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When you have vision problems the first thing that
comes to mind is eyeglasses. This is the most common solution to the eye
vision problems. On the other end of the eye treatment spectrum there is
laser surgery for those who qualify and have the coverage or money. The
other people who want the cosmetic affect of laser surgery but with out
the cost and down time use contact lenses.
There are some risks of
infection with contact, but if you clean them properly and use them as
directed that is cut to the bare minimum. There are a few contact types
to choose from and some even come in neat colors or funky designs.
Contacts come in two different types hard, also known as rigid gas
permeable, or soft lenses.
Soft contact lenses
are used by more than 80% of the contact wearers today. These are made
by an extremely thin polymer-plastic that completely conforms to the
shape of your eye. Most consist of between 25-79% water and accounts for
the wetness on the lens. It is the wetness that makes it so much more
comfortable to wear. These extremely flexible lenses are more
comfortable from the first day of use and stay in better than hard
lenses.
They also take a shorter time to adapt to. The daily-wear lenses
are more durable and last longer than the disposable lenses, but hard
lenses always last longer than both due to the nature of their
durability. They may not be as effective in fixing some vision issues as
hard lenses but they a lot more comfortable.
Rigid gas-permeable
or hard contact lenses are made of a much harder plastic that feels like
glass to the user. They also don’t contain any water so dry eyes might
be a problem for some who are predisposed to allergies or have tear
production issues. Even though they have much less flexibility than the
soft lenses but do allow oxygen to reach the cornea much more
effectively. They are also used to treat many various eye problems like
distorted corneal shape and astigmatism, and even some forms of mild
corneal scars. They might take some time to adjust to, but are very
comfortable after that. Hard lenses are easier to take care of and less
likely to rip. They also are not to prone to as many infections as soft
lenses.
The only disadvantage is that they can sleep of the eye easier
than soft lenses. The biggest thing to remember with this type of lens
is you must remember to wear then everyday or you will have to go
through another adjustment period. If you have a problem with focusing
on objects that are up close, presbyopic, you can special lenses to
correct this as well. Manumission is another option for people with
presbyopic. This uses one lens for reading in one eye and the distance
prescription in the other eye. You would wear the distance lens in your
dominant eye and the other in your weaker eye. This is comfortable and
easy to adjust to for most people.
Other types of corrective
contact lenses include:
Bifocal lenses can be gotten in soft or
hard lenses and are used to correct distance vision and near vision at
different times of use. There are three different types of bifocal lens.
Simultaneous vision has both the near and far prescriptions on the pupil
portion of the lens. Your brain learns to figure out which prescriptions
to use depending on what distance you are looking at. The concentric
design uses the outside of the lens to see near and the center of the
lens to see far. The alternating lenses works like the glasses version,
the top is used for seeing far and the bottom for seeing up close up.
Modified manumission is when you where a bi or multi-focal lens in one
eye and a single-vision lens in the other eye. Both eyes can be used for
distance but only one for reading. You can also have the opposite where
one is for distance and you can use both for reading. The later option
is better if you do a lot of reading or are on the computer a lot.
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