Post-surgery contact lenses for visual remedy

Although there is high success rate, refractive surgeries including LASIK are not perfect. Postoperative visual problems may affect overall correction outcomes. In fact, the way in which the shaped cornea responds to laser energy and the healing process all play their roles in final surgical results. Potential bothersome problems caused by unsatisfied vision correction include blurred or distorted vision, irregular astigmatism, eyestrain and even headaches. In these cases, gas permeable or hybrid contact lenses are needed.

Who will need Rx contact lenses after laser eye surgery?

Since refractive surgeries provide vision correction by reshaping the cornea, most problems described above are caused by imperfectly corrected cornea. The corneal reshaping during LASIK or PRK requires very precise operations and control. Any mishap will lead to an unexpected condition. The laser treatment or corneal tissue removal should strictly follow the measurements taken before the surgery. Overcorrection is beyond a surgical remedy but undercorrection is within control. Sometimes, the irregular shaped cornea can be further corrected by an enhancement. Nevertheless, patients with thin cornea can not afford a surgery enhancement. For patients whose eyes are over-corrected or those with thin corneas, wearing prescription eyewear like contact lenses is inevitable.

Only GP and hybrid contact lenses can offset irregular cornea

The materials of contact lenses used for post-surgery correction have special restrictions. Only gas permeable or hybrid contacts are competent, because these materials can better maintain their shape on the cornea. This stability is quite important for irregular corneal surface. The tears lake between gas permeable lenses and the irregular cornea can remove tiny irregularities, eliminating blur and visual distortion. Neither soft contact lenses nor conventional eyeglasses can provide this correction effect.

Hybrid contact lenses are good for postoperative use

In fact, hybrid contact lenses are introduced into post-surgery visual correction only in recent years. Hybrid lenses called SynerEyes have a rigid gas permeable optic zone in the center and a soft outer skirt, providing advantages from both these two types of contacts. While ensuring equal effect as GP lenses, hybrid contacts are actually easier for adaption. Patients after an eye surgery are less likely to be patient enough to tolerate the slight discomfort brought possibly by rigid gas permeable contact lenses. The comfortable experience guaranteed by hybrid lenses is thus particularly meaningful.

The design and fitting of post-surgery contact lenses

Due to additional complexities of post-surgery cornea, contact lenses in this case require some special designs, e.g. lenses with larger diameter, aspheric optics and significantly flatter center. What’s more, postoperative contact lenses involve exact corneal curvature measurements using a corneal topographer, in order to get the possible best vision correction. The fitting of post-surgery contact lenses also requires more time and skills from the doctor. In complex circumstances, lens modifications are needed to get the best fit, comfort and visual outcome. All these factors reasonably increase the fees of post-surgery contact lens fitting.

Wavefront contact lenses can deal with more complex problems

Another advanced technology named wavefront can also be applied to lens design for post-surgery visual correction. It is well-known that wavefront lenses are effective in correcting irregular astigmatism and higher order aberrations. Other studies have proved that wavefront lenses such as iZon High Resolution lenses can provide sharper vision at night after a less-than-perfect surgery.