# contact lenses



## FatTire (Mar 20, 2012)

I wear contacts, havefor most my life now. I know that you can wear them a lot longer than the manufacturer say. I have a "30 day" lens that ive been wearing for at least a yaer (I do take it out nightly, mostly). 

Im stocking up on lenses right now and was wondering if anyone had any experience with how long they keep in the original packaging?


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## *Andi (Nov 8, 2009)

I had to go back to glasses ... My "30 day" lens about trashed my eyes! :gaah:

So I think it may be more up to each person... Mine 1 day ... my friend 6 months... :gaah:


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## mojo4 (Feb 19, 2012)

Well fat my DW used to wear contacts also. We had lasik done and now she has 20 20. The cost for lasik was around 2000. But her yearly vision costs (dr visit contacts & solution) was around 650 a year. So we will actually save lots over the next 50 or so years!! Plus if SHTF there is no telling how long her contact prescription will be available and having a blind wife wouldn't be much help watching my back!  but as to your original post she found some contacts she had for 2 years in an old purse and they were fine. As long as they don't dry out they will last for years I guess.


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## FatTire (Mar 20, 2012)

Lasic doesnt adress my issues, id have already done it bud 2 yaers is good to know


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## CrackbottomLouis (May 20, 2012)

Get some BCG's as post shtf backup


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## mojo4 (Feb 19, 2012)

FatTire said:


> Lasic doesnt adress my issues, id have already done it bud 2 yaers is good to know


Wow, that sucks. Not sure if you can get them but the military issue eyeglasses are damn near indestructable. Plus they are great birth control since women won't even say hi to you when you wear them!!


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## dingogirl (Apr 20, 2013)

mojo4 said:


> Wow, that sucks. Not sure if you can get them but the military issue eyeglasses are damn near indestructable. Plus they are great birth control since women won't even say hi to you when you wear them!!


Not the new bcg's. I've almost had to give it up seeing some of the guys wearing them. They are actually quite fashionable. Go Military! serious. no joke


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## ras1219como (Jan 15, 2013)

I was blessed with terrible eyesight. Not bad enough that I cant see at all but I must wear something to function in the real world. I have Sjögren's syndrome so I have very dry eyes so when I wear contacts I have to do daily disposables with lots of special lubricating eye drops. I can wear my contacts for more than a day but my eyes tend to get itchy after about a week. I keep a couple extra sets in my patrol bag at work and used one of them about a year after I got it so they keep for awhile.


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## FrankW (Mar 10, 2012)

FatTire said:


> I wear contacts, havefor most my life now. I know that you can wear them a lot longer than the manufacturer say. I have a "30 day" lens that ive been wearing for at least a yaer (I do take it out nightly, mostly).
> 
> Im stocking up on lenses right now and was wondering if anyone had any experience with how long they keep in the original packaging?


1) In original packaging they will last outlast you as long as the particular package doesn't have a microleak that allows the solution to escape, which sometimes (but rarely) happens. But if you have one that's many years old and the solution is still in it, it is GTG almost indefinetly.

Used to keep a spare pair in my car for a couple years. Now car environments are harsh with their hot/cold cycle but they were still GTG.

I always kept a spare pair and an un opened small bottle of solution in both cars and at the office to back up my home stash.
My bug out vest would have 3 pairs in it

The solution that keeps them is 100% sterile and both the lens material and the packaging materials are not designed to degrade.

By law there must be an "expiration date" on such devices ( I think its 2 yrs) and companies oblige the law by putting one on there but it is just for compliance the "expiration date" really means nothing real world.

Source: Am a graduate degreed chemist who has been wearing contacts for a quarter century and have researched this subject previously.

2) I have also stretched the "30 day" lenses to 3 even 4 months at a time.

years ago when I was in a situation of extreme poverty I would wear the "6 week" lense types for 1.5 years before they started tearing.
This was with careful cleaning and taking them out each night though.

Taking them out each night is important for eye health.

By 30 day lenses I do not refer to the kind that you can leave in 30 days w/o taking out, but the ones that are supposed to last 30 days with taking out.
As a result of my wearing them longer than recommended a 6 month supply would last me 1.5-2 years.
I would take them out when they didnt feel comfortable anymore and replace with new

3)My prescription was extremely stable

I had stored 1.5 years of contacts lenses which under normal conditions I could easily stretch to 5 years easily but in a TEOTWAKI situation I might wear glasses on days i dont have to go outdoors. But put contact in when hunting or fighting is expected to enjoy the superior vision then so this could stretch you further.

Also have large amounts of solution stored.
in a TEOTWAKI situation I would have made my own solution by distilling water and salting it.

So using these methods I felt I could stretch my supply nearly a lifetime.

4) Now that I have gotten ICL those issues are of the past and my small stash of lenses which was so precious to me prior I have no use for


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## FatTire (Mar 20, 2012)

Wow, good info, thanks blue!


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