Eyeglasses, Contacts, Lasik

Some time ago I decided to try and make the transition from eyeglasses to contacts. My optometrist said it would be very hard to do at my age 60, and especially since I have never worn contacts before. He gave me a sample, Accuvue soft lens concentric multifocals. A week later I went back and to his surprise I had 15/20 vision. Up close, far away, it did not matter.

I had a tourney in two months and I gave it a go for a month but had to give them up because my eyes either; watered, or felt scratchy/ grity, which caused me to blink when I was down on the shot. I'd get one eye to be perfect then the other one wasn't.

Has anyone else out there had this problem trying to transition from glasses to contacts, or am I doing something wrong, or do I need a better optometrists? Recently, I have researched it and possibly I had some dry eye conditions. So maybe I needed to condition my eyes first, and hydrate my system, before trying contacts! thanks, Whitey

Hey Dennis,

I've had a bit of astigmatism in both eyes for as long as I can remember. I hardly ever wear my glasses because my prescription isn't bad enough to warrant them. My vision is somewhat blurry when I play pool, but I've managed to live with it by developing a suitable hand-eye coordination routine that includes pre-shot visualization, a couple of pauses, and a slow back swing. Besides, as long as I can see the edge of the ball, blurry or not, is good enough for me.

Long story short, I've tried contact lenses in the past and quickly got rid of them because they just wouldn't stay in place when I'd get down on a shot and begin to shift my eyes back in forth between the cue ball and the object ball. Add to that the itchiness and irritation. It gets even worse in smokey pool rooms. You can also forget about Lasik, which in many cases will fix one particular aspect of your vision and break another. Some Lasik surgeons might even suggest 'monovision' Lasik, which would correct one eye for distance and the other for reading. No one's coming near my eyes with this crap.

This, by the way, isn't true of everyone. I recall running into a couple of players who seem to play with contacts without any problems. Another player I used to know had Lasik and swore by the results and how crisp the balls looked after having the surgery.

In my opinion, the best solution to date would be to get a specially designed frame made for billiard players (http://www.billiard-eyeglasses.com/).

Peter

Dennis "Whitey" Young, Howdy;

About 30 or so years ago I was as aggravated with having to wear glasses. I
attempted contacts, no luck for me, apparently my eyelids were so tight that
they acted like a squeegy and kept peeling the lenses off the proper position
and rolling them up either at the top or bottom of my eye. So, I accepted that
until I was told about my cataracts. Well, Tues. the Left eye was taken care
of. Things are looking very much clearer and I'm told that the right eye will be
done shortly. I'll still need glasses ... just not the 'coke bottle bottoms' I've been
using. From what I can tell middle distance will be good close better and
distance will be fair. I should finish at near 20/40 in both which is below the
general cut-off line for mandatory wear of corrective lenses for driving. If
that is so, then I'll be getting the endorsement removed from mine when I can.

hank

In the early eighties, when I had a monvision prescription, I broke my glasses and they gave me contacts. Soft lenses had just been introduced. It was really funny when the doc tried to put them in my eyes. It took him 30 minutes cuz I kept backing away from him or shutting my lids.he finally got em in and told me I was the most resistant person he had ever met!

When I tried to take them out at home that evening, I grabbed by eyeball instead of the contac, pitched my eye and had a bad hemorrhage. I eventually got good at putting them in and taking them out.

However, they were too much trouble to keep clean as you had to put them in this chemical oven contraption each night and I was used to just throwing my glasses on the dresser before bed.

I also had problems with blurryness, cloudiness, and itching with them on.

A friend of mine at the time went to sleep with hers on one night and woke up with them glued to her eye and had to have them surgically removed. Almost lost her vision.

Years later (about 10 years ago) I tried again, but had developed presbyopia needing bifocals. I decided to trie for a monvision prescription for reading and a separate pair of glasses over them to adjust for distance. Or. Maybe it was the other way around...I can't remember.

By that time, instead of one pair of contacts that lasted a year, they now had prescriptions for extended wear lenses which you replaced monthly. However, I had problems with blurry, cloudy and grittiness still which I found out we're due to excess salt secretions in my tear fluids. I salted the damn things up more in a week, than most people do in a month. So, I can't wear contacts period.

things are blurry for me at the table but i can see the edge of the ball, to make thin cuts, even long ones......

