FitSugar

Tips For Summer Contact Lens Wearers

Jenny Sugar — Thu, 02 Jun 2011 11:11:00 PDT

I wore bright magenta glasses from fourth grade until my 13th birthday when my dad took me to get my first pair of contact lenses. It felt so liberating not to have anything on my face and to still be able to see. I quickly realized that there's a lot of extra care that comes with being a contact lens wearer. Now that Summer has arrived, here are some helpful tips to keep your eyes protected and happy.

Choose sunscreen wisely. It's a no-brainer for contact lens wearers to use waterproof sunscreen on their faces so when they sweat or swim, it doesn't drip into their eyes (youch!). But make sure the sunscreen you slather on the rest of your body is waterproof as well, so when you accidentally touch your face or wipe the sweat off your forehead with your arm, you won't risk that painful sting.
Wear UV protecting sunglasses. They not only protect your eyes from damaging rays, but sunglasses also prevent debris from blowing into your eyes. I also found wearing sunglasses prevents dry eyes caused by warm wind.
Invest in some UV blocking contacts. I didn't even know they made these until I looked on my box of Acuvue Oasys contacts. Look for ones that say Class 1. This is the highest protection available in contacts and it means they block up to 96 percent of UVA and 100 percent of UVB rays.

For more must-know tips, keep reading.

6 Tips For Contact Lens Wearers

FitSugar — Fri, 09 Apr 2010 10:00:00 PDT

Just like me, about 34 million other people in the US are contact lens wearers, and 100 billion wear them around the world. Since contacts are so popular and our eyes are so precious, it's important to take good care of both. Here are some things to keep in mind if you sport contact lenses.

Always wash your hands before inserting or removing your lenses. Touching your eye with germy fingers is a great way to get a cold or nasty eye infection such as pink eye.
If you suffer from allergies, wearing contacts can make your symptoms worse since allergens can stick to the lenses. Wear glasses if your symptoms are really bad, and if you can't part from your contacts (I don't blame you), be sure to clean them thoroughly or replace disposable lenses more often.

Want to hear the other tips? Then

Keep eye drops in your purse or desk at all times, especially if you work at a computer. Not only are dry lenses uncomfortable and difficult to see out of, but they could potentially scratch your eye. Use those drops as often as you need. If you have watery or itchy eyes caused by allergies, look for drops containing antihistamines.
Only wear your lenses as long as you are directed to. Lenses meant to be worn for only two to four weeks should not be worn for two months. Dirt and protein deposits accumulate on the lenses and can cause irritation, eye infections, or permanent damage your eyes.
Give your eyes a rest from contacts. I know it's difficult to break the habit if you wear them every waking moment of every day, but your eyes need a chance to breathe. Choose lenses that are highly breathable, such as Acuvue Oasys, and wear your glasses a few hours a day instead, so oxygen can reach your corneas.
Be good about keeping yearly appointments with your eye doctor to have your eyes checked, and to see if you need a change to your prescription. Not only will you not be able to purchase contacts without an up-to-date prescription, but if your eyes become weaker, you won't be able to see as well with your old contacts, which isn't safe and can cause headaches.

Wear Contact Lenses? Keep These in Mind

FitSugar — Fri, 24 Jul 2009 03:00:00 PDT

If your vision isn't perfect, and you're an active person, contact lenses are essential in my book. Contacts don't fog up when you're running, or fall off when you're biking. And you can wear them when swimming, you just have to wear goggles or keep your eyes shut. If you're a contact lens wearer like me, here are some things you should keep in mind.

Always wash your hands before inserting or removing your lenses. Touching your eye with germy fingers is a great way to get sick or contract an eye infection.
If you suffer from allergies, wearing contacts can make your symptoms worse since allergens can stick to the lenses. Wear glasses if your symptoms are really bad, and if you can't part with your contacts (I don't blame you), be sure to clean them thoroughly or replace disposable lenses more often. Also, look for drops containing antihistamines that may help relieve watery or itchy eyes.

For more tips and to see what that photo is all about keep reading

Your Contact Lenses Could Make You Blind

FitSugar — Thu, 23 Oct 2008 03:00:00 PDT

Many of you rely on your contact lenses in order to help you see, but your lenses could end up taking away your vision. What an ugly irony. The problem starts with a simple single cell microorganism - acanthamoeba.

