Dry eyes don't mean you can't wear contacts
By (ARA)
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(ARA) - Are your eyes tired, sore, watery or dry by the end of the day? It could be computer eyestrain, too much sunshine or irritation from dust and other allergens. Or maybe it's really your contact lenses.
It's not uncommon for contact lens wearers to have dry eyes and other problems. And many will live with the discomfort, or stop wearing contacts altogether. Fortunately, many lens care products and new types of lenses are available, and the right combination of these can often have a person comfortably wearing contact lenses again.
A new AllAboutVision.com article, "Contact Lenses for Dry Eyes," discusses remedies for dry eyes. This consumer guide Web site has hundreds of pages on eye health and vision correction topics, which are reviewed by eye doctors on the Editorial Advisory Board.
Here are some tips from the article that may help you wear contacts more comfortably.
* Visit an eye care professional to determine if your dry eyes are caused by allergies, an illness, medicine or the particular contacts you're wearing.
"Eye allergies and dry eye syndrome are completely different conditions with different causes, but they can have similar symptoms - red, uncomfortable eyes and watery eyes," says Dr. Gary Heiting, an optometrist. "A visit to an eye doctor can resolve either problem."
* Contact lenses themselves and/or the products that clean and disinfect them can cause dry eye discomfort. Lubricating eye drops approved for use with contacts can help. Or your eye doctor may need to re-evaluate the cleaning and disinfecting products you are using.
* Work with your eye care professional to determine if you need new contact lenses for dry eyes. Soft contact lenses have from 38 to 79 percent water content, and choosing the right water content for your eyes can be a balancing act. A high-water-content lens may lose a lot of its moisture to dryness in the air, or if you have inherently dry eyes, it could wick away the little moisture your eyes do have.
* Multi-purpose solutions are great at saving time and money for lens care, but they do contain preservatives that can further irritate dry eyes. If this is your experience, your eye doctor may recommend that you switch to a preservative-free, hydrogen peroxide-based lens care system.
* A completely different solution for dry eyes is to wear special gas permeable contact lenses that are designed to reshape your cornea to correct nearsightedness. This is called orthokeratology or corneal refractive therapy (CRT). "Overnight" ortho-k and CRT lenses are worn only when you are sleeping and eliminate your need to wear contact lenses during the day. The gas permeable lenses require less moisture to stay comfortable on your eyes, and since you're wearing them during sleep, while your eyes are closed, they are less likely to dry out from tear evaporation.
* Another lens material with high oxygen permeability is silicone hydrogel. These soft lenses are lower in water content than traditional soft lenses and sometimes can help if you are suffering from dry eye symptoms toward the end of the day.
Don't let dry eyes make you suffer while wearing your contacts, or make you avoid wearing them all together. Find more information at www.allaboutvision.com, or contact your eye care professional and ask about the various strategies that can help your dry eyes.
Courtesy of ARAcontent