If anybody's hesitant to try contacts because of these horror stories, don't be. I wear soft contacts only for playing pool (a few hours a day), and have no discomfort at all - I've even gotten comfortable with sticking my fingers in my eyes to put them in and take them out, no problem. My general vision isn't bad enough to bother correcting (except for reading glasses), but I didn't realize how much I was missing in my pool game until I tried contacts - they're the reason I can still enjoy the game.

pj <- 70 next month
chgo

Patrick Johnson said:

If anybody's hesitant to try contacts because of these horror stories, don't be. I wear soft contacts only for playing pool (a few hours a day), and have no discomfort at all - I've even gotten comfortable with sticking my fingers in my eyes to put them in and take them out, no problem. My general vision isn't bad enough to bother correcting (except for reading glasses), but I didn't realize how much I was missing in my pool game until I tried contacts - they're the reason I can still enjoy the game.

pj <- 70 next month
chgo

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If your around cigarette smoke.....Glasses at our age. If you in a Very Dry climate Glasses. If the doc says your age mandates glasses, do you have a good doctor? If you tear enough to keep em wet, then go for it. If you don't sneeze when they do lasic....it's in your court. Best to ya, with your choice.

Lasik !

Lasik !

April was 13 yrs since both my wife and I had our lasik surgery. We both opted for being able to see like 1 foot to wherever with both eyes. Which meant we would have to wear reading glasses .

I want to say my wife was like 20/600 or 20/650 in both eyes. She is still 20/20 today.

I was 20/500 in rt eye and 20/300 in left. Today I see 20/20 and sometimes better when my sugar is good. Am perfectly happy with eyes of course.

With all the tests that are performed to see if you are a candidate for lasik, if you are I would recommend it.

When I first started playing pool (around 11 or 12 yrs old) I had no eye problems, but by the time I graduated high school I did. Started wearing glasses and I could not make a ball! It was so frustrating that I ended up wearing glasses when not playing pool but when I played, I took them off. Couldn't see as well, but it was what I was used to for the last decade of playing.

I ended up not playing pool for probably 15 years or so and I had Lasik about 8 years ago I think. Best decision I ever made. Expensive, but would do it again in a heart beat. I could now see perfectly up close, far away, did not matter. I had them do something special where when driving at night, you get no glare from the headlights, it has been great!

Now..into my 40's I am sure my retina has detached, I can't read labels for shit and my distance visions is slowly deteriorating. Another Lasik surgery is out of the question because I don't have that much room left for them to laser so I have been seriously considering what to do. I had tried contacts a few times in the past and just could never put them in, yea I am one of those. So I guess I am leaning towards glasses again, but I sure am holding out as long as I can before I gotta do it...

Thanks for the link Peter, going to check out those frames.

Kind of looks similar to the ones that Wade used to wear:

http://www.onepocket.org/hof/inductees/lifetime-pool-in-action/wade-crane/

Dennis "Whitey" Young said:

Some time ago I decided to try and make the transition from eyeglasses to contacts. My optometrist said it would be very hard to do at my age 60, and especially since I have never worn contacts before. He gave me a sample, Accuvue soft lens concentric multifocals. A week later I went back and to his surprise I had 15/20 vision. Up close, far away, it did not matter.

I had a tourney in two months and I gave it a go for a month but had to give them up because my eyes either; watered, or felt scratchy/ grity, which caused me to blink when I was down on the shot. I'd get one eye to be perfect then the other one wasn't.

Has anyone else out there had this problem trying to transition from glasses to contacts, or am I doing something wrong, or do I need a better optometrists? Recently, I have researched it and possibly I had some dry eye conditions. So maybe I needed to condition my eyes first, and hydrate my system, before trying contacts! thanks, Whitey

Click to expand...

Dennis,

I went through the same experience about 5 years ago and found that the different brands of contacts make a huge difference in comfort.

Make sure you find the best doctor you can and be sure to try other brands of contacts.

With the right contacts you will forget they are in.

Bill S.

