BCPs and contact lenses?

[Ka Mai Kim]

This is kind of a strange question.

My Dr. put me on ortho-tri-cyclen today, and said that I could go ahead and start the pills immediately, since I'm not taking them to prevent pregnancy. Oddly enough, I had an appointment to get contact lenses later today. So, earlier this evening I took the first pill, and THEN decided to read the information provided (maybe not so bright ). I noticed that it said that taking the BCPs could cause you to have trouble wearing contact lenses. What does this mean exactly? Like, you'll have really dry eyes or what? And are problems really common? I'm just concerned. I'd hate to have forked out $100 for lenses, just to have to go back to wearing glasses again.

Thanks for putting up with my silly questions

[PrincessJilly]

I am on bcp and have contacts, as long as I am drinking plenty of water, I can wear my contacts, for quite awhile. Also you optomitrist may recommend foods to avoid, with contacts, in mass amounts to avoid the dry eyes!

Plus the other part that can make bcp cause you to have problems is if are also on an allergy med, cause those also dry out your eyes, HAHA.. and if you live in Oregon, and are terribly allergic to grass..... haha... unfortunatly in the spring and summer my glasses and I are best friends and my contacts are just an accountance...

But go for the contacts I don't think you will have a problem, we are all different, but I know lots of gals on bcp with contacts! Remember there are a ton of BCP, and a bunch of different kind of contacts! Something is bound to work!

Rewetting drops are awesome!! Be sure to ask your eye dr! I love clearz eyes... i think they are called, they are a white bottle with blue lable! Hope this helps! Good luck! I love how much clearer my vision is with contacts!

-Jilly

[Jcbelle]

I was on Orthotricyclen and had been wearing contacts since I was 16 yo.

Unfortunately, though, I was told to stop wearing them when I got pregnant, due to excess fluid in my eyes, and the contacts were starting to cause damage. Hopefully, after my 6 week post partum appointment I will be able to start wearing them again....

[guineapig]

I wore contacts & took bcp for years, years ago. The pills didn't affect my direct tolerance to lenses, but IMO it caused my eyes to secrete more "gunk" and in fact there _was_ diagnosed faster/more buildup of gunk on my lenses to where I couldn't wear them anymore. I had to switch to disposable lenses (I used to be on the 1 entire pair per year thing). Everything has been great since and I'd recommend disposables anyway--I'm not even sure soft contacts come in the once-a-year kind anymore.

[jennb76]

Kim:

Last month when I started yasmin, I noticed my eyes always seemed really dry and irritated almost like when I'm tired. I wear the night and day lenses, and thankfully, if I take them out at bed they seem to be okay. However, I'm really blind as a bat, and if I get up during the night, I can't see.

When I sleep in them, though, I have alot of trouble with them being comfortable. I'm hoping it gets better in a month or two - I hate having to deal with them.

[Ka Mai Kim]

Thank you for all the input guys The contacts I got are 1 month disposables, so hopefully I wont have too many problems. Last time I had contacts, I was an eyedrop fiend, lol. I was always afraid my eyes were too dry.

I'll just be extra careful. I can wear glasses, I still have my old pair, so if my contacts become that bothersome I will switch back and forth.

[Kerry J]

Reading this thread has been quite interesting! I recently got new yearly lenses, at which time my optician told me I had an unusal build up of calcium on my old lenses. Could this have something to do with being back on the pill?? Maybe, but I am now moving onto monthly disposables to see if I can avoid anymore build up.

[dapreciouspearl]

Interesting Post!!!

Thanks for the information.

[Shannon816]

I've been off and on various bcps since I was 17, and have been a contact wearer since I was 13. Up until about a year ago when I started taking yasmin, everything was fine. Then, I noticed I wasn't seeing well, but I have a really unusual prescription anyway and assumed it had changed.

My eye doctor tried and tried to fit me with contacts. My prescription is so unusual anyway that my contacts are custom made, but we never could get them right. First, mineral deposits were getting on them because my eyes were drying out, so he switched to soft contacts. Changing to disposables won't really help that much. I wore nondisposables, but even my new ones had heavy deposits on them within days!

However, my vision was constantly changing. For example, one time my new prescription was 6 lens stronger than my old glasses. Another time, it was 2 lenses weaker than what I wear. It was so all over the map he couldn't make me any kind of prescrption, glasses or contacts.

I was told any kind of bcp can cause drying out the eyes. Steriods can too, so if you are taking any allergy meds with steriods, you might want to ask your eye doctor if that's okay.

My doctor told me to wait until my hormones got under control before coming back to him, but my primary doctor doesn't have a clue about PCOS and I haven't found a gyno that cares yet. I was even asked by my doctor not to drive because my vision was so bad. I did have to give up my contacts, and I'm wearing the old glasses. Still, I am hoping that we can get things settled soon.

[Lisa2008]

i too noticed while i was on the pill, a while ago, that all my ummm mucus membranes became very dry, now years later, im still not back to normal