"Party" contact lenses - any experiences?

Thinking about buying some red contacts for my Teonn character (example A, Example B) and since I’ve never worn contacts of any kind before (don’t have glasses either) I was wondering what people’s experiences with them were. How easy are they to put in? To get out? Are they comfortable? Could I wear them for 48ish straight hours?

Cheers all
Viperion

Hard to say. Different people react differently.

In general, you WILL be uncomfortable for the first hour or two. It’s definitely something you want to try out before the game to see how it goes. Unfortunately there is no way to know without spending the money to try them out. So it’s a risk.

You might be able to improve your odds of it working by going to an optometrist and getting your eyes measured.

A lot depends on the type of lenses - my only experience is with disposables (for corrective purposes, not cosmetic). However, my experiences would suggest the following:

With disposables … you really don’t want to leave them in overnight. But it’s only 30 seconds work to put a new set in in the morning, so it really isn’t that much of a setback. A mirror makes things a lot easier, even if you just have the mirror sitting in your lap. And your blink reflex is only partially your friend … :slight_smile: Also a clean towel to dry your eyes after you put them in - a) the contacts will probably have a moistening solution on them, which will proceed to run out your eyes, and chances are they will irritate your tear ducts a little for a few moments too.

When I first got my contacts (corrective) the lady told me to put them in for fours for three days in a row and then six hours, then eight, yadayada… to buid up to wearing them to get your eyes used to them, also if you look at the inside of your bottom eyelid, if there are lots of white dots you are more likely to have more trouble with them, due to allergies. I would also have someone have a good look at your pupils, mine aren’t in the middle so I can’t get remade cosmetic contacts, just something to think about before you pay for them :slight_smile:

Having worn them before at a starwars larp in the uk:

Get your eyes checked - make sure they are a normal shape and size so that you can wear party lenses.

When you get them make sure you throughly wash your hands before trying them on and buy a decent sized container of seline solution - helps to keep them clean and to get them in.

If you plan on wearing them for more than 12 hours build up to it. For example wear them for 4 hours then 8 then 12 over 3 days to get your eyes used to the sensation.

Take them out once every 18 hours for about 20mins - give them a wash and let them clean in their container meanwhile rest your eyes by looking at somthing at a resonable distance - like tree tops. This puts minimum stress on your eyes and allows them to breath. Eyes do require alot of oxygen to function and some of this is absorbed through the front of the eye. It’s a good idea therefore to let them ‘breathe’.

If at any time the lenses hurt or feel itchy then take them out - wash them and your eye then put them back in. Even the smallest spec of dust or fluff can make them itch or feel uncomfortable. They really should not feel uncomfortable to wear so make sure you douse them in seline solution before putting them in to wash off any fluff or dust that may have settled on them while their container was open.

Most important:
Your eyes are very delicate - if for any reason they become irritated or your eyes start to feel itchy / dry / tired then take them out! Let your eyes rest for about 20mins then try putting them back in again. If things are still not feeling right then just stop and find somone who wears contacts and see if you are doing anything wrong (their might be a split in them etc).

DO NOT STRUGGLE ON!

-Hope this helps :slight_smile:

Wahey! Bryn and I can both answer this.

We got “crazy” lenses (non-prescription) for our Teonn chars. They were hard to get used to at first, but once we made sure we were putting them in right-side in they were a breeze. We both wore them for a few hours at a time, then as close to a full day as possible before getting to Teonn.

At Teonn they only became uncomfortable for me once - and that was around 5 or 6pm on a very, very hot day. I just popped into my tent, took them out, rested about 20 min and put them back in (after re-cleaning them). Easy-as.

It takes practice getting them in and out, but once you figure it out it’s easy.

EDIT: As I was writing this Xcerus has just posted a much more detailed answer which is 100% on the money. :smiley:

I think most important is that it’s all very individual, so I’ll join those who say try it and see how it goes. Some people can’t stand contacts at all even for 5 minutes. I can wear them for a whole day with no problems, though sometimes they feel a bit uncomfortable and I have to blink a little to adjust them. Most of time I don’t even remember they are there.

Those are words of wisdom. I’m using dailies for more than three years now, and I’ve only recently became more confident putting them on/off, as I only use them occasionally. My worst experience putting them on was 25 minutes. My worst experience taking them off ended up in hospital. So definitely practice for a while before the game.

Those are words of wisdom. I’m using dailies for more than three years now, and I’ve only recently became more confident putting them on/off, as I only use them occasionally. My worst experience putting them on was 25 minutes. My worst experience taking them off ended up in hospital. So definitely practice for a while before the game.[/quote]

I tried corrective contacts for a while and gave up as it took me a prohibitively long time to get them in (damn over active blink response). So yeah they take practice and getting used to putting your fingers that close to your eyeballs.

I used to wear corrective contact lenses. I tried to wear party lenses for Zephyr but in the end couldn’t keep the left one in at all. I may try again, but at the time I couldn’t see myself getting used to it. They didn’t ‘fit’ my eyes very well, they felt like they were deeper than the curve of my eye, so like there would be air under the pupil part.

There’s just no way to know without buying a pair and trying them, everyone is so different. I’d say try it, more people manage it than don’t, but definitely do as stated above and allow yourself “getting used to them” time. Working up to a full day is really important with correctives, and even more so with bulk manufactured standard ones.

Eeeek. Maybe it’s possible to get party lenses custom-made for your prescription? I was thinking of it, but I have no idea how much it may cost, plus I’m not used to multi-days contacts. If I go for it they’ll have to be muchly corrective plus coloured :confused:

You can get prescription ones. Russell’s white eyes are prescription contacts. :slight_smile:

Omg. If they can make even THAT on prescription than I shall be all good :smiley: Now to figure out what exactly I want… hmmm… so many ideas :blush:

So were Liz’s red ones :slight_smile:

It took me a long time to be able to poke my finger into my eyes. It also was a lot easier to insert the right lens than the left. I would suggest lots of practice and if it starts getting weird a break before trying again.

I could only get one lens in for a while but that was a step forward.

It’s a really alien thing to do so get lots of practice. I wouldn’t dream of leaving them in over night. After about 8 hours I was pleased to take them out to give my eyes a rest.

The biggest problem I’ve found is that now I need contacts for every character! The change they bring to your appearance can be huge especially white or red or some of the more out there ones.

The red ones I wore for Teonn were prescription that I bought off the internet. Before I ordered them though I went to the optometrist and had my eyes measured, as you need your eye diameter as well as your prescription for contact lenses (which is not the same as for glasses :confused: makes it a bit trickier). The only problem I had with them was that I was looking through a red circle as the colouring covered part of my pupil. My eyes are like -5 so if they can make lenses for me they can make them for most people :slight_smile:

I would not recommend sleeping with them in, I’ve heard bad things about doing that. I took them out every night and by Saturday evening after wearing them for a whole day they were really irritating me.

Drinking lots of water helps, it was a good way to remind me not to get dehydrated as my eyes would start to hurt.

I’ve worn contacts (prescription) and everyone above is 100% right. The only thing I would add is that if you’re planning to put eye makeup on at any point do it AFTER you put the contacts in. The amount of water that will run out of eyes as you try to get them in will ruin any makeup effect.
Also, having a lint-free cloth to wipe your fingers on is really handy so you don’t recontaminate them with dust and little hairs after you wash them (it hurts like a bitch if you get them between the lens and your eyeball).