2009 March | Eye Contact Guide

Archive for March, 2009

Your Guide to Buying Contact Lenses with your Flexible Spending Account

What is a Flexible Spending Account?
A Flexible Spending Account (FSA) is a fund which allows you to pay for eligible medical expenses with pre-tax money. This might be a fund that is set up by your employer and allows you to set aside money on a regularly basis which you can use towards health insurance co-pays, bandages, contact lenses and contact lens solutions etc.

How to use your Flexible Spending Account to buy contact lenses

You can purchase products using your Flexible Spending Account (FSA) funds—just use your FSA card as you would any other credit card. If you don’t have an FSA card, you can purchase products using a regular credit card and submit the invoice for reimbursement.
How to Buy Online
Before you are ready to buy online, ensure you have an up-to-date prescription. The prescription should have details of your doctor’s name and phone number.

Compare different retailers for the best price but don’t purchase solely on price. Take into consideration the following before making your decision:

1. Does the company have phone support? If you have a problem you may wish to talk to someone verbally.
2. Does the company have a returns policy?
3. How long before the order is shipped?
4. Do they have a secure website for purchasing with your credit card?
5. Check the shipping charges. Some online retailers may offer free shipping on large orders, others may not. Factor this cost into the total charge when making your decision.

Reducing Contact Lens Discomfort

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With today’s advances in contact lens technology, corrected vision is more comfortable than ever before. Space-age materials create a water-permeable, gas-permeable soft contact lens that rests smoothly and gently against your eye.

Unfortunately, far too many people experience discomfort with their contact lenses and simply accept that that is the price of having a piece of plastic in your eye. The truth is that most causes for irritation can be easily resolved. Moreover, ignoring contact irritation is a terrible idea, since small irritations can grow into dangerous infections if left untreated.

The most important step to healthy, comfortable contact lens use is to follow your eye doctor’s wear and cleaning directions to the letter. Do not leave your contacts in longer than recommended, make sure you care for your contacts well when you are not wearing them, and clean them as directed and with the recommended cleaning solutions.

If your lenses seem scratchy or blurry, it could be that they have gotten dirty. Take them out and clean them thoroughly to see if that solves the problem.

Roughness or scratchiness can also indicate that your lens is inside-out. Remove the lenses and check that you have inserted them properly.

Another reason for scratchiness or red eyes can be that your eyes are too dry. Dryness can be caused by a number of factors, including a high caffeine intake, smoking, dehydration and certain medications.

To counteract this, you can change your diet or take a nutritional supplement that stimulates your natural tear production. If that doesn’t work, you can also resort to eye drops.

Ensure that you are wearing contact lenses that have been specifically prescribed for you. If you have purchased theatrical contact lenses or colored contact lenses for a special occasion without a prescription then this can result damage or irritation to your eyes.

If these simple tips don’t clear up your contact lens discomfort, or if you are experience very strong discomfort, consult your eye doctor as soon as possible. A wide range of solutions exist to help you combat eye irritation from contact lenses – there is no reason to suffer!

Read more about the safe use of contact lenses.

Conjunctivitis – What is conjunctivitis?

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Conjunctivitis (Pink Eye) is a type of eye infection that specifically affects the membranes under the eyelids and covering the white portions of the eye. Note that the term specifies where on the eye that the infection has occurred, not the cause. Conjunctivitis may have a viral, bacterial, allergic, or chemical cause, just like other types of eye infections.

What are the symptoms?

Pink Eye is a particularly common eye problem in newborns and children. Symptoms include redness in the whites of the eyes or eyelids (which led to the name Pink Eye), tearing, and itchiness.
How to stop the spread of conjunctivitis

Bacterial and viral forms of conjunctivitis can be highly contagious. It is easy to spread the infection from one eye to the other or from one child to the other. Sharing a towel, swimming with an infected child, or picking up a used tissue can be enough to transmit the infection.

To help stop the spread of pink eye, wash your hands often, especially after treating the infected eye, and teach your children to do the same. Also make sure that your child knows not to touch the eye, even if it is itchy or watery, with his or her bare hands. Be sure not to share any wash cloths, eye makeup, handkerchiefs, or tissues until a week after the infection is passed.

As a further precaution, it is a good idea to keep the infected person’s laundry, including clothes, linens, and towels, separate from the rest of the family, and to wash them in hot water between uses.

When to see your doctor

Although this type of eye infection is normally not serious, it is a good idea to consult with a doctor if your child has it.

Some types of pink eye can be treated with antibiotics, ibuprofen, or antihistamines, and your doctor can also ensure that the infection is truly conjunctivitis and not a more serious condition.

Safe Contact Lens Use

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Contact lenses are strictly regulated by the government for a good reason. Although there are many advantages to wearing contacts there are also risks, especially if they are used improperly. This guide will help you learn to use contact lenses safely.

1. Never wear your contacts longer than recommended.

Your eye doctor will give you careful directions regarding how long your contact lenses should be worn. Be sure to follow these instructions properly. Overextending the use of your contact lenses can starve your eyes of the oxygen they need, which can eventually lead to blindness. In extreme cases, your lenses can even calcify, tearing the surface of your eye when you remove them.