Patrick Johnson said:

If anybody's hesitant to try contacts because of these horror stories, don't be. I wear soft contacts only for playing pool (a few hours a day), and have no discomfort at all - I've even gotten comfortable with sticking my fingers in my eyes to put them in and take them out, no problem. My general vision isn't bad enough to bother correcting (except for reading glasses), but I didn't realize how much I was missing in my pool game until I tried contacts - they're the reason I can still enjoy the game.

pj <- 70 next month
chgo

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I got soft contacts about 10 years ago but had a terrible time putting them in and taking them out, but once in I had no discomfort. I soon went to play pool and played the best I had in years (might have been coincidence, performance to expectation, placebo, etc.) so I kept struggling with the in-out, in-out for about a week, then gave up.

I gave up glasses for pool even before that. As I got older and my near vision got worse, my distance vision improved. I asked my eye Doc if that was normal, and he said no... it was more likely that my small cataracts were slightly reshaping my eyes.

Love mine,single vision, last pair $90.00 US
P.S Oops posted Home page, check Snooker Glasses.

http://www.glassescomplete.co.uk/

androd said:

Love mine,single vision, last pair $90.00 US
P.S Oops posted Home page, check Snooker Glasses.

http://www.glassescomplete.co.uk/

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there you go Rod:

http://www.glassescomplete.co.uk/glasses/style/snooker/

Hmm, cool I will check them out as well, thanks again!

bstroud said:

Dennis,

I went through the same experience about 5 years ago and found that the different brands of contacts make a huge difference in comfort.

Make sure you find the best doctor you can and be sure to try other brands of contacts.

With the right contacts you will forget they are in.

Bill S.

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Bill, do you mind me asking what type and brand you use with success, thanks !

And thanks for all the comments that have come in, please keep them coming for it sure is helpful for everyone! thanks, Whitey

here's a chronicle of my lasik experience:
http://www.onepocket.org/forum/showthread.php?t=7750

4-1/2 yrs later, i don't go anywhere without eye drops (chronic dry eyes) or readers/helpers.

i wore contacts for about 26 years. having bad eyes just sucks. none of the options are great. lasik is ok but not perfect. i never liked glasses - things just look "different" out of them. contacts are a constant inconvenience.

Patrick Johnson said:

I didn't realize how much I was missing in my pool game until I tried contacts

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This is literally true - my mid-distance vision changed very gradually and I coped with it unconsciously, not realizing how much it was holding me back. I imagine this can happen to a lot of us in this geezer's game.

pj
chgo

Dennis "Whitey" Young said:

Bill, do you mind me asking what type and brand you use with success, thanks !

And thanks for all the comments that have come in, please keep them coming for it sure is helpful for everyone! thanks, Whitey

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Dennis,

I had the best luck with 1 day Acuvue but it all depends on the shape of your eye.
That's why you need a really good eye doctor that keeps up with modern technology.

Best of luck.

Bill S.

bstroud said:

Dennis,

I had the best luck with 1 day Acuvue but it all depends on the shape of your eye.
That's why you need a really good eye doctor that keeps up with modern technology.

Best of luck.

Bill S.

Click to expand...

Thanks, Bill! I just got a new pair of glasses, they are big like Virginia Carr wears, oh well my wife says big glasses are in style, but all I care about is that I am not looking through the rims. Optometrist made them a little stronger, and I can see the balls crystal clear. But I am one that gets down really low and this makes the balls egg shape at my prescription, and even the table has a bow in it! I did some adjustments on the glasses and the balls appear better, and getting use to not getting down so low on the ball. As Miller points out; things just do not seem right with glasses.

My insurance rolls over on Oct. 1st. and am eligible for contacts, so I will pursue that under the guidelines you suggested, and give them another go at it. It seems that Lasik on these posts have for the most part served them well vs. very poor eyesight. That is great to hear, and I believe there have been many advances in recent years. thanks to all, Whitey

OneRock said:

http://www.williamcurranopticians.com

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I second this...I had a pair of their glasses made for me and love them. I was wearing contacts, but after a few hours my eyes would be so tired I would quit playing. Now I feel I can play as long as I want with no eye fatigue.