Foggy Contact Lenses

I wore soft contact lenses for six years and never had any problems at all.  I then found out that the brand I had been wearing, Focus monthly, had been discontinued.  Therefore, my eye doctor switched me to Acuvue Oasis with Hydraclear.  These seemed okay at first, but after about a week of wearing them, I got an infection.  After clearing that up and trying a new pair, they seemed to "fog up." So they switched me to a different brand, which did the same thing.  In the end, I ended up trying about 5 different pairs(including a spare pair of my Focus ones) over the course of a month and they all did the same thing.  I then had to get out of my contacts completely for about 2 weeks and use dry eye drops, allergy drops, and steroid drops.  However, after putting my contacts in again today, I am still experiencing the same "fogging up" effect.  It is like as I look at something, my vision progressively gets foggy and it feels like I have to continually blink to see at all.  What is causing this and how can I make it better??  I am 19 and involved in sports and I do not feel comfortable in glasses.  PLEASE HELP!!!

[Sandy Feldman, MD, MS]

Dear Chelsey2,

It is possible that you have a condition known as giant papillary conjunctivitis in which you have a reaction to wearing contact lenses and form a lot of protein.  I would recommend that you seek the care of an eyeMD to obtain an appropriate diagnosis and treatment.

Dr. Feldman

Sandy T. Feldman, M.D., M.S.
ClearView Eye and Laser Medical Center
San Diego, California