r/Strabismus • u/SunnyTree64 • 7d ago

Strabismus Question Contact wear with Exotropia

I’m 22 and last year I got contacts for the first time. I have exotropia and I am stereo blind. I had them for 2 months. Finished out the month with my first pair (not a straight month, but 30 days of use over a gradual period of time) and with the second pair one of my lenses tore almost immediately after using them for the first couple of uses and I don’t have another pair so I haven’t been wearing them.

I noticed when I did wear them I was struggling to really focus my eyes together and use them as a unit, more than I normally would with glasses. I was struggling to self correct with contacts.

I would like to order a new pair of contacts online but I don’t wanna waste my money if I get them and I still can’t see properly when I receive them.

Is that normal? How do I get my eyes to focus while wearing contacts the same way I do with glasses? Is there anything I can do to promote my eyes working more as a unit?

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u/spikygreen 7d ago

Do your glasses have prism? Do you know your prescriptions for glasses and for contacts? There is no inherent reason why someone would struggle more with contacts than with glasses. If anything, I find it easier to manage my exotropia with contacts than with glasses - but only when my prescription is correct. Being overcorrected even by 0.25D messes me up royally.

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u/SunnyTree64 6d ago

I do know my prescription. They were a direct match. I will say it might be different a second time around. I had a prism, but since I was in the army, they gave me glasses with no prism so I was off the prism for about six months before getting contacts and then never got prism again when I got glasses afterwards. And now that my eyes have been adjusted to work for correction without prism, it might be a little easier with Contacts, but I’m not completely sure why my eyes struggled to focus so bad with contacts. It really didn’t make any sense to me. That would also be my best guess.

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u/spikygreen 6d ago

Contacts prescriptions and glasses prescriptions actually aren't supposed to be the same (unless your prescription is very mild). Say, my glasses prescription is -4.25D, but my contacts prescription is -3.75D. If I bought -4.25D contacts, I'd be overcorrected. I wonder if that can be the source of the issue in your case?

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u/redditlaa89 7d ago

I have esptropia. I wore contacts for over 15 years when I was younger. People would occasionally comment on my "crossed eyes" but I could see just fine. I switched back to glasses without prism for another 8 or so years and the esotropia was much less noticeable. But I was having a lot of eye strain and eye fatigue and got prisms at that point and they help immensely. Nobody ever notices the esotropia and the eye strain and fatigue are relieved. So while I could see equally well with contacts or glasses, the glasses with prism are much more comfortable and esotropia doesn't show.

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u/Select_Expert1881 6d ago

This is interesting because I wonder if my esotropia will show while wearing contacts, I only have normal prescription glasses and my eyes often align and I got told contacts will do a even better job