Hafiz Optical Center

7 Things Every Contact Lens Wearer Should Know.....

I bet you can’t imagine life without your contact lenses. And since we’ve come to rely on them so much, it’s even more important to take good care of them in order to protect your eyes from any potential complications.

Whether you are new to wearing contact lenses or have been wearing them for a while, these 7 tips will ensure that you continue to have crisp, clear vision, better eye health and maximum comfort. Always follow the advice of your optometrist and contact them if you have any concerns.

1. Wash Your Hands

Always wash your hands thoroughly before you put your lenses in or take them out. Lenses can cling to wet hands, so dry your hands well with a lint-free towel. If you want to use a moisturiser, wait until after you’ve put in your lenses. The residue from lotions can stick to them.

2. Water and Lenses Don’t Mix

If you’re out of contact lens solution, you might be tempted to rinse your lenses with tap water but please don’t do it! Water has microbes that can cause serious eye infections. And never put your lenses into your mouth or use saliva to wet them.

3. How Long Can I Wear My Lenses?

Replace your lenses as often as your optometrist suggests. When you wear lenses for more days than you should, or when you sleep in lenses that aren’t made for overnight wear, you raise your risk of eye infections.

4. When Your Lenses Hurt

A lens might feel uncomfortable if there’s something on or under it, or if it’s inside out. Take the lens out and rinse it with rewetting drops or your multipurpose solution. Check to see if it’s inside out – think ‘bowl’ for the correct way and ‘saucer’ for the incorrect way. If problems persist, leave your contact lenses out and see your optometrist as soon as you can.

5. Contact Lenses and Sports

Contact lenses are great for most sports and activities. They don’t fog up like glasses and they give you better peripheral vision. If you swim, make sure you wear watertight goggles. You can get an eye infection from water, and your lenses can be hard to take out if they get wet. Use rewetting drops to loosen them and then clean and disinfect them thoroughly afterward.

6. Allergy Sufferers

If you suffer from allergies, wearing contacts can make your symptoms worse. Wear glasses if your symptoms are really bad, and if you can’t part from your contacts be sure to clean them thoroughly, replace lenses more often and use plenty of rewetting drops like Blink® Contacts.

7. Computer Strain And Dry Eyes

Keep your rewetting drops or eye lubricants handy, especially if you work on a computer in an air conditioned environment. Not only are dry lenses uncomfortable and difficult to see out of, but they could potentially scratch your eye. Use those drops as often as you need – just ensure that they’re labelled, ‘Suitable for contact lenses

Corneal Inlays and Onlays:Corneal inlays and onlays are small lenses or optical devices that can be inserted into the cornea to alter its shape and correct vision problems.

Though these devices and the surgical procedures associated with them are not yet FDA-approved for use in the United States, they are currently in clinical trials and may soon represent a new form of vision correction surgery. There are many types of : 1.Small-Aperture Inlays

The Kamra Inlay (AcuFocus, Inc., Irvine, California, USA) is a microperforated, opaque inlay made of polyvinylidene fluoride (Fig. 2). It relies on the principle of pinhole optics to increase the eye's depth of focus by blocking unfocused light. The current-generation Kamra inlay has an overall diameter of 3.8 mm and a central aperture of 1.6 mm. It is just 5 μm thick and is intended for implantation in a lamellar pocket or under a 200-μm femtosecond laser flap. It has 8400 laser-drilled porosity holes to facilitate the flow of nutrition through the 2.Corneal Reshaping Inlays

A second type of presbyopia-correcting inlay is intended to reshape the anterior curvature of the cornea to enhance near and intermediate vision via a multifocal effect. The Raindrop Near Vision Inlay, formerly known as the PresbyLens or Vue+ lens (ReVision Optics, Lake Forest, California, USA) is a very small diameter (1.5–2.0 mm) clear hydrogel lens with a hyperprolate shape and water content and refractive index very similar to the native cornea (Fig. 1). It is intended for implantation under a 130- to 150-μm laser-assisted in situ keratomileusis (LASIK) flap or in a corneal pocket in the nondominant eye. The edge is 10 μm thick and the central thickness is about 30 μm. The inlay has no refractive power. 3.Refractive Optic Inlays

Some corneal inlays are designed to change the eye's refractive index. Similar to some multifocal contact lens or IOL designs, these microlenses provide distance vision through a plano central zone that is surrounded by one or more rings of varying add power for near vision. They are intended for implantation in the nondominant eye.

Eye Diseases: Crossed eyes (or strabismus) occur when a person's eyes are not able to align on the same point at the same time, and appear to be misaligned or pointed in different directions. This can be cured by corrective eye surgeries.