If your lenses seem scratchy or blurry, it could be that they have gotten dirty. Take them out and clean them thoroughly to see if that solves the problem.

Roughness or scratchiness can also indicate that your lens is inside-out. Remove the lenses and check that you have inserted them properly.

2. Follow cleaning instructions properly.

If contact lenses are not cleaned properly, they can become a breeding ground for dangerous bacteria and cause nasty infections. Always use recommended cleaning products, change your lens holder frequently, and follow a strict cleaning schedule to avoid serious problems.

3. Get regular eye exams.

Regular eye examinations are an important part of healthy eye care. Throughout your life, your eyes will change, meaning that the contact lens prescription that worked last year might be damaging your eyes this year. Furthermore, your doctor can catch early warning signs of trouble, staving off serious problems down the road.

4. Never buy contacts from an unregistered dealer.

In the search for cheap contact lenses, some people might be tempted to buy boxes of lenses from disreputable dealers. Surely picking up a box of lenses from a flea market couldn’t really hurt, right? Wrong. Not only do you run the risk of damaging your eyes by using lenses with the wrong prescription, but many of these unregistered dealers are actually selling contaminated lenses. This can be extremely dangerous to your health.
5. Contact your eye doctor with any problems.

If you notice any change in your vision or in the appearance of your eyes, be sure to contact your eye doctor immediately. Ignoring warning signs only leads to more serious problems down the road.

6. Never share contact lenses.

This is a big no-no. Sharing contact lenses and in particular theatrical contact lenses happens far too often but this is a dangerous practice. Sharing contacts can cause eye infections which in some cases can cause permanent loss of vision. Always ensure that any contact lenses you wear are prescribed specifically for you.

By following these six simple steps, you can keep your eyes healthy and your vision sharp while wearing contact lenses.

Myopia – Short Sightedness and Its treatments

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The inability to see things clearly when they are at a distance is called myopia, more commonly known as near sightedness. People who are nearsighted have trouble with tasks like reading highway signs or the blackboard. Myopia is hereditary, and usually appears early in childhood. It is most often treated with corrective lenses, either spectacles or contact lenses. In a prescription for corrective lenses, a lens meant to correct nearsightedness will have a negative number, and the higher the number the stronger the correction provided.

Approximately 30% of the population is nearsighted. If you find that objects that are near to you appear clear, but objects that are at a distance seem blurred, you may be nearsighted. If you have frequent headaches and eyestrain even when wearing your glasses, you should have your vision re-evaluated to be sure that your prescription is still adequate for your needs.

Recent years have seen some interesting and hopeful advances in the treatment of myopia. Refractive surgery using lasers has become increasingly common. Some of the more common of those procedures include Lasik surgery and PRK surgery. In both of these treatments a special laser scalpel is used to reshape the cornea in order to focus light properly on the retina.

Another area that’s being explored with considerable success is reshaping the cornea using contact lenses. Known as orthokeratology, the process involves wearing specially made contact lenses that gradually reshape your cornea so that when you remove them, your cornea temporarily retains the new shape, giving you clear vision without the contact lenses in place. In a similar treatment, called corneal refractive therapy which was approved in 2002, corneal shaping lenses are worn at night and offer clear vision without contact lenses during the day.

All about Presbyopia

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Many believe that presbyopia is a disease, but it is not. Presbyopia is actually the eyes inability to adjust and accommodate changes in lighting and focus as the body ages. Many experts believe that presbyopia is caused by a loss of elasticity in the crystalline lens or even changes in the shape of the lens or the loss of power in the ciliary muscles, though the specific cause is not known. Much has been written on the condition, and for all experts know each case has a different cause, what experts do know is that we will all experience the condition sooner or later.

Presbyopia doesn’t pick and choose its victims, because it literally affects everyone at some point in their life, usually it starts anywhere from age 40-50.

The first symptoms are usually the inability to read fine print, to read in dim lighting, and some patients experience strained eyes when they read for long periods of time. The condition is usually less noticeable in bright natural light as the iris closes so that the depth of focus is enhanced. It seems as though the ability to focus is greater, but really it is not.

Unfortunately, presbyopia is not something that can be cured, though experts believe that there may be a cure or preventative treatments in the future.

Luckily, the eyes inability to adjust can be treated with corrective lenses, glasses, and contact lenses. Many that suffer from this condition find that bifocals, trifocals, or progressive lenses are quite helpful in eliminating or at least reducing the symptoms of presbyopia. Many patients find that wearing just one lens will help the symptoms so that they will again be able to read without trouble.

By the age of 65 most people report symptoms of full-blown presbyopia, but most find ways to cope with the symptoms. Some find that reading glasses help them read every day things such as prescription bottles and recipe cards with little or no effort. Many people don’t like the idea of contact lenses or corrective lenses so they continue to hold things further and further away as they age. You’ll find as you get older that you just hold things further and further away from your face as you read! The action that you choose to take to deal with presbyopia is your choice and usually has to do with how severely you are affected.