Acanthamoeba is one of the most common types of protozoan that live in soil and fresh water. They can be found in city tap water, so if you rinse your lens case in water from the sink, this amoeba can be transferred to your contact lenses and then to your eye. These protozoan can live and multiply in both your contact case and your eyes, and can go back and forth between the two because commercial contact lens solution can't kill them. Once they're in your eyes, they can cause a painful infection known as amoebic keratitis, which can lead to blindness. The prevalence of this infection has increased because so many people wear contact lenses now.

The lenses that you wear for a year or two were found to contain the most pathogenic (disease-causing) strains of acanthamoeba. The ones that you keep for a month or two weeks contained fewer, and the daily lenses contained no acanthamoeba. Talk to your eye doctor about the kinds of contact lenses you wear to see which would be the healthiest for your eyes. Scientists are on the move trying to develop a contact lens solution that can kill this nasty amoeba, but for now, it's recommended that you don't rinse your lens case in tap water.

Source

Health Tip for Contact Lens Wearers

FitSugar — Tue, 05 Feb 2008 02:00:00 PST

If you wear contact lenses, you want to make sure you are doing all you can to keep your eyes healthy. I thought I was doing right by closing my contact lens case every morning after putting in my lenses. I guess I was wrong. I didn't realize that a dark and moist closed case is the perfect breeding ground for mold and bacteria to grow. Two things you definitely don't want in your eyes since they could cause major discomfort, or even worse an infection.

So if you wear contact lenses, after putting them in your eyes be sure to leave your case open and dump out the old solution so it can dry fully between uses. It's also a good idea to boil your case in water for ten minutes once every couple of weeks to get rid of any gross stuff that may be growing in the case. Many solutions come with new cases, so when you go through a bottle of solution, use the new case that comes with it and toss your old one.

Let me know if you already do this in the comment section below.

Source

Nike Maxsight Contact Lenses

FitSugar — Fri, 20 Jul 2007 03:30:00 PDT

When you go outside in the summer, you've got to protect your eyes from the harmful rays of the sun. Sunglasses are great, but with some fast-paced sports and activities, you don't want to worry about them flying off or having them break. Working out in the hot sun makes my face get really hot and sweaty, and I hate when the lenses get all fogged up, don't you? Plus, the really good sunglasses are so expensive, and I'm always worried about losing them.

The solution? Nike Maxsight is an innovative, fully tinted soft contact lens, so you can wear your sunglasses without the frames.

They provide distortion-free sight, for both prescription and non-prescription contact lens wearers. They cover your entire pupil and iris (the black and colored parts), eliminating glare and enhancing contrast. They filter out more than 90% of harmful blue light and 95% of UVA and UVB.

You can get Nike Maxsight contact lenses in 2 colors: Grey-Green for running or training, and Amber for fast-paced sports like soccer and tennis.

Fit's Tips: Call your eye doctor and ask them about Nike Vision. I did and Nike actually sent me a FREE trial pair. Want to see what they look like? Then

They just look like really dark contact lenses, like ones you'd get for Halloween or something. I put a Nike Maxsight contact lens next to my regular contact lens so you can see the difference. With normal lighting, my eyes didn't turn into alien eyes - they just looked really dark. These are the grey-green color, although they look kind of brown in my eyes.

I have to say I LOVED them. It did take a few minutes for my eyes to adjust, but it felt like I was wearing polarized sunglasses. They blocked out the sun and I had crystal clear vision.

If you love to be outdoors, and hate having to deal with wearing sunglasses, I would definitely recommend getting a pair of Nike Maxsight contact lenses. That way, you'll be protected completely and never have to worry about losing your sunglasses again.

What Can You Buy With One Day's Worth of Salary?

OnSugar Blog — Sat, 19 May 2012 03:13:44 PDT

Do you ever think about how much you make each day and how much that really buys? This post from Beauty and the Budget really got me thinking.

