With a contact lens prescription in hand, it’s possible to buy your contact lenses from stores, the Internet, over the phone, or by mail. Contact lens sales are regulated by the FDA (Food and Drug Administration) and the FTC (Federal Trade Commission.)
Ophthalmologists (M.D. or D.O.) are eye surgeons who study and treat eye diseases and can also perform the duties of optometrists; optometrists (O.D.) examine eyes, diagnose and treat vision problems, and prescribe eyeglasses and contact lenses and in most states they also can prescribe medicine; opticians grind and dispense eyeglasses and in some states dispense contact lenses.
There are 75 million contact lens wearers worldwide and 31 million in the U.S. alone. Always buy from a reputable company; you can buy discount contact lenses without a prescription, but the company is selling you a prescription device as if it were an over-the-counter device, in violation of FTC regulations – selling you lenses without having a prescription from you.
The length of continuous lens wear depends on the lens type and your doctor’s evaluation of your tolerance for overnight wear. Newer soft lens materials include silicone-hydrogels to provide more oxygen to your eyes. There are two general categories of contact lenses – soft and rigid gas permeable.
Rigid gas permeable lenses tend to be less expensive over the life of the lens since they last longer than soft lenses. Keep in mind contact lenses are often more complex than it appears. While the ability to hold water increases the oxygen permeability of soft lenses, it increases their fragility quotient as well.
Soft contact lenses are made of soft, flexible plastics that allow for oxygen to pass through to the cornea. Soft lenses are easier to adjust and are much more comfortable than rigid lenses, because they conform to the eye and absorb and hold water. Rigid gas permeable contact lenses are more durable, resistant to deposit buildup, and generally give a clearer, crisper vision.
If you live an active lifestyle, NIGHT & DAY breathable lenses will allow you 30 hours of continuous wear. Rigid lenses don’t absorb chemicals, unlike soft lenses which will soak up residue from your hands like soap or lotion.
Before you buy online, check to see if there are any testimonials at the online supplier’s website. Check to see if you have a health insurance plan that includes vision coverage. When you receive your order, if you think you’ve received an incorrect contact lens, check with your doctor or eye care professional right away; don’t accept any substitution unless your eye care professional approves it.
Buy your contact lenses from a supplier you’re familiar with and know is reliable or has name familiarity When you place your contact lens order, request the manufacturer’s written patient information for your contact lenses; it’ll give you important risk and benefit information as well as instructions for use. Check out how long the online supplier has been in business before you buy.
Rebates may be available from the seller, from the manufacturer, for first-time contact lens wearers and for individuals who buy lenses and get an eye exam. When you place your order make sure your lenses are available and not out of stock, because you’ll need them now. Beware of attempts to substitute a brand different from the one you want when buying contacts.
When the eyes are open, tears carry adequate oxygen to the cornea to keep it healthy, but during sleep, the eye produces fewer tears, causing the cornea to swell. Basic rule: never swap your contact lenses with anyone else. Replace your contacts as recommended by your eye doctor because they wear out as time goes by.
Be aware that extended-wear (overnight) contact lenses – rigid or soft – increase the risk of corneal ulcers, which are infection-caused eruptions on the cornea that can lead to blindness; symptoms include vision changes, eye redness, eye discomfort or pain, and excessive tearing. To be sure your eyes remain healthy you shouldn’t order lenses with a prescription that’s expired or stock up on lenses right before the prescription is about to expire; it’s much safer to be re-checked by your eye doctor. The use of homemade saline made by using salt tablets mixed in water is one of the biggest contributors to Acanthamoeba keratitis in contact lens wearers: the FDA no longer condones the use of salt tablets.
If you’re planning to buy contact lenses, you should buy the best quality you can get, even at a higher price; you don’t want to skimp on quality when it comes to your eyes. If your first lens fitting is performed by an eye care practitioner, he or she can help minimize or eliminate the cause of any eye irritation associated with the new lenses. Make sure you’ve done your homework before you buy any pair of contact lenses.
Friday, July 23, 2010
What You Must Know Before Buying Contact Lenses
Thursday, July 22, 2010
How To Shop For Contact Lenses - Save Your Money
Now it’s easy to order the perfect contact lenses online at a great discount. In the U.S. contact lens marketplace 82 percent wear soft lenses, 16 percent wear rigid gas-permeable and only 2 percent wear hard. Before you buy contact lenses from anyone other than your eye care professional, it pays to be a wise consumer.
Contact lens wearers are usually surprised and happy with the level of comfort that lenses provide. All correcting contact lenses must have a valid prescription from an ophthalmologist or optometrist.
Extra-thin soft lenses are on the market for very sensitive people. Rigid lenses generally give you more clear vision. Bifocal correction is possible with both soft and rigid lenses.
