I've been having problems with my eyes for a while and finally called the eye doctor today. They squeezed me in between patients and I have something called GPC. It's an inflammatory disorder that's common in contact lens wearers. I won't be able to wear contacts for at least 6 weeks so I'll have to get glasses. I can't go without anything. I like being able to see and read! lol So I'll be on steroid drops for two weeks and then another eye drop for another month and then go back on August 28th to see if it's cleared up and see what kind of lenses I can wear. The doc did mention we'll have to really look at wear time when I do go back to contacts. I usually put them in around 5:00-5:30am and don't take them out until about 10pm every day. We'll have to adjust that so my eyes have more time to breath. He also said we'll have to look at the most breathable lenses they have. He said once you have GPC it comes back easily and is hard to get rid of. *sigh* So we'll be going to look at glasses either tonight or tomorrow night, Saturday at the latest. I have an old pair I'm wearing right now but the rx is very old (at least 5 years). It's better than nothing. The kids were HUGE pains in the doc's office!!! Robin kept farting and the Randy taught the 2yo and 5yo daycare boys how to play mercy. UGH!!! Their mom's going to be thrilled. Another day, another adventure...

By Tink on Thursday, July 20, 2006 - 03:30 pm:

Cat, my sister had this several years ago and it was tough to get rid of. She has to wear specific (very breathable) lenses and can't sleep in her's any longer. Even now, her eyes are easily irritated and needs to give her eyes a break and wear her glasses for a few days once a month or so so her eyes can breathe. I hope your's is easily treated and that you find some really great frames. I LOVE my glasses and wear them by choice most of the time.

By Hol on Thursday, July 20, 2006 - 03:35 pm:

(((HUGS))). I'm sorry that you are having problems with your eyes. I've never heard of GPC. My DD and one DS wear soft contacts. I wonder if they know about it?
At least glasses are very stylish today. Celebs wear them with plain lenses! I've worn glasses for 48 years. The ones I have now are real pretty (over $600.00 tho ). I have rimless frames, ultra thin lenses, no line bifocals, anti-glare coating, etc. They are a far cry from my first pair in 1958. Cat eye frames in a lovely pink with "sparkles" in them, and nice heavy, thick glass lenses! I was a real beauty at age 10! LOL!
Doesn't it always figure, too, that kids act up when you really need them to behave? BTDT!

By Cat on Thursday, July 20, 2006 - 04:12 pm:

I talked to dh and we're going to go tonight. He said to call around and see if anyone does that 2 pair for $99 deal. I told him if I'm going to have to wear these for at least 6 weeks and then for a few hours a day every day after that I wanted something nice and that probably wouldn't be anything I could get for $99. I'm also going to either have to get the lenses that darken in sunlight or get rx sunglasses. I can't stand the sun in my eyes!!! I live in sunglasses out side. We'll see what I end up with. Hopefully they'll be able to get them to me soon. I don't want to wait 2 weeks for glasses with the correct rx.
Here's a site I found about GPC. I guess I'll have to check my len solution.

Hol, my mom had a pair of cat eye glasses (probably still does--that woman never throws anything out!). I remember playing with them as a little girl. My first pair of glasses were in 1981 when I was in the 5th grade and were a pair of those upside down ones (remember those??? ). Dh has rimless glasses. He can hardly tell he's wearing them.

By Crystal915 on Thursday, July 20, 2006 - 04:19 pm:

(((((Cat)))))) Better to get it taken care of now. I have slight corneal damage (blood vessels growing into my corneas) from wearing my contacts too long, so I have to be very careful, and my doc switched me t O2Optix, which are more breathable. If the damage gets any worse I'll never be able to wear contacts again. Eyesight is nothing to mess with, and there are VERY cute styles of glasses now!! Of course, it sucks that the military insurance doesn't pay for them. **boo on that**
Try going to a private glasses place, I bought mine from a private business, MUCH cheaper than even the ones on post, and they have a free 2 year warranty. He made them while I sat there, like 30 minutes, and even does free adjustments. Shane broke them, and they were fixed right in front of me as well.

