.
I shall teach you my pupil
All in good humor I hope.
Everybody loves my corneas jokes
Try to look on the bright side...
This is a serious situation. Don’t make a spectacle out of yourself!
In that case, I just don’t see how he is going to get a replacement
you had to get it somewhere. no harm in trying
Maybe another Reddit post will solve the problem!
If it's this hard to get contacts I feel like you should have a backup pair. How long do they normally last? I just wear glasses.
I usually use a pair for 3 months these were the 3 months type. Got them a few weeks ago
Can you order glasses online? They're more reliable than contacts and start very cheap. I recommend Zenni just check that they ship to your country.
I'm sorry about your contact lens, that really sucks especially if they're not easily accessible
I second the backup pair of Zenni glasses. Depending on your prescription you could get a pair for incredibly cheap. Even if you never need them it's not much money wasted.
I had set aside $300 for some nice new glasses a few years ago.
Then I found Zenni. I ended up with like nine pairs of “decent, not great, but not bad” quality glasses instead of one nice pair.
The versatility of being able to match glasses to outfits and never worry about breaking or losing a pair is kind of amazing.
All that aside it’s crazy how cheap they can be once you cut luxotica out of the picture.
Contact the manufacturer. They may send a free replacement.
I’ve never heard of 3 monthly contacts. I’ve worked in optometry and have only seen daily, fortnightly, and monthly contacts. Over wearing contact lenses can cause serious damage to your eyes. Please make sure you’re wearing them appropriately, and that you have a backup pair of glasses.
How did you get contacts and glasses in the first place then?!
I think the point is that you don't have one that you always go to. You just whoever is in the store.
That's pretty normal anywhere.
I think I see what happened. Someone recommended that OP see "your optometrist" and they focused on the "your" in the statement.
Well yeah that's everyone. Why would anyone go to one regularly unless there is a problem
If you wear glasses or contacts you should be going regularly to get an exam, like every year or every other year
Everyone should be going regularly year over year to check in on their eye health.
At least according to the people who give eye exams.
That doesn't necessarily mean they're wrong, but they're definitely biased.
I go once a year, is that considered regularly?
i think they mean a specific doctor like a primary doctor. i dont have a primary optometrist. i just go to the eye doctor office and see whoever is there.
Yes, that’s considered regularly.
Anyone with glasses likely goes regularly, since you are supposed to get an eye test every 1 or 2 years, right?
Doing something regularly just means with consistent spacing between visits, for example annually.
You should be going every 1-2 years. I go yearly because I’m a glasses/contacts wearer and also have a spot on my eye we’re monitoring. You should take care of your eyes just like you do anything else.
So how did you get your original lenses Or go back where you got them originally. Is this worth a Reddit post or just common sense?
Could have ordered it online and it took 3 weeks to ship
How did you initially get the contacts
How did you get your glasses prescription in the first place?
Do you also not live in a country where people who wear contacts typically also have a pair of glasses for situations exactly like this one?
OP - I think you done goofed.
Why would you not have a pair of glasses to use in case of something like this?
How did you manage to get contacts and glasses then?
Curious what country doesn’t have optometrists.
Then who did your eye exam, some doctors without borders crap, Or did you just go yeah I think this prescription is good for my eyes?
Edit. Just saying this because saying there’s no optometrists in your country is a pretty broad allegation. They might be hard for you to reach, but that’s another thing.
Is Doctors Without Borders a bad organization?
If you have internet access and access to a copy of your prescription, you could get a replacement online. Good luck.
He got that contact from his barber/goat proprietor.
Then how did you get contacts in the first place?
you had one pair of contacts and one broke with no optometrist in your country... not a single backup pair or glasses? this is next level stupidity
Also sometimes you can buy contact lenses over the counter at any optometrist/person who sells frames for prescription glasses.
How tf did you get the contacts then???
Yeah mine is pretty awesome, every time I go in to order contacts they'll ask if I need any samples to hold me over till my order comes in
No you are not. Just get an eye patch for that eye.
