To all of you four eyes out there,
I have worn glasses for 20 yrs and am thinking of going to contacts. I want to know how people combat the dust/particles that can get under your contact lenses. Is this a problem or not? Do simple safety glasses do the job? Do you just put regular glasses on when you are in the shop? what are your experiences and solutions.
thanks
dave
Replies
Finally, a post I actually know something about!
I've been wearing contacts for several years and in general terms have not had anymore problems with dust than I do with my glasses.
In spite of my success with contact lenses, I don't wear them in the shop because accurate work requires that I wear reading glasses with my lenses (after 40 the eyes start to go). For some reason, I don't need reading glasses or bi-focals when I wear my regular glasses. I don't believe my regular glasses are rated as "safety glasses" so I wear safety goggles or a face shield over my glasses.
The times that I have worked in the shop with my contacts, I did not notice any more problems with dust than I do without them. I wear soft lenses that have a good fit and I think that helps keep the dust out from under the lenses.
You may also not want to wear them if you are spraying finishes or paint. Although somewhat unrelated, I had fumes from pepper spray get into my soft lenses once. It didn't hurt at the time but when I put them in the next day my eyes stung big time! My point is the lenses will absorb nasty stuff from the air and can then create problems with your eyes.
I would suggest you ask your eye doctor for his opinion also.
Take care,
Greg
Sanding dust is a real problem for me. Bad enough that I went back to my glasses, until the dust scratched them beyond usefulness. Now I just suffer, and try to talk myself into Lasik.
I don't think dust gets under the lenses though, just under your eyelids. Of course, that makes no difference at all.
I recently moved from a 2 car garage shop where I could open the car door and the people door, to a shop with AC. I realize now that I took the ventilation of the garage completely for granted.
I don't sweat all over my tools and work anymore, but my eyes, nose and lungs sure feel the difference.
TXJon, you can avoid scratching the lenses of glasses by *never* rubbing them with anything dry. That includes microfiber lens cloths, even when used with fancy cleaning solutions from the optometrist.
I rinse off dust by putting the lenses under running water. Sometimes there are smudges or spots of grease, in which case I rinse the lenses first, then use the pads of my fingers to rub diluted dishwashing liquid onto the smudges. Rinse off all detergent under running water, rubbing if necessary.
Finally, shake the glasses to remove most of the water, and use the microfiber cloth to remove the remaining drops--BLOT, don't rub!
This keeps my glasses scratch-free, even though they have that fragile UV coating. My husband can't be bothered with going to the sink, especially at the office, and his glasses get fine scratches from the microfiber cloth and cleaning solution.
Janet
I've always wanted to wear contacts, but assumed that because I have a problem with dry eyes it wouldn't work in the shop. Reading this, I'm now thinking that maybe contacts with goggle type safety glasses might be better than glasses.
Anyone else out there have experience with dry eyes and contacts (it's not dust related, I've always had the problem)?
kt, I've always had the "dry eye" problem, and it drove me nuts when I was wearing hard lenses, but not with the soft. I keep a little bottle of drops in my pocket or purse and put a couple drops in if there's a problem (maybe once or twice a day).
A tip for those who like their contacts, but haven't tried extended wear, check out Focus Night & Day lenses by Ciba. They have tremendous oxygen penetration, and are worn for a month per pair. Put 'em in and leave 'em in for one month, then throw them away. Not having to mess with inserting contacts every morning (and waking up being able to actually see) is simply great.
These and the "mono-vision" approach to aging eyes have made me a pretty happy camper. [but....I still want the Lasik surger, LOL]
forestgirl -- you can take the girl out of the forest, but you can't take the forest out of the girl ;-)Another proud member of the "I Rocked With ToolDoc Club" .... :>)
Edited 7/12/2004 1:28 pm ET by forestgirl
Hey forestgirl, sounds encouraging, I'm starting to think contacts just might work. Time to call the eye doc.....
"The time has come," the walrus said, "to speak of many things...." Lewis Caroll
I can second everything FG said in this thread.
Dan
Hear, hear! :-)forestgirl -- you can take the girl out of the forest, but you can't take the forest out of the girl ;-)Another proud member of the "I Rocked With ToolDoc Club" .... :>)
Just wanted to say that the contacts sound promising. I will be able to wear soft lenses and am glad that the dust is not a super issue. I do not have dry eyes so this helps as well. Thanks for all the great responses.
dave
Buy some Spoggles.
FWIW, my wife just had Lasik done two weeks ago. After several years, here eye doc said the state of the art in Lasik has gotten good enough that she should go ahead. He advised the Custom Wavefront Lasik technique, which apparently few facilities do at this point.
Anyway, as a long-time contact lens user, she said that, compared to the difficulties you typically have with contacts, such as the lens getting wedged in the corner of your eye, being difficult to remove, the pain when you get something underneath, etc., the operation was a piece of cake. Any contact wearer should easily be able to handle the minor brief discomfort of the operation.
She now has 20/20 in both eyes.
