A: Contact lenses are dangerous if you have a faulty lens, or do not maintain proper ocular hygiene, or don’t follow the recommended wearing and handling procedures. For instance, corneal abrasion can occur when the lens isn’t inserted properly. Corneal edema occurs if you overwear the lens. An eye infection may be caused by fingers or contact lens solutions that are contaminated. And foreign bodies can sneak under the lens and irritate the cornea.
With regard to the vast number of contact lens wearers, though, such complications have been remarkably rare. Read the rest of this entry »
A bandage lens, also called a therapeutic lens, is a special soft, very thin, high-water-content contact lens. In 1974 this hydrophilic lens was the first type to be used on an extended-wear basis, but without incorporating a prescription. It has a wide variety of uses before ocular surgery, after ocular surgery, and sometimes instead of surgery. It can also be therapeutic in conditions that do not respond to any other form of treatment.
The lens functions basically as a protective shield and prevents a damaged or ailing cornea from coming into contact with the eyelids and the air. Healing is thereby accelerated and pain is alleviated for as long as the lens is worn, which is on an extended basis (more than twenty-four hours). Read the rest of this entry »
Eventually everyone experiences presbyopia. This is the normal aging process of the eye, which begins around the age of forty for most people, and is caused by the gradual loss of elasticity in the natural crystalline lens of the eye. The lens loses its ability to change shape the way it used to, and fails to bring the light rays of near objects into sharp focus. Of course a nearsighted person over the age of forty can see near objects clearly with the naked eye, but will have difficulty doing so if he is wearing glasses or contact lenses that correct his myopia. Read the rest of this entry »
Conventional soft contact lenses cannot be used to correct moderate to large amounts of astigmatism. Their pliable nature causes them to conform to irregularities in the shape of the cornea and thus duplicate the astigmatic refractive error. Hard contact lenses are firm and hold their shape; they are able to correct high amounts of astigmatism because the spherical undersurface of the lenses and the tears beneath them create a new, smooth optical surface. Read the rest of this entry »
Contact lenses are, in most cases, a far better solution once the aphake is convinced that the “newfangled” device is worth trying. Advantages are the normal appearance of the eye and crisp visual acuity. Since only 6 percent magnification of objects occurs, the images appear to be of normal size, fusion can take place, and excellent peripheral vision and depth perception will result. Therefore life can go back to normal, the cosmetic effect is far better, and most observers can’t tell that there’s ever been a cataract extraction. Read the rest of this entry »
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 »
Contact Lenses Care .
