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.

Wearing contacts needn’t be a chore if you stick to a few rules:

• Get regular eye exams to assure white eye health.
• Always have a back-up pair of glasses with a current prescription, just in case you have problems with your contact lenses.
• Always check with your Doctor before using any medicine. Some medicines may affect your vision or irritate your eyes.
• Put on any make up after inserting your lenses.
• Apply hairspray and deodorants before inserting lenses.
• Let your employer know if you wear contact lenses.
• All the best contact lenses come with instructions; so please read them
• Replace contacts as recommended by your eye care professional.
• Throw away disposable lenses after recommended wearing period.

Do Not:

• Sleep in daily wear lenses because even with the best contact lenses, there is a chance of infection or irritation.
• Buy contact lenses from gas stations, video stores, record shops, or any unauthorized retailer. Contact lenses are medical devices that require a prescription
• Swap your contact lens with another person. Swapping provides a way to transfer germs between people. The best contact lenses are individually fitted, so there’s no chance of permanent eye injury or infection.
• Swim without tight fitting goggles. There is a risk of eye infection from bacteria in swimming pool water, hot tubs, lakes and the ocean

To ensure you enjoy the best white eye health and guaranteed safety for your eyes, it’s important to follow these tips; then you really can’t go wrong buying the best contact lenses on the internet.

 What should I check when buying contact lenses?

• Is your contact lens prescription current? Look out for the expiry date on your from. You should always have a current, valid prescription when you order contact lenses.
• If you have not had a check-up in the last one to two years, you may have problems with your eyes that you are not aware of, or your contact lenses may not correct your vision properly.
• To ensure that your eyes remain healthy you should not order contacts with a prescription that has expired or stock up on lenses right before the prescription is about to expire. It’s safer to be re-checked by your eye care professional to ensure you get the best contact lenses for you current vision.

What does a valid contact lens prescription include?

A proper prescription should contain sufficient information for us to completely and accurately fill the prescription. This includes the following items:

• Your name
• Examination date
• Date you received prescription after a contact lens fitting (issue date) and expiration date of prescription
• Name, address, phone number and fax number of your eye doctor
• Power
• Material and/or manufacturer of the prescribed contact lens
• Base curve or appropriate designation of the prescribed contact lens
• Diameter, when appropriate, of the prescribed contact lens
• Always ask for the brand name of a national manufacturer, so you can compare prices and deals on the internet

What can I do to avoid serious problems when buying my contact lenses?

• Order your contact lenses from a reliable internet supplier you are familiar with. The best contact lenses are often more complex than they appear.
• Request the manufacturer’s written patient information for your contact lenses. It will give you important risk/benefit information as well as instructions for use.
• Beware of attempts to substitute a different brand than you presently have. While this may be acceptable in some situations, there are differences in the water content and shape between different brands. The correct choice of which lens is right for you should be based only on an examination by your eye care professional, not over the phone.
• Carefully check to make sure the company gives you the
  • exact brand
  • lens name
  • power
    • sphere
    • cylinder, if any
    • axis, if any
  • diameter
  • base curve
  • peripheral curves, if any

Don’t accept a brand substitution unless your eye care professional approves it.

Soft and rigid lenses are the 2 main options and tend to have different strengths and weaknesses, so it all comes down to personal choice in choosing the best contact lenses

If essential oxygen transmission, for white eye health is important then a GP rigid lens is generally the best. Any contact lens slows the oxygen getting to the eye, but GP lenses are often the most efficient. 

The best contact lenses tend to be smaller making them easier to insert, give excellent vision and tend to last longer

However many people find rigid GP lenses difficult to use and often have to wear them regularly to help the eye adjust to contacts.

If you need lenses for sport then a GP Lens can move about the eye, which is also annoying 

This is why soft contacts are popular as they are very stable in the eye and great for occasional use. They are easy to wear and very comfortable. 

Unfortunately even the best contact lenses don’t last as long and the daily disposable soft contacts will be a bit more expensive as you are paying for the convenience

Wearing glasses is not really an option if playing sport is your passion, especially if you do a lot of running or jumping.

So contacts are the answer and some of the best contact lenses use a light-filtering tint to improve the focusing power of the athlete’s vision. 

And because they are so good they are often used by people who don’t even need glasses or contacts

The best contact lenses work by blocking specific wave lengths of light which ensures details such as balls appear clearer and make them stand out against the background, giving you that vital edge.

There is also the added benefit of eliminating glare and improved UV protection

These innovative soft disposable contacts tend to come in two main tints;

Amber – ideal for baseball, tennis and soccer

Grey Green – for running and golf

The amber tint helps you to track a fast moving ball by making it LEAP out of the background, whilst the Green tint is used in bright sunlight when you want the ball contour and detail detection to be as crisp as possible, such as golf.  

So with the best contact lenses you get the obvious advantage of improved vision without frames, fit or nosepiece problems; and of course there will never be any lens fogging.

Sports contacts are available for all types of athlete allowing you to see in a way that is not possible through sunglasses or even their natural eye.

But you do need a prescription even if you do not wear glasses or contacts – plano as the eye doctor calls it.

This is because the best contact lenses are made to fit the shape of your eye so the prescription is unique to your individual eyes and critical for comfort and eye health.

Please organize a simple, local eye test, which we can help you with by just following the 1-800 Contact links