Contact lenses for special eye problems

Tuesday, October 13th, 2009 at 2:58 pm Post in Contact Lenses

Some people have special eye problems and are not suitable to wear contacts. They require particular fitting by ECPs. Some ECPs specialize in these hard-to-fit patients. They provide more expertise and advanced equipments for contacts fitting.

RGPs are the right solution for Keratoconus since they are made of non-bendable materials. RGP contacts replace the irregular surface of a Keratoconic cornea. If the Keratoconus eyes are not suitable for direct RGPs, “piggybacking” is used. RGPs are covered over soft lenses so that they will be more comfortable. Keratoconus eyes may also use exclusively designed hybrid contacts, which combine a GP center and a soft ring around it. Another option of contacts for Keratoconus relates to the white sclera of the eye. These large diameter sclera GP lenses provide the irregular Keratoconus eye surface with a more stable and comfortable fitting.

Astigmatism eyes are also difficult to fit than common myopia or hyperopia eyes, since the eye cornea is not perfectly round. The current solution to astigmatism eyes are toric contacts, which should never rotate while blinking. They are provided in soft type, RGPs as well as customized style for high prescription. Hybrid contacts are another possible option for astigmatism.

Chronic dry eye is a common eye problem which is estimated to affect 20% of the Americans so that they may feel not so good with contacts. This eye problem has some usual symptoms, such as frequent tearing, red eyes, watery tears and feeling objects in the eyes. Since dry eyes affect the fitting of contacts, some doctors may treat these eyes using various methods. For example, using artificial tears and medicated eye drops can help people generate more tears and improve eye nutrition. Opticians may also insert punctal plugs into your eyelids’ inner margin, so as to hold most of your tears, which only costs several minutes and is painless. All these treatments aim to keep more tears on eyes. For people with dry eyes, traditional soft contacts are not the right solution since they absorb tears. New designed soft contacts do better in keeping moisture in the eyes. RGPs provide a better way to fit dry eyes, because they never “consume” moisture in the eyes.

A common inflammatory problem named Giant papillary conjunctivitis (GPC) also cause difficult contacts fitting. The protein excretions in tears bring a filmy coating on contacts, which affect comfort and good vision. Eye drops may help in reducing the possibility of GPC. Contact lenses should keep away from these proteins. A simplest way is to wearing soft daily disposable contacts, which will never be bothered by protein deposits. Another choice is GP contacts, which are more resistant to proteins deposits than soft lenses. Common soft lenses retain proteins easily even with frequent cleaning.

Since LASIK does not always resume a perfect vision, especially treating high prescriptions, contact lenses are still helpful after LASIK. This condition requires more consideration and trials for contacts fitting. Soft contacts, special RGPs and hybrid lenses are effective to provide a better vision after LASIK for high degree astigmatism. RGPs and hybrid contacts can help solve LASIK complications and excessive glare, as well as providing sharper night vision.

Presbyopia eyes are also hard to go with contact lenses. Opticians always use bifocal contacts and monovision lenses with precise fitting to correct this eye problem. The fitting process is time-consuming so that these lenses are more expensive. In fact, they deserve the high price.

Actually, most of the contacts dealing with hard-to-fit eye problems require more time and money. Eye practitioners must acquire more expertise to be competent.