I have been wearing gas permeable lenses for 22 years and tend to get a new pair about every 5 years or so.
However, i have just returned from the opticians to be told that after only 2 years my lenses are unusually scratched to pieces.
My optician thinks this is because of either the Tamoxifen, or high dose calcium that i am taking (and have been for 18 months). He said that they affect the tears which have a bad affect on the lense.
So looks like am now going to need a new pair every 2 years, which at £170 a time is not good news!
thats interesting, I wear daily disposables or should I say used to before the joys of tamoxifen, I am lucky if I get 2 hours out of a pair now before they drie up, so annoying, so just wear my glasses all the time now
Prior to chemo I used the soft ones that lasted a month, you had to disinfect them every night. I changed to daily disposables after diagnosis as my OH thought they would be more hygienic. When my treatment was finished I was advised by the optician to wear my glasses a bit more and only keep lenses in for about 12 hours a day - apparently the chemo had caused my eyes to develop tiny holes in the lenses (optician said this is common with chemo patients). In my case it has now cleared up, but in some patients it doesn’t.
TBH, I didn’t think you could still get gas permeables! I had them about 25 years ago and they were too uncomfortable so I’ve worn soft ones ever since. Prior to the monthly wear ones I had the soft type that lasted a year and I used to have to put them in peroxide then neutralise them for 10 minutes before inserting; they also had to go to the opticians to have the protein removed a couple of times a year.
I’ve worn gas permable lenses for over 20 years. I stopped wearing them during chemo just because I got tired and then my eyes became really watery towards the end of taxotere. After chemo I went back to wearing the same old lenses and still am as chemo and now tamoxifen have not changed my prescription. I haven’t had any problems so it must be an individual thing. Having said that I never did have many tears - so my optician says.
I’ve worn first hard then gas permeable lenses for 31 years. I’ve never had a pair of lenses for longer than 2 years before changing them due to a combination of scratches and protein build up. They can be reground but this makes them thinner. You can sign up for lens shemes with a number of high street opticians whereby you pay a monthly fee that covers check ups, solutions and a replacement pair of lenses every year. Alternatively you can buy lenses on the internet for anything between £30-50 pounds depending on whether you by one pair or a couple,
Interesting comments. Before chemo i wore gas permeable for most of day. Stopped wearing them when started chemo as couldnt be bothered and also had very watery eyes on taxotere. Just thinking now after treatment finishing of going for check up and considering monthly disposables.