By Cat on Thursday, July 20, 2006 - 04:27 pm:

Crystal, we don't have to depend on military insurance. Since dh retired he has vision insurance through his company. I don't know if it'll pay some for my glasses or not though, since I think I already used what it would have paid towards contacts. Oh well. It's got to be done. Our base has a horrible selection of frames, so that's not even an option. I'll have to remember the O2Optix brand. I do have an astigmitism, though, so it might not be an option. We'll see...

By Bemerry84 on Thursday, July 20, 2006 - 04:36 pm:

Cat I have the transision lenses that darken outside but beware they don't darken in the car so I bought a pair of clip ons right at the eye doctor and they are easy to put on and off. I wouldn't go for rx sunglasses as you have to keep changing them when you go in and out and that is a pain BTDT, espcially when on vacation when we were in and out of stores along the beach boardwalk. It was advertised here on tv that sears is offering any pair for $99.00 and they have some really nice ones. Good luck searching.

By Cat on Thursday, July 20, 2006 - 04:40 pm:

Mary, my mom does the same thing in the car. She said hers get really dark outside, but not in the car. I'll have to see what I can find. Thanx for the tip.

By Hol on Thursday, July 20, 2006 - 04:57 pm:

Cat - Yeah, I remember the "upside-down" frames. My DD was in sixth grade when she started needing glasses, and that was her first style. They were lavender, because back then, EVERYTHING had to be lavender for her! LOL!

I also had a pair in the eighties.

By Colette on Thursday, July 20, 2006 - 05:00 pm:

What kind of contacts do you normally wear? I wear mine from about 5am til I go to bed with no problems but now I am rethinking that.

By Luvn29 on Thursday, July 20, 2006 - 06:44 pm:

We have no vision insurance and both my dd and I have to wear glasses and/or contacts. We ALWAYS go through Sears because it is the best deal we can find, including LensCrafters, Wal-mart Vision, and private offices.

We got a complete pair, frames and lenses, plus a 2 year warrenty for my daughter for $99. She was able to choose any frame in the store. Usually children's frames are very expensive. That also included bifocals for her.

Even their exam is cheaper. I never go anywhere else anymore.

By Crystal915 on Thursday, July 20, 2006 - 07:30 pm:

O2Optix are ok for astigmatism, I have it as well.

By Cat on Thursday, July 20, 2006 - 09:22 pm:

I order glasses from Eyeglass World. I had a coupon I printed from their website so I got the transition lenses and the frames were free ($199 frames). It ended up costing $188 and that includes the $20 warrenty. I figured since my rx has changed so much in the past year if I need new lenses in the next year it will only cost me $34 instead of $168. I'll pick them up tomorrow night. If I like them I may not go back to contacts. I can't tell you how uncomfortable my eyes are right now. They itch and are tearing a bit in the outside corners so that burns a bit. I haven't even put in the first dose of steroid drops (just picked them up). I'm not looking forward to that. One website I saw did say they (the professionals) think GPC may be caused by the preservitive thimerosal in the lens cleaning solution. If I'm not mistaken, that's the same preservitive that was pulled from vaccines because of problems it was allegedly causing in children??? I checked my cleaning solution and couldn't find it listed on the bottle, but I don't think the bottle has all the ingredients listed and I don't have the box anymore. I did just switch solutions this past week because I thought the old one may have been causing my problems so I'll have to check that one.

Crystal, I will keep the O2Optix in mind if I do go back to contacts. Regardless, I'll probably still wear the glasses part time just so my eyes do get more time to breath.

Karate without any vision correction will be fun! lol I won't wear the glasses (they'd get knocked off!). My rx really isn't very strong, but with the astigmatism things are quite fuzzy. Is this a sign I'm getting older???

