Lentil recipes: Megathread

fadedtrucker19 said:Right now, whether they're brand new or not, I just wash my lenses with regular dish soap (like Dawn) and some tap water.

To be fair, these aren't exactly fresh out of the box; I've definitely had this pair for at least 4 or 5 years!

...

hard lenses?
Honestly, the absolute best thing I've ever used for them is just baby shampoo!

Personally, I've always found Allergan solutions to be the gold standard,
whether I'm dealing with hard lenses or soft ones.

Matthew Morris28 said:How do you all clean your new lenses? I soak mine in cleaning solution for at least 5 minutes, then let them sit in the multipurpose solution for at least 12 hours. What about you?

One follow-up question... do any of you rinse your lenses with tap water? I know it’s a big no-no, but I rinse the cleaning solution off with water before putting them in the storage solution. Then, when I take them out of the storage solution, I rinse them with water again and add some artificial tears before putting them in my eyes. Otherwise, they feel heavy and my vision gets really blurry.

Hmm... 🤔I've been wearing hard/soft hybrid lenses for quite a while now... replacing them roughly every 3 years...

Lately, I've been using CareCredit... though, reading through these posts, it's clear my lens care is pretty negligent 😬... I don't bother with those cleaning tablets or anything 😕 and I don't refresh my storage solution every 2 or 3 days like I should; more like once a week 🤣

And always—even though I was taught from day one not to 😕—I rinse the lenses under running water straight out of the storage solution before putting them in my eyes. I only clean them at night before bed 🙂

Personally, I've never had any issues 🙂

In my ongoing crusade to build a world where nobody has to stumble through their day feeling like they have literal sand in their eyes after a sleepless night or too many hours staring at a computer screen, I guess 😛 I’ll just take a moment to throw in a little advertisement. For all you exhausted souls out there: Visine 👍 eye drops

It’s definitely Boston! Give them a shot and you’ll likely never touch anything from Johnson & Johnson, Total, or Permacon ever again.

I have personally tested numerous solutions from Total, and frankly, I find them to be utterly useless. My lenses were constantly greasy; it was truly awful.

For several years now, I have used nothing but Boston products, and the difference is night and day. I utilize two separate solutions, and there is absolutely no need for those cleaning tablets—the liquids handle everything perfectly. I am convinced of their quality because my ophthalmologist noted that my (semi-rigid) lenses are in pristine condition. Previously, they were always scratched up and in terrible shape.

You can only find Boston at Gethaldus; I haven't seen it anywhere else. I know they offer a universal solution now, but I don't bother with it.

The best solutions I ever encountered were from Pfizer—specifically Pligetal—but they were more expensive and aren't being manufactured anymore. Boston is perfectly fine; I have no complaints. However, everything from Total and Permacon is an absolute nightmare. I couldn't even wear my contacts because the solutions caused such irritation!

BOSTON RULES!

Oh, certainly, I would rinse them out with water, of course.

I've been wearing soft contact lenses for 12 years now without any issues. But I just picked up a new batch because my old ones finally wore out, and things have gone south fast. After about an hour, my eyes start stinging like crazy and everything gets blurry. Once I take them out, my vision stays foggy and distorted for a while. My eye doctor says they’re made of the exact same material as my previous pairs and can't figure out why my eyes are reacting this way. Has anyone else dealt with something like this? I'm losing my mind trying to fix it.😢

I’ve been wearing lenses for way longer than you have, and I’ve never dealt with a headache like this with a new pair. It's clearly not on you—it's the lenses themselves. Start promoting them!

Honestly, you should probably head over to the ophthalmologist—maybe the issue isn't actually your contact lenses, but something going on with your eyes themselves. You might be dealing with some kind of inflammation or infection. Whatever you do, please don't mess around with those lenses if they're irritating you; you could seriously wreck your eyes and cause permanent vision damage.

Look, I heard one doctor say that once you hit adulthood, you usually transition from soft toric lenses to standard soft ones.... then another doctor told me there's actually no need to change if your vision stays sharp with the torics...

The bottom line: when—and if—your eye starts rejecting the toric lens (which can obviously happen over time), just switch to standard softs...

If everything is working fine with the toric (which I assume it is), maybe it's finally time to make the move to softs...?

The contact lenses simply weren't manufactured correctly. That sensation you feel, like a cataract over your eye once you take them out, is actually a sign that the surface of your eye is being irritated because the lenses are poorly made. My previous doctor tried to convince me that the issue was entirely my own fault.

I eventually switched ophthalmologists, ordered a completely new set of lenses, and I have been perfectly happy for years. It was such a hassle. PLEASE, CHANGE THE DOCTOR WHO PRESCRIBED THESE TO YOU. It is absolutely necessary. Just buy new ones.

I don't think it's an issue with my eyes themselves, because once I take these lenses out, the stinging stops completely. It only happens while they're actually in. There's no sign of infection or anything, and I've never dealt with eye issues before. I’m going to go find a different optician to pick up a new batch of lenses and see if that helps. I'd rather not switch over to soft lenses right now unless I really have to. Thanks for all the advice.

gentlecanyon92 said:Hey, I actually heard from a doctor that once you hit adulthood, people usually switch from soft contact lenses to something else...

That’s news to me!
What was their reasoning behind that?

Probably just development... hitting puberty or whatever, I have no idea how much that actually impacts vision and all that.

Hard contact lenses actually help stall prescription creep, which is why they’re usually the go-to recommendation. Sure, soft lenses feel way more comfortable, but there's a catch—your vision can slip faster if you rely solely on them compared to using hard ones.
I remember my eye doctor wouldn't even touch the idea of soft lenses for me until I was 18 or 19. The logic was that since the eye is still developing at that age, soft lenses could actually accelerate the shift in your prescription. It worked exactly like that for me too; I wore soft contacts from age 18 until I was about 25, and eventually, my prescription just started spiraling out of control. Once I switched back to hard lenses—specifically those overnight ones—my prescription finally leveled off and stayed put.

Do night lenses actually work? Are they a total pain to sleep in? Also, does anyone know a solid eye doctor in Washington, D.C.?

I totally get what you mean about hitting the end of development and moving past puberty
but if my eyes are handling the semi-rigid or hard lenses just fine, I don't see any reason to switch over to soft ones
plus, prescription changes don't just magically stop once you hit adulthood
so I was genuinely curious about the expert take on why anyone would swap something that works perfectly for something else just because they turned eighteen

just for some perspective 😁my own prescription actually jumped the most between ages 25 and 30, and it’s been steady ever since—for twelve years now—even while wearing soft lenses

I have a quick question regarding the adjustment period for soft contact lenses. I recently picked up a pair and have tried to get used to them a few times now, but I'm still finding the process a bit tricky. I was wondering—how long did it take for you all to fully adapt to wearing them?
Since I deal with a pretty high prescription and significant astigmatism, switching to high-quality lenses really feels like my best option for clear vision.

Look, my point was simply that the alternative view is to stick with semi-rigid lenses as long as the eye can actually tolerate them.🙂

Semi-hard, I guess 😵, took me a whole week just to get it sorted 🙂

From what I can gather, semi-soft lenses aren't actually a thing—they're just categorized as semi-rigid. That’s probably why they got lumped in with the semi-rigid lens discussion in the first place...