Contact Lens Use

Contact lens maintenance is an important part of wearing contact lenses that often goes overlooked. When you consider that contact lenses are actually foreign objects that you are sticking in your eye you’d think that most people would want to make sure they are cleaned and disinfected but a lot of times people cut corners when it comes to this important part of lens care.

If you're the kind of person that can be bothered to maintain your contact lenses properly then you might consider disposable contact lenses which require no maintenance. But if you can't wear disposables and you are using daily lenses that need to be cleaned you want to be sure to follow your eye doctor's instructions for proper lens care.

Typically contact lens maintenance involves using multipurpose solutions that clean and disinfect your lenses. These solutions are the same ones you will use for storing the lenses that can be usually bought in any pharmacy. When you remove your lenses, you should always wash your hands with soap and water to avoid getting bacteria in your eye. Once the lens is removed you want to squirt it on both sides with a steady stream of the solution for 20 seconds - or the amount of time specified on the bottle. Some solutions might specify that you need to rub the lens with your finger in the palm of your hand and if that is the case you want to do this carefully so you don't rip the lens. This step can be important as it may be necessary to remove any protein or microscopic dirt that has built up. After rubbing, you’ll want to rinse again to wash off the debris that you've rubbed off.

Now if you're storing your contact lenses, you want to fill the little storage cases with the solution. Then you want to be sure to put the lens into the appropriate side because some people have a different prescription for each eye and you want to make sure that you're putting the right lens in the right eye when you take them out the next day. While your lenses are soaking in the storage unit the solution will be disinfecting them.

Usually you'll be following the same maintenance steps whether you wear gas permeable or soft contact lenses. Because people very often skip these steps you want to make sure that you make the cleaning as easy and mechanical as possible. Simply make it part of your daily routine just like brushing your teeth.

Remember that proper contact lens maintenance means that everything that touches your lenses has to be clean. This means that you need to wash your fingers before you handle your lenses and make sure that the tips of your solution bottles are clean. Also, you'll need to clean out your storage containers after every time you remove the lenses.

Aside from the birth of the soft contact lens one of the most popular advancements in lens technology has been the development of extended wear contact lenses. These lenses can be left in your eye 24 hours a day and at least seven days a week or longer before you even need to take them out. This is a huge convenience over daily wear lenses which had to be removed and cleaned each night.

The key behind this advanced technology is oxygen flow. Previously, air couldn't permeate the lens to get to the cornea and lenses needed to be removed in order for the eye to "breathe". But the extended wear lenses let oxygen pass through them to the cornea. This is important because if the cornea is deprived of oxygen for an extended period of time it can result in eye problems including corneal edema and giant papillary conjunctivitis.

Extended wear contact lenses are ideal for today's busy lifestyles since they require minimal maintenance. These lenses are disposable so you simply throw them away after the wear period is over. Then pop in a new pair and you are good to go. No messy cleaning or disinfecting needed.

The first models of extended wear lenses were actually designed to be worn over and over again. These lenses were cleaned and disinfected and then put back in your eye. But these lenses were impossible to completely disinfect and a number of infections in eye irritations happened with this type of lens so manufacturers made a disposable version which is quite convenient. Of course, there is still a slight chance of infection with any contact lenses but if you practice proper hygiene you should minimize your chances of getting an eye infection.

Although the extended wear lenses are very convenient they may not work for everyone. Some people simply do not get enough oxygen in their eyes and will need to wear daily disposable lenses. Others just can't fathom sleeping with the contact lenses in their eyes and are afraid that they'll get lost somewhere inside the eye during sleep (this actually cannot happen although if you rub your eyes in your sleep they may fold over or come out).

Whether you choose extended wear contact lenses or daily wear soft lenses I can assure you that you will find the convenience to be quite pleasant. For people that are into sports, there's nothing like contact lenses to replace eye gasses which can actually be a safety hazard if they break or fall off during play. Plus, the disposable lenses are virtually maintenance free you just need to remember to order enough so that when you dispose of the pair you're wearing you have a new pair to pop right in.

When it comes to contact lenses most people think they're only for adults but, in fact, there are contact lenses for kids and even very young children can wear them. Kids can wear contact lenses for a variety of reasons but you need to think carefully about the advantages and disadvantages before you get them for your child.

If your child has vision problems then contact lenses can help enhance vision and can also be comfortable for them to wear. Fitting a child for contact lenses is the same process as fitting an adult and they have all the same options in purchasing lenses including extended wear, disposable, and daily wear.

