One of our most important senses is our sight and we definitely want to take care of it. When our eyesight starts to diminish, we start to worry and wonder what to do. For many of us, the thought of glasses is not one of our finest ideas, but soon we realise in order to keep our sight at its highest level, we may need to get a pair of glasses. We soon understand that glasses aren’t all bad and that in fact we sometimes crave our glasses to achieve that "certain look". Of course some people just need their contact lenses sometimes. And now to the advantage of every vain person, and those who are only occasionally vain, we have the hydrogel lenses.
You may ask, "What are contact lenses"? It is a lens that is used for medical, therapeutic, corrective or cosmetic purposes. It is placed on the cornea of the eye. Although contact lenses serve the same purpose as glasses they are very lightweight and undetectable except to the trained eye. You can get colored lenses to make your eye color different also. Contact lenses are so popular around the world, there is said to be about 126 million wearers.
Some of the reasons that people might choose contacts over glasses, besides their vanity, is the fact that contacts never steam up and wet weather never seems to phase them, and you may seem to have a broader spectrum of vision.
Years ago the first contact lenses were glass which caused irritation and the inability to wear for long periods of time. Then there were hard lenses that did not let anthing in the air affect them. Then came soft contact lens, which eventually led to the silicon hydrogen lenses in 1999. One of the most fascinating thing about contact lenses is the fact that you can get any kind of lens, trifocal, bifocal, etc in such a compact area. In a few cases, certain people may need a piggyback lens, which is a combination of a hard and soft lens.
Silicon hydrogel contact lenses are good because they can transmit huge amounts of oxygen to your cornea. Silicon hydrogel lenses use water to transport oxygen to the eye, which in turn helps the eye not to dehydrate as fast as former contact lenses. Therefore they are much more comfortable for longer periods of time. With these new hydrogels it is possible to wear them for as long as thirty days again. But not all silicon hydrogels are available for 30-day wear. So check with your eye care providers to find out which ones are suitable for 30-day wear.
Silicon hydrogels are good for most people unless you get eye irritation after sleeping in them. And perhaps one drawback of the silicon hydrogels is the fact that sometimes you have to order them which could take up to two weeks. But besides these two small problems silicon hyrogels are the way to go now for contact lenses.
Disclaimer: The author is not a medical doctor, optician, ophthalmologist or any other medical professional, this article has been compiled using a variety of internet reference sources and while every effort has been made to ensure accuracy this cannot be guaranteed. No preference for product or brand is inferred or intended and the contents of this article are not to be used in whole or in part to inform a decision regarding any aspect of contact lens use.