Although easier to handle and less likely to tear, rigid gas permeable lenses are not as comfortable initially as soft contacts and it may take a few weeks to get used to wearing the RGPs, compared to just a few days for soft contacts. Keep in mind contact lenses are often more complex than it appears. There are also a few rigid gas permeable lenses that are designed and approved for overnight wear.
Disposable lenses don’t come with instructions for cleaning and disinfecting, while those labeled specifically for planned replacement do. Rigid gas permeable lenses tend to be less expensive over the life of the lens since they last longer than soft lenses. There are two general categories of contact lenses – soft and rigid gas permeable.
Rigid gas permeable contact lenses are more durable, resistant to deposit buildup, and generally give a clearer, crisper vision. The expiration date for your prescription is currently set by your state requiring a one-year or two-year renewal; if your state hasn’t set a minimum expiration date, government regulation sets a one-year date unless your eye doctor determines there’s a medical reason for less than one year.
Make sure you have a current, valid prescription when you order contact lenses. Buy your contact lenses from a supplier you’re familiar with and know is reliable or has name familiarity Compare prices – get quotes from two or three online and offline suppliers.
When you place your contact lens order, request the manufacturer’s written patient information for your contact lenses; it’ll give you important risk and benefit information as well as instructions for use. Rebates may be available from the seller, from the manufacturer, for first-time contact lens wearers and for individuals who buy lenses and get an eye exam. Wherever you buy, shop for quality and value and don’t forget you want to do what’s best for your eye health.
Always ask what rebates are available. Beware of attempts to substitute a brand different from the one you want when buying contacts. Check out how long the online supplier has been in business before you buy.
The use of homemade saline made by using salt tablets mixed in water is one of the biggest contributors to Acanthamoeba keratitis in contact lens wearers: the FDA no longer condones the use of salt tablets. Don’t wear lenses any longer than they’re prescribed for, nor when sleeping unless you are otherwise directed. Extended-wear rigid lenses can cause unexpected, undesirable, reshaping of the cornea.
Under the binding down of a rigid contact lens during sleep, the flow of tears and oxygen to the cornea is reduced; lack of oxygen leaves the eye vulnerable to infection. To be sure your eyes remain healthy you shouldn’t order lenses with a prescription that’s expired or stock up on lenses right before the prescription is about to expire; it’s much safer to be re-checked by your eye doctor. Getting a proper fit is essential; contact lenses that are poorly fitted can lead to eyesores, eye inflammation, and eye abrasions.
Laser surgery and its risks can be frightening and too expensive for some people; contacts can provide a safe, comfortable and time-tested alternative. Shopping for contacts online will save you a lot of money; contact lenses are deeply discounted. It’s becoming easier and easier all the time to shop online and often the shipping is free.
The Physics Of Contact Lenses
Contact lenses are used for vision correction and are placed on the cornea of the eye. They do the same corrective function that conventional spectacles, or glasses, do. However, in comparison, they are very light in weight and are, for all purposes, invisible. Contact lenses help form the image on the retina of the eye by either converging or diverging the rays of light entering the eye.
Earlier contact lenses were made of glass, and were scleral lenses. Scleral lenses are large contact lenses that cover the complete sclera
Say Good Bye To Your Old Glasses And Switch To Contact Lenses
If you are a long time user of contact lenses you are already well aware of its many benefits. If you are considering a switch over from your old spectacles to contact lenses, let us inform you, you are going in the right direction. Over 30 million people in the USA are believed to use contact lenses, either as an alternative of the traditional spectacle or for some cosmetic purposes. If you too are thinking of stepping into their shoes, then try to equip yourself with as much information about the contact lenses as possible; it will help you to find out the right product suitable for your needs and take the informed decision at the time of purchase.
First of all, you may want to know about the actual definition of the contact lens. According to FDA definition, a contact lens is a prescribed medical device, which is usually placed on the cornea of the eye and used either for corrective or cosmetic or therapeutic purposes.
There are countless benefits of contact lenses. Contact lenses perform the same corrective functions as the conventional glasses, but as opposed to the glasses, contact lenses are virtually weightless and most importantly they are invisible. So they are regarded to be more comfortable than the traditional spectacles.
Then consider the contact lenses from an ophthalmologic point of view: As contact lenses move with your eyes they provide a better field of view. Like the glasses, there are no frames to obstruct your vision and thus they reduce distortions to a considerable point. Sometimes your vision is obstructed as the lenses of your glass get blurred by moisture, rain or dirt; you will find no such faults with your contact lenses.
