Eye vision: what is more favorable, contact lenses or glasses?!

  • 2009-10-22
  • By Darja Kuznecova

FASHION ACCESSORY?: Check with your eye doctor when considering what's best for you – glasses or contact lenses.

RIGA - About seventy five percent of the world inhabitants have problems with vision. There are two main possible solutions for vision problems without having to resort to surgery 's wear contact lenses or glasses. When you consider that you wear glasses or contact lenses every single day of your life, the amount you spend on them is far less than for any other item in your wardrobe. Considering how important they are to the quality of your life, they're invaluable.

Successful contactlens wear requires a 'partnership' between the fitter, who is an ophthalmologist, and you, the wearer. You should contact your ophthalmologist and get requirements for glasses or contact lens use. There are pluses and minuses for both.
Contact lenses are miraculous pieces of plastic that allow you to see without glasses. In most cases, contact lenses are used as a substitute for glasses, allowing you to dispense with them. Contact lenses may also be used to treat certain eye diseases or may be used for cosmetic purposes to change the apparent color of your eyes.

First of all, your doctor must decide if your eyes are healthy enough to wear contact lenses. According to the needs of your eyes, the doctor should fit you with the correct lenses. You should also know how to use and care for contact lenses. You should come to agreement with the doctor of his/her availability in those cases, when problems with vision develop. You must follow the doctor's instructions, care for, and wear the lenses correctly, and return as required for routine and emergency care.

There are some pluses of contact lens use:
•    Contact lenses are mainly used to avoid having to wear glasses in conditions such as nearsightedness, farsightedness, and astigmatism, or to avoid the use of bifocals (multi-focal lenses). They may also be used to treat other conditions. Keratoconus is a condition in which the surface of the eye has a very irregular shape (astigmatism). When glasses no longer provide adequate vision, contact lenses are used.

•    Contact lenses are often used after refractive surgery when under- or over-corrections occur. After surgery, and in some cases of eye diseases of the cornea, bandage soft contact lenses may be used to allow the cornea to heal, or may be used to alleviate pain.

•    Some lenses are meant for daily wear. With daily wear soft lenses, you wear the lenses for one day and then discard them. This allows one to dispense with solutions, cleaning, and disinfection of the lenses. It allows intermittent wear, such as weekend or occasional wear, as desired. Most soft lenses and some RGP lenses are worn for a day and then removed, cleaned, and disinfected each night. Soft lenses are usually replaced on a regular basis, which varies from one week to one month to three months to one year. RGP lenses may last for years with regular care.
Any change in the condition of the eyes of contactlens wearers must be evaluated for the cause and possible treatment. Whether or not these eye complaints are due to the contact lenses, they still must be diagnosed and treated. There are also minuses of wearing contact lenses.

•    Extended wear lenses, usually soft, are worn overnight for one week and then replaced every one to two weeks. Trying to extend the wear of lenses beyond the recommended replacement schedule is a false economy and an invitation to potential disaster.

•    Overnight wear decreases the amount of oxygen available to the eye and increases the (rare) chance of infection fourfold. Because of this, some practitioners do not recommend extended wear of contact lenses. Newer lenses may be safer.

•    With the glut of contact-lens solutions available, it is important to use only the solution recommended by the eye doctor. Some solutions may be incompatible with certain lenses or may contain components, such as Thimerosal (20 percent of people are allergic to this substance), which are not compatible with the eyes of some people.

•    One major concern, from the wearer's viewpoint, is the danger when a contact lens slips off the eye. The lens sits on the surface of the eye but cannot travel 'back to the brain' because the clear covering of the eye goes under the eyelid and keeps the lens from going back. If the lens cannot be repositioned on the cornea, it is under the eyelid and can be easily slid or moved to its correct position on the cornea (sometimes requiring the help of the fitter). It will do no harm if it is under the eyelid for a number of hours.

•    Redness of the eyes associated with pain, blurred vision, and light sensitivity is more serious and may signal a potentially blinding condition, such as a corneal ulcer due to an infection.

Glasses are part of a person's image. They also correct eye vision without direct contact with your eyes. There are certain pluses to wearing glasses.

•    The distance between your eye and glasses sometimes creates protection from eye injury.
•    Glasses don't need precise care as contact lenses need.
•    Glasses can change your image and underline your benefits.
•    Glasses are more available, for cost reasons.

There are also minuses to wearing glasses. First of all it is an uncomfortable weight on your face and ears. There is periodic need for tightening or other adjustment.

•    Poor peripheral (side) vision.
•    Glasses fog up with changes in temperature.
•    Eyeglasses are annoying to wear in rain or snow.
•    Glasses are an unnatural, distracting barrier between your eyes and the world.

Glasses must be sprayed and wiped several times a day, while contact lenses need varying degrees of care, depending on the type. Finally, you should contact your eye-doctor for all benefits or minuses of wearing  glasses and contact lenses for vision correction.