Eye give up.

Anyone else out there wearing ProClear (Coopervision) contact lenses?

If so, are yours as crappy as mine?

Traditionally I've worn Cibasoft visitint lenses. I'd worn those with no problems for 8 or 9 years. They're the kinds you keep for a year or so until you need to replace them. They didn't dry out my eyes, they didn't give me blurry vision.

I expressed that to my "Eyecare Professional" when I went in back in September. I told him that when I'd tried disposable lenses I'd found them to be painful as they dried out very quickly and my vision wasn't as sharp.

He again suggested that I try a different brand of disposable lens because it was in general a bad idea for me to only have on pair of lenses with no backup.

I relented, agreeing that not having spare lenses in the past has been an inconvenience. He put me in the Proclear lenses with the same prescription in each eye. My eyes' weaknesses are not equivalent, mind you. He stated that overcompensating in the left eye wouldn't do me any harm and this way I could get away with ordering only one box.

Cool. I'm all for saving a little do-re-mi.

Well. I put them on in the office and found that it was taking far too long for the lenses to settle and for my eyes to focus. My short-range vision was foggy, however I could see things pretty well that were across the room. He assured me that they were fine.

When I went back for my follow-up appointment a week later I expressed that I really didn't like the lenses and that my eyes felt like the surface of a sidewalk on a hot day.

He told me to use eyedrops. I told him I'd been squirting saline by the assload directly into my eyes.

Not once did he suggest I try a different lens. He just said again that these would be better for my eyes because they'd be cleaner.

8 months later these P.O.S. lenses have pushed me over the ledge. After a month of wear, the material of the lenses disintegrate to the point that the ridges in your fringer will leave noticable lumps on the surface of the plastic. God forbid you try to reorder them online through 1-800 Contacts or through lens.com because THEY'RE ALWAYS BACKORDERED BY AT LEAST 4 WEEKS.

Of COURSE they're in stock at the Doctor's office. Of COURSE the doctor marks them up by 25%.

I'm fed-up with the quality of care at the chain of franchises I've been using. I've only been patronizing them this long because I first visited them my senior year of high school and was informed that when I moved to Chapel Hill, there was a facility there where they could merely fax my records over to. Then when I moved to Durham I did the same thing (although they do like charging that new patient fee every time).

I'm through with all that now. I'm going to an independent practitioner this coming week. Sure, I'll have to explain a lengthy history and fill out all those damn forms again, but at least I won't have to put up with people who care more about making a buck than whether I can see or not.

Posted by Tiffany at May 28, 2005 06:42 PM