| | Your eye and contact lenses | | |
| | Nov 1st | |
| | (1st November to 30th November)
Contact lenses are small, thin plastic disks that are designed to rest on the cornea.
It is mostly used to correct blurry vision caused by nearsightedness, farsightedness, astigmatism and also to manage diseases of cornea, conjunctiva or lids.
Do you have any concerns on the side effects of wearing contact lens? What is the potential risk of wearing contact lens? Need guide on how to take care of your eye and your contact lens?
Post all your questions online this month. Our eye specialist from Singapore National Eye Centre is online to answer your queries.
Hosted by
Dr Lim Li
Senior Consultant
Refractive Surgery Service
Singapore National Eye Centre
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Posted by rachel | I have been using contact lenses for the past 20 years. I was experiencing some twitching and discomfort in the eyes, so I switched to daily disposables instead for the past two years.
This was because the optician told me that I had quite a lot of 'protein build up' in my eye despite my fortnightly and even weekly protein removal tablets.
Recently, I am finding that I feel some 'grit' in my eyes half way through the day, even with the daily disposables.
Q: Is there a 'shelf-life' for a person to wear contact lenses?
Otherwise, why could I be feeling this way, when I am using such contact lenses, which I even try to give my eyes a break on the weekends?
Should I use eye washes? If yes, what kind should I look for?
Is there any other advise for people like me, so my eyes can stay healthy?
Thank you for your time.
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Answered by | It is important to see your contact lens practitioner to check your eyes if you experience discomfort related to contact lens wear. Your practitioner will advise you on your eye problems.
If you have worn contact lenses for several years, you could have developed an allergic condition known as giant papillary conjunctivitis which is a chronic allergic eye condition related to contact lens wear.
Daily disposable lenses are good for this condition as there is no protein build up on the lenses. However, the condition may not resolve completely even with daily disposable lens wear and you may continue to have discomfort during lens wear. You should then stop wearing your lenses for a period of time, eg 6 weeks to allow the eye to recover.
It is not necessary to use eye washes as the eyes have a tear mechanism It is important to have regular eye checks with your contact lens practitioner even if you do not experience any problems with your contact lens wear.
Answered by
Dr Lim Li
Senior Consultant
Refractive Surgery Service
Singapore National Eye Centre
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Posted by john | I've been using contact lenses for a long while now.
Recently, I found it a bit blurry in the distance, so when I saw the optician, he asked me to switch the degrees.
Once I changed it, I found it hard to read the newspapers.
So, the optician changed it to something intermediate.
Q: if I am now getting near reading issues, is it okay for the contact lens degree to be lower than accurate for clear distance vision? Will this affect the health of my eye ( i.e. cause strain and hence worsen my degrees?)
Is it better to slightly over correct or under correct the eye?
The optician also told me that my degree was quite stable, but what increased was my astigmatism. What would casue this when I am already close to 50 years old?
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Answered by | It is fine to undercorrect your degree if you have reading issues. This will not affect the health of the eye. However, you may need a separate pair of contact lenses or glasses for distance if you are unable to see well for distance.
It is important to have your eyes checked to see what is the problem. There might be lenticular changes in the eye that could increase the astigmatism.
Answered by
Dr Lim Li
Senior Consultant
Refractive Surgery Service
Singapore National Eye Centre |
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Posted by carolyn1 | Beginning of this year, I started to use contact lenses after not using it for 2 years. When i used it one day, i experienced pain over my right eye. So, i went back to my optisian and he found out that there is a tear on the lens. Threfore, i changed the lens to a new lens. However, ever since that incident, I always experienced pressure like discomfort whenever i use my contact lens although i did not use it regularly. Sometimes i only use it once a week and i only use it for a few hours. A few times i brought the lens back to my optician but he is unable to detect any tear on the len that i used.
Q: Could it be that there is a scar on my eye? Should i visit an eye doctor in the hospital for further investigation?
Carolyn |
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Posted by mengtewo | Hi Dr Lim Li,
I'm a male 42+ yr adult who have been wearing spectacles and occasional use of contact lense for last 20 yr. I did not use contact lense often because it dropped a few times to due to dryness of my eyes. As such, I'm wearing spectacles with each side about 600 degrees and some night blindness of <200, I think.
About a year ago, I started to have difficult to read fine prints on the newspaper and often now has to lift out my spectacles to read carefully.
Recently, a male colleague of similiar age (40 yr) did a lasik and he told me the splendor of not wearing any spectacles or contact lense, when it came to swimming and soccor, it was the best he had as an male adult without these woes. However, he did not correct his long sightness to read since he did not have this problem currently.
I'm keen to experiment to correct my eyes using lasik and is there a technology that can 'cure' both long and short signtness all in 1 go? If so, how and what is the procedure?
The current issue is that I'm based overseas in Dubai as an expat but will be visiting Singapore to celebrate Chinese New Year in early Feb 2011 and will be staying for about 2 weeks? Will this be sufficient time to do an eye examination, lasik procedure and then heal my eyes if needed?
Thank you for answering my questions in advance.
Cheers |
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