Contact lenses during chemo

Public Archive
1

Just a question to contact lense wearers.

Is it advisable to wear contacts through chemo? I have the 30 day lenses so only take them out at the end of the month before popping in a new pair.

Did anyone experience any challenges with theirs ?

Many thanks

2

My eyes tended to be a wee bit drier so I changed to daily lenses and wore them when my eyes felt like they could cope.

I also slept a lot during the time I was on EC and as I don’t like to sleep with lenses in, I just left them out a lot of the time.

HTH

3

Ive been wearing mine occasionally and not had any problems yet. I only really wear them to work and if i go out somewhere (like today went for a family lunch)

Always have my lense case and glasses with me in case my eyes get tired then i have to take them out.

4

I use daily lenses and wore them all the way through chemo with no problem.
Dx

5

Hi,
I discussed this with my optician prior to chemo. The only risk is you may be more vulnerable to eye infections, but if you are careful you should be OK, just get things checked out early if your eyes do get sore.

I had daily disposables anyway, didn’t wear them much in the first week post chemo, due to sleeping a lot, but wore them the other 2 weeks, no problems.

Jen

6

I have daily disposable lenses and wore them throughout chemo but did have a short lived spell when my eyes felt dry. Good Luck J xx

7

I have monthly disposables (worn for up to 12 hours a day) and virtually stopped wearing them during chemo.

I had FEC-T and wore them a bit during the FEC but when I was feeling ill from the chemo the last thing I wanted to do was faff about with lenses - it was so much easier just to stick on my glasses!

Then when I had the Tax I developed very sensitive watery eyes so didn’t want to wear lenses at all.

I finished chemo in May and have now gone back to wearing lenses as normal. I’m going for my annual contact lens checkup in a few weeks so it’ll be interesting to see if the Tamoxifen has affected my eyesight or not, as I know it can have that effect on some people.

Jane xxx

8

Hi,

I have daily disposable ones and seem to wear them as before,maybe slightly drier eyes on some days. However I do sleep much more during chemoweek and don’t bother with them very much then.
On day6 after tax2 I fell asleep for a few hours with them in after a morning out and i ended up having a painful eye infection for about 5days - not conjunctivitis, the pharmacist at local boots didn’t want to give me anything as didn’t have the right symptoms - I got away with wearing my glasses while my eyes didn’t feel right and that was enough, wearing them again on ‘normal’ days.

Rexi

9

I too wear daily disposables but found my eyes really watered a lot more when on TAX and to be honest I couldn’t be bothered with them while on TAX! Another point is I lost pretty well all my eyelashes and eyebrows - and this is much less noticeable when I have got my glasses on as opposed to lens’s in!

Sookie