By Hol on Thursday, July 20, 2006 - 09:33 pm:

No. Since you have astigmatism, you are probably near sighted (can't see distance). I have that, too. My RX kept getting stronger until I was about 35. Then, at 40, I had to hold things FARTHER AWAY to read, so I had to get bifocals.

Things are fuzzy with astigmatism because of the way light reflects on your retina. In astigmatism patients, the retina is farther away from the pupil, because instead of our eyeballs being round, they are "football shape".

By Dawnk777 on Thursday, July 20, 2006 - 09:56 pm:

I've been wearing glasses, since I was 5! They are just part of my life!

By Crystal915 on Friday, July 21, 2006 - 12:08 pm:

Cat,
That's what my doc advised me to do, I'm wearing my glasses all day today because I know I'll be out late tonight, and not want to wear them out. As for breathable lenses, he said my best options were the O2s or the 30 day lenses you can sleep in. Since sleeping in my contacts is what got me in trouble in the first place, I didn't want to be tempted, and chose the O2s. He also said they are more resistant to build-up, which is a plus. And no, astigmatism isn't a sign of age, I've had it for years. I also have light sensitive eyes (my pupils react slower than they should), so driving at night can be difficult with oncoming headlights, I see starbursts around the lights. That's the one thing no doctor has been able to help me with. I'm hoping that eventually getting LASIKs will help.

By Bemerry84 on Friday, July 21, 2006 - 01:26 pm:

Cat,
What kind of solution were you using. You got me thinking about my 15 year old and his contacts. He has astigmatisms in both eyes and wears the toric lenses. I just bought him the ReNu Multi Purpose which he has been using since he got them 2 years ago. I was unpacking the bags and he saw the box and asked me if I was trying to make him go blind. I really had no idea what he was talking about and he said something about the solution being bad. So I though I better check into this. He doesn't wear them alot in the summer because of swimming, but during school he wears them all day until bedtime.

By Luvn29 on Friday, July 21, 2006 - 01:36 pm:

ReNu had some kind of thing going on that possibly linked their solution to a very bad eye infection. My eye doctor suggested I not use ReNu anymore.

By Colette on Friday, July 21, 2006 - 01:39 pm:

It was Renu with moisture lock.

By Cat on Friday, July 21, 2006 - 02:52 pm:

The Renu was recalled a while back. I'd post a link to the recall, but my connection isn't working very well right now and I'll be lucky to even post this message (rotten cable company!). I was using Renu with moisture lock until about a week ago. I switched to Alcon Opti-Free Express because I thought maybe the solution may be irratating my eyes. Now my problem has nothing to do with the problems people were having with Renu because of the recall. That's a totally different condition/disease/problem. From what I can find online, Renu (as well as a lot of skin care products) does contain thimerosal. So maybe switching was a good idea, but I was just too late. If I go back to contacts I'll stick with the Opti-Free Express.

I know astigmitisms aren't a sign of getting older. I just wonder if the decline in sight is. My vision has changed more in the last year than is had in the 20 years before that, and it's all the astigmitisms changing. The actuall correction in my rx is very slight. I guess once this gets healed up we'll see how my eyes are doing.

By Cat on Friday, July 21, 2006 - 02:57 pm:

Recall

By Cat on Friday, July 21, 2006 - 09:19 pm:

I have my new glasses now. I can see clearly (for the most part--they'll take some getting used to) and they're SO much lighter than the old pair I've been wearing. We'll see how this goes. I haven't worn glasses all the time for probably 20 years.

By Dawnk777 on Friday, July 21, 2006 - 10:50 pm:

Wow. I've been wearing glasses continuously, since I was 5, so 41 years now! I can't imagine what it would be like to not wear glasses.

Gary uses the Ciba products for his contacts. He never has any problems. He doesn't wear his contacts, everyday, though. He has Equate(Walmart) brand saline, though.