You may be a person that has been wearing eyeglasses for some time or you may realize that your vision needs to be corrected and are considering going to the eye doctor to find out if you can wear contacts. If so, take a few minutes to read about how contact lenses work and how to go about getting them.
Contact Lens History
Early contacts amazingly date back into the 19th century. At that time, they were made of brown glass and were not easy to wear. They were, however, helpful to people that could not wear glasses. Contact lens technology improved in the 1940s and 1950 when they were able to make them from plastic instead. These were made out of a plastic material called polymethyl methacrylte and worked well. The only problem was that they did not allow oxygen to easily pass through them. Since then, the plastic material has improved and is now rigid gas permeable, allowing oxygen to get to your corneas. This is necessary because your corneas get the oxygen they need from the air, not your bloodstream.
We’ve seen in the last few years how contact lens technology is still improving. People that have astigmatism can now get toric contact lenses. And people that need bifocal lenses can now get special contacts made, too.
Why is it Good to Wear Contact Lenses?
Beside for cosmetic reasons, people wear contact lenses for a variety of other reasons including:
* Unlike glasses, the lens moves with your eye so there is no image distortion.
* The frame of eyeglassescan block your side / peripheral vision.
* Glasses can often steam up when you go from a cold to warm temperature room.
* Sometimes contact lenses are the only solution for people who need vastly different lenses for each eye.
* An injured cornea can heal faster when its protected by contact lenses.
So How Do You Get Contact Lenses?
The next step, if you’re interested, is to to see your eye care professional to get a prescription for contact lenses since you can’t order contacts with a prescription for glasses. You’ll go through some easy vision tests that only take about 15 minutes or so. You should also get the test for Glaucoma, which is the one where there’s a tiny puff of air that gets shot into your eye. Jennifer Aniston’s character, Rachel, from Friends made a big deal about it, but it’s actually no big deal at all.
{ 0 comments }
