Acuvue Advance for Astigmatism Contact Lenses

I'm an RN who worked for years in a ophthalmology office with an optical department, so I had my share of sample contacts, pushy contact lens salespeople, and free product trials, and the Acuvue Advance was the lens I personally chose and still wear today. If you are reading this, you most likely already know what an astigmatism is, but just in case, let me explain. Astigmatism means the cornea, which is basically the lens or camera of the eye, is an oval shape rather than a round shape which is considered the norm. In more simple terms, you have a football when you should have a basketball. How this affects your vision is simply images or light passes differently through this oval shape lens than the round lens, and blurring of the vision results. This can happen at near or far distances and to different degrees. Astigmatism is very common, so not to worry, but for a number of years, people with astigmatism were pretty limited to either not wearing contacts or trading off quite a bit or clarity and comfort if they did choose to wear them. While you may never have the absolute crispness of an individual without an astigmatism, the contact lens industry has come a long way, and you might be surprised if you have never tried contacts, or haven't worn them for a long time, of what the Acuvue Advance lens can do for you now.

Johnson and Johnson came up with technology that stabilizes the contact to keep the lens in the correct position and keep the degree of blurring to a minimum. That was the big problem in the past, the contacts would have a tendency to roll around on the eye and people were having to constantly blink for clarity and to refocus, and this caused dryness and discomfort while wearing the lenses. Johnson and Johnson has a technology they call "Hydraclear" that keeps the lens much more comfortable and moist, thus greatly reducing that tacky dry feel and subsequent blurriness that turns most contact wearers back to their glasses.

I have chosen an option called "Monovision" which may be a new term to you, but it just means I wear only one contact lens. Now, before you get confused, let me explain it doesn't work for everyone as I am nearsighted (meaning I can't see far..I know that always confuses me too) and have no trouble reading fine print as of yet anyway (I'm 47, so I'm sure it's coming!) but for now, I only needed glasses or contacts for distance, although I did get trifocals on my last pair but the portion for close reading was very minimal correction. I have always preferred contacts whenever possible, especially for work or social outlets, but with the astigmatism, I was somewhat limited.

For monovision, it must first be determined which eye is your dominant eye, everyone has one, and it usually is your dominant side, the side you write with. For example, most right handed people are right eye dominant, they see distance primarily with their right eye, although we use both of course. I am somewhat not normal as I am left eye dominant although I write with my right hand. Anyway, your eye doctor will tell you for sure, so basically I wear only a distance contact in my left eye, and nothing in my right. It's a little crazy at first, but after awhile your eyes adjust, as does your brain, and I pretty much see 20/20 with both eyes open, so I pretty much see distance with my contact and read with my non-contact eye. Sounds confusing, but it works for me, and I save by only wearing one lens!! Again, it's not for everyone, but worth asking on your next visit.

So for me, the Advance lens works perfectly, I wear it for daily wear, take them out at night, use a multi care solution to clean and store the lenses, wear them for about two weeks and then toss them out. The cost varies, I believe they are about 20.00-30.00 a box, which is for six lenses, but that also varies depending on where you shop. I know there are mail order places, but I NEVER recommend buying any type of contacts without following up with medical exams from eye care professionals. I have seen people literally go blind from infections caused by wearing other people's contacts, buying those over the counter colored non-prescription contacts, or most commonly wearing lenses that meant for one to two week wear for months and months at a time before throwing them out. Don't take chances with your eyes, you only get one pair and some are better than others, don't gamble with your vision!!

If you are looking for lenses and you have astigmatism, give Acuvue Advance a try, you can most likely get a sample or trial pair at no cost, and overall I think these are pretty state of the art lenses. They let the maximum amount of oxygen in, block UV rays, and have a very light tint to make them easy to find in a white case. While you may trade a slight bit of clarity by wearing contact lenses with an astigmatism, overall, considering the comfort of the lenses now and factor in the convenience of not wearing glasses and the reasonable cost compared to what prices were just a few years ago, I think they are well worth it!