Contact lens was primarily made for either one of these reasons: to provide a way of correcting vision or to serve as means of cosmetic enhancement. As time passed by, a lot of technological innovations have been made to improve the quality and the range of use of contact lenses. Apart from being some form of cosmetic media, contact lenses have also been specialized to meet specific needs. This has been done to ensure that anybody can possibly wear a pair of contact lens.

It is general notion that only watery eyes can handle the use of contact lens. Since contact lenses are water based, they should always be wet and continuously lubricated. But nowadays, that is nothing but mere falsehood. Contact lenses and dry eye can be solved. Even if you have dry eyes contacts may even be worn at extended periods of time.

The compound which was used for contact lenses and dry eyes combination is made out of specialized elements that keep a tab on the current condition of your eyes’ dryness. By keeping track of the water evaporation occurring within your eyes, this is made possible. Silicone hydrogel is the main ingredient responsible in creating specialized contact lenses and dry eyes are no longer hindrances.

This compound soothes dry eyes. Although it has lesser water content than you would have thought it to have, it still contains enough moisture to keep your eyes comfortable while wearing a pair of contact lens. In effect, you can wear your contact lens and dry eyes will not be a problem even if it is worn for an extended period of time.

Aside from this compound, polymers are also used to keep dry eyes comfortable while wearing contact lens. Other biocompatible products are also being utilized in producing contact lens which can suit the special needs of dry eyes. Moreover, soft lenses are being utilized to make contact lenses for dry eyes as they are more comfortable and more web-absorbent in nature.

The important thing to note before opting to use contact lenses is to consult an optometrist first. Have your eyes initially checked so that you would know if you have dry eyes and what kind of contact lens would suit you best. Contact lens and dry eyes need not be a problem initially before you discover that you need specialized care for your eyes. Prevention through check ups is always of key importance.

Also, there are additional factors which must be covered when you have dry eyes yet you need to wear a pair of contact lens. You should avoid dusty places as wells as smoke so that they would not accumulate harmful particles on your lenses. In addition, you should also keep them away from hot places to reduce water evaporation.

One of the most prevalent eye problems in dogs is cataracts. These can show up in dogs of all breeds and in both young and old dogs. If your dog develops cataracts, the only treatment at this time is surgery.

The word “cataract” is a Latin term meaning “break down”. This problem develops within the fibers in the eye’s lens. Because of the disruption of these fibers, the lens becomes cloudy and vision is reduced. As of this date, there are several kinds of cataracts and they all have different causes. All of them have one common problem: the biochemistry of the dog’s eyes becomes out of balance. Too much water is retained in the lens of the dog’s eye and the amount of protein increases. This combination is what causes the cloudy white coating. There is also the loss of transparency and even the loss of vision, which is characteristic of cataracts.

When cataracts develop in the dog, it is significant to know how old your pooch is. It will make it easier to diagnose what type of cataract your pet has. Cataracts that are present at birth are known as congenital cataracts. These care caused by infections or toxins that developed in utero. This certain kind of cataract can be genetically inherited but only in rare cases does this happen.

Early Onset or developmental cataracts occur early in the adult life of your dog. These may also be inherited or may be caused by an infection, toxin, injury and a disease such as diabetes. In younger dogs, certain breeds are more apt to develop inherited cataracts. If you have a dog that exhibits this kind of cataract, your dog should not be bred.

Finally, if you have a dog that is older than six years, it may develop Late Onset or Senile cataracts. Dogs at this age often do not have cataracts but have a condition that is known as “nuclear sclerosis”. This will produce the graying of the lens of the eye. This condition affects both eyes but does not affect your dog’s vision and is not usually treated.

If your dog develops cataracts, the treatment is the same as if a human had them, that is, to surgically remove the eye’s lens. This type of surgery is frequently done in dogs and has approximately a 95% success rate. There are some dogs who are not good candidates for cataract surgery and include those dogs who have uncontrolled diabetes, are aggressive or are in poor health.

