Eye contact lenses are often touted as being far better than glasses and in many ways. However, it is a good idea, to know enough about contact lenses before buying them to make a best choice.
Types of Eye Contacts LensesMainly there are three types of eye contact lenses, soft, hard, and disposable. Hard contact lenses are rigid and can be more irritating to the eye, but they do last a lot longer, up to three years. Soft eye contact lenses are easier on the eye and can be worn for longer periods of time. They are usually replaced after a year or so of use. Disposable eye contact lenses are becoming very popular now days, since we can just use them and dump them. These are the cheapest types of lenses, but they are usually not specifically made for our eyes, which can cause issues.
In addition to disposable eye contacts lenses, we can get one week or even one month contacts which are designed to stay in our eye for longer periods of time, but need to be tossed afterwards. Many people prefer disposable contact lenses because they eliminate the need for cleaning, saline solutions, etc. which can get confusing and messy, not to mention they are rather time consuming.
Different eye conditions require different types of contact prescriptions which may only be available in one type of contact. Also, our daily activities may dictate the need for a specific type of eye cobtact lenses.
Wear and Care of Contact Lenses
Many people find that the first few times putting their new eye contact lenses in is a bit scary. We need to overcome the natural instinct to keep foreign objects out of our eye in order to insert them and this is more difficult for some people than for others. Usually this is just something we have to do a few times in order to get over it.
There are other issues with wearing eye contact lenses. For example, we should not wear them in the pool or while showering, since they could be flushed out of our eyes or get water trapped behind them. Water that has chlorine in it is particularly irritating, but even regular tap water can contain bacteria that can be caught behind the contact lens and cause an infection. The easiest way to prevent problems like this is to simply remove our contacts while we shower or swim.
Looking after our contacts can be simple or complicated, depending on what type we use. Disposable eye contact lenses do not require any cleaning, we simply toss them when we are finished using them. Other, reusable contacts will need more care. We will have to soak them in a cleaning solution and rinse with saline. In some cases, more drastic measures need to be taken to remove protein or calcium deposits, including special tablets that dissolve in the regular cleaning solution. If our eyes are sensitive, we may have to experiment with various brands of cleaning solution to find one that does not irritate our eyes.
Eye contact lenses offer a freedom from glasses, but they are not completely hassle free. Knowing what to expect is the best way to make a good decision as to whether contact lenses are for us or not. Talk to our eye care professional as well to get more information, since he or she will know our specific case and is in a good position to recommend the type of the eye contact lenses we need