This isn't a joke, trying to do the mixed vision thing causes a serious migraine
Unless you wear the patch/close one eye
I have 20/200 vision and I would 100% do an eye patch over wearing 1 contact.
I am at 20/800 and only have one lens, because the other is a custom job at around $1.2k. I've only "seen" out of one eye for years now. Hate to say, but you get used to it...
I've been doing it for a months. No headaches but the contactless eye tends to go lazy around a month in. Contact prescription is -5.25 so I've got pretty bad vision
I’ve worn one contact lens for years off and on. It’s not a big deal for me at all.
In fact, it’s called monovision. Not uncommon.
I've had to wear one contact because one eye is near sighted, the other is far sighted. If I put both in, my close up vision gets screwed up. Without glasses or contacts, my eyes work together, I just can't see very far.
i did the one contact thing for many months, eventually your brain filters out the blurry eye, unless you cant see the object with your good eye, kind of cool
Is this common? I regularly wear 1 contact for months if I run out and am too lazy to make an appointment lol. Never gotten migraines from it or anything, feels like my brain just adjusts after a couple of days
May I ask why you chose hard contacts?
Those might be sclerals, and if they are, they're custom made to the user's eye-shape and they're usually for special cases like keratoconus.
Thank you!
You're welcome! I have keratoconus and sclerals are an option for me, but they're crazy expensive and I'm scared of this happening!
Just be over meticulous when putting them in or taking them out. And be ready to very slowly search the floor when you drop one by mistake…
They are really great for keratoconus, it is nice not seeing multiples or having your glasses skew everything trying to correct your vision enough to read. Definitely worth the hours I spent figuring out how to put them in and take them out to begin with.
They last longer, and they aren't exactly hard, I was just not careful with them
Dang. Becoming a pirate is not really an option, right?
Not op but personally I use them because they are super convenient. Wear them during the night and have proper vision for the whole day! Also they have some benefits like slowing down vision degradation, or in my case stopping it
Yes I have the same! They're called Ortho-K lenses I think. Take a bit of getting used to, but I think now when they go in my body knows it's sleep time and gets exhausted lol. I'm a fan!
Wait you wear them at night, take them off in the morning, and you can see???
Yes! The optometrist basically described it to me as the lens 'reshaping' the surface of your eye so you can see when you take them out. Obligatory I am not an expert just a user. I think they're brilliantly convenient though, I absolutely despised daily lenses and wearing glasses so they suit me perfectly.
There are eye conditions that can only be corrected with custom, hard contact lenses. Mine costed about a grand for each eye and about $400 for each replacement. Without my contacts I’m virtually blind. I’m assuming that’s OP’s situation and why they can’t just get new contacts or glasses.
Out of curiosity, why not just use glasses? Would they be too thick?
Glasses do not work for certain eye conditions when they get to a severe stage. I have Keratoconus but my vision is still decent enough in glasses but they only correct one eye to about 20/50 and I can get 20/25 with Sclerals.
I have never met anyone else who has a scleral! I had the original Boston scleral like 15 years ago, $7k a pop. They have come a long way since then. I too can get to 20/25 with a scleral.
I also had the Bostons, and before that RGP's since the 90s. Kerataconus & a cornea transplant for me. The sclerals are leaps and bounds better than RGPs, which were the same price, but smaller and would jump out of your eye for no reason and be lost forever from time to time.
I also have keratoconus. Basically my eyes come to a point, and glasses are made for "normal" - shaped eyes so they don't work for me. It's hard lenses or blindness
It also took MONTHS of going to a optometrist every other week to get fitted so that I could see. Luckily my insurance covered it all and the optometrist had me keep two backup pair that were close to my prescription
I travel with both backup pair, backup plunger, backup stands to put them in, and several vials of sodium chloride that is used during the insertion process as it forms a vacuum seal around my eyes
backup p l u n g e r?
