-Ralph-

You have an Astigmatism and you need toric lenses. Ask about the £18 a month lenses which are also toric but are more breathable. I've had the £15 a month ones for a few years, and I'm trialling the £18 ones at the moment and I still struggle a bit 'cos I have Blepharitis but they are a lot better. Bikers are more prone to these kind of infections because your eyes and face are exposed to the same dusty oily crap that makes the your visor and your bike dirty.

Try washing your hands and touching your eye with your finger a few times. If you get used to that and realise that it's actually no big deal, you'll have no bother with putting your lenses in.

I'm sure they'll feel awful at first, but stick with it for a few weeks and you'll hate wearing your glasses 'cos the freedom of not having something on your face, but being able to see.

The other thing I'm considering at the moment is that if I'm paying £220 odd a year, plus another £100 quid every other year for glasses, in 5 or 6 years a laser operation has paid for itself. I don't have a couple of grand spare just now, but when I do I'm going to enquire about it.

PS: Contact lenses spin in your eye, toric ones need to be the right way up and are weighted such that they always come to rest with the bottom at the bottom, your prescription won't be right unless they are the right way up. So don't worry if you can't see straight away when you put them in, they just need to turn. If they get dry and your vision goes blurry in one eye, it's just the contact lense stuck upside down 'cos it's dry. If you are having dry eye problems look in the contact lenses section in the supermarket and buy a wee bottle of "refresh contacts" eye drops (wee green bottle which I'm sure you've seen me using on ride-outs - everyone wonders what the hell I'm doing)