Dog owners who make the decision to have their dog’s cataracts removed should be prepared to spend a large amount of time post-operatively caring for their pet. Just as in humans, prescription eye drops should be put in your dog’s eyes several times a day for approximately several weeks before having the procedure done. You must continue putting drops in your dog’s eyes for six weeks after the surgery. After surgery, checkups may be required the day after surgery and at one-, three- and six-week intervals.

After having worn glasses all my life, after I had cataract surgery I can now see better than ever before and only need glasses while reading and working at my computer. Just remember, if your dog could talk, he or she will give you a great big “thank you” kiss for being able to see so much better.

The glasses industry is real a large one, with revenue over hundreds of billions of dollars each year. Thus eye doctors or related staff persuade us to wear lenses or receive eye surgeries. However, there are some natural methods that can help regain our vision. And now more and more people have realized this.

Eyes are among the most important organs in our bodies, and they are in need of some nutrients as other parts.

Eye dryness is now one of the commonest problems that we encounter everyday. Especially, if we have to read a lot or work before computer monitors for very long time, the symptom will get worsened. Then how to tackle this problem? Water, yes, drinking more water can help us relieve the symptom.

Have you ever heard of that imbalanced diet will not only affect your physical bodies, but also your vision? It is true that you must intake some Vitamins and minerals, like Vitamin A, B, C, etc., from foods. But sometimes, if you are not sure whether you have taken the sufficient amount, you can choose to take some supplements.

We Americans pay less attention to what we eat than people in other countries. So some special nutrients will also be neglected in our foods. Some investigations have revealed that nutriments like lutein and zexathanthin that can help prevent the occurrence of Macular Degeneration and many other eye problems are seldom found in our foods.

Countless cases have proved that there are firm relations between our visions and the state of our physical bodies. Some of us have benefited a lot in vision improvement after drinking sufficient water and taking nutrition supplements.

Some other professors hold that eye exercises can also help enhance our vision. If we can do some exercises after or between working hours, our eyes will be relaxed a lot. And the result is our vision is improved.

Then, how to relax our eyes? If you are now walking on the road or sitting on the car, you can pay more attention to everything around, especially the green leaves. Sometimes, stare at some objects if you think they are interesting. Look at objects far and nearby in turn.

If you really have some questions about the methods of natural vision improvement, you should go and visit your eye doctors.

According to studies using a PC, laptop or mobile phone for text messaging can increase eye strain and fatigue. This can cause eye and headaches and in extreme cases it can even affect your vision. As a result optometrists are treating more and more people for digital related eye problems.

A national study of optometrists revealed the worrying fact that over 14% of patients’ eye problems were directly related to computer use. This figure is even higher amongst contact lens wearers.

Staring at a computer screen all day makes your eyes dry and this problem is exacerbated by contact lenses which also dry eyes. However, for most of us not using a computer for work is simply not an option. Luckily there are some things that can be done to alleviate the problem.

One of the reasons that working at a computer dries your eyes out is that you blink less often than normal. About three times less than normal in fact. In the case of contact lens wearers this can make the surface of the contact lens dry out which can be very uncomfortable.

You could try blinking more but chances are when you are concentrating hard on your work you will forget to do this. An alternative might be to use lubricating eye drops during the day to keep your eyes moist.

If you find that your vision is impaired by working at a computer and you wear contact lenses, it might be advisable to speak to your optometrist about the problem. He or she will examine your eyes and might be able to recommend a different make of contact lenses that might suit you better.

Optometrists advise those using computers for work to look away from their computer screens for 20 seconds every twenty minutes. This should reduce eye strain and soreness.

You might also try and adjust your computer to help alleviate your discomfort. The glare from computer screens can cause eye strain. You can combat this by using an anti-glare screen. You can also try and sit further away from your computer screen. According to optometrists, the ideal distance is between five and nine inches away from your face.

How often should you have an eye exam?