Do you follow an active lifestyle and every time your spects come into the way of your active lifestyle? Then contact lens can be the only solution for you. If you are in any kind of sports including swimming, diving or athletics, a contact lens can offer you a distortion free clear vision at the time of your movements, without any kind of side effects. It is properly fitted inside your eyes so that it does not affect your concentration in any way.
There are many people, particularly the women who find the glasses to be great hindrance for showing off the natural beauty of their faces. On the other hand, contact lens provides utter ease and comfort and they do not come into the way you look.
You can get modern contact lenses with UV protection built into the material, so if you want protection for your eyes, you can opt for these lenses instead of wearing goggles.
There are people with eternal dissatisfaction over the color of their eyes and they find in the contact lens the golden opportunity to mend the nature to get the color of their dreams.
Part II
So you have almost taken the decision in favor of buying contact lenses after reading about the many benefits of contact lenses! But wait; let’s inform you about the many types of contact lenses you might come across in the market.
In these days contact lenses are made of variety of plastic materials
Wednesday, July 21, 2010
Thinking About Getting Contact Lenses? Wha You Need To Know First
If you are considering getting contact lenses for the first time then there are a few points to consider before deciding which sort are best for you. But even before this you should know all the facts to enable you to decide whether contact lenses are really what you want and whether they are suitable for you. Some people are just not suited to contact lenses and find them irritating, annoying or just too difficult to wear. Having said that if you do carry on and get used to them you may well find they are much more practical and comfortable than you had imagined.
For these and many other reasons the first step when you are thinking of investing in contact lenses is to see your optometrist. Contact lenses should only be bought with a prescription. If you buy cheap lenses without a prescription then you may well be buying something that will not be the appropriate contact lenses for your eyes. Any reputable dealer whether online or not should only sell you contact lenses after you have been to a registered practitioner and been given a prescription.
There are many different types of contact lenses available but the two main types are: soft gas permeable or rigid gas permeable. Soft contact lenses are more malleable and for some people easier and more comfortable to wear but can work out more expensive as they often need to be replaced more frequently. This can be anything from one day to one year. Contact lenses generally referred to as rigid gas permeable lenses are preferred by some not only as a cheaper option but also some wearers believe the quality of vision provided is better.
There are also contact lenses that you wear constantly for up to 30 days without removing them. These are a very convenient option if you dislike the daily hassle of putting in your contact lenses, or even if you would just like to have the option to sleep in your lenses when it suits you.
As well as the general contact lenses there are more specialist lenses such as bi focal. These help you with your vision if you have difficulty with both things close to you and also with far away objects. They take a little more getting used to than more conventional contact lenses, but are worth persevering with. When you are used to them you will wonder how you ever did without them.
Lenses for astigmatism are now widely available and many specialist lenses, colors, or contact lenses with designs on them are also obtainable for people with astigmatism. The total cost may be slightly higher but this should not be too expensive.
There are also contact lenses available purely for aesthetic effects such as changing the color of the eyes, for example from brown to blue. You can even use contact lenses to create a dazzling array of effects for the eye. As well as every color you could think of there are patterns such as tiger eyes, hypnotic spiral patterns, flames, cats eyes, contact lenses that make your eyes look completely white and even contact lenses with the logo of your favorite football team on them. Despite the fun aspects of these types of contact lenses it should always be remembered that they are still the same as more usual types of contact lenses and should be looked after and used just as carefully.
There are now contact lenses available that will help you to see better when you are not even wearing them. Although this all sounds a little science fiction there is very good science behind it. You wear the lenses when you go to sleep and they change the shape of the eye as you sleep. The effect is much the same as having laser treatment but without the lasers. The main drawback is that it is not long lasting and the contact lenses need to be worn frequently as the effects only last for about 24 hours. They can however produce extremely good results.
Whatever type of contact lenses you are looking for remember that you should only buy after seeing an optometrist. Then you will be sure that you are getting the right lenses for your particular needs.
Proper Care and Handling of Colour Contact Lenses
If you’re considering getting (or recently got) colour contact lenses, make sure you know how to care for your lenses. Proper care of your colour contact lenses is a simple process, but it is a process. Familiarizing yourself with the steps to care for your colour contact lenses properly will help you avoid eye irritation or infection.
Though there is a wide variety of types and brands of colour contact lensese, caring for them will be the same across the board. You will need some supplies for proper care and cleaning of your colour contacts. The following supplies can be purchased from your eye care clinic or directly from your local pharmacy:
- Good quality contact lens solution
- Contact lens case (having an extra one on hand is a good idea)
- Soft (gentle) plastic tweezers
That’s it! The only other thing you’ll need is a few minutes every single day to dedicate to the proper care of your coloured lenses.
