2009 March | Eye Contact Guide

Archive for March, 2009

Dry Eyes – Causes, Treatment and Prevention of Dry Eyes

Have you ever had the feeling that your eyes are filled with sand? If your eyes are red, itchy, sore, or gritty-feeling, then you may be experiencing a very common eye problem known as dry eyes. What causes your eyes to become dry and what can you do about it?

Our eyes are usually lubricated through the production of moisture by the tear ducts. This moisture is mostly water, but it also includes oils, mucus, and proteins which keep your eyes feeling moist and smooth.

Your eyes become dry for two reasons:

* Something interrupts the normal production of moisture by the tear ducts
* Unusual conditions cause the amount of produced moisture to be insufficient.

Causes of dry eyes

Examples of circumstances that can interrupt the moisture production in your eyes include aging and/or menopause, blockage, tearing, or other problems with the tear ducts, your body’s reaction to certain medications, and diseases such as rheumatoid arthritis and Sjogren’s syndrome.

Outside conditions that can cause your eyes to feel dry include working in a windy or dusty environment, dry air caused by air conditioning or heating, and smoking cigarettes. Finally, getting caught up in a movie or book, or while working on a computer screen, may cause you to blink too infrequently. If you don’t blink often enough, the moisture will not spread evenly over your eye, and it may evaporate too quickly.
Treatments

For some people, the occasional use of artificial lubricants such as tear drops is enough to restore the feeling of moist, healthy eyes. If dryness in the eyes recurs or is not eased by artificial teardrops, consult your doctor. You may need a simple procedure, such as blocking your tear ducts with a plug to resolve your problem. If this doesn’t work, there are forms of outpatient surgery that can prevent the moisture in your eyes from draining away too quickly.

Bifocal Contact Lenses Suitable for Presbyopia

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One of the almost inevitable effects of aging is a condition called presbyopia. If you find that you can only read the newspaper if you hold it at arm’s length or have trouble reading the labels on medicine bottles, then you’re probably suffering from the gradual decline in the ability to focus on objects that are closer than arm’s length. If you thought that your only option was bifocal glasses, think again! Advances in the contact lens industry have made it possible for you to wear bifocal contact lenses – and no one has to know.

The traditional eye correction treatment for presbyopia is bifocal glasses – glasses that combine both a prescription for nearsightedness and one for farsightedness in one lens. Bifocal contact lenses are made the same way. They are soft contact lenses designed to float on the surface of your cornea and correct both vision problems in one of several ways. Your eye care provider can help you decide on the best option for your particular eye care needs.

Translating bifocal contact lenses
Translating lenses are the closest to traditional bifocals, with the near and far prescriptions in distinctly separate areas. Usually the prescription for near vision is at the bottom of the lens and the one for far at the top, but occasionally the doctor may reverse the prescription for special needs.

In addition, some people need a third correction, and all three lens strengths will be combined in one lens. These lenses work well for most people who need correction for nearsightedness, but the lens needs to be able to move easily on the surface of the cornea. This can be a problem for people with large pupils or drooping eyelids.

Annular bifocal contact lenses
For those with small pupils, or those whose vision needs very little correction, there are annular bifocal contact lenses. Rather than separating the prescriptions into two distinct areas, annular lenses have the prescriptions arranged in concentric rings around the center of the lens. Your doctor will help decide the exact placement of the rings. As with translating lenses, you’ll learn to focus through the part of the lens most appropriate for the needs of a task.

Aspherical bifocal contact lenses
In these lenses, the prescription areas of the contact lens are placed near the center of the eye. It’s the most like natural vision, where your eyes ignore far objects when doing near work, and reverse that when focusing on objects in the distance.

Monovision fitted contact lenses
Technically speaking, these aren’t bifocal lenses. Instead, one eye wears a prescription for nearsightedness and the other for farsightedness. While it may take a bit of practice, your eyes will get used to focusing on the tasks you’re doing with the appropriate eye.

Hybrid bifocal contact lenses
With hybrid bifocals, your doctor fits one eye with a bifocal lens and the other with a prescription for a stronger need. Like monovision lenses, your eyes will use the right eye for the right task.

All of these types of lenses are increasingly available as both disposable and extended wear lenses, or as rigid gas permeable lenses. If you find that you just aren’t seeing as well as you used to, have a chat with your eye care professional to find out if bifocal contact lenses are right for you.

Proclear Contact Lenses

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If you suffer from contact lens discomfort, or you have given up on contacts because you have had trouble wearing lenses in the past, now might be time for you to try Proclear contact lenses.

Proclear lenses are the only contacts whose claim to reduce redness and discomfort has been approved by the FDA.

Each box is authorized to state that Proclear lenses “may provide improved comfort for contact lens wearers who experience mild discomfort or symptoms relating to dryness during lens wear.”

The exceptionally smooth feel is due to the next-generation engineering process used in their design. Proclear contacts are made from a high-tech material that is infused with molecules of phosphorylcholine, a substance commonly found in human cells. Because phosphorylcholine molecules naturally surround themselves with water, Proclear feel smooth and moist all day long.

The materials used are also resistant to protein and residue build-up, adding to the comfort of the lenses while increasing their sharpness and clarity.

While many contact lenses begin to feel scratchy or blurry after a few hours of use, Proclear’s phosphorylcholine technology keeps your lenses fresh and smooth all day long.

