Best Contact Lenses

With nearly 25% of children needing some sort of vision correction, parents and teachers are often the first to notice if their kids need some vision help.  

So if you have any concerns, maybe bring it up at the next parent meeting and don’t hesitate to talk to your eye doctor as soon as possible.

Pleased to say most of these vision problems can be easily corrected with the best contact lenses or glasses, so it’s important to book an eye exam as soon as you suspect any thing.

• Myopia, or nearsightedness affects distance vision.  Your child may be able to read perfectly, but will squint to see distant objects.
• Hyperopia, or farsightedness causes blurred vision at all distances. A farsighted child struggles to focus on any object, whether the item is close up or across the room.
• Astigmatism causes images to blur because light rays don’t focus on the eye properly. Objects that are close-up or far off can be equally distorted.

You’re Eye Doctor or Optician will be able to pick up any problems in the eye exam and help your child with glasses or specify the best contact lenses for the vision difficulty.

Other problems to look out for:

If you recognize some of these symptoms, in a child of any age, make sure you contact your eye doctor or Optician as soon as possible. 

Crossed Eyes

This is not an uncommon condition with 20% of children having trouble with their eyes turning in or out independently. Many cases are not picked up till school age, which is a shame as it can be easily treated at an early age

Lazy Eye

If your child’s eye lid appears to be hindering their vision then they may have Amblyopia, which means one eye is becoming stronger than the other. This often leads to a blurring or loss of vision in the weaker or lazy eye. Again easily treated with an temporary eye patch

Milky White Pupil

Often this is noticed at birth and identified as a childhood cataract. Nowadays the condition can be surgically corrected, restoring full eyesight.

Red Eye

If the eyes are red and causing irritation, they may have conjunctivitis, which can be treated with simple eye drops.

None of these problems can be treated with even the best contact lenses, so it’s important to get professional advice as soon as you suspect anything.

If you’re not sure what some of the most popular Contact Lens words are, look over our short dictionary of eye terms.

Astigmatism

This is where the cornea is irregularly shaped, which prevents the focusing of light rays. This means near and distant objects appear blurred or distorted. A Toric (gas permeable and soft lenses) can correct astigmatism and the best contact lens for the condition

Age-Related Macular Degeneration (AMD):

An eye condition in later life when the center of the retina is slowly damaged, affecting central vision..

Cornea

Part of the eye’s focusing system that transmits and focuses light into the eye.

Cataracts

Cataracts cause clouding of the eye lens which means light cannot get through to the retina.

Contact Colour Lenses

            Contacts that change or enhance your natural eye colour. Even with the best contact lens, you will still need a prescription.

Disposable Contact Lenses

Contact lenses that are worn and then thrown away after a specific time.

Daily Contact Lens

Contact lenses that you wear during waking hours but remove at the end of each day for cleaning.

Extended Wear Contact Lenses

Contact lenses that are worn all the time for a 1 to 30 days/nights period.

Frequent/Planned Replacement Contact Lenses

These lenses can be worn on a daily basis with cleaning , rinsing and disinfection each time the lens is removed. The lenses are then thrown away after the recommended wearing period. The best contact lens are made of silicon hydrogel, making them easy and comfortable to wear

Gas Permeable (GP) Contact Lenses

A type of contact lens that is made of a breathable, firm, durable, plastic that is custom fitted to the shape of the cornea.

Hard Contact Lenses

The first type of contact lens, which was made of an inflexible plastic material. They provided excellent vision correction, but the hard lenses did not allow the essential oxygen through the lens to reach the cornea.

Hyperopia (or Farsightedness)

Because the eye is too short and flat, the light rays can’t focus and near objects appear blurred 

Macula

The part of the eye responsible for detailed central vision.

Myopia (or Nearsightedness)

With Myopia the eye is too long and steep, which means you can’t see distant objects clearly.

Optic Nerve

The nerve at the back of the eye

Ophthalmologist

A medical doctor (MD) who specializes in diagnosing and treating eye disorders.

Optician

A Specially trained professional (not a medical doctor or optometrist) who can write prescriptions for corrective vision by ophthalmologists and optometrists.

Optometrist

A doctor of optometry (OD) examine eyes for vision and health problems, and prescribe and fit contact lenses.

Presbyopia

An eye condition in later life when the eye become less flexible, causing blurred vision at reading distance. The best contact lens corrects this with bifocal or multifocal contact lenses.

Retina

The light-sensitive layer of tissue that lines the inside of the back of the eye.

Most young people in their twenties and thirties, enjoy excellent 20/20 vision, which of course may come with the help of a daily contact lens.  

The good news is, if you’re doing the right things to help take care of your eye health, then there is a good chance your vision will stay at the same for many years to come.

The most important way to protect your vision is through a regular examination with your professional eye doctor, especially if your family has a history of; diabetes, blood pressure, eye disease, poor vision or diabetes.

