Wearing Contact Lens During Clerkship Rotations/on-Call

[rcmp1234]

Hey guys, I'm going into my third year of med school/clerkship in less than a month. And I'm trying to decide if I should get laser surgery within the next week or not. I've been wearing contact lens for about 8hrs, and I hate glasses. I've never really worn my contact lens for a full 24hrs though. So for people who are in clerkship do you still wear your contact lens while your on-call? and would you advise against it?

 

thanks

[ameltingbanana]

I wear contact lens on regular days, but switch to glasses when I'm on call. It takes way too much time to put in contact lenses when you're trying to respond quickly to a page or something, especially if you have to carry a team pager like on medicine or something. Plus my eyes feel disgusting if I wear contacts for >8-10 hours. And with glasses, you can pass out quickly in a call room after dealing with ward stuff/consults/whatever.

 

I've contemplated laser surgery myself - there's a few people in my class who got it and they LOVE IT.

[ploughboy]

I had prk done 13 years ago this month.  Some of the best money I ever spent. 

 

My rambling thoughts found here: http://forums.premed101.com/index.php?/topic/12386-lasik-eye-surgery/

[feversugar]

Hands down that if I were eligible I'd do it right away.

 

That being said, I wear contacts for my 24h call and do take them off and on when sleeping/napping but I'm so used to them that it doesn't take me long (and no need for a mirror because I'm so myopic I wouldn't even see myself anyways). My glasses are just giant bottle caps and I hate hate hate them lol.

[thestar10]

Got LASIK. It actually changed my life. No regrets for the money spent. even if I will need glasses later in life it will have been worth it.

[amichel]

Got lasik. Love it. Do it.

[Dr. Why Bother]

Is Lasik worth it even if I'm only -1.5D in both eyes?

[Economist]

To those of you who got the LASIK done, why LASIK over PRK?  Also are you guys not worried about side effects potentially ruining/limiting your career in medicine? I.e. getting halos when you want surgery or radiology 

[ukmedstudent]

Is Lasik worth it even if I'm only -1.5D in both eyes?

I dont think so... It's too expensive for -1.5D IMHO 

But I do understand the pain of having to wear glasses/contact lens

[okidoki]

Is Lasik worth it even if I'm only -1.5D in both eyes?

 

 

Got lasik. Love it. Do it.

 

 

Got LASIK. It actually changed my life. No regrets for the money spent. even if I will need glasses later in life it will have been worth it.

 

I am getting my LASIK done next week (only 10 days away from my O-Week).

 

I am -1.5 only on one eye so they are operating on my right eye only...

 

I am a little bit concerned whether or not I will recover before O-week is here.. 

 

Can someone share their experience? Is 10 days enough to return to life

[lolabean]

I got LASIK and the results are amazing! I would do it again in a minute. The only thing I struggled with is eye dryness. It took I'd say a good month for them to not really bother me but they are still dry in the morning. Overall do it! Best money I have ever spent

[thestar10]

I am getting my LASIK done next week (only 10 days away from my O-Week).

 

I am -1.5 only on one eye so they are operating on my right eye only...

 

I am a little bit concerned whether or not I will recover before O-week is here.. 

 

Can someone share their experience? Is 10 days enough to return to life

Every person is different but my vision was crystal clear the next day with no pain. I just wore sunglasses for the next week and carried eye drops with me.

 

The ruptured vessels looked bad and took a month to go away. I had a photo ID badge with bloody eyes for a while as I started a clinical rotation the next week after I got it. That was probably the worst part lol.

[Birdy]

Is Lasik worth it even if I'm only -1.5D in both eyes?

I'm considering it despite needing correction that's even a bit less than that in one eye. I've had no luck with contacts after multiple attempts and glasses are proving extremely inconvenient any time I have to wear a mask ("fog free" masks are liars.) Since I am considering a specialty that will involve wearing a mask regularly, this will be a high priority if I do go that route.

[PhoenixFlare500]

I didn't exactly have the money for Lasik in med school. I guess I still don't...

As for contact lenses, I think the longest I can comfortably wear them is like, 20 hours. At least in my experience if I wear them too long they start to get dry and you can feel them falling off your eyes, which is an extremely uncomfortable feeling. Then if they do fall off, you have to risk putting a dirty lens right onto your eye. Or you could walk around with one out and one in but that's actually extremely disorienting, worse than just having both out.

 

tl;dr I wouldn't do it.