Contacts, Steroids, and Cheating

I really just wanted to write about contacts, but coincidentally this "If steroids are cheating, why isn't LASIK?" piece came across my desk today, so I'm tweaking the headling to reflect its presence here. Very interesting. Now, on to contacts...

This post will be useless to many of you, as I assume most glasses-wearers out there made the shift to contacts years ago. But in case you are like I was—in short, an ocular Luddite—here's my experience.

Growing up, I had terribly sensitive and allergic eyes, and the thought of purposefully sticking anything in them was repellent. So for years and years I just wore glasses. For something ridiculous like 14 years of Ultimate the prospect of tournament rain would put me in a funk, because there's nothing worse than trying to play through rain-spattered and fogged glasses. Finally, a few years ago when I decided to try to get my game back, get back in shape, etc., I decided to bite the bullet. No way I was going to train hard only to have key tourneys ruined for me by capricious northeastern weather (leave the ruination to my capricious ankles).

Y'know what? Contacts are easy now. Back when I was a kid watching my mom deal with version 1.0 of contacts contributed to scaring me off. I took note of all the fussing and cleaning, and I remember how long it took her to adjust to these hard plastic discs floating on her corneas. Now the one-day models are so flimsy and wet they almost feel like they are made out of eyeball material (my eye doc says they're actually mostly water). Once they're in, there's no irritation at all, even on your very first wearing. At something like $0.60 per lens they are relatively expensive, but still dirt cheap if you just want to wear them for tourneys, as I do.

So these days tourney rain just makes me grumpy because I'd rather be dry, not because I can't see. Improved peripheral vision is a nice bonus as well. Anyway, if you've been holding out, you should definitely make the switch.

Oh, there's a catch. Isn't there always? You'll have to get an eye exam, so that might be a bit pricey, depending on your insurance. I think I paid like $150-$200 with no insurance. Also, your contacts prescription is only good for a year or two (might vary from state to state) so you'll have to keep getting exams every couple years to replenish your supply (you can get refills for as long as your prescription is good though). More information here on why this is necessary.