Contact Lens Options

Technology is a wonderful thing. People who previously wore "Coke bottle" lenses on their glasses can now wear contact lenses to correct most any vision problem. Blurry vision, commonly called astigmatism, is the most prevalent, but even for people with mis-shapen corneas, there is a contact lens. Most people think of the pretty colors contacts come in, but colored or not, they can help anybody. Contacts can even be made for those of us with a lazy eye.

Focus

As the body ages, the eyes lose focus. Contact lenses can be formulated in bifocal or monovision. These would be prescribed when, usually due to age, the focus changes. Bifocal lenses can be prescribed for those who can see well far away, but need help with closeups. Monovision is prescribed when the focus in both eyes is shot; one eye can wear a bifocal lens, while the other wears a lens to help seeing far away.

Diseases

Few diseases affect the eyes more viciously than diabetes. Its effects can render blindness in addition to limbs being amputated and kidney failure if not treated in time and treated well. It causes damage to the back of the eye as well as the retina, so diabetics need to have their eyes dilated once each year to gauge the condition of the eye. However, a diabetic with a handle on the disease may wear contact lenses with no problems.

Mis-Shapen Corneas

For people whose eyes are slightly mis-shapen, contact lenses can help. This causes light to be refracted, or bent, differently than a regular eye, which can cause depth perception problems. A blend of soft and hard contacts, called a hybrid, are formulated for the correction of these cases.

Hard Contacts

In the beginning, contact lenses were glass. Nowadays, hard contacts are made of a rigid material which is breathable, meaning less eye infections. They are capable of moving around on the eye, so they might be uncomfortable, until people get used to them, but their breathable quality goes far toward keeping them comfortable.

Soft Contacts

Soft lenses are a gel-like lens which conforms to the shape of the eye. They don't move around like hard contacts, so they're perfect for those who are active. Soft contact lenses come in styles hard contacts can't match, such as single use, daily wear and extended wear. They must be kept carefully in soaking solutions to battle infections, which isn't a problem with hard contacts.

In a day when the elderly can get help with vision problems peculiar to age, and when people with lazy eyes, astigmatism and oddly shaped corneas can get lenses to fit their vision needs, it is a day to celebrate how far technology has come.