There are so many sports figures having Lasik these days (Tiger Woods, for instance, and many babseball players) that I've been figuring it must be pretty safe. Some of these guys may be dumb enough to take steroids, but I doubt they'd jeopardize their eyesight, LOL!forestgirl -- you can take the girl out of the forest, but you can't take the forest out of the girl ;-)Another proud member of the "I Rocked With ToolDoc Club" .... :>)
I my humble opinion, and experience, you can't work wood and wear em...
I have only been wearing them since 1962. Also If you get in an area where lacquer fumes oar strong the lacquer will coat them and they will have to be polished to get it off..Don't ask how I know that...
I am speaking of hard contacts by the way...
Over the last ahhhhh, shall we say "many" years, I've worn contact lenses in very dusty conditions: Riding horses in arenas and working wood. My thoughts: Hard lenses really don't work well under such conditions -- the dust gets under them very easily and scratches the eye. Soft lenses, which I've worn for quite a long time now, can work well. It's much harder for particles to get underneath them.
That being said, sanding is still the biggest problem when wearing my lenses. Safety glasses help, but what really works is swimmers' goggles. If there's any wood that you are allergic to, you want to be especially careful not to get it plastered to your contacts.
Acuity: I use "monovision" to cope with the nearsightedness of middle age. I'm very nearsighted (making it easy to read with no correction, but blind as a bat for any distance, like 1 foot), so I have my right eye "undercorrected" and use it for reading and my left eye is corrected for good distance vision. It took a couple of weeks for my brain to sort this out and it works great for most things. Exact work with small lines or reading small print requires the cheap over-the-counter reading glasses.
Solvents: I'm extremely careful with them. Got creosote in my eye once, with contacts, It wasn't fun. Soft lenses will absorb liquids, so caution is due.
forestgirl -- you can take the girl out of the forest, but you can't take the forest out of the girl ;-)
Another proud member of the "I Rocked With ToolDoc Club" .... :>)
I know UVEX makes a safety lenses in a goggle style that has foam all the way around them to help stop dust from the eyes. I know Grizzly sells them. I think they go for about $13. I've been thinking about getting a pair myself.
I wear the disposable contacts, so if they get bad and start to irritate too much I can just toss em and put in a new pair.
Edited 7/9/2004 8:29 am ET by The Answer
If you are able to get a soft contact prescription, you'll be fine. I've worn them for the entire time I've worked wood, about 20 years, with no problem. The only time I don't wear them is when finishing as I find fumes from any finish make my eyes sting when I have my lenses in.
If you find dust getting into your eyes, contacts or no, you don't have adequate dust collection because it's also getting into your lungs. Be advised!
As far as acuity, I have to use 1.5 reading glasses when doing close up or layout work as well as drawing plans. My close vision is poor inside of 18 inches and it doesn't feel right to be that far away when working to close tolerances. I get the disposable contacts, remove them every night, and replace them about every two months.
Good luck.
Kell
Dave,
I've worn contacts since 1973. My sight is really poor and I don't wear glasses except right before bed. I do need reading glasses. Dust does bother somewhat. I wear semi-soft. It seemed that in 70's and 80's when I wore hard lenses, dust did not bother me. I have worn them in all conditions, office work, farming, building, painting (had to scrape the paint off them with my fingernails!).
I learned to cope with the dust producing jobs. My random orbital is the worst, it seems I always get a blast in the eyes with it. You just learn to keep the dust blast away from your face.
Until I read this post, I had forgotten about the dust problem. Contacts are not as good a perfect vision, but it's a good alternative.
Bob
I started wearing glasses when I was six, finally got contacts when I was 20, and never went back to glasses (I'm 38 now). My vision is far better with contacts than with glasses, especially peripheral vision. I'm very, very nearsighted.
That being said, I'm starting to have problems seeing fine details--which leads me to sometimes take out the contacts and put on the ol' spectacles if I'm doing close-in work--that way I can move the glasses up onto my forehead to see the details then flip them back down to find the tablesaw.
Dave,
My shop is in my basement and everything I do is for my wife or myself so I am not coming to you as a production woodworker. That being said. I am farsighted and have been wearing reading glasses for about 12 years. I have 2 boys 4&2 and they both thoroughly enjoy twisting my eyeglasses into the shape of a pretzel. About a year ago, on a whim I got fitted for contacts and it was the best thing I ever did. My eyesight is so much better with them than than with eyeglasses. It is now a joy to bear down on a dovetail line or look at a ruler and not have to look through my dusty glasses.
Go to a good doctor, get fitted properly and you will kick yourself for not having done it sooner.
P.S. I wear the ones that you throw out at the end of the day, If it makes a difference.
I have worn contacts and glasses for quite a while as well. I use the UVEX Spoggles(R). Which are like goggles / safety glasses and have a foam strip all the way around. They use an elastic strap to hold them on the head and form a perfect seal around the eyes. They are surprisingly comfortable and I've seen them at woodcraf, Lowe's, HD, McFeely's, Rockler, etc (pretty much everywhere). THey run $10 - $15 and are worth every penny. I wear my contacts in the shop all the time during all types of operations and have had no problems.
Rick
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