Are Contact Lenses Worth It

1st Oct 2018

What are contact lenses? Contact lenses are vision correcting devices that can be placed on cornea/sclera and can correct refractive defects or can be used for therapeutic purposes. What are the types of contact lenses? When we classify contact lenses according to their material content, we can categorize them as hard (Rigid) and soft lenses. Many patients who are suffering from various eye conditions often wonder if switching to contact lenses are worth it and the answer is yes – it definitely is.

The back surface of such a lens corresponds to the shape of the cornea of the eye, and the front one corrects the wrong optical system of the eye, which allows clearly, as in a healthy eye, to focus the image of surrounding objects on the retina, without distorting their shape, not bringing them closer or distancing them, as glasses do. The range of correction contact lenses wider than the spectacle or surgical, from +20.0 to -20.0 dioptres.

Types of lenses

Soft and hard contact lenses are used to correct myopia, hyperopia and astigmatism. With proper selection and use of contact lenses provide much better than glasses, the quality of vision correction. Good lenses allow you to fully restore visual acuity without distortion and aberration, which cannot provide the best spectacle lenses. In addition, contact lenses are free from the limitations imposed by wearing glasses, give a feeling of freedom, allow you to lead an active lifestyle.

Gas-permeable contact lenses provide enough oxygen to the cornea with oxygen delivery. They can provide heat to the epithelial layer and cells as well as providing comfort for longer periods than they transmit. RGP lenses provide oxygen through the air passing through the lens through the tear.

Contact lenses can be used at all ages. Many over 40 years start having difficulties focusing on closer objects, which can be a problem especially when reading. Then, multifocal contact lenses are a good solution. Eyes can also become drier over the years, but then you can choose contact lenses in new moisture-retaining materials that provide very good comfort.

They are not posing any threats to your eye

It is often said that contact lenses are a constant health risk for the health of your eyes. This statement is not true as it all depends how well your contact lenses are maintained. Health problems related to contact lenses may occur, but they usually result from deficiencies in cleaning, handling or use. In rare cases you may need to switch to another kind of lenses, for example, of more moisture-retaining lenses. Following the optician's advice on how to use and handle contact lenses reduces the risk of infection significantly.

Most patients acquire soft contact lenses, but for complex types of refraction, hard contact lenses are also prescribed, for example: for astigmatism, keratoconus (conical cornea).

Only a doctor can choose contact lenses, so you need to consult an ophthalmologist. The possibility of using lenses should be discussed with the doctor, taking into account the type and degree of visual impairment, age, health and wishes. This is especially important because there are a number of contraindications for wearing contact lenses: inflammatory processes in the eyes, diseases of the lacrimal apparatus, strabismus, glaucoma, subluxation of the lens, and various allergies.

A lot of people use contact lenses: around 125 million people in the world wear contact lenses.

There are a number of reasons why people needing correction instead of fashionable glasses choose contact lenses invisible to an outsider.

- who leads an active lifestyle, goes in for sports,

- who doesn't like the way they look like wearing glasses,

- who wants to have a natural vision, not limited frame of glasses.

Contact lenses are less subject to weathering compared to glasses; they do not fog up when in cold weather you enter the room from the street. All of the above is enough to explain the enormous popularity of contact lenses. Contact lenses are very popular in the USA, in Japan, in almost all European countries, in the Middle and Far East. Nearly 50% of those who wear contact lenses are young people between the ages of 18 and 25. And among those who wear contact lenses for the first time, this age group is almost 80%.