Eye health basics

Eating a balanced diet and getting enough rest are important for white eye health and remember to take extra care when putting on cosmetics and sprays, especially with a daily contact lens

Exercise is great for the circulation, which improves oxygen levels to the eyes and the removal of nasty toxins.

Use good sunglasses to block out UV and UVB light and it is always best to try and quit smoking as research seems to increase the risk of developing eye conditions 

Pregnancy and vision.

Pregnancy can cause changes in your eyesight.  The thickness of your cornea can change with your Hormone levels and cause temporary blurring. If you wear a daily contact lens, you may find that your eyes are uncomfortably dry during your pregnancy and you may need additional vision correction for a short period.  The good news is that your eyes will return to normal shortly after your baby arrives

Lots of time at the Computer can strain your eyes and cause a condition known as Computer Vision Syndrome, even with the best contact lenses.

Why is this?

Nearly Seventy million people suffer from eye problems due to computer work– and that number is rising each and every year. Why is this?

Primarily its computers straining our eyes, creating a condition known as Computer Vision Syndrome (CVS).

The images you see on your computer are created from thousands of tiny dots, known as pixels; which means there is no proper image for your eye to focus on.

Instead your eyes have to keep refocusing to make the images sharp– and after only two hours you end up with a sort of repetitive stress in your eye.

Using the best contact lenses can help here; and it won’t necessarily cause permanent eye damage, but it can be a considerable irritant.

What should I look out for?

The symptoms are red, dry, irritated eyes; with headaches; back and neck pain; and having trouble focusing, even with the best contact lenses. Lots of people don’t even know they have CVS. But once they are aware of the possible symptoms many people soon realize they may be suffering unnecessarily and take some action to improve their working conditions.

What to do next?

• Keep your computer screen within 20″-24″ of your eyes
• Keep the top of your computer screen slightly below eye level
• Minimize the distance between your computer screen and any documents you need to reference while working
• Adjust lighting to minimize glare on the screen
• Take a break every 15 minutes to focus on a distant object
• Blink frequently

Not everyone can afford or wear daily disposable contacts so for white eye health your lenses should be cleansed, rinsed and disinfected every day using these simple, no hassle rules.

Cleaning: Different cleansers are often used for different brands and types of lenses; so always follow the manufactures recommendations. For soft contact lenses, put the lens in your palm, shake the cleanser and add one or two drops onto the lens. Rub it gently with your middle finger to remove the dirt. After cleaning one side of the lens, turn it over and clean the other side. It only takes 1-2 minutes to clean one lens. 

Rinsing: The idea of rinsing lenses is to wash away the cleanser, which is bad for your eyes. You can use tap water to rinse hard contact lenses or rigid gas permeable lenses, but even the best contact lenses must be rinsed with bottled sterile saline, not home-made saline or tap water. For rinsing, put the cleansed lens on your palm, add some tap water or sterile saline onto the lens and rub it with your middle finger to wash away the cleanser.

Disinfecting: After cleaning, the lenses should be put in a storage solution for disinfection. It is relatively simple to disinfect rigid gas permeable lenses as you only need to place them in the storage solution. However, disinfecting soft contact lenses is a bit more complex and here are the three main methods:

• Heat disinfection: Put the cleansed and rinsed lenses into the lens case; add some sterile saline into the case before heating it to 80 degrees Celsius for 15 minutes. The disinfection procedure is then complete. The lenses can be used after cooling down. The advantages of this method are that it is effective and no eye allergy or discomfort will be caused as only sterile saline is used in the process. The disadvantage is that the heat may cause damage to the all but the best contact lenses and shorten their life span. Usually, the lenses have to be replaced within a year.

• Hydrogen peroxide: Put the cleansed and rinsed lenses into a hydrogen peroxide solution for disinfection. Hydrogen peroxide is detrimental to the eye, so the best contact lenses have to go through a neutralization process before wearing. To neutralize your lenses, take them out of the Peroxide and soak in a neutralizing solution. Or you can put a neutralizing pill or special metal ring into the peroxide solution with the lenses. The whole disinfection and neutralization process can last from ten to sixty minutes, but most eye allergies can be avoided if the hydrogen peroxide is completely neutralized. The disadvantage lies in the complexity of the process, with no shortcuts available. 

• Chemical disinfection: Put the cleansed and rinsed lenses into a disinfection solution. The process generally takes a few hours; however the advantages are its simplicity and the fact that even the best contact lenses can be worn immediately after being taken out of the solution. The downside is the risk of chemical components diffusing into the lenses, which may cause discomfort to some people.

Removing Protein: Apart from daily cleansing, rinsing and disinfecting, soft contact lenses and rigid gas permeable lenses also require protein removal on a weekly basis.