Keeping in Contacts

I wear contact lenses — specifically, Acuvue 2s. They’re one of the most popular brands of two-week disposables.

Thing is, when Acuvues first came out, they were sold as one-week disposables. Then word got out that if you took them out and cleaned them every day or two, you could wear them for two weeks. (One saleswoman even asked me if I was on the “one-week plan” or “two-week plan.” When I said “two,” she said, “Then this is a six-month supply.”)

Anyway, I was running out of my contacts, and didn’t seem to have the time to get to the doctor for an exam. So I started stretching the amount of time I wore my Acuvue 2s. Two weeks. Three weeks. Four. Remember, I was cleaning them every couple of days (and with a protein-removing cleaner).

Six weeks. Eight. Finally I ordered new lenses. And after about 14 weeks with that one pair, I tossed them. I expected that when I put my fresh lenses in I would see how dirty the old ones had become. Nope. No difference.

I suspect your eye-care professional (and his insurance company) would never tell you to wear these contacts more than the officially-prescribed time: two weeks. Ditto for Johnson & Johnson. And ditto for me: I’m no doctor and maybe I just dodged an eye-infection bullet.

But I see things a little differently now.