Glasses aren't great. They change the "zoom" (no clue what the right term is) and the thick ones also distort near the edges. They fall off, break, prevent use of everything from VR glasses to standard sunglasses without extra care, fog up, etc etc. Contact lenses are a 30 sec x2/day procedure and boom you functionally have perfect vision with few downsides.
As someone who has worn glasses since the age of 3 and tried contacts around 10 years ago I will never go contacts. That is just a pain compared to glasses. VR is just fine with lens inserts. Transitions replace most sunglasses except for inside of a vehicle. I cannot think of the last time I had to deal with fogging up.
I saw you're not in the US and you don't have an available optomitrist to go visit-- but surely you have a presciption...? 1800contacts is a US company; they ship internationally, you just upload a photo of your RX and they fill it-- can take some time for overseas shipping but it's better than "for the (un)foreseeable future".
I'll try that, thanks
Failing that, try InterLenses.com. International shipping and no Rx needed. When I bought a box of Acuvue Oasys for ~$30, they arrived the same week. They must have shipped from a warehouse here in Washington state.
What's the catch?
They can’t have my brand, I have special eyes
Look! Look with your special eyes!
I love how, seemingly, the Mass Effect parody is more remembered than the actual commercial.
Try some glue or staples?
A little scotch tape will heal that right up
Duct tape. Duh.
Great idea man, I'll try it out 👌
I tore one my contacts on vacation and (stupidly) did not bring any spares. My eyesight is bad, about -11.00 and -11.50 in right and left, respectively. I called a few optometrists around town who mostly laughed in my face when I asked if they had any samples but amazingly, one finally did.
Hopefully your eyes are much better than mine, but if I was able to find samples for my terrible eyesight, maybe you can too.
You have eyesight that bad and don't bring glasses everywhere as backup?
I keep a spare pair in my backpack just going to work. I couldn't function if I suddenly broke my glasses.
I am constantly saying how it's not fair some people gotta pay to see.
My nephew went through 2 pairs of glasses in a day.....
And who decided eyes and teeth don't count as health care
Don't know a single person with contacts who doesn't also have glasses. Very risky to only have contacts.
I’m -5 in each eye. I carry a backup set of contacts and my own glasses everywhere I go. No pain in the eye or injury is worth keeping the weekly contacts in. I will toss those out faster than the junk mail. You don’t mess with eye injuries or eye annoyances. Not worth it.
So I carry my glasses with me as I can’t drive without lenses of any kind.
You don't have spare glasses?
Well you can read reddit comments just fine so you should be ok.
Feel like this is the same vibe as saying blind people can’t use Reddit. There’s always text to voice and voice to text ability.
Ya, I'll get glasses in a day or two, so I'll be fine
Can’t you just order more?
Ffs, buy a box of dailies.
People not using dailies scare me. You just live your life on the edge of blindness like that?
I have an eye condition (keratoconus) that can’t be corrected with dailies, or even standard hard contacts. My lenses are custom made using laser scans of my corneas, and heap tons of refractory measurements & adjustments.
They’re also roughly $1000 per eye. Dailies aren’t an option for everyone.
No? I have more lenses in my bathroom at home. I've never found a daily that worked for my eyes and I don't like the waste they produce.
I probably ruin/lose 3-4 a year and the reusable ones dry my eyes out way too badly. Different strokes for different folks.
You really think the majority of people only buy one set of contacts at a time?
I mean i use monthly lenses and everything is fine🤷 if you're doing proper hygiene and disposal of lenses overnight in fresh solution there's no issues
Some people don't take contact lenses (whether daily or monthy ones) seriously at all and that makes me scared. What do you mean you leave your lenses overnight in your eyes. Or don't wash hands before taking them on/off. Go back to your glasses before you become blind😭
I guess I should have phrased it more as "people not having backups" like OP
I tried the reusable ones in every brand and my eyes would be killing me by like 9pm. Accuvue dailies (aqua comfort +) have worked great for me.
jus do what i did, rock one contact & operate forklifts with one eye closed while you waiting for your contacts in the mail. the headaches are unmatched 10/10
can’t see the future if you’re blind
Forgot to say, I do NOT have spare glasses, lost them at the beach a few days ago
Sounds like you’re not very careful with your shit
I've always heard about people breaking their glasses, & thought they were crazy/careless. Glasses are so expensive, & so important, I can't imagine not taking extra precautions to keep them in good shape.
