Contact Lenses: Shoes for Your Eyes

Contact Lenses: Shoes for Your Eyes

Have you had this problem before? Your glasses fog up when getting out of the car during a cold day. How about getting knocked off your face when playing ball? Glasses are great. They help us see and can add another level to our style. But man can they get in the way! What are other options do you have? The simplest solution would be in contact lenses.

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration regulates all contact lenses as prescription medical devices. This means you need a specific prescription from your eye doctor. As weird as it may sound, think of your contacts like shoes; one size does not fit all. Your eyes, lifestyle, and personal preferences are all factors in the contact lens fitting. A few measurements are collected during the fitting. They will begin with a measurement of the curve of your cornea. This makes sure you have a contact that sits comfortably on the eye without causing discomfort. Next, they will measure your pupil and iris. These measurements help determine the size of contact you need and the alignment of the optic zone (the area of the lens that contains the corrective power) with your pupil. Finally, your eye doctor will evaluate your tear film. Using a special dye, they can determine if your eyes produce enough tears or the right kind of tears for wearing contacts. This may also mean they need to switch you into a different type of contact that keeps the eye wetter.

It is important to still get your yearly eye exam after being fitted with contacts. During a typically comprehensive eye exam, your eye doctor will check for any signs of ocular diseases or other serious health conditions, determine your prescription strength, examine how your eyes are working together, and check the pressure in your eyes. Further tests need to be performed to make sure the health of your eye is maintained while wearing contacts. Your cornea, the clear front surface of your eye, is avascular (lacking blood vessels) and makes up two-thirds of your prescription. All nutrients for the cornea come from the aqueous humor and tear film. Since contacts lay on the cornea it is important to make sure it is still receiving all the nutrients necessary to help function.

Remember that shoe comparison I mentioned before? Let’s think about that for a second. You don’t wear dress shoes to run a marathon or high heels to the beach. Your contacts are no different. You need the right kind of contact to fit your specific need. This is when your optometrist will also discuss the different modalities, or how frequently you replace your contact lenses. The number one option most eye doctors chose is a daily disposable contact lens. Daily lenses are single-use lenses that provide a fresh clean pair every day. A monthly lens comes in a close second. They require nightly cleaning and replacement once a month. Your eye doctor may prescribe these because you have a unique prescription that is slightly more difficult to make as a daily disposable. A few other modalities are rigid gas permeable contact lenses (sometimes referred to as hard contact lenses) and hybrid lenses (mix of a hard contact lens in the center and a soft contact lens on the side). These last two types of lenses are sometimes considered more of a specialty lens as they are used for certain needs or visual conditions.

When shopping for running shoes, I always look at the features they provide: nice grip, cushion insole, good arch support, and a great color. Your optometrist is doing the same thing when fitting contacts to your prescription. They may look at a toric lens that provides correction for astigmatism or even a toric lens with a bifocal feature to help correct vision in the distance and up close. Having some issues with dryness and irritation? They will look at certain soft contacts that provide a large amount of moisture to the eye or use a large gas permeable contact that helps hold in moisture. There are so many features for contacts and your eye doctor can match those features to your specific needs.

After an optometrist has completed the contact lens fitting, an optometric technician or assistant will discuss with you about proper care and hygiene. Let’s go back to the shoe analogy. You’ve had a smelly shoe in your life. Don’t deny it. Stinky shoes have happened to all of us. Why? They are dirty and need a good cleaning. Well, the same is true with your contact lenses. No, they don’t get smelly, but bacteria can grow on the lenses making you more at risk of infection than before. The best way to care for your lenses is the “rub and rinse” cleaning method. Place the contact in the palm of your hand and fill the bowl with contact solution. Gently rub the contact lens for about twenty seconds. Then place them in a contact lens case filled with solution to sit overnight.

Another cleaning option may be a solution with hydrogen peroxide. These types of solutions will have a red cap on the bottle and do not require the “rub and rinse” method. Simply fill the case to the line with the hydrogen peroxide solution. Place lenses in the special baskets and rinse for five seconds. Place contacts in the solution. This is important. LEAVE contacts in the hydrogen peroxide solution for at least SIX hours. This allows the solution to neutralize and safe to place on your eye.

Tight-fitting and poorly kept tennis shoes can lead to athlete’s foot, poorly taken care of or overworn contacts can lead to eye health issues as well. Contact lens wearers are more likely to have an eye infection. One cause for infection is partly because you’re putting your fingers near your eyes more often. Make sure to always wash your hands before inserting your contacts. Corneal scarring is another common contact lens-related issue. This is typically caused by over-wearing of contacts. The prolonged use causes inflammation of the cornea and can lead to scarring. The worst-case scenario is corneal ulcers or open sores on the outer layer of the cornea. This too can be related to over wearing of lenses. All of these things can be treated rather easily by your eye care provider, but early detection and care are the best. If you are a contact lens wear and you notice any sort of pain, irritation, mattering, or discharge, call your eye clinic and do not wear your contacts for a while.

Poor fitted and poorly cared for contacts are major concerns for optometrists, whereas most patients’ major concern is cost. Think of it like shoes (I promise, I’ll stop the comparison soon). You go to the shoe store and get a great pair of running shoes that cost you hundreds of dollars. More than you feel comfortable spending. So you go to an outlet store and find the same pair of shoes for way less. Remember, it is an outlet store. They are cheaper because there is typically something wrong with them, a manufacturing defect or it didn’t meet certain standards for a specific store. The same thing is true with contact lenses. Yes, there are tons of online retailers that sell contacts for pretty cheap, but what are you sacrificing. When purchasing contacts from your local eye clinic you are getting high-quality materials, specialized customer service, and higher rebates than what you get online.

At Mabee Eye Clinic, we provide all of our contact lens wearers with a simple guarantee. We will provide free training for inserting and removing contacts. We’ll provide a starter kit containing a bottle of cleaning solution, a case, and a coupon for more solutions. This gives you all the essentials for proper care of your contacts. Depending on the circumstances, we also provide free contact lens replacements.

You wear sandals to the beach. You wear dress shoes or high heels for important business meetings. You wear a great pair of cushioned, breathable, and supportive hiking boots when walking the trails up a beautiful mountain. Why not have a perfect fit for your contacts? If you are interested in contact lenses, call and schedule a visit with your eye doctor. Have them get a contact that fits perfectly to your eye, provides that right amount of moisture and breathability, and meets your visual needs.

References

Booth, J. (Dec. 16, 2018). 8 risks of wearing contact lenses you probably don’t know. Bustle. Retrieved August 18th, 2020, from https://www.bustle.com/p/8-risks-of-contact-lenses-that-everyone-who-wears-them-should-know-15513784
Segre, L. (2017). Eye allergies: how to get relief from itchy, watery eyes. All About Vision. Retrieved August 20th, 2020, from https://www.allaboutvision.com/contacts/contact_lenses.htm
Heiting, G. (2017). Contact lenses for dry eyes. All About Vision. Retrieved August 20th, 2020, from https://www.allaboutvision.com/contacts/contact_lenses.htm
(2019). Focusing on contact lens safety. FDA. Retrieved August 24th, 2020, form https://www.fda.gov/consumers/consumer-updates/focusing-contact-lens-safety
Heiting, G. (2017). How do contact lenses work? All About Vision. Retrieved August 24th, 2020, from https://www.allaboutvision.com/contacts/faq/how-contacts-work.htm