When it comes to contact Lenses, I feel the world of long-term wearers are lemmings, just sailing off of cliffs with no thought to what will become of their eyes.  Hear me out.

I had poor eyesight as a kid.  Horrible eyesight.  When I was about twelve or thirteen, I got my first set of contacts.  At that time, I had to choose whether to get hard contacts like dad wore, or the newer type of “soft” contact lenses, which were less of a lifetime investment, not made to last as long, but supposedly better for one’s eyes. 

I opted for the soft contacts, and remember that they were advertised as “breathable.”  The optometrist said that I could keep them in my eyes for up to a week at a time, at which time I would have to remove and soak them overnight in a cleaning solution. 

Years later, I switched over to disposable contacts.  These were advertised as more breathable than traditional soft contact lenses.  Somewhere around this time, hard contacts—made of glass or something that makes them crunch and break when mom or dad accidentally step one while trying to find it after accidental dropping—went the way of the white buffalo. 

Thereafter, year after year, disposable contacts sales were renewed with better, more ‘breathable’ contacts that were deemed healthier for your eyes.  I would usually keep the daily disposables in my eyes for a couple days at a time, or take them out and soak them in a solution like normal contacts, and use them for a few days per set.  My eyesight became progressively worse, which I assumed was a combination of genetics and sitting too close to the television.  Every time I asked a contact lens professional about how safe contacts were for the long-term health of my eyes, they assured me (and my mother) that these were safe and had no ill effect on eyesight.

Then one day, I thought about it.  Wait a minute… if this year’s Acuvue contacts are better, more breathable, and healthier for my eyes… doesn’t that mean last year’s model that I’ve been wearing weren’t so healthy after all?  Not so breathable?  Though I’m no eye doctor, breathability is apparently pretty important because they use this metric in defining next year’s latest and greatest models. 

Today, I’m 15-years contact-free, thanks to the miracle of PRK surgery (the only method approved for aviators and divers in the military), I’ve had better-than-perfect vision.  But my kids wear contacts… and it still bothers me.  Let’s test the theory by visiting Google.  Okay, I just did.  It appears that today, silicone hydrogel lenses are all the rage, and that breathability is extremely important in allowing oxygen to reach the cornea.  Now watch this.  Make a note on your calendar to re-read this article in five or ten years.  I predict that silicone hydrogel will be a thing of the future’s past, and that a number of problems were incurred by these type of contacts.  There will be some newer, shinier, more naked sliver to dress your eyeballs with then.  And when your grandkids are reaping the benefits of some new breakthrough in medical technology that corrects vision without contacts, you will be ineligible because your contacts have rendered your eyes crusty and damaged.

Okay, maybe that’s a bit much.  

Please, just mind your eyes.  Wear glasses, and use contacts only when you need to for social functions or whatever.