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Comment by marblar | Hacker News Reader

How do I know if I've got the good stuff?

I’d like to know too. I’ve worn contacts since I was 12. Originally, non-disposable that I took out and cleaned every night. These were pretty good, but by the end of the year tended to get a bit ratty around the edges. It’s been too long to remember the quality of correction, but I know that contacts have always been better than glasses for me.

Then for years I wore the disposable, extended wear kind you can sleep in. Typically replaced every two to four weeks. Aside from dry eyes in the morning, these were by far the best.

They are not without risk and certainly not for everyone, but they had the highest manufacturing quality, were the most comfortable and seemed to me to provide the best correction.

For the last two years I’ve worn daily disposables. I think these are probably best for eye health since you’re not reusing one set over and over and not leaving them in for days on end, but they have the most variation between individual lenses. Sometimes I’ll get contacts that are instantly irritating. The next in the package will fit comfortably. Quality of correction varies every day too. This I just live with, as it’s not worth (to me) burning through them faster just because my distance vision isn’t as good as it could be today.

I’ve always used whatever brand my optometrist recommended (which I’m sure is whatever they’re being paid to promote). If there is some gold standard brand I should be asking for, I’d love to know.

I trialed 3 different brands of dailies this year. It was a pain, but one of them did end up standing out in terms of comfort for me. My doctor said there is no pattern - it’s really person dependent which is best.

Dailies changed my life. They only started making dailies in something close to my prescription a few years ago.

There's Acuvue and there's everything else. I tried probably half a dozen brands over the years recommended as good by opticians - supposedly premium brands priced accordingly, and Acuvue are dramatically better than all of them.

If there's anyone else who have got close in terms of comfort, quality of vision etc, it's a well kept secret.

> There's Acuvue and there's everything else

That helps confirm someone else's comment that this differs by person, not manufacturer. I kept trying Acuvue and found them very uncomfortable, instead favouring Focus Dailies. Now I am on Costco own brand which seemed even more comfortable.

Apparently Costco's Kirkland contacts are CooperVision MyDay lenses.

CooperVision brands under like 50 different names for every store they sell in. I think Wal-Mart calls them Ultraflex or something.

If it's not Acuvue for soft contacts it's almost always going to be one of the CooperVision chain brands.

I’ve had dailies for a long time and now really love acuvue moist. Way less dry. if the delta between weeklies and dailies is 1, moving to acuvue moist has been another 0.3 or so

I tried multiple ones and always got eyes very dry, life was a pain, then I switched to the most expensive I could find, « Dailies total 1 » is the name. No more dry eyes, problem solved. Each lense cost 1€, but I would even pay more for it to be honest.

Can confirm, Alcon dailies total one and Acuvue TruEye are the acceptable ones for the drier eyes. Personally I found Total 1 slightly more comfortable in general, but it lacks the UV filter or something that makes them notably worse than TruEye in sunny weather.

Also, the drops make huge difference: since a better doctor told me to use only preservative-free ones like hylo-comod, I can wear lenses for 20 hours straight without image quality degradation.

Get Acuvue Dailies. I suggested them to multiple people and everyone seems to be happy

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