Anyone ever give up (or not be able to wear) contact lenses?

I have been wearing contact lenses since I was 17. I'm 45 now.  In the past few years, I've been wearing them less and less and my glasses more and more since my eyes seem to get dry very quickly when I'm wearing them. Now, I really only wear my contact lenses when I have dance class one or two nights a week, because it  helps to have good peripheral vision when I'm spinning around. I use silicone hydrogel lenses and they are the best compared to other lenses I've used but I still can't wear them for more than a few hours at a time.

I went for my annual contact lens check at SpecSavers today, and I mentioned to the optician that my eyes got dry very quickly and asked if that was common for women my age. She said that it was common for people of all ages - that many people can't wear contact lenses because their eyes get too dry. She said that she herself couldn't wear contact lenses. (She was wearing glasses.) She also told me that my eyes seemed normally moist after I took my lenses out so they haven't done any permanent damage.

The idea that lots of people - of all ages - can't wear contact lenses is news to me.

I can't wear contact lenses, I have always found them incredibly uncomfortable and I can never read the computer screen when I have them in. Its almost like I think I can feel the edges, and I get lots of gross eye boogers when I wear them. Its been about 9 years since I last had them, and I just can't be bothered.

If I did wear lenses, in this day and age, I would have my eyes lasered. My friend told me she was paying £20 a month for lenses, and has financed her lasik and she is paying £30 a month for that. Worth every penny methinks. Maybe when I am working again...

I wore them from aged 18 to maybe 24 or 25.  I'd moved to Arizona and had issues with my eyes feeling dry.  When I moved back to Massachusetts at 29 I tried them again but couldn't seem to get the prescription right.

I've also heard many women are unable to wear them after pregnancy, my MIL says Alex did that to her, LOL

Oh my. I've been wearing contacts for 26 years and I'm finding it harder and harder to deal with dry eyes. My vision is horrendous, and so wearing glasses is quite an issue in itself.

Apparently, I'm a good candidate for LASIK. I'd love to do that and am thinking more and more about it. Has anyone had it done?

When I was 21, my dad said that if I wanted to get contacts, he would pay for them until I finished uni (which was actually only another 6 months anyway). So, I went along to the optician's for an eye test and a contact lens appointment, only to be told that my eyes didn't produce enough tears to be able to wear contacts . The optician said it could just be a phase and to try again in a couple of years...

...So, when I was 25, I went to a different optician and inquired about contacts again. This time, I was told that although my eyes were quite dry, I could technically wear contacts, but I would only be able to wear them for a maximum of 5 hours at a time and that it would still cost me £15 a month. I decided not to bother, since there would hardly be any situations where I could just wear them for 5 hours (i.e. I would only wear them for half a day at work or half a night out!) and it wouldn't be worth the monthly cost.

So, here I am at 27 now and I've never worn contacts in my life (I've worn glasses for 18 years now though). I would like to get them and might ask again sometime, but I have a feeling it wouldn't be worth it. In theory I'd like to try laser eye surgery, but I'm not sure I could actually go through with it in practice!

I'm another non-contact lense wearer.

I've had prescriptions in the past, however my eyes just never adjusted.  One of my friends said I looked like I was doing acid, as I constantly needed to wet my eyes if I attempted to wear contacts (I was 17 at the time).   

I was offered a prescription in the states for daily disposable contact lenses, but the prescription was going to be extortionate!

I managed to tough them out for my wedding, as I wanted to be able to have photos of me without my glasses, but that was the last time I attempted them.

My vision is the absolute worst. Seriously. It's like -14 or something. I've been wearing contacts since I was 11. My mom took pity on me and my pre-teen coke bottle lenses.

I can't wear glasses for more than a few hours without getting a headache. Because my lenses are so thick (even with the thinnest, most expensive materials used), and my skin is quite oily, and I have a very straight nose, glasses are ALWAYS sliding down my face. The repeated effort to keep them on is what actually causes the headaches. Wire frames are not an option.

So I love, love, love my contacts and I dread the day when I may not be able to wear them. For the first time in my life, I'm able to go to monthly disposables. For years you couldn't get them in my Rx. They've been awesome!

My cousin had LASIK but it didn't take well and she needs it again. Plus, it still doesn't prevent your eyes from getting worse.

A friend had a consultation at the Johns Hopkins Wilmer Eye Institute about LASIK and the other surgical options. She found it odd that almost all the staff worse glasses. So she asked them why. They said it's because they'd seen too many problems with the surgery to risk it.

All that said, I've been told I'm not a candidate for the surgery at all. Something to do with my cornea not being thick enough I think. So I keep praying my contacts are never a problem!

I gradually stopped wearing my contacts about a year ago as they just became a low grade irritant that I couldn't be bothered to put up with.

I've got an appointment Saturday to see about daily lenses, though, because I really need something when I'm out jogging - my glasses won't stay on for that!

