Contact Lenses
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Colored Contact Lenses
Now available at Westside Optometry, a colored contact lenses made in the newer, more comfortable silicone hydrogel material.
The combination of technologies provides a more comfortable, breathable and beautiful contact lens. The new Air Optix Colors is a monthly replacement lens. If you currently wear the Air Optix contact lens, ask about trying the colored options.
The Air Optix Colors are available in Subtle and Vibrant selections. There is a large variety of color options for light and dark colored eyes.
Colored contact lenses are medical devices like any other contact lenses and require a current prescription to purchase. If you are interested in changing or enhancing your eye color but do not need prescription contact lenses, you can still wear the Air Optix Colors. At Westside Optometry we would train you to handle and care for the contact lenses. Also including in a fitting is evaluation of the contact lens fit, as they are not one size fits all. It is important to your success that the lens centers and moves properly and does not cause any damage to the eye.
Contact Lens Recycling
Used contact lenses have been in the news lately and in our oceans and lakes. A new study released this summer estimates that these slippery transparent discs, vital to the vision of an estimated 45 million Americans, are often flushed into the sewer instead of placed in the trash or recycled. Do not flush your used contact lenses or wash them down the drain.
Bausch + Lomb has a recycling program that allows contact lens wearers to participate in either of two ways. You can bring the used packaging and lenses to our office. Or you can mail them in directly to the recycling center that works with the company. Simply put the lenses and blister packs into a cardboard box, download a preprinted label and ship it. www.bauschrecycles.com
In addition, for every qualifying shipment of two pounds or more, a $1-per-pound donation will be made to Optometry Giving Sight, the only global fundraising initiative that specifically targets the prevention of blindness and impaired vision by providing eye exams and glasses to those in need. To date, the program has raised more than $14,000.
Contact Lens Prescriptions
A contact lens is a medical device and can be worn to correct vision as well as for cosmetic or therapeutic reasons. In the United States, all contact lenses, even purely cosmetic ones, require a prescription. They must be properly fitted and prescribed by an eye doctor.
An eye examination is needed to determine an individual’s suitability for contact lenses. This typically includes a refraction to determine the proper power of the lens and an assessment of the health of the eye. Dr. Griffith will also ask questions about your lifestyle, general health and contact lens wearing goal. If you haven’t worn contact lenses before, training for application and removal of the contact lens is necessary. If the lenses are to be re-used, a care and disinfecting system is required too. A follow-up appointment will determine the proper fit and lens compatibility for your eyes. Contact lenses are not a “one size fits all” device. There are many parameters to each lens. Besides the power to correct the vision, material and edge design will effect the comfort. The size: diameter and curvature are factors in the fit and ultimately the response of the cornea and eyelids to the contact lens.
Prescriptions for contact lenses and glasses may be similar, but are not interchangeable.
Contact lens prescriptions generally expire on a yearly basis, unless otherwise specified. Seeing your eye doctor regularly for a comprehensive eye exam will not only assess your vision and need for updated prescriptions, but it may also help identify and lead to a diagnosis of other health concerns such as hypertension and diabetes. At your eye exam Dr. Griffith may recommend a newer/better contact lens option for you.
Contact lenses prescribed by a licensed eye care profession are worn safely and comfortably by millions of people world wide, and have a long history of providing wearers with a safe and effective form of vision correction. While contact lenses provide many vision benefits, they are not risk-free. To get the full benefit of your contact lenses and reduce your chances of developing problems follow the care, wear and replacement schedule prescribed by your eye doctor.
Lost a lens in your eye?
Nearly every contact lens wearer experiences a “lost” contact lens at some point.
For oxygen permeable lens wearers, displaced lenses tend to happen more often than for soft lens wearers. Oxygen permeable or RGPs usually displace when rubbing the eye. Once the lens leaves the cornea it can relocate under the upper eyelid or the inside corner of the eye. Before repositioning the lens, wash your hands. Manipulating the eyelids to recenter the lens works for some wearers, Using the eyelid to flip the lens out of the eye can work but increases the chance of losing the lens.
Soft Lenses don’t usually decenter. In most cases the “lost lens” has torn or folded. The lens will not tear in the eye, but it can have a crack or tear which gets worse when handling (when applying the lens to the eye for example). The best way to prevent this is to examine the quality of the lens carefully before putting it into your eye. Never put a damaged lens into the eye.
If the eye is rubbed vigorously the lens can fold or decenter. Make sure to wash your hands before looking for your lost lens. If the lens is off-center, move your eye in the opposite direction of where you think the lens is, and massage your eyelid to help move the contact to the center of your eye. Sometimes putting a new lens in will draw the stuck or lost lens out. In most cases of a lost soft contact lens, the lens is not in the eye. The lens will often fall out when not positioned properly. Due to excess touching and searching the eye is irritated and this irritation feels like a lens. If you can’t see or find the lens, stop looking. Call the office and one of our doctors will look with the biomicroscope and remove the lens if it is still in the eye.
Keratoconus
Keratoconus is an eye disease that is characterized by thinning and steepening of the cornea. The cornea is the front surface of the eye and the most important focusing element of the vision system. In patients who have keratoconus their cornea is cone-shaped. The name keratoconus is derived from the Greek work for cornea (kerato) and cone-shaped (conus). Keratoconus results in visual distortion often not correctable by traditional glasses. The thinning and steepening of the cornea causes the front surface to become progressively more irregular in shape. The corneal surface irregularity is what induces the distortion and blurriness of vision experienced in keratoconus.
It is often argued if keratoconus runs in families. There is no gender preference, an equal number of men and women have the disease. Keratoconus is most commonly seen in people with atopic or severe allergies, especially ocular allergies. Keratoconus is initially diagnosed just after puberty and can progress through the third to fourth decade of life.
If the disease is mild and doesn’t progress, good vision can be maintained with glasses and soft contact lenses. Most cases however cause more significant corneal changes creating dramatic vision distortion. Specialized contact lenses are required to provide adequate vision, these lenses include, rigid gas permeable, hybrid or scleral lenses.
In more advanced cases of keratoconus the cornea develops scarring and/or contact lenses can’t be tolerated. These cases require surgical corneal transplantation. Fortunately, new medical technology such as collagen corneal cross-linking with Riboflavin hold promise to controlling progressive cases of keratoconus.
The National Keratoconus Foundation has more information available.
Why is it that glasses don’t always work for patients with keratoconus? In many instances, individuals with keratoconus do not achieve excellent visual performance with spectacles or traditional soft contact lenses. One cause for the failure of these corrections is that the changes in corneal shape that accompany keratoconus induce refractive errors which traditional spectacles simply cannot correct. So, even when sphere and cylinder in the keratoconic eye are well-corrected, these “other refractive errors” or “other aberrations” remain uncorrected and can lead to a blurred retinal image and blurred vision. Collectively these other aberrations can be referred to as higher order aberration, while the aberrations that are typically corrected with spectacles and soft contact lenses are referred to as lower order aberration. Rigid gas permeable, scleral lenses and hybrid contact lens are options to provide clearer vision for the irregular cornea.
Synergeyes Hybrid Contacts
A hybrid contact lens has a gas permeable center that provides crisp clear vision and a soft silicone hydrogel skirt for excellent centration and comfort. The lenses are available in many prescriptions including multifocals.
Care and handling is unique for a hybrid lens. When we dispense a lens at Westside Optometry, our contact lens technician will instruct on application, removal and care of the lenses. A special applicator is often used for easier insertion.
For more information about the Synergeyes products visit their website.