Johnson & Johnson 1 Day Acuvue Moist > Reviews (7)

***Using them***

I've worn glasses most of my life, and had wanted contact lenses as soon as I could have them. I got my wish just before starting high school, and began the long rigmarole of taking care of my lenses. Back then you had to buy distilled water, protein tablets to use once a week to dissolve in said water and use to perform a weekly soak to remove calcium and other deposits upon said lens, and saline solution to rinse the lenses off before and after placing in their daily disinfection solution soak. I can tell you, if my vision had not actually been more improved with lenses over glasses AND I hadn't been a slightly vain teen aged girl, I probably would have not bothered.

But as the years went by, wearing contacts got much more convenient. The cleansing routines became simplified with all in one solutions, followed by monthly and weekly disposables. Then came the daily disposables, which seemed an extravagance, but once my optician talked me into a free trial, one I've gladly kept indulging. The Moist version of these lenses is an added bonus- I suffer from allergies (hayfever) and my eyes tend to get dry from the antihistamines. Likewise, in winter, central heating can cause dryness. During these times, I had been simply removing my lenses and rinsing with saline to re-wet them some, or using contact lens friendly eye drops, but these are a lot of faff, not very cheap, nor convenient. These lenses are made of a ultrathin polymer which has a high water content in its make up. This added moisture helps keep the eye moisturised while adding breatheability to the lens so that oxygen flow to the eye is improved. From having worn soft lenses in several of their incarnations for over 25 years now, I can also tell you that it makes the lenses super light and except for a brief kiss of cool, welcome moisture to my eye when putting it in, I can't feel them at all unless I've somehow managed to turn the lens inside out when placing it upon my fingertip.

***Getting them***
This is also a fairly painless procedure. A normal visit to my optician (Vision Express in my case), for an exam for glasses and contacts. They check my vision, examine the health of my eyes, measure my eye to make sure I get the correct size diameter lens for each eye as well as the correct diopter (the correction) , then make sure my direct debit information and delivery details are all still correct. The first time, I got a free trial, but as I've used these now for a few years, it's merely a continuing prescription. Hubby pays a monthly set amount, and they send me my lenses for the month by post. If that's not convenient, one can also elct to pick up from instore instead, so if you're usually not at home, and work close to your optician, this might be a better option.

We pay about £18 a month, and I get enough lenses to wear for the entire month as well as a 6 month eye check up and and any other aftercare that is needed. I do wear my lenses most days; as I've said, I see better with contacts, and my optician tells me it's because the way the eye focuses to see things- I'm not focusing through a lens sitting away from the eye and having to ignore sensory input that's excluded by the glasses lens.

It's more natural and less of a strain on the eye while focusing as contact lens nestles against the eye as if it is part of it. I can tell you that as a writer, translator, and editor, not to mention reviewer, my eyes get quite the work out, and my eyes are much less tired when wearing contacts, and much less dry after a day spent eyeballing a PC monitor doing editing proofs than days when I'm lazy and wear my glasses instead. To me, this makes the expense well worth while, especially as I don't have to pay out for the eye drops and cleaning solutions any longer. I do keep ordinary saline solution on hand however, in case I need to remove a lens to rinse out dust or anything else that may decide to invite itself into my eyes. That way, I not only get to rinse the irritant out, but make sure nothing is on my lens, and I'm able to pop it back in without having to get a new lens out. I've had the one bottle Tesco branded saline solution (about £2) for over 6 months now and it's still 3/4 full, so it's not like it's a great expense either.

***It's a disposable product- what about waste?***

Actually, I DID worry about this. Once removed and kept out of any solutions, the lenses dry out, leaving behind only a plastic polymer. If worn daily, the resulting amount of plastic is the same as is present in two credit cards. Being daily wear, there are no other plastic bottles or aerosols to dispose of (bar my saline, but that's me), no additional chemicals to end up possibly affecting the water table, etc. The lenses themselves are packaged in plastic blister packs with heavy foil lids, both of which are recyclable and which go into my by the kerb collection. The blister packs come in strips, placed in a box made of the same kind of card as a cereal box, also recyclable, and a one month supply means I get 4 of these small boxes, which are delivered in a single cardboard box, also recyclable. We don't generate a lot of waste in general, and it's rare for our bin to be anywhere near full of landfill destined materials (usually only a single carrier bag full a week), so I don't feel horrible about the two credit cards' worth of plastic yearly waste.

***Conclusion***

These are perhaps the best soft lenses I've had to date, though as my astigmatism has grown to where it needs addressing a bit, I probably will move onto the version of these that are especially for astigmatism. I prefer to try those as this version has been fantastic, keeping my eyes from being dry and slightly irritated, the lack of faffing about with cleansers and storage chemicals, and the convenience of the delivery. I have been recommended to not wear lenses for more than 8 hours a day, so I still have to keep a pair of glasses to hand, but really, this is a must anyway...if one gets a stye or other eye infection, or even a nasty cold that makes the eyes go red and possibly even slimy, then wearing lenses is a huge no no anyway. But for everyday general wear, these are fantastic.