What can you buy with one day's worth of your salary? Right now, I make about $76 a day, before taxes, which really isn't much. That means that on Monday, when I made an after-work Rite-Aid makeup run, I practically worked an entire day for a tiny tube of RoC Eye Cream ($21.99 at Ulta), a small bottle of Olay Total Effects Anti-Aging Moisturizer ($18.69 at Ulta), Maybelline Colossal Mascara ($6.99 at Ulta), and a can of Salon Grafix Invisible Dry Spray Shampoo ($5.99 at Ulta). Plus I bought an Apple Pecan Salad from Wendy's ($6.99) for lunch. All my money was spent in one day. I really wanted to kick myself when I came to that realization. It was like a spiritual financial wakening.

Of course, I believe I invested wisely in a great eye cream and an anti-aging moisturizer (all of which I am hoping will last at least four to five months), but I'm still disappointed that my money disappeared in a day. I could have put that money toward new contact lenses or my next oil change.

On a much lighter note, let's have a little fun with this topic. To make it easy, let's say you make $10 an hour. That's $80 a day for a full 40-hour workweek. You're definitely on a budget at that rate, especially if you're supporting yourself. Let's look at all your spending options, and tell me which item you're most likely to go for!

Everyday Activities That Make Your Allergies Worse

Jenny Sugar — Fri, 27 Apr 2012 01:45:18 PDT

Most of us are psyched for warmer weather, but allergy sufferers are cursing runny noses, congestion, red eyes, and itchy throats. You may not realize it, but here are the everyday things that can aggravate your symptoms.

Exercising outside is a no-brainer when temps start going up, but not so for those allergic to pollen. If you can't bear to skip outdoor workouts, try to exercise early in the morning when pollen counts are lowest. If you decide to exercise outside, be sure to wash your clothes to get rid of pollen and take a shower to rinse allergens out of your hair. If your allergies are really bad, invest in a gym membership or equipment for your home gym - exercising in the AC will make you breathe much easier.
Opening the window to get some fresh air? Don't you dare. Pollen and other allergens blow in where they come in contact with your eyes and nose. Keep the windows in your home, office, and car closed, and definitely don't use a window fan. If you're hot, turn up the air-conditioning.

Keep reading to find out other common things you're doing that can worsen allergies.

Looper Trailer: Joseph Gordon-Levitt Tries to Take Himself Out

Becky Kirsch — Thu, 12 Apr 2012 16:43:09 PDT

Jeff Daniels only gets one line in the trailer for Looper, but it basically sums up how I feel about the preview: "This time travel crap just fries your brain." The mind-bending film stars Joseph Gordon-Levitt as Joe, an assassin who takes out criminals who are sent from the future. Called "loopers," Joe and his colleagues seem to have a pretty sweet life: they get tons of money, and all their targets are basically hand delivered to them. But Joe is thrown for a loop (see what I did there?) when the man he's supposed to eliminate is an older version of himself (Bruce Willis).

From there, the trailer turns into a slick game of cat and mouse that also involves Emily Blunt toting a gun of her own. Trying to figure out the logistics is already hurting my brain, but I'm excited to see if this one can live up to the intriguing premise. My only gripe is that Gordon-Levitt's sporting a strange accent and some seriously distracting contact lenses that are a little too reminiscent of those aliens in The Host. The film hits theaters Sept. 28, but you can watch the trailer when you

21 Disposable Products You Can Reuse

Wise Bread — Thu, 29 Mar 2012 09:00:39 PDT

Even when the product is supposedly "disposable," you can always reuse it. Wise Bread shares awesome ways to reuse these 21 disposable products.

It’s said that we live in a disposable society. But the word "disposable" is a misnomer. Disposable is considered throwaway, something you use once and dump, regardless of the life that may be left in it. As a frugal shopper with a concern for the state of our environment, I think that just won’t do.

I often reuse many so-called “onetime-use” items, and I asked friends, family, and colleagues to tell me which disposable items they squeeze more life from. Here’s my list, including some of the surprising ideas I was given.

RELATED: 25 Things to Throw Out Today

1. Butter Wrappers

If you’re like most people, you unwrap your butter, pop the stick into your handy holder, and throw the wrapper away. But wait a second - instead of trashing the wrappers, keep them in a sandwich bag. The next time you need to grease a baking tray or dish, you’ve got something all ready to go.

Read on for more.