Air Optix plus HydraGlyde - Reviews

I wore the Air Optix toric for over 15 years without any issues and always had perfect eye health at my yearly check ups. Since they updated to these new ones with hydraglyde I’ve not got on with them very well. Initially they felt just as comfortable as the old ones but over time my eyes have gotten very dry and the lenses are uncomfortable to wear for me. I’ve never had a problem with them before so I’m disappointed that the original ones which worked so well for me are no longer available.

I have been wearing dailies (aquacomfort) for over a year, and wanted to try a monthly contact so my eye doctor ordered these for me ..... I could see well with them but as soon as i started to wear them my eyes became very dry, I could not get enough drops in them. My eyes were so red and irritated I had to wear my glasses for a couple days! Back to the dailies.

This review is written with a heavy heart.
I have used the original product without “ hydraglide” since they came out. And my eyes loved them. I started with contacts for nearly 40 years ago when they were invented. And have used many different brands. But I was young and active and had a bad habit of sleeping with them. And for that time 2 weeks at a time. Resulting in, what my eye doctor said. That results was I had many microscopic veins searching for oxygen.
When Alcon came with air optic my eye doctor said that after 1/2 year my eyes look so healthy and every sign of oxygen fatigue was gone. I have bought every air optix aqua in my prescription strength from all different sites, and there are no left.
In short “hydraglide” took every comfort out of a lens that was working fine.
Regards from Scandinavia

I love the way these feel! They are highly lubricated, and comfortable for daily wear. Last I checked, they have the most oxygen permeability which keeps my eyes from becoming dry. They are thin, flimsy and will fold up before getting it in to your eye, but that's not a problem at all for me.

For extended wear users: WEARING ANY CONTACT LENS OVERNIGHT CAN CAUSE POTENTIAL CORNEAL ULCER, BACTERIA OR FUNGAL INFECTION, AND YOU MAY GO THROUGH EXCRUCIATING EFFORTS TO REGAIN PREVIOUS VISION, IF POSSIBLE. PLEASE TAKE YOUR CONTACTS OUT EVERY DAY BEFORE GOING TO SLEEP! YOU COULD LOSE YOUR EYE!

I've been wearing AO for years and recently switched - I'm not using the word upgrade as for me there wasn't much of a difference. They simply work - at a fair price.

love these lenses. great product, low cost. would rate value at 10 if i could.

I am. Handling could be better though: they are soooo slippery. ;-)

My eyes feel dry and are red almost all of the day. They also seem cloudy. I did not have either of these problems with Air Optix pre " hydraglyde". It feels exactly the opposite of what the name indicates. Will be switching, but not sure if I can return the unused lenses for credit.

I have been wearing contacts for almost 40 years now. For the last 15 years, I have been wearing toric lenses in one eye and a regular lens in the other. I never had any issues with my contacts. About 6-7 years ago, I switched to Air Optix and the lenses were always super comfortable. Recently, my doctor prescribed the Air Optix with Hydraglyde and it has been a complete nightmare. The pain in both eyes becomes almost unbearable after a few hours, almost like the eye doesn't get enough oxygen. I have worn the new contacts a few times, even started a new batch, but the pain and discomfort are too much. The following day, my eyes are red, painful and it feels there is a film coating my eyes, so even with glasses my vision is blurry. It takes about 3 days for the discomfort to disappear. I'll be switching to something else!

What has worked for you?

I'm still wearing monthly lenses and the hydraglyde is great. I know a lot of people that switched to daily lenses. I'm ok with the cleaning and I'm happy with the new version. Thanks!

I've been wearing contact lenses for many, many years as I am in my 70s and this lens in my left eye is driving me crazy. I wished that I read the reviews before telling my eye doctor to order these lenses. My left eye was burning when I put the lens in my eye. I thought it was my fingers being rough because due to COVID, I've been washing my hands more often. So I started wearing gloves to wash my lens. Then when I ordered another box of lens after trying 1 lens which I thought was defective, I had the same reaction to the 2nd lens that I wore in my left eye. I tried to use refresh, but after using it and taking out my lens, my eyes feel like its very sore; burning like there was a cut on my bottom and top lid. I don't think I can wear any contact lens on for days until the pain goes away. How did this lens ever get FDA approved with so many complaints about it. I hope that I will be able to wear contact lenses after this painful experience. I hope that I can get a refund.

I have worn contacts for 25 years with no problems. As soon as I switched to these my problems began. I have had the worst eye pain with these contacts. They start to feel uncomfortable, I remove them, and the eye pain persists for days. I am unable to wear contacts for days, only glasses. These are the worst contacts ever. They honestly seem dangerous.

This is a big step back. They are more expensive while feeling worse. I used to be able to sleep in my air optix with no issues. These, I have to take out every night. They get blurry and uncomfortable, even when they're fresh out of the box.