For kids that play sports, contact lenses may be a far superior choice to eyeglasses. Eyeglasses can easily become damaged or broken and can even be dangerous during sporting events plus eyeglasses cost a lot of money and if you have to keep buying new ones because they're broken during sports that can be expensive!

The other advantage with contact lenses for kids is that sometimes children can be cruel and kids who wear glasses often get teased. This can really affect your child's self-esteem and self-confidence especially with young children that can really be hurt by these taunts.

But one thing the parent needs to consider is the maturity of the child. Wearing contact lenses carries with it certain responsibilities and you need to make sure that your kid will be able to maintain the contacts properly in order to keep their eyes healthy. If your kid is pretty responsible about school assignments and chores at home and it's a good bet that there be a good candidate for properly taking care of their contact lenses.

Some parents still want their kids to have contacts even though they may not be ready for the responsibility and in this case the parent will need to take over to make sure that the contacts are properly cleaned and maintained. This is critical because good eye health is important and not caring properly for your contacts can lead to eye damage.

Contact lenses for kids need to be considered carefully because they do have the same risks as for adults and this includes a higher risk of eye infection, abrasion and dryness. Some children may not be good candidates for wearing contact lenses. Either way you want to see your eye doctor can discuss the situation with him before you get your child fitted and a prescription for contact lenses.

When we think of a prosthesis, we usually think of a prosthetic limb or maybe even a heart or organ; however, prosthetics can be made for any part of a body, even the eyes. The use of a prosthetic lens for one or both eyes has much the same basis as the use for a prosthetic in any other part of the body - the body part has a disfigurement or abnormality that can be modified or corrected with the use of a prosthetic.

The condition may be congenital; i.e., a defect present at birth, such as the absence of pigmentation in the iris. This condition doesn't just result in sensitivity to light - it can be startling to others and create embarrassment for the individual who has this condition.

Lenses may also be used to correct or mask disfiguring eye injuries caused by accidents, to give a patient a more normal-looking appearance.

This lens is not the same as a glass eye; it fits over the eye just like any type of contact lens. These lenses also usually require the same type of maintenance as regular contact lenses and they feel just the same to the person wearing them.

Sometimes prosthetic contact lenses will be used to make an eye that has crossed appear to be in alignment. When the lens is inserted, it makes the colored part of the eye appear in the normal position of the white area instead of over towards the corner. Prosthetic lenses can hide such inconsistencies which can make the eyes look less awkward and gives the affected person a much higher level of self-confidence. It should be noted that this does not actually correct the defect - it only corrects the appearance of the defect.

Unlike traditional contact lenses these prosthesis's are not necessarily used to correct a problem with vision but they can also be made to double for this task as well. Usually, however they are just cosmetic. Like prosthetics for any other part of the body, prosthetic lenses are custom made for the individual. For example, for a person with no pigmentation in the iris, the iris color would be hand-painted directly onto contact lenses. As a result, these lenses are not disposable; it would be horrendously expensive to have customized disposable contact lenses.

Although there are costume contact lenses available over-the-counter, prosthetic contact lenses (which serve a completely different purpose) must be custom-ordered from someone who specializes in fashioning these types of contacts and following the referral from a medical doctor who specializes in eyes (ophthalmologist).

An astigmatism is when your eyes cornea is curved in an egg shaped instead of symmetrical like a ball. With this condition the light comes in at two different places which results in vision that is blurred or distorted. Up until recently people with an astigmatism could not wear contact lenses but toric contact lenses allow even people with an astigmatism to be able to see without glasses.

The toric lens is actually made from the same material that traditional contact lenses are made from but the lens is designed differently to deal with the astigmatism. These lenses curve at different angles creating two powers. In addition they also have a way of keeping stable when you move your eye or blank so that they provide crisp clear vision.

While it will take your eye doctor longer to fit you with the toric contact lens, you'll be happy to know that they are available in disposable, multifocal and even colored. Be that as it may, you can expect to pay more both for your lenses and for the fitting. Fitting an eye with these lenses does take a certain amount of expertise so you might want to make sure that your eye care practitioner is experienced with these types of lenses.

You can get toric lenses in soft or rigid gas permeable. With this type of lens, some people actually like the rigidity of the RGP lenses because they provide a bit crisper vision which is important with an astigmatism.

Many of the manufacturers today make soft toric contact lenses and your eye doctor will be able to recommend a brand that is best for your eyes. You can get them as disposables, daily disposables frequent replacement and silicone hydrogel for 30 day wear. If you have presbyopia, you'll want multifocall tprics which are usually an RGP lens and not disposable although there are some manufacturers who do make a soft toric multifocal lens.