Soft Contact Lenses for people with dry Eyes; A Short Guide

Are your eyes itchy? Suffer from redness or irritation? If you wear contacts it's a fair bet that you're experiencing a case of eye fatigue. If not, you probably have or dare we say 'will' experience some form of discomfort in the future. It's the nature of the beast, as they say. Contacts are, by their very function, designed to sit atop the eye. And in doing so, they also block a considerable amount of oxygen from getting to the cornea. The invention of hydrophilic or soft contact lenses has alleviated this to an extent, and in the process facilitated the creation of a wide range of contact lens wear schedules: from continuous use to daily disposables.

Aside from their primary function, comfort remains an important facet of contact lens technology, and manufacturers are constantly looking at new ways of creating a means for oxygen to reach the eye. CIBA Vision's O2 Optix and Acuvue's Acuvue Advance are just two such examples of lenses that place a premium on user comfort. The former allows a greater amount of oxygen to the eye, while the latter uses a moisture-rich agent to keep the lenses soft and wearable for long periods of time. Unlike older hard contacts, so-called 'breathable lenses' are comprised of a good deal of water and hybrid materials in order to allow oxygen to the eye.

While advancements in Contact Lenses design aid in prevention, the use of products such as rewetting tears and artificial tears (often known by the blanket term, eye drops) are an effective method of alleviating dry eye pain. These products come in both preservative and non-preservative forms and in addition to replenishing the supply of moisture within the eye, some even offer other medicinal benefits for the eye.

Contact lenses and dry eyes are by this point almost synonymous with one another, but that doesn't mean that you need suffer in silence as it were. Solutions to the problem are readily available, and through such wonderfully simple mechanisms as the hyperlinks to your right, are easily acquirable.

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