|
| |
- Contact Lens Specialists
- General Optometrists
|
|
| |
|
Are you brave enough to put in contact lenses, Perth footy star wasn't
By Janet Viner from Viner Optometrist, Armadale |
What is it about contact lenses and Perth sportsmen?
I have been fitting contact lenses here in Perth for over 20 years and on a number of occasions I have had big tough sportsmen faint in my consulting room chair when I have tried to put a contact lens in their eye. I have never had a woman do that.
Today's contact lenses are so soft and gentle the worst they ever feel is like an eyelash in your eye. After about 20 mins wearing them you won't feel anything at all.
Some people are very squeamish about touching their eyes and it's usually men. Women are used to
fiddling around with their eyes because they generally wear make-up.
There are some perfectly good candidates for contact lenses who could be very successful wearers but they just clamp their eyelids shut as a lenses approaches. They can't bear the thought of something in their eye. The way to desensitise yourself is to practice touching the white part of your eye with a freshly washed finger.
So apart from fainting, what other barriers are there to successful contact lens wear?
Inserting and removing contact lenses requires both a knack and a reasonable amount of manual dexterity. Now you don't have to be a concert pianist or a brain surgeon but you do need to have some feeling and flexibility in the fingers. I have had a few guys with hands like shovels and fingers like bananas who just couldn't do it. As a rule of thumb, If your hands are steady enough to thread a needle and do up small buttons you probably have what it takes.
The next one is pretty obvious but in order to put contact lenses in you will need to take your glasses off. There comes a tricky moment when you need to see to put the lens but you haven't got any eye correction. If you are shortsighted then you can often just get closer to the mirror to see
what you are doing. If you are longsighted then it can often just be one big blur and then you have to be good at 'feeling' your way around.
Finally, small narrow eyes can present a challenge. If you have particularly deep set or narrow eyes then it can be a bit of a mission to insert and remove lenses. There are techniques you can use to overcome narrow eyes but it is a little tricker.
The fact is most people in Perth could wear contact lenses. You needed to be motivated but not
as motivated as the footy player who's career was on the line because he couldn't see the ball. He did overcome his squeamishness and has gone on to wear contact lenses very successfully.
|
|
|
 |
