Coloured Contact lenses

So i have often thought to myself how do contact lenses actually work? I know its not something we think about alot but i think its important to understand how these quite advanced products actually function. The contact lens rests on your eye mainly due to the pressure that your eyelid puts on it. Also your eyes create a small amount of moisture throughout the day and this acts like a type of “glue” to help fix the contact to your eye.

As we know the main function of the contact lens is to correct your vision. These vision problems are often caused by problems such as myopi, presbyopia and hyperopia which many people suffer from. The reason these conditions cause problems for people is due to the fact that when light enters your eye it no longer converges at the retina and so you get blurry or out of focus vision. Contact lenses fix this problem by changing the angle that the light actually hits your retina. Some vision problems require different types of lenses, ie you may need lenses that are thinker at the edges due to the angle that your retina requires the light. Its also worth noting at this stage that proper contact lenses should be proscribed by a specialist so that they fix the exact problem you are having with your eyes.

One of the major benefits of contacts over glasses is that they are a over complete peripheral vision solution. Often when people are wearing glasses they get a blurry or distorted view from the sides as this is not covered by the glass. I suppose the only downside to some lenses is that they can require maintenance as they need to be cleaned daily and also stored in a cool and dry place. As you can see theres more to contacts than you might think at first but i like to think you should learn something new every day!

One of the biggest things to happen in the eye industry in general over the last 10 years has been the advent of Lasik eye surgery. This has really taken off in the last few years mainly due to many top celebrities such as Tiger Woods who have had Lasik to improve their performance in the sports arena. Still what does that mean for the rest of us who don’t need to compete in sports events for millions of pounds but are looking for an eye care solution? Many people have indeed taken the route of Lasik surgery however this is not for everyone, for one it is quite expensive and 2 you have to be over 18 to get it.

An alternative for people not ready for surgery may be 30 day continuous wear contact lenses. Continuous wear contacts wear contacts were a bit a revolution as they instantly did away with constant cleaning and disinfecting that was necessary with traditional contacts. Also as the name suggests they don’t have to be taken out at night which is something that people used to forget to do quite a lot. I must note that some people have said that wearing the continuous lenses 24 hours can leave their eyes dry and sore, however its not thought that this occurs with most people.

As i mentioned before another big reason to choose a cool set of coloured contacts over Lasik is the price. For Laser eye surgery you could pay up to £1500 but a years supply of contacts could be as little as £150. Its quite a difference and for many its a deciding factor as laying out over a grand even if it is just a one time thing can be a problem.

Another good thing about contacts is that you can change them over time, not just in terms of the type of lense ie wear duration but style as well! Have you ever wanted to have green eyes? Well now its possible whenever you want and quite cheaply too. Indeed many clubbers and other party goers are not picking up on the trend for weird and fun colours in their contacts. This is quite a new thing i have to admit as it was only a couple of years ago that the maximum variation you could have in your contacts was a few different standard colours. Now however you can have anything from pink to white lenses to freak out your friends.

As you can see im in favour contacts over lasik but i can see that it may not be the ideal solution for everyone. Especially now that alot of people are worried about getting presbyopia or other eye related problems that can occur with long term contact use. However contacts are getting more and more advanced these days and hopefully soon there will be no problems associated with contacts, you never know what these science guys are going to come up with next!

Contact lenses have come a long way since they first started to get popular around 15 years ago. Now not only do we have daily and long term contacts but we have many different designs and even pictures on the front of lenses today. I suppose one on the main reasons that people wear contact lenses now is that they allow you much more flexibility when you are moving around and sports people especially really appreciate the freedom that it gives them. As i have just mentioned there are two main types of lenses:

1. Daily use (throw them away everyday)
2. Long term rigid glass

For many people the benefits of daily use have persuaded them to stick with these lenses over the more expensive long term rigid ones. One of the biggest advantages is that daily lenses don’t have to be disinfected and cleaned every day as you just throw them away. Another factor is that if you lose a contact (it can happen) it doesn’t really matter as you were going to throw it away at the end of the day anyway right!

Another big chance in the industry has been the advent of soft contact lenses. This mainly came about as the older hard contact lenses did now allow oxygen to get through to the eye. This could cause problems if you wear these contacts for an extended period of time (more than 16 hours a day). Some of the problems could be quite serious such as the cornea losing its transparency and also damage to the tiny blood vessels within the eye.

So to deal with these problems soft gel contacts were developed and from the start they really were a revolution. The main function of soft contacts was to let enough oxygen through to the eye to prevent damage, this is possible as soft contacts are often made of 70% water. This allows them to be both more comfortable than hard contacts and also let much more oxygen through to the eye.

So there you have a brief history on contact lenses and hopefully this will help you when you are deciding on your next pair of coloured contacts.