Contact Lenses and Dry Eyes

Contact lenses have revolutionized the field of optometry. Now that contact lenses have come within the reach of commoners, people are readily swapping their spectacles for a brand new pair of contacts. Apart from convenience, they also do not pose any hindrance to your physical appearance. Obviously, people are more than happy to get the heavy spectacle frames off their noses. However, contact lenses are known to induce dryness in eyes. Thus, wearing contacts becomes even more difficult for people who already have medical conditions that cause dryness in eyes. However, contact lens makers are now coming up with specialized contact lenses for dry eyes.

Contact Lenses and Dry Eyes

Our eyes are kept lubricated by continuous formation of tears on the topmost layer of an eye. Soft lenses freely float on this layer. However, soft lenses are mostly made of water and polymers. They contain about 50 to 70% of water. When these lenses are placed on the eyes, they initially feel moist and wet. But soon, they begin to lose their moisture, which is compensated from the tears of the eyes. Thus, the moisture absorbing contact lenses often make the eyes dry. For people with a natural tendency of having dry eyes, the situation becomes worse after wearing contact lenses. These people do not produce adequate amount of tears or the chemical composition of tears is not appropriate. As a result, when the lenses try to absorb whatever little moisture is there in the eyes, the person may experience dry, itchy eyes. Sometimes, certain external factors also lead to dry eyes, after wearing contact lenses. These include working in hot and dry environment, air conditioned rooms, certain gases or chemicals etc.

Special Contact Lenses for Dry Eyes

Special contacts for dry eyes and astigmatism are now specially made from hydrogel material. The water content of this material is low, about 30%. Generally speaking, the lesser the content of water, the lesser is the absorption of tears from the eyes. Thus, the hydrogel lenses absorb much less water as compared to the soft lenses with 70% water content. These lenses are a must for anyone who works in dry atmosphere, which inhibits the production of tears. These lenses are also helpful for people who work on computers for long hours. The reason is, while staring at computer, the frequency of blinking eyes is drastically reduced. This results in dry eyes as blinking is necessary for the production of tears.

Overcoming the Problem of Dry Eyes

As mentioned above, hydrogel contact lenses solve the problem of dry eyes to a great extent. They are the best contact lenses for dry eyes and astigmatism. If it is not possible for you to obtain such lenses, you may try using tear drops to reduce the dryness in the eyes and stimulate the production of tears. Alternatively, you may also soak your lenses in the cleaning solution, whenever your eyes feel dry or the lens refuses to move with the eye

Contact lenses for dry eyes are more suitable for people with chronic dry eyes or even older people who experience reduced tear production. Currently, Johnson and Johnson and Cooper Vision are the leading manufacturers of these contact lenses.