I have big fingers 🤌 and short memory
Maybe get some glasses strings, and wear them like a necklace whenever you’re not using them.
Ya, that's an option 🤔
I do this with my sunglasses because I always lose them. Works like a charm!
You should check out Zenni
I cannot stress enough - if you are in the USA, check out Zenni for spare glasses or stuff like that. They go up quickly, but a basic pair of glasses are really, surprisingly inexpensive from them.
I'm not in the US 😞
They're most likely available in most countries, I'm pretty sure their stuff is all made in China, but it's literally 90% cheaper than most optometrists in the US.
Firmoo does shipping to many countries and the lenses and frames are great
Zenni ships worldwide
Zenni usually takes a couple weeks to get your order though, in my experience at least. Better than nothing for sure but it might not be a quick fix.
I just ordered and had them on the grandsons face within 8 days. I guess it depends where you are. I'm in Canada
All opticians have trial lenses on hand for people needing new rxs or wanting to try different brands. Just give your doc a call and ask for some till You replace yours. ETD- there are obviously exceptions to every rule. I am not saying 100% this will be an option for them- but worth a try
Could be worse. I wear hard lenses and once they broke in my eye. Luckily it was a clean break.
…the warranty on them had expired a week ago. They’re replaced once a year :((
Not foreseeable for you
Optometrist here. I know how much this sucks if you’re in a scleral lens. Hopefully you get another pair soon!
Go to the eye doctor they usually have samples you can use in the meantime.
Why do they have to make it so hard and expensive to see?
So you’re telling us, that you don’t have spare glasses for a case like that?! …
From a guy who wears contacts too; guess you learned something today.
The *unseeable future
You don’t have glasses as a backup?
More like the... not so seeable future
ForeNOTSEEable for you
Given your situation, I think you mean, "for the un-forseeable future."
After this happened to me I learned to keep at least two pairs in case I lose a lense
And a pair of glasses
My glasses at 14yrs old at this point. A little Under powered but work. I don’t ever let myself get below 2 pairs of lenses now either after I got down to 1 pair and they got calcium deposits and I couldn’t get in for a week to get more.
You know you can get glasses for hella cheap on Zenni right?
Actually, no. I’ll check that out.
Do it! I go to Costco for my eye exam - you don’t need a membership, and only $100 if you don’t have insurance.
I get the prescription then bounce over to Zenni for $25 glasses. Super satisfied with them.
Walmart is only $59 for an exam if you don't have insurance
Licensed optician here. Both are region dependant. Eye doctors at Costco and Walmart are independent, and in most states it would be illegal for retailers to set prices for the independent eye doctors. They both typically do have regionally low prices but please don't be caught off guard if you go to one and the prices aren't what you expect in your area
So you know CostCo and some mail in places have limits on their rx glasses. Most mail in places are -13, and Costco labs are -15... so if you really have that bad of vision try a chain place that has an external lab, they can usually help.
my vision is pretty bad. Like -18 in my left and -19.75 in my right and I used to think that I had Jew between contacts and glasses because they were both Hella expensive. I actually have hard contacts encased in a soft contact skirt so it makes the hard contact more comfortable. But I can only get two pairs a year and that’s like $500
but my roommate told me about the online thing and I’ll be damned if they don’t carry glasses in my prescription.
Have you considered a clear lens replacement surgery? It's basically cataract surgery but you pay for it yourself 😆
I had it done about 15 years ago when I was a -10 ish and my eyes have slowly gotten worse but now I'm in a -2.00 contact lens instead of the other thick ones AND I can see well enough without contacts/glasses to get by in an emergency (not that I ever want to test that out though!).