It is a real shame when a patient comes to the office for a ‘first exam’ and already has damage to their vision. Many eye problems that can lead to damage or loss of vision can be slowed down, or even prevented if caught early enough. So the real key is to inform people about when to start, and how often to repeat eye exams. Luckily, the American Academy of Ophthalmology has standards for adult eye exams.

For adults, it is recommended that patients over 40 receive eye exams every 2 years. After 50, yearly exams are necessary. While some people wonder if that frequency of exams is necessary, we know that certain disease states will progress significantly in that amount of time. In fact, once a patient is diagnosed with glaucoma, they must be examined every 3 MONTHS!!

Glaucoma, cataracts and macular degeneration all begin to show up when patients are in their 40′s and 50′s. This is why the yearly exams are a must. I have 2 patients in my practice that never needed glasses until they were in their 40′s. At that time, they began to need reading glasses, so they bought them at the local dollar store. Fast-forward 25 years. On a whim, these patients decided to come for an actual eye exam. They were unpleasantly surprised to find that they had lost 80-90% of their vision to glaucoma!! An entirely preventable/treatable disease, that went undetected due to lack of routine eye exams.

And for the kids….an eye exam before the age of 6 is best. School screenings are fairly good, but sometimes subtle problems that can become larger issues can be missed. And the window of opportunity to fix those problems closes around the age 0f 8 or 9. If everything is normal, then exams every 3 to 5 years is probably acceptable.

So….kids AND adults need regular eye exams!! Call your ophthalmologist today!!

As we grow older, our eyes age with our bodies, therefore it is important to know about the risks we may encounter and how we can avoid them.

A common eye condition linked with age is macular degeneration. In fact, because of its link to age it is called AMD or age related macular degeneration.

AMD is caused by the deterioration of the tissues in the macula which is the part of the eye that controls central vision. There is no cure for AMD. It is chronic.

The deterioration results in blurred central vision. You may also notice a blind spot in the center of your vision field.

There are two kinds of AMD – dry and wet. The wet is the most severe but fortunately, the least prevalent. It is seen only in 15% of AMD patients. In wet AMD there is significant visual distortion in which straight lines appear as wavy or crooked. Sometimes objects appear to be smaller or farther away than they actually are. There is also a central vision loss characterized by a central blurry spot.

In dry macular degeneration, the patients notice that it becomes more difficult to adjust to low levels of illumination; blurriness of printed words increases; colors seem less bright or intense and they may encounter problems in recognizing faces. Everything seems more and more hazy and there is a blind spot in the center of your vision field. There is also a need for increasingly brighter light.

Both types can affect one eye and not the other. Often a person is not aware of having it as the non-affected eye compensates for the partner eye.

Cataracts, the clouding of the eyes natural lens, also become more common as we age. There are 3 types of cataracts and they are categorized according to where in the eye they occur. A nucleus cataract forms in the center of the lens. Sub-capsular cataracts start at the back of the lens and cortical cataracts begin in the cortex. They may also spread to the center.

Cataracts are easily removed with outpatient surgery and results are excellent. During the operation, the surgeon removes the clouded lens and inserts a clear plastic intra-ocular lens. Scientists work daily to develop new and better replacement lens for use in cataract surgery.

Another age-related eye problem is known as dry eye syndrome. This is due the reduction in the production of tears, as we get older. While it does not cause vision loss, it is still very painful.

Since it is so important to detect eye problems in their early stages, ophthalmologists recommend that people 65 and over have a dilated eye exam every one to two years.

Because the tissues of the aging eye are so vulnerable, it is important to wear UV protective lenses when outdoors in the daytime, even on a cloudy day. The sunglasses should be so designed that light does not leak in on the sides. It is also important to avoid cigarette smoke.

Some people with dry eye syndrome find relief by using preservative free eye drops. Physicians often recommend the use of these following a cataract operation.

Blindness is probably one of the most crippling disabilities so it is important to be aware of the risks and protect oneself against them.