It does not stop with astigmatism, after age 40, with allergies, or with dry eye syndromes (dry eyes). While having at least a pair of backup glasses is always recommended, contact lenses allow us to have freedom from glasses by improving our peripheral vision, allow us to be active and see clearly, not fog up, look great for pictures and many more reasons!
Dr. Anthony Huynh believes there is a contact lens (glasses free) option for every patient!
Contact Lenses do not stop at age 40, when you start having trouble with your near and intermediate vision!
If you have blurry vision, eye strain, or headaches while wearing your contacts or glasses, you need a new eye exam! With the contact lens technologies today, you have many options. Most of our patients will start with soft multifocal lenses (progressive lenses). These lenses provide simultaneous vision, which means you do not need to look through “different” zones as with Progressive glasses. Instead the lenses are designed in a way that your eyes have distance, intermediate and near prescriptions and your brain will automatically select the prescription it needs!
For all other patients (high myopia, high astigmatism, needing super sharp vision at all distances or corneal conditions), rigid gas permeable lenses (RGPs) are your answer! RGPs are the best option to maintaining your eye health due to the high amount of oxygen it allows to pass to your eyes. RGPs also provide the sharpest vision due to the lenses using your tears or solution to correct any irregularities of your eyes.
Dry eyes and Allergies
If you feel your eyes are dry, irritated, inflamed, sandy you likely need to switch your contact lens brand! The two best options for continuing contact lens wear are daily disposable contact lenses and RGPs. As daily contact lenses are disposed every day, the build up of allergens, bacteria and viruses on your lenses will not affect your eyes the next day! This allows the eyes and eyelids to rest, heal and recover for your next day! Our 4 most popular daily contact lenses are: FreshDay (Fresh Day), MyDay, Biotrue and Clariti. Coopervision and Bausch and Lomb make great affordable contact lenses. All 4 of these contacts also have a $200 online rebate that can be used with your vision insurance plan (VSP, Eyemed, Humana VCP, Spectera, Davis and Superior).
RGPs are a rigid material and is much easier to clean than traditional soft lenses. This avoids the daily build up of allergens, bacteria and viruses, which means your eyes will feel fresh the next morning.
The Contact Lens Exam
Our contact lens exam begins by first having a comprehensive eye exam to assess the status of your eye muscles, peripheral vision, glasses prescription (which acts as a starting point for your contact lens prescription), eye health (including the dilated eye health portion).
Next, a map of your cornea (front of your eye) is taken to ensure there is no thinning of your eyes.
After, the map image is taken, the appropriate contact lens will be recommended and fitted!
If you are a new contact lens wearer, we will also review proper insertion & removal techniques, as well as the cleaning, wearing and replacement recommendations.
Image cropped and modified from original. The content on this blog is not intended to be a substitute for professional medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment. Always seek the advice of qualified health providers with questions you may have regarding medical conditions.
