Contact Lenses - Pollution and Supply

[stephaniepainter3]

I wear contact eye lenses and I have heard that because of Beijing's polution it is almost impossible to do so, is this true? I am planing to bring a year supply of contact to China, since I have seen things online saying that the China has low quality contact products. DO an of you wear contact lenses while in China, and if so what brand do you use?

thanks! B)

[Meng Lelan]

I wore mine the whole time I was ever in Beijing on study abroad. But I brought or shipped in all my contact lenses solution (Optifree) and my contact lenses too. Uh, if you go through airport security in China they will take away your carry on contact lenses solution in quantities over about something like an ounce.

[carey]

you can buy it in beijing. Some of my classmate use contact eye lense, there isn't any problem! choose some bigger shop!

[Hugh]

The pollution thing is an issue, actually. I can't wear contact lenses here as much as I do in the UK (although I wear them far too much in the UK). Wear glasses now and then, and don't go over 10 hours of contact lens wear a day and I think it's fine. Otherwise I find one or both eyes start to get a bit irritated (and that never happened back home).

[daofeishi]

I've used my contacts whenever I've been to China, long term and short term. I've never had any problems with them. I use Bausch&Lomb's PureVision.

[fish]

i use contact lens all the day, far more than ten hours, as i can not see w/o it!

bought from the local shop, it is OK!

[roddy]

Can't really predict how any one person's eyes are going to react - you might be fine, you might not [edit: and dryness and dust are probably more of an issue than pollution]. I'd bring three or six months supply of lenses, solution you can just buy here.

Having three months supply is more than enough to either find something available locally you can use happily, or get more shipped over. Lenses are small and easy to order from overseas. What brand do you use? It's entirely possible you can get the same ones, from the very same factory, in China.

[knickherboots]

I've used Acuvue and Bausch & Lomb, both dailies, bought here in Beijing at what I think is a Taiwan-based chain store called 宝岛。 The packaging on these contacts indicates that they are manufactured abroad. I haven't had a problem with either, though I prefer the Acuvue. They're dailies, so solution isn't really necessary. They are comfortable for about eight to ten hours, at which point my eyes start to get irritated. I don't know if my experience would be different anywhere else--I've only worn contacts in China and SE Asia. I think my eyes reacted about the same in the clear air of remote parts of SE Asia, where I go scuba diving. Name-brand contact solution is widely available here in Beijing and in other big cities, so you certainly don't need to bring much of that. Depending on what you pay for contacts, you might save a bit of money by bringing a hefty supply of with you, but I wouldn't see it as a safety or convenience issue.

Edited July 26, 2011 at 02:23 AM by knickherboots

[Lu]

Years ago the pollution in London really irritated my eyes, so when I first came to Beijing I brought glasses and wore those all year. This time around I brought contacts too and actually it's fine. But perhaps it varies per person.

There are crappy lenses here but also good ones. I buy mine from Lenscrafters, an international chain store, it seems, the lenses are Japanese, and so far it's fine.

[WestTexas]

I wear contact lenses here and don't have any problems. I have no idea what brand they are, but I bought them in China. If you know what prescription number your eyes are (I am -5.50) you can just walk into the eyeglasses store and say "Give me some 隐性眼睛" and they ask what number, then you just pick what you want. Yeah, much cheaper. My contact lenses cost 90 yuan for a pair and are supposed to last for something like six months. I asked the lady for 2 week contact lenses and she was like, Are you crazy? We don't have those.

A lot of places will actually give you an eye inspection for free if you buy some glasses from them. My eye glasses were 300 yuan here, and the same glasses cost me like 150 dollars in the US (I have astigmatism), plus 70$ for the checkup.

I live in Shenyang btw, which I think has pollution comparable to Beijing, if not a little bit worse.

[amandagmu]

I don't wear glasses or contact lenses, but a friend of mine here has a response that mirrors Roddy's: the dryness is often much worse. For whatever reason she disliked the eye drops they sell here and had her visiting aunt bring over something like $100 worth of eye drops (to last at least a year). Apparently if you have sensitive eyes (I don't, but my sinuses make up for that) this is not a great environment. My friend lives in Shanghai but said Beijing was hell when she came to visit -- she was putting drops in her eyes constantly.

[roddy]

Trouble with those little eyedrop bottles is that they cost, volume for volume, more than liquid gold*. If you can get a little refillable bottle (think you might get them free with solution sometimes) and just fill it up with solution you'll save plenty. Sometimes though it's just dry and windy and dusty, and your contacts are going to shrivel up and pop out whatever you do.

*May not be true.

[skylee]

"Give me some 隐性眼睛"

Please note that half of the chinese characters are wrong. It should be, in simplified characters, "隐形眼镜".

PS - but perhaps WestTexas really thinks that they are called "隐性眼睛"?

[WestTexas]

oops, typo. Should be more careful.

[Lu]

I wear contact lenses here and don't have any problems. I have no idea what brand they are, but I bought them in China. If you know what prescription number your eyes are (I am -5.50) you can just walk into the eyeglasses store and say "Give me some 隐性眼睛" and they ask what number, then you just pick what you want. Yeah, much cheaper. My contact lenses cost 90 yuan for a pair and are supposed to last for something like six months. I asked the lady for 2 week contact lenses and she was like, Are you crazy? We don't have those.

My optometrist also told me the diameter and the 'bend' (or what do you call it) of the lenses. That varies too. The store I bought them at had 2 week lenses as well as monthly ones.

I came here with hard lenses but lost one (no idea how I managed that), and the best solution was switching to soft lenses. It turns out to be much more comfortable, with hard lenses, the sand and dust was an issue sometimes. My colleague told me there is also a special kind of gel lenses, which are better in Beijing's dry/polluted air.

[skylee]

My optometrist also told me the diameter and the 'bend' (or what do you call it) of the lenses.

Do you mean the base curve (弧度)?

I have astigmatism so another factor the axis (線位) is also important to me.

[Lu]

My optometrist also told me the diameter and the 'bend' (or what do you call it) of the lenses.

Do you mean the base curve (弧度)?

Yes, that's what I meant.

What I did was just ask my optometrist all the relevant details, half of them I didn't fully get, but I took this to the shop and they sold me contacts that have been serving me well for some months now.