The Best Solution
Long gone are the days when two separate solutions were needed; that is saline solution for storing your lenses and a cleaner for cleaning them. Multi-purpose solutions perform both duties with just one step. The best, lowest-maintenance solution to care for your colour contact lenses will be a no-rub, multipurpose solution. A good multi-purpose solution will not only disinfect your contacts, but also remove protein build-ups. Make sure to note that solutions for rigid lenses have a different formulation than that for soft lenses. You’ll need to buy solution for soft lenses for your colour contacts.
Clean Those Coloured Contacts
Cleaning your colour contact lenses is really no different than cleaning clear lenses. The trick is to do it properly so that the lenses are disinfected, and to do it every single day. To properly clean your colour contact lenses, follow the steps below daily.
1. Wash and dry hands thoroughly before starting the process.
2. Take each colour lens out and rinse with multi-purpose solution by squirting the solution directly on each side of the lens.
3. Fill your lens case with fresh solution, put the lenses in the case, and screw the case closed. Let the colour contact lenses soak for at least 6 hours (ideally, overnight).
4. Before you put your colour contacts back in your eyes, rinse each side with fresh solution again.
Further Protein Removal
Multipurpose solution is all you need if you wear disposable colour contacts, as most people do. If, however, your colour contact lenses are of the more expensive, hand-painted variety that are designed to last about a year, you should consider also using protein-removing tablets as well. Using these tablets is especially recommended for people that use their colour contact lenses every day. The tablets you’ll need to look for in this case are called enzymatic cleaner, or simply ‘enzyme.’ You can extend the life of your hand-painted colour contact lenses by soaking them in enzymatic cleaner once a month.
Lens Storage
A contact lens case is the most common place to store contacts. A contact lens case with screw-down lids will prevent any solution from leaking out. You can label your cases or get cases of different colours to keep your lenses organized in the event that you have more than one set of couloured lenses. Keep each lens case clean by washing it with soap and boiling it once a week. Make sure to wait until the lens case dries thoroughly before using it again.
Caring for colour contact lenses is easy once you get into a routine.
What Are the Different Types of Contact Lenses on the Market?
It may come as quite a surprise to a person who has little experience with contact lenses as to exactly how many different varieties there are available. If you’re considering making the switch from glasses to contact lenses you should research each type and learn their individual advantages and disadvantages.
Hard Contact Lenses
Hard contact lenses, which are also known as rigid gas permeable or RPG lenses, are made from a semi-stiff plastic that is tough, but will still allow oxygen to pass through to the eye.
Hard contact lenses often the best choice for the single most important part of vision correction, out of all the varieties of contact lenses available, hard lenses turn in the best results in terms of helping the wearer see more clearly.
These lenses are easy to adapt to, relatively comfortable and have a pretty long life, but they require constant wear to maintain the adaptation and have a tendency to become fairly easily dislodged and to slide out of proper position on the eye when compared to other types of lenses.
Daily Wear Soft Contact Lenses
These lenses are made from a much softer and more flexible material than hard contact lenses. They are extremely comfortable to wear and a lot more difficult to dislodge than the hard lenses. This fact makes this a much better choice for a person with an active lifestyle – someone who works in a physical type of environment won’t want a lens that easily becomes dislodge thereby causing them to have to stop what they are doing in order to be able to see again.
On the downside, they can’t correct all vision problems, and the vision improvements may not be quite as good as they would be with hard contact lenses.
Extended Wear Contacts
Depending on the manufacturer, extended wear lenses may be available in the soft and or hard varieties and can be worn for up to almost a week without having to remove them. Extended wear lenses often require regular follow up visits to the optician in order to get the best results and they should be replaced at least once annually to help ensure the highest level of vision correction.
Extended Wear Disposable
This type of lens can be worn for a number of consecutive nights (anywhere from a few to five or six) before being discarded. Extended wear disposable lenses require little or no cleaning.
You’re vision may not be quite as crisp with these as it would with hard contact lenses and extended wear disposables can be a little bit more difficult to handle than other types of contact lenses
Planned Replacement Contact Lenses
These are soft daily wear contacts that are replaced according to a set schedule (i.e. on a monthly basis). They require just a simple cleaning in order to maintain proper eye health, but like the extended wear disposable contact lenses they don’t correct vision problems quite as crisply as may the hard contact lenses, and they can’t correct all vision problems.
Sometimes a person who is considering making a switch from glasses to contacts will have to go through some or all of the styles before choosing which one if the best possible option for their particular situation. Several factors can go into determining which contact lens is the best for each individual person. Exactly how well each type of lens handles what your particular vision problem is, how active you are, how steadfast you’ll be when it comes to the cleaning and maintenance of your lenses and how much money you can afford to spend could all potentially be deciding factors on which contact lens will or won’t suit your vision correction situation.