And when they say hella cheap they mean HELLA. My most recent prescription pair was only $20. Of course, the frame and add ons can add up quick but well worth it for emergency situations.
Yep. Last time I ordered from them, I went ahead and got three pair. One for home, one in car just in case, and one at work. I usually wear contacts everyday, but you never know when they’ll suddenly go sideways on you.
I introduced zenni to my husband and now I’m just following him around the house, constantly picking up glasses.
But at least he’s not looking for them anymore? 🙃
Even with adding things it’s still way cheaper. I went all out on Zenni for a pair of sunglasses. Polarized, mirror lens wayfarers all the add ons and it was less than $80. I will say that all of my orders have taken up to two weeks to arrive so I’d recommend ordering a couple pair of cheap glasses just so you have them since getting a new pair takes time. I need to do an order soon because I’m on my last pair. 😢
I love spending my money on zenni, i have like 6 pairs and the meta quest lenses
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Some people stay pretty stable. I get a checkup regularly but my prescription has been pretty much the same since hitting adulthood so I only get new glasses when my old ones are in rough shape. My last pair of glasses (which I had for the better part of a decade) is nearly the same prescription as my current ones.
I get glasses whenever insurance pays for new ones.. which is every two years. On the in between years I will sometimes update the lenses from an old pair. But my prescription is pretty stable. It actually got slightly better one year.
Mine has stayed almost the same for over 10yrs.
there are many eye conditions that require contact lenses to have an effect. keratoconus and so on
Can confirm, have keratoconus and a rigid gas permeable lens that looks like what's in the image, glasses do not work and the lenses are very expensive (maybe USD $500-$600 where I live)
Very unfortunate for OP
Yeah not sure why anyone would not have a pair of glasses as a backup
Some vision impairments can only be corrected by contacts. I have keratoconus and glasses are pretty much ineffective.
Me too. Apart from the fucked up corneas my eyes are fine, so hard contacts is the only thing that works.
This. I thought the same until my wife got diagnosed with keratoconus. Without contacts, specifically scleral lenses, her sight is essentially a blur, even with glasses.
What's more infuriating? She had to go through multiple sets of lenses to find the right ones that refracted light the best. But, the manufacturer will not allow you to keep the old lenses as backups, even though they were custom made and will get thrown away. So she literally has one pair unless she pays double the price for a set she may not ever need. Oh, and insurance doesn't cover them. So $4,000 out of pocket for the one set. Fuck the US medical industry.
Interestingly, often (US) vision insurance WILL cover them, but you have to spend a lot of effort fighting with them. Many insurance companies fully cover 'medically necessary' contact lenses, even paying out more for them than for elective contacts.
(Source: me. I've had two vision plans in a row, different companies, that covered my scleral lenses with no or almost no copay/deductible due to my irregular astigmatism.)
Which coincidentally also happen to be expensive enough that keeping a whole bunch around might not be cost effective. Paid like 500 euros for a single lens
There’s some conditions in which only specialized contacts can correct; glasses and soft lenses cannot help.
Glasses are so expensive for me. I can get a few boxes of contacts or even with decent insurance, pay out of pocket $200 odd dollars for glasses because my lenses. I’ve wanted to switch to glasses for a long while.
If you need typical glasses (spherical, cylindrical) and you know your prescription data, you can order glasses from China for around $50.
My glasses are also expensive because of how bad my prescription is, but you can still find them cheaper on yes glasses or eye buy direct or zenni
This, and 2 pairs shoved literally everywhere: in the car, in every bag and suitcase, hidden at work, etc. Then when I ran out of the pack unexpectedly, I go around and collect them back 🤣
I'm lazy and lucky. I switched to dailies 20 years ago.
I went on tour with my band about 10 years ago and lost a contact within the first few days, with no backups. Definitely lesson learned. I travel with back up and glasses!
My mother just uses dailies now. More expensive up front, but she returns the boxes and gets a rebate, and it's a good deal for her!