As we age, there is a tendency for us not to be able to see clearly either close at hand or at a distance; and we often experience dry eyes. Proclear contacts offer a multi-focus line that helps solve both of these problems. Proclear’s phosphorylcholine technology helps keep eyes moist while the multi-focus lenses allow clear vision at any range.

Astigmatism sufferers can also find relief with Proclear contact lenses, which come in Toric and custom-made Toric lines. Ask your eye care professional which Proclear line is best for your vision.

Soflens Contact Lenses

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Bausch and Lomb have specially engineered Soflens contact lenses to combine comfort with the best possible visual enhancement. Formerly known as Optima lenses, Soflens is a safe, comfortable, and highly advanced visual aid.

A common problem with contact lenses is the build-up of protein on the lens surface which can cause blurry vision, scratchiness, and even cause an allergic reaction to the contact lenses. Soflens lenses are designed to resist the accumulation of protein on the surface of the lens, making them last longer and feel clean and smooth against your eye.

Soflens contacts are known for their sturdy construction making it difficult to tear or damage these lenses during cleaning or insertion. These lenses are ideal for people with difficult-to-correct vision problems.

Soflens lenses are designed to provide exceptionally clear vision for astigmatism sufferers.

Older people sometimes lose flexibility in the cornea of their eyes which leads to farsightedness and the loss of reading vision. Soflens multifocus contact lenses can correct this problem allowing clear vision both close up and at a distance.

These contact lenses are ideal for first-time contact wearers. The SofLens38 comes with an inversion indicator that makes it easy to see if the contact lens is inside out – a common difficulty for new lens wearers. A light tint makes these lenses easy to find if they fall out or are dropped in the sink.

Soflens contact lenses offers one-day disposable contacts at an affordable price so go ahead, enjoy the feeling of fresh, clean lenses every day

No matter what your vision needs, Soflens contacts from Bausch and Lomb can help. If you have used Soflenses under the Optima brand name, your prescription is instantly transferable – only the name has changed.

History of the Contact Lens

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The history of contact lens begins somewhere in the 16th century with Leonardo Da Vinci introducing the basic principles but it was over three hundred years later before the first successful contact lens was fitted.

Although the lens could only be worn for short periods it was proof that contact lenses could be a useful means of correcting the eye and the lens developed progressively from there to the comfortable soft contact lenses we have today.

Timeline

1508 – Leonard da Vinci introduces the basic principles.

1636 – Rene Descartes develops his theory of a lens which would cover the cornea.

1801 - Thomas Young runs with Descartes idea and develops a water filled tube which is worn over the eye. He uses this to correct his own vision.

1887 - Adolf Fick creates the first usable contact lens which although effective could only be worn for short periods at a time.

1889 – August Muller develops a lighter and thinner lens.

1936 – Plastic lenses are introduced by William Feinbloom. This was as a result of the development of a substance known as polymethyl methacrylate (PMMA) also known as plexiglass.

1948 – Kevin Tuohy develops the first contact lens which covers only the cornea.

1950-60′s – Contact lenses become more popular as they become smaller and thinner. However, as these lenses reduce the oxygen entering the eye they cannot be worn for long periods.

1970′s – Oxygen permeable and soft contact lenses are introduced.

1980′s – Color tinted contact lenses are introduced and disposable contact lenses become available.

1998 – Multifocal disposable contact lenses are introduced.

1999 – High oxygen permeable lenses are developed.

Rigid Contact Lenses

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When most people hear about ‘hard contact lenses’ or ‘rigid contact lenses’, they tend to automatically think back to the old hard contact lenses made of rigid plastic.

Today, when ophthalmologists refer to ‘rigid lenses’ they mean gas permeable rigid contact lenses, or RGPs (rigid gas permeables).

Rigid contact lenses are actually more akin to soft contact lenses than they are to the old style hard contact lenses, but they offer a number of advantages over soft contact lenses. Some of those advantages are:

Better visual acuity with RGPS

Rigid gas permeable lenses offer better visual acuity than most soft contact lenses. Because soft lenses are made of a thin, gel-like tissue, they tend to conform to the shape of the cornea. RGPs are made of a stiff material incorporating silicone. They retain their shape when you blink, maintaining crisper vision.

Better visual acuity with RGPS

More oxygen for your eyes

Healthy eyes require oxygen. While soft contact lenses allow far more oxygen to reach the cornea and other eye tissues than old style contacts made of PMMC, gas permeables were created specifically to facilitate the exchange of oxygen. The silicone material from which they’re made makes them ‘breathable’ – and therefore healthier for your eyes.

RGP rigid contact lenses can help correct astigmatism

Most people with astigmatism have been told that they can’t wear soft contact lenses because their corneas are not round (standard). Because rigid gas permeable lenses keep their own shape, they can actually help correct vision problems caused by astigmatism.

Rigid gas permeable lenses give excellent results for visual acuity in bifocal lenses for people with presbyopia

The major disadvantage of rigid gas permeable contact lenses is that they take a little getting used to. Unlike soft contact lenses, to which most eyes adjust almost immediately, you may need to wear your RGP lenses for a day or two before your eyes adjust so that they fit comfortably. Many people who wear RGP contact lenses also find that their vision is blurry when they remove the lenses and only returns to normal gradually. Coupled with the need to get used to the rigid lenses whenever you don’t wear them for a few days, this may force full-time contact lens wear when you’d prefer not to wear them all the time.

Finally, choosing rigid contact lenses also means that you’ll have to clean them instead of throwing them away. With proper care and cleaning, hard/rigid contact lenses can last for years as long as your prescription doesn’t change.