Here's a strange contact lens issue. Any ideas?

[Alex Franke]

My wife wears contacts. Her left eye is astigmatic, so it gets a special lens. Here's the weird part: When she walks into *some* stores, her left eye goes dry. Other stores are just fine.

Starbucks is fine, for example, but a local sandwich shop is not. Red Robin (burger joint) is fine, too, but not the grocery store.

Silly question, I know. But when I thought, "Who would be able to shed some light on this obscure little issue?" the first thing that jumped to my mind was BT3Central...

[LCHIEN]

My wife wears contacts. Her left eye is astigmatic, so it gets a special lens. Here's the weird part: When she walks into *some* stores, her left eye goes dry. Other stores are just fine.

Starbucks is fine, for example, but a local sandwich shop is not. Red Robin (burger joint) is fine, too, but not the grocery store.

Silly question, I know. But when I thought, "Who would be able to shed some light on this obscure little issue?" the first thing that jumped to my mind was BT3Central...

Haven't the slightest idea, maybe humidity and airconditioning? Does every commercial place in NC have A/C (I would imagine so) - but on temperate days some night run it (and have lower humidity) and others don't (nad have higher humidity). Why that would affect astigmatism correction lenses only leaves me thoughtless again.

Have you asked your opthamologist/optometrist?

How about this: make her swap lenses/eyes . Then you can tell if its the lens or the eye that makes it sensitive. if the right eye goes dry then its a lens issue. If the left eye still goes dry then something is sensitive in that eye.
Now if she swaps lens/eyes and then things happen in Robins and Starbucks but not in sandwich shop/Grocery store then I haven't the foggiest idea here either.

[steve-norrell]

My wife wears contacts. Her left eye is astigmatic, so it gets a special lens. Here's the weird part: When she walks into *some* stores, her left eye goes dry. Other stores are just fine.

Starbucks is fine, for example, but a local sandwich shop is not. Red Robin (burger joint) is fine, too, but not the grocery store.

Silly question, I know. But when I thought, "Who would be able to shed some light on this obscure little issue?" the first thing that jumped to my mind was BT3Central...

Maybe not some light, but some confusion . . .

I have a similar problem with my right eye, except that I do not use contacts, just regular glasses (tri- or bi-focals).

The eye doc attributes it to allergy. There is something in the air. He prescribed eye drops (Optivar) and they seem to help a little.

Lots of stuff could be allergenic at concentrations below what we can smell (or taste). In the olden days (a few years ago) we used to hear about problems with various solvents (in a past life I was a science teacher) being absorbed by the plastic used to make contact lenses. We used to advise students not to wear the contacts in the laboratory. I don't know if that is still a problem, but I am sure that someone else on this webside will contribute.

Regards, and good luck, Steve.

[jziegler]

My wife wears contacts. Her left eye is astigmatic, so it gets a special lens. Here's the weird part: When she walks into *some* stores, her left eye goes dry. Other stores are just fine.

Starbucks is fine, for example, but a local sandwich shop is not. Red Robin (burger joint) is fine, too, but not the grocery store.

Silly question, I know. But when I thought, "Who would be able to shed some light on this obscure little issue?" the first thing that jumped to my mind was BT3Central...

My guess would be humidity. I wear contacts, but have the same type in both eyes. When I go in some stores (or even work some times of the year) both eyes can get very dry. It's worst in the winter, but ocasionally happens in the summer too. She could ask the doctor next time she goes in. I switches to a new type of contacts last time I was in and it has helped somewhat.

Jim

[scorrpio]

Must be air humidity. Many stores run rather overpowered A/C units that really tend to dehumidify air. While you definitely want to draw humidity out of summer air, you still want some of it left in. A properly sized A/C will cool the area properly, leaving just the right amount of moisture in the air. An oversized A/C can make the air too dry.

That by itself should not be causing problems, but some lens/eye/cleaning solution combinations can be more susceptible to rapid moisture loss. Or, the lens curvature might be off. She should bring this problem to her doctor and see what he can advise. Switching to a different lens brand or cleaning solution might be in order.

[jking]

I used to wear an astigmatic lens in my right eye 10+ years ago (slight astigmatism). I never experienced dryness, but, I did always notice a "heavy" feeling. My astigmatic lens had a prism in it to orient the lens a certain way; the lens always sat "low" on my eye. The heavy feeling would get more noticeable during the day & I would end up with slightly blurred vision. The eye doctor attributed it to the way the lens sat & that fluid could build up between the lens & my eye. Today, neither lens has any astigmatic correction. I will notice extreme dryness in my eyes on some mornings. I have talked to my eye doctor & it was attributed to the length of time I wear my lenses during the day & the number of years I've been wearing them.

I would definately bring it up with the eye doctor next time. It may or not be a big deal. My experience doesn't explain your wife's situation, but, I can tell you that over an extended period of time contact lenses can change your eyes. If your wife has been wearing lenses for a long period of time, they could be making her eyes more sensitive. My eye doctor noted once that the blood vessels in my eyes were more prominent around the perimeter of where then lenses sit.

[gwyneth]

Soft contact lenses for astigmatism usually are 'toric', which means they are designed not to rotate the way regular contact lenses do.

If both her astigmatic lens and the regular one are made of the same polymers, this design difference can affect moisture and oxygen transference (the higher the transfer rates, the more oxygen gets to the cornea--in traditional hydrogels, carried by water.)

But both lenses may not be--a growing number of contact lenses are made with silicon hydrogels, which have a much higher rate of oxygen transference because it can pass directly, not just via water. So it's possible that her regular one is silicon hydrogel and her astigmatic one is not.

Either low humidity level or irritants in the atmosphere or both could be the trigger.

[Ed62]

My wife has the same condition. Her eye dries up when she goes into any HD. It's clear as a bell when she goes into any jewelry store.

Ed

[gerti]

I'd suspect humidity and cleanliness of the AC/Heating system. Some places never clean theirs or replace filters (if they have any) until something goes wrong...