I gave up on contact lenses several years ago.  When I wore them, I had to constantly use rewetting drops (at least every 2 hours).  I have an astigmatism and need bifocals, so glasses are better for me anyway.  I don't wear them all day, so glasses are easier to set aside too.

I've worn contacts since age 16 and I'm 36 now. At my latest eye appointment the Dr said that I need to cut back on how long I wear them. I used to wear them 24 hours a day for a month, throw that set away go 24 hours and then put in a new pair and now I change them bi-weekly but can only wear them about 12 hours a day (though I often wear them longer) but only because he advised me that my eyes were starting to be dry. They don't feel dry and I hate wearing my glasses because I lose my peripherial vision and my 2 year old tries to steal them off my face all the time.

My eyes aren't too bad (-2.75 & -2.5) but I have an astigmatism in one of them and that's the only reason why I haven't tried corretive surgery (well that and the cost). My Dad has had his eyes done and so has my sister in law. My SiL ended up with 20/10 vision after being techinically legally blind at 20/200 and my dad had his done in 2000 and only needs glasses for reading. So one of these days I'm going to bite the bullet and get it done too.

My husband has very dry eyes and wears contacts, but he has to get extra moist ones -- or something to that effect.  He has itchy eyes a lot, and wears glasses a decent amount.

My vision is the absolute worst. Seriously. It's like -14 or something. I've been wearing contacts since I was 11. My mom took pity on me and my pre-teen coke bottle lenses.

I can't wear glasses for more than a few hours without getting a headache. Because my lenses are so thick (even with the thinnest, most expensive materials used), and my skin is quite oily, and I have a very straight nose, glasses are ALWAYS sliding down my face. The repeated effort to keep them on is what actually causes the headaches. Wire frames are not an option.

So I love, love, love my contacts and I dread the day when I may not be able to wear them. For the first time in my life, I'm able to go to monthly disposables. For years you couldn't get them in my Rx. They've been awesome!

Very similar here.  I've worn contacts since I was 14, when a nice girl accidentally stepped on and smashed my glasses in gym class.  My parents decided it was contact lens time.  It took forever to get a decent fit, and I've worn rigid gas permeable lenses the whole time.  I've heard that disposables might be an option for me these days, but I haven't had problems so there's nothing to fix.  At the time, though, I didn't care how itchy, painful, uncomfortable or whatever other negatives came with contacts, it had to be better than my horrible, heavy glasses that left a permanent dent in my nose.  Also, by 14, I'd already been wearing glasses for 11 years.  Little kid glasses in the 70s were not cute.  

My eyes aren't too bad (-2.75 & -2.5) but I have an astigmatism in one of them and that's the only reason why I haven't tried corretive surgery (well that and the cost).

Can you not get the surgery if you have astigmatism? I can't remember reading whether it prevents you from getting the surgery or not. I have astigmatism in both eyes, which makes my prescription quite strong (it's only about -3 without the astigmatism, but adding it in takes me to -5!).

Can you not get the surgery if you have astigmatism? I can't remember reading whether it prevents you from getting the surgery or not. I have astigmatism in both eyes, which makes my prescription quite strong (it's only about -3 without the astigmatism, but adding it in takes me to -5!).

You can get the surgery with astigmatism, I've just read a few reports that for those who had astigmatism and then the surgery that the instances of complications are higher than those without astigmatism.

Since my correction isn't that bad at the moment (I'm about 20/90) I'm more worried about side effects & complications as I'm fine with contacts at the moment. If the time comes that I can no longer wear contacts then I'll probably go ahead with the surgery (specifically Customized TransEpithelial Non-contact ablation) because I just won't wear my glasses all the time and I can't clearly see more than 12 inches from my face without them.

I started wearing glasses when I was in third grade.  I had little octagonal granny glasses!  I got contacts when I was about 18.  I've never had a problem with dry eyes.  For the past 8 years or so I've need varifocal lenses.  So because I am now both near-sighted *and* far-sighted, contacts are no longer allowing me to see stuff like the tiny computer screen thing at work.  I've just decided to wear glasses--cute and stylish frames for once in my life (well, since 1973 anyway!).  I'll wear daily disposable lenses once in a great while, like for a night out or something like that.

My opticians are really thorough, but a bit pushy.  When I told her I wasn't wearing my lenses, she suggested varifocal contacts (no thanks, too much trouble and I don't think they'll give me as sharp a vision as glasses, so what's the point?), or glasses *with* my lenses for close up stuff (again, more expense, and hassle, so what's the point?). 

My eyes run on the dry side, so I switch between the two.   When we had trouble getting one lens to stay in, my doctor noticed that one eye was dryer and recommended getting more omega-3, as that's supposed to help? 

I wear them from time to time, but for ease and comfort, I do wear my glasses more often.