Contact lenses that you can wear while you sleep—this earth- shattering concept arouses no less interest and excitement than the Pill did when it was first introduced. This is the glamour lens that everybody wants to know about and have, and is probably the lens of the future. Like the Pill, which forever altered our sexual standards, the extended-wear contact lens promises to usher in a new era and change our attitudes toward visual correction. But the similarity doesn’t end there: Though this lens seems to be the answer to every contact lens wearer’s prayers, it has not yet been perfected. It is definitely not for everyone, and some practitioners are reluctant to prescribe it at all.
Canada, Australia, and Europe enjoyed several types of extended-wear contact lenses several years before we did. However, there is no Food and Drug Administration in those parts of the world, and because of this lack of strict monitoring control and quality, these lenses have posed a health problem, especially as related to corneal complications. Read the rest of this entry »
For a long time, tinted soft lenses were not available in this country because of lack of FDA approval. Because the lenses are large and extend beyond the iris onto the white part of the eye, a complete dark tint would also look rather odd. But the transparency of a nontinted lens makes it difficult to see, especially when dropped. The advertising campaign based on the soft lens’s near-perfect resemblance to a drop of water is no exaggeration. No tint also means no glare reduction, but since photosensitivity in soft-lens wearers is relatively rare, this is a minor disadvantage.
However, this ban may no longer be an issue for soft-lens wearers, because in June of 1981 a tinting process for soft lenses was made available. The physician may send any FDA approved soft contact lens to a special laboratory in North Carolina in order to be tinted according to certain specifications. Read the rest of this entry »
Hygiene is of the utmost importance when handling and maintaining contact lenses, especially soft contacts. Both cleaning and disinfecting must be done every time you remove your lenses. Cleaning removes surface deposits and is performed with a surfactant cleaning solution. Disinfection kills microorganisms and is accomplished either with heat and a saline solution or with a chemical (cold) disinfecting solution. A third process utilizes enzymes to remove stubborn protein deposits and is usually needed once a week. Saline solution is used to remove the other solutions from the lenses. Finally, although soft lenses are quite comfortable, some wearers may occasionally find a lubricating solution or drops helpful. (The use of these individual solutions is explained below.) Read the rest of this entry »
“I had a lot of friends who wore hard contact lenses; in fact, I’d had a brief fling with them myself about ten years ago. But I live in a big city and couldn’t stand the pain every time a little piece of dust or soot got between my cornea and my lens. So I gave up. I don’t know how my friends continued to put up with it. Actually, some of them didn’t—gradually more and more of them began switching to the (then) new soft lenses: They seemed so happy with them. . . . They finally talked me into trying again. And, boy, am I glad they did! From the very first time I wore them they were unbelievably comfortable. I barely knew that they were there. They were so easy to wear, it was all I could to to keep myself from exceeding the hours specified in my wearing schedule. That was quite a switch from my hard-lens days, when I could hardly wait to get home to take them out. Now I wouldn’t dream of going back to wearing glasses or hard contact lenses. I feel so free and I can see much better too. I’m only sorry that I waited so long.” Read the rest of this entry »
Contact Lenses Care .
