Relentlessly Purple

Trying contact lenses for the first time wasn’t something I expected to do at 27. It’s been on my to-do list forever but in all honesty, I thought at this point it would stay on that list forever more.

The last few months have been stressful and at one point because of my ESA being stopped. I honestly thought we would end up homeless panicking about bills and rent. Luckily the Mr being recognised as my carer has got us back on track but If you had said a month ago I’d be typing this up I would have laughed at you. Having struggled these past few months, the Mr has been treating me to various things. From secretly ordering an LG G5 for me and making me stop at my local opticians to enquire about sunglasses. Two things that we just haven’t been able to do & kept getting moved to the bottom of the never-ending list.

Booking A Contact Lens Trial

My lens prescription is quite high and requires a lot of thinning. The cost of that plus frames for sunglasses almost had me running out the door. Contacts seemed a cheaper option as I can then buy any sunglasses I like. I asked a few questions and the Mr cheekily asked to book me in for a trial. I’ve said I wanted to try contacts for so many years

I have to admit I was extremely nervous. Even talking about eyes has mine streaming! The opticians were fantastic though and it really helped. First I was talked through the trial before putting orange dye in my eyes. This id to check my eyes were suitable for lenses. I worked through a good few tissues just doing these tests but everything was fine. Luckily for me, the streaming eyes should prevent dry eye haha!

Money-Saving

We decided monthly lenses would suit me best as I don’t intend to wear them all the time. I mostly want them for when I go out so I don’t spend all day squinting. The cost is roughly £60 for 3 months worth and just under £40 for the trial. Wearing contacts means I can buy a few different pairs of sunglasses instead of just one with prescription lenses! My vision has changed quite rapidly over the years and it can be quite costly to keep up with so this works quite well for me.

Once the optician was happy that contact lenses were a suitable option she went ahead and popped some in for me. When they do this you are told to look up then down to your knees so the lens fell into place correctly. This happened easier than I had expected to be honest.

Trying Contact Lenses For The First Time

We talked about the contact lens solution and how to care for the contact lenses whilst my eyes adjusted. It felt a little odd after almost 23 years of wearing glasses! I was told I may feel a little dizzy/light headed but I felt ok. I could feel my eyes slowly adjusting and everything coming into focus.

It reminded me of the first time I wore glasses at 5 years old, my world had always been blurry and suddenly it was much clearer. It felt amazing trying my first pair of glasses, everything was so bright & colourful. Suddenly there were so many shapes instead of blurs, trying contact lenses felt the same. I kept trying to adjust my glasses though, it felt odd not having anything surrounding my face. After a few minutes, I was taken through to another lady who took me through putting contact lenses in and out.

Putting Contact Lenses In & Out

I freaked out a little bit at the thought of taking the lenses back out and it took a few attempts for the nerves to settle. Having finally managed to take one out, I felt much more confident. The other came out much easier. I possibly owed the opticians half a box of tissues at this point though! To make sure I was confident putting the contact lenses in and out myself I was supervised another 2 times. By the end, I felt quite confident and felt when the lens suddenly needed repositioning before I left, as my constant tears made my eye a little too wet. Managing to pop the contact lens back in easily enough, reassured the optician I was confident (and myself!).

I spent 4 hours trying the lenses out on the first day and have to increase by 2 hours daily until I reach 10 hours per day. I go back on the 31st May to finish my trial and order my first 3 months of lenses if I am happy with these ones. It felt fairly normal wearing contact lenses even though I could feel my eyes adjusting. Taking them back out and wearing glasses was a whole different story! Suddenly I had blurry areas looking over/under or around my glasses making me very aware of my lack of sight.

The After-shock

Having worn glasses since I was a child, being short-sighted felt normal and whilst I joke about being blind it made me realise the severity. I’m lucky to have some vision left but over the years it has rapidly changed and until now I hadn’t realised quite how much! I’m really pleased to have finally been able to try contact lenses out and looking forward to being able to see properly this summer and not panic about where the girls are when my vision is off from squinting!

Surprise!

I kept it quiet that I was booked in for a trial because I was nervous it would go wrong. As soon as I knew everything was ok I shared a picture after my ‘secret mission’ was finished, asking people to figure it out on Instagram.I was quite pleased most people didn’t twig straight away that my glasses were missing as I was also nervous that I would look weird without.

Mummy Looks Weird!

Eva burst into tears when I showed her the photo though, saying I look weird, typical haha! Once I had shown Eva the lenses and explained I will still be wearing my glasses a lot, she calmed down. I can understand why she got upset, she has always found changes hard to cope with. Showing her the lenses really seemed to help, the unknown is quite scary at 8! Plus if I was nervous and not sure what to expect, its no surprise she felt the same.

Explaining The Benefits

I think it helped to explain the benefits of me wearing contact lenses. I can do so much more without the worry of glasses falling or getting knocked. Walking home in contacts and sunglasses felt like heaven. Usually, I end up with face ache from squinting all the way home. Realising I was less anxious with Izzy as I could see her constantly without squinting was a huge relief too. This seemed to really help Eva understand why there was a need for a change even if it seems strange to her at first.

Adjusting

Hopefully, with time we will both adjust and contact lenses will make life a little easier for me. This morning I let Eva watch me put the contacts in and she seemed ok. When I spotted she had chocolate on her face afterwards and wiped it off for her she teared up asking if I could see her clearly. When I told her I could, it seemed to make her really happy.

As the Mr was feeling poorly I took Eva to school (yep we were late, yay for broken lifts, not!). I decided whilst we waited for the one working lift we should take some selfies to help her get used to seeing us together without my glasses. That really cheered her up and I think she will slowly begin to accept the change, after all in 8 years she has only seen me without my glasses a handful of times!

Second Day

After my second day of wearing the contact lenses, I’m confident the trial will go well. I can finally stop hiding behind glasses all the time & buy nice sunglasses. I felt much more confident leaving on the school run. Being able to wear sunglasses and not be blinded was lovely, AND Eva said I looked COOL!

Have you tried contact lenses before or is it something you would like to try out too?