This type of lens has been put to artistic use in the movies by actors creating bizarre special effects, such as the eyes of monsters. Ironically prosthetic lenses can also be of real help to those who need something special in order to appear normal. They can dramatically improve the appearance (and sometimes the vision as well) of eyes that have been disfigured or in some way appear abnormal. This includes those who suffer from albinism or unsightly, deformed eyes whose defect is congenital in origin or due to accidental injury or a result of eye surgery. The ultimate type of prosthetic contact lens is the one that forms the “false eye“—or shell over the entire socket when an eye is enucleated (surgically removed).
Prosthetic contact lenses, which may cover the entire sclera or only the cornea, are predominantly manufactured in rigid form, though soft prosthetic lenses are available. The lenses simulate a normal iris and pupil by incorporating an opaque area that is colored artistically to achieve the final appearance of the eye. The desired image may be placed on any portion of the lens, and may be of any color. It is stable and nontoxic because in one type the image is “painted” on the surface of one lens and then covered with another lens, forming a “sandwich.” Another method employs a special tinting process of a soft lens.
CosmeticContact Lenses
For those who wish to change the color of their eyes, especially actors or models, the cosmetic contact lens is a real boon. Some of these lenses cover only the cornea, are made of rigid PMMA material, and are opaque, except in the transparent central area. This clear zone covers the pupil and may have a prescription incorporated. Obviously the lens has to center perfectly. Fitting is difficult and may require many sessions. Care and handling is similar to the standard hard lens. Soft lenses may also be tinted to provide similar cosmetic results.
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 »
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 »
Vision is a dynamic, changing process that is highly individualized. No one sees exactly the same as you do. No two eyes— even your right eye compared with your left—are quite the same. Nor do they remain the same as you go through life.
Though the eye is quite durable, it’s also an irreplaceable, delicate, sensitive, and highly sophisticated organ. Your eye is directly connected to your brain by the optic nerve and is closely related to other systems of your body. It shouldn’t be considered independently, and before you walk off with a pair of contact lenses you should undergo a complete medical eye examination by an ophthalmologist. Read the rest of this entry »
Since contact lenses rest directly—and nearly invisibly—on a thin layer of tears over the cornea, there are many advantages:
You Look Better.This is the greatest single reason people switch from glasses to contacts. There are no unflattering frames to obscure and change the appearance of your face, nor thick lenses to enlarge or diminish your eyes. Contact lenses have been called “invisible glasses” that allow the natural beauty of your eyes, eyelids, and eyelashes to be seen by everyone, and you’ll be able to communicate better with them. Read the rest of this entry »
The contact lens worn today is a tiny, thin, dome-shaped, transparent disc that’s usually made from special types of plastic and sometimes silicone rubber. Most hard lenses are a mere 8 to 10 mm in diameter and .035 to 1 mm thick. (One inch equals 22 mm.) Soft lenses are a bit larger, but most are 11 to 16 mm in diameter or less. Such precision and delicacy weren’t always the case. How something that’s smaller and thinner than your fingernail—sometimes as thin as a single human hair—can take the place of a pair of bulky eyeglasses is a wondrous story of how modern science and technology were put to use by scientists, innovators, and dreamers who stubbornly believed that a good idea can always get better.
The concept of contact lenses has actually been around for nearly five hundred years. As far as we know, the first contact lens was envisioned by the man who seemed to think of everything first: Leonardo da Vinci. His notebooks show that in 1508 he conceived the idea that a “little ampule of glass” could be placed on the eye in order to improve the wearer’s vision. In 1636 Descartes published his own version of the contact lens: a tube filled with water. But the idea remained a gleam in everyone’s eye until technology began to catch up with these two far-reaching thinkers. Read the rest of this entry »
Contact Lenses Care .
