Contact Lenses (An Overview)

Hello Everyone,

Welcome to my blog, I hope you and your families are staying safe and adhering to all protocols been put in place to combat this pandemic. Today I would like us to take a quick at contact lenses, what they are, some do and don’ts when you are a contact lens wearer and the possibility of contact lenses been used to eradicate refractive errors.

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Introduction

Contact Lens are a category of lenses that are place on the eye directly instead of in a spectacle frame. Because of this they are thin and they material makeup attract oxygen so our eye structures do not starve. The nature of a contact lens has a lot to do with the purpose for which it may be prescribed.

Over the years contact lenses have undergone lots of development and refinement and today we have many types of CLs including; hard contact lenses, rigid permeable gas contact lenses, hydrogel contact lenses, hybrid contact lenses, haptic contact lenses etc. All of which have different properties and functions.

You optometrist would help you get the best contact lenses that would suite your function and comfortability.

Wearing Contact Lenses

Contact lenses are basically prescribed for two reasons, one is for aesthetic purposes and the other is for refractive purposes. Contact lenses given out for the purpose of aesthetics may not have any power in them and what they do is to change your eye color or the color of the iris. So whiles ocular albinism may present with blue and green eyes, one can also simply wear contact lenses to achieve this purpose. We see this a lot in Hollywood movies without even realizing, so now you know, not all blue eyes are natural.

The purpose for dispensing contact lenses as already mentioned is to enhance vision. Ideally most optometrist would recommend wearing spectacles to correct your refractive error because it is easier to use and manage however upon request by patient or perhaps the job demand the individual may be given contact lenses. For instance, in sports one cannot wear glasses to play if their vision requires correction since it would pose more danger to them and their peers.

However, whichever your purpose for opting for contact lens may be, they all goes through same or similar procedure for dispensing and it is very pertinent that patients follow all recommendations to the very latter to protect themselves from possibly infecting their own eyes with microbe. Protozoa and fungi are common in cases of contact lens infection and they are the most difficult to treat in ophthalmic practice with a good chance of causing damage to our sight so be careful. It is important to also know that not all individuals can wear contact lenses, some people are just too sensitive whereas others do not make the criteria.

Some Do’s and Don’ts with Contact Lens Wear

This is not an exhaustive list however so long as you heed to the advice of your optometrist and follow some of these basic rules or guidelines you should be fine.

Do not sleep with your contact lenses, discard them every day after use. Always wash your hands with soap under running water before fitting your contact lens. It is not to be shared with friends or family. Soft contact lenses must be stored in their fresh solution always. Enhanced personal hygiene must be adhered to at all times.

Please do not swim or bath with your contact lenses. Contact lenses should not be used when undergoing ocular treatment unless otherwise stated by your optometrist. There is no 5 seconds rule with contact lenses especially soft contact lenses, if it falls do not pick it up and place it on your eye. Contact lenses should be regularly clean and this should not be done with tap water.

Orthokeratology

It is an ophthalmic practice that seeks to correct refractive errors using special type of contact lenses such that the individual do not have to wear them at all times. Initially researchers sought out to permanently correct refractive errors by altering the shape of the cornea with force from the contact lenses, however, the cornea seem to revert back to its original position after a while.

Currently in orthokeratology patients wear their contact lenses in the night and get to walk around during the day without any prescription seeing as well as if they had their prescription. Prevalence of refractive errors are on the rise with more increase in myopia cases hence more may be directed to orthokeratology in the near future.

Conclusion

Wearing contact lenses may seem a bit unpleasant to some people basically due to the fact that they have to be extra-careful in doing certain things however, you can be rest assured that wearing contact lenses is safe and even fun sometimes. All that is required is obedience to some simple instructions and you will have nothing to worry about. If you are a contact lens wearer too do not be afraid to explore your options with your optometrist. He or she would definitely help you make the right choices.

Thanks for reading, Special thanks to my mentors and supporters @mcsamm, @tj4real, @armandosodano, @delilhavores, @gentleshaid, @agmoore. For further reading;

https://www.aao.org/eye-health/glasses-contacts/what-is-orthokeratology
https://www.nvisioncenters.com/orthokeratology/
https://www.allaboutvision.com/contacts/contact_lenses.htm
https://www.aoa.org/patients-and-public/caring-for-your-vision/contact-lenses/advantages-and-disadvantages-of-various-types-of-contact-lenses
https://www.aoa.org/patients-and-public/caring-for-your-vision/contact-lenses/dos-and-donts