Every product from solutions to contact lens that have HydraGlyde have caused me major issues - eye irritation, dryness, etc. I originally encountered this when Clear Care added HydraGlyde to their cleaning solution. I switched during winter, hoping to get some relief for my dry eye. Received no relief and when winter ended, the dry eye did not. I finally got to searching around on the internet and discovered that other contact wearers were complaining of a sensitivity to HydraGlyde. Thinking this might be my issue, I returned to the Clear Care original formula and my dry eye mostly went away. Later, when I needed an extra pair of lens to make it through to my next eye appt, my doctor gave me a pair of sample lens - my normal brand, Air Optix for Astigmatism - that also contained HydraGlyde. Since it was not winter and my eyes were fairly stable from dry/allergies, I decided to test them out just to make sure that it all wasn't coincidence with my previous experience with HydraGlyde. I believe I went into it with an open mind, but by the end of the first day, I knew it was not going to work. My eyes were already a mess. I had kept my previous pair and was able to wear them for a couple of days while I cycled the new lens through Clear Care (non HydraGlyde) several times. After doing so, I could at least make it through most of the day before the new lenses became too irritating to wear. Alcon(probably when they were bought out by Novartis) changed their shipping solution a few years back, and I can no longer put contacts directly from the container into my eye (have been able to do that since I started wearing contacts in the early 80s), but after a soak in Clear Care overnight, I can wear the ones that do not contain HydraGlyde. HydraGlyde may be the best thing since peanut butter for some contact wearers, but I do hope Novartis sees that there is a significant number of users who cannot tolerate HydraGlyde and continues to make lenses with this additive.

I've been wearing AirOptix Aqua contacts for years. I went to my eye doctor last week and she gave a different power contact to try wearing until my new supply came in. The change in power helped, but then I started noticing that the new contact didn't seem like it was fitting on my eye correctly, that my vision would blur and it felt like there was a hair in my eye. I have Sjogren's Syndrome and use Restasis daily so I really don't need to have my eyes get any drier. My eye would feel better when I took my contacts out. The feeling like the contact didn't fit right continued, so I checked the package of the contact she gave me and I saw that it was a Hydraglide contact. So today, I put my old contact back in and it fits better and I'm not having any blurriness or feeling like my contact is moving around. If it's the case that the Aquas are being discontinued, I need to call my eye doctor and see about getting a different contact as these Hydraglides aren't working for me

Started wearing these about 6 months ago. I thought my eyes must be extra dry and sensitive as my vision would sometimes seem a little blurry. My eyes would feel dry and the contacts would feel sticky and I seemed to go through them quickly. Turns out it's not my eyes but the new crappy contacts.

I have worn contacts for 3 1/2 decades. And for over the last decade, I have exclusively wore Air Optix which I loved. About 8 months to a year ago I switched to Air Optix Hydraglyde and have been having horrible vision issues. I initially switched to the contact solution with hydraglyde and it seems to make my eyes dry and blurry. I noticed the bottle of solution where the solution gets around the spray hole of the bottle and it was always sticky. Once I started with my new contacts that had hydroglyde it’s been a nightmare. They have made my eyes incredibly dry to the point I thought I scratched my eye. They also seem sticky. The lens seems to work fine for a couple of hours but then it’s horribly blurry to the point I have to switch to my glasses. Having worn pretty exclusively contacts for over 35 years this is super disappointing that you would discontinue a product that’s great and replace it with chemicals that clearly are not beneficial and safe for all eyes.

So far I have had nothing but problems with these lenses. I need lenses with super long lasting comfort, and this lens does not offer that. After a few hours , my eyes start to burn and I have to take them out. Also, they just don't seem to fit. Always feels like there is some foreign object in my eyes! Glad this was a trial - will try another brand.

I've been wearing glasses for a long time, got tired of them and decided to try a bunch of different contact lenses. Some of them I couldn't stand, the comfort was terrible, with others I had problems with residue on the lenses at the end of the month. Not with the Air Optix! The comfort is excellent. I once fell asleep with them, and no issues at all. I totally recommend the AIR OPTIX!

I wore glasses for a long time, then wanted a change and tried different contact lenses. Some had poor comfort, others had problems with residue on the lens at the end of each month. It wasn't until I tried the Air Optix that I was completely satisfied. The comfort is excellent, even with prolonged use there are no problems. Even if I fall asleep with the lenses, there aren't really any problems the next day. I can absolutely recommend the AIR OPTIX!
(sorry for any grammar errors - used an online translator)

I went to an optometrist today to get fitted for a new kind of contact lens. For something that held its moisture better. I don’t think, putting in rewetting drops every 30 minutes is conducive to a productive work environment. I’m going to get the air optix hydraglyde. When I tried on the trial pair, it’s honestly the first time I remember not being aware that I had an artificial lens floating on the surface of my eye. I mean, I couldn’t feel it. I knew I had it in, I could see, obviously, it wasn’t just magic that I finally had 20/20.
But the other huge part of my day, the thing that made that particular eye exam/fitting so much more worth it, so much more fulfilling, was finding out that they actually made color contacts that I could wear. Normally, eye exams are incredibly depressing for me. My eyes get worse (it’s really been all downhill for the last 2 decades), my frame possibilities shrink, the price of glasses goes up, and I need to change my contact prescription. Again. And due to the moisture issue, I only ever really wear contacts during the summer. I don’t expect to wear the color contacts ALL the time. So, in comparison to the number of boxes of the hydraglyde I’ll get, one box of the colored stuff will probably last me a while. I’m so incredibly excited. So I may not be able to have awesome hair all the time (RIP punky red underlayer) (I do have secret awesome hair though)… but at least I’ve finally been granted the option of colored contacts.

Huh.... I thought it was just that my eyes were growing intolerant to contact lenses....? I've been wearing Air Optix Aqua and Air Optix Hydraglyde for about two years.... I don't remember which ones I was wearing before, but had sore eyes because it turned out I was sensitive to the no-rub solutions... With the Air Optix Hydraglyde I can wear them for about 10 hours, then have to take them out.

Have been wearing contacts for many years... I am a 29 year old female, wearing make-up every day... find them very comfortable... must be the special 'coating'... I don't feel them at all - all day and the lenses fit perfectly... no floating around on the eye... no eye fatigue or dryness!