The Jump From Monthlies To Dailies

Earlier this year, I decided to forgo my monthly lenses for daily-wear ones. I mean, I was hardly wearing my lenses at the time, anyways. (How to wear lenses when you're at the office a gazillion hours a day, right??) So, I thought that daily lenses would be the best way to go about it – having the convenience of lenses, but never having to waste money on lenses I don't wear enough.


Some thinking and a little bit of calculation later, I discovered that as long as I put on contact lenses less than 9 times a month, it would be MORE WORTH IT to go with dailies. (Sorry lah, still Chinese at the end of the day. =p) And as it turns out, I was wearing them less than twice a week. Only for Thursdays when I had to cos of Client-Agency meetings and presentations (which I sometimes went wearing glasses anyways – yes, I'm a rebel =p) and whenever I had fancy-ish parties to attend – like weddings, birthdays and farewells. (So happening hor? -_-')


My main problem with monthly lenses is that they tend to sit in their cases for days on end (or months, in my case -_-) without getting touched. And that practice makes the perfect breeding ground for harmful bacteria that could cause a myriad of eye problems. And I was starting to get problems. Every once in awhile – actually not that often lah, so far only 3 times in total – my eyeball (not eye okay... eye-BALL!) would swell and fill with liquid under my cornea. It itched and hurt at the time, but it always went away after a good night's rest.

But I wasn't willing to risk my eyesight for beauty.

(Looks like I'm not so oi leng um moi meng after all – haha!)

After an exceptionally bad run with the swollen eye (it didn't go away after I slept), I decided to make the switch – from monthlies to dailies. I guess so far, I'm okay with the change on a whole. Cos it's cleaner and all that. But here are a few pros and cons I have personally experienced with my Bausch & Lomb / For Astigmatism / Daily / Soft Contact Lenses:


PROS OF USING DAILY CONTACT LENSES: 

1. My eyes don't dry out as quickly as they did with monthlies. Somehow, my dailies seem to handle air-conditioned environments and late-ish nights better. (FYI, even a long drive – e.g. back to Penang – with the air-con on would sometimes dry out my previous monthlies. As would the drive home after a long day at work. -_-)

2. They're much much cleaner than monthly lenses. Like I said, lenses that sit in their case for extended periods of time aren't good for your peepers. Nanti mata bernana only you tau!

3. I can change to glasses at any time, hassle free! I love the fact that I can go out with lenses and just leave my glasses in the car. All I need to do when my lenses play up or my eyes get tired, is hop over to the car, squeeze out them lenses and pop my glasses on. So easy! Before, I used to suffer the long hours in contacts cos bringing my lens cleaner solution PLUS my contact case PLUS my glasses (phew!) along to work was just too much of a bother.

4. No lens cleaner, no scrubbing, no sweat. My pre-bedtime ritual is now sooo much simpler. I can just take off my lenses and go right to sleep after tossing my used lenses into the trash. No lens maintenance to worry about at all!

CONS OF USING DAILY CONTACT LENSES:

1. I find my daily lenses less comfortable than my monthly lenses. They don't stick to the eyeball as well and tend to run around whenever I blink or look up and then down again quickly, leaving me with blurry vision.

2. If don't wear my dailies for an entire day, I feel like I've wasted money. I used to be okay with the idea of changing into lenses just before a dinner so I'd clock in less lens-wear time. But now... if I just wear my dailies for a 3-hour dinner party, I feel like I've just wasted a whole day's worth of lens-wear. It's irritating but that thought is always at the back of my mind. Even when I'm at the party! -_-''' So kiam siap hor me? Sigh.

3. They're more expensive. If you're always in lenses and have got money to burn, by all means, go with dailies. But if you're not made of money and are into wearing your lenses regularly, you might wanna stick to monthlies just cos it's the more cost effective option.