Dry Eyes and Contacts That Can Help

Signs of Dry Eyes and Contacts for Dry Eyes

If you have dry eyes and contacts that you currently wear become uncomfortable try contact lenses for dry eyes. Your success with contact lenses may be less compared to other wearers. But the dry eyes contact lens design can help you.

Do you have dry eyes and your current contacts aren't comfortable? There are contact lens design that addresses dry eye syndrome. Continue reading to find out...

Signs of Dry Eye Syndrome

Dry eye is an eye condition that results from the eyes' reduced ability to produce tears. The eyes do not produce an adequate amount of quality tears to lubricate the eye. Its consequences range from subtle irritation to ocular inflammation of the front tissues of the eye.

Dryness, scratching and burning in your eyes are common signs of dry eye syndrome. Some people experience also something foreign in the eye. And, oddly, watery eyes can result from dry eye syndrome.

Do Contact Lenses Cause Dry Eyes?

Dry eye may occur because of the normal aging process. It may result from quick evaporation of the tears, because of the change in its chemical compositions. It may also occur as a side effect of such medications as antihistamines, antidepressants and birth control pills.

Dry eyes can also happen because you live in a dry, dusty or windy climate. Dry eyes are also a problem for computer users. You tend to blink less when working on the computer. And you might not realize that blinking is essential for wetting your eyes.

Some contact lenses may also contribute to dry eye syndrome. Soft contacts, for example, contain up to 70 percent water. With the moist, they initially feel comfortable in your eye. However, as the day progresses the water evaporates from the lens and the lens absorbs your tears, leaving you with dry-feeling eyes.

Can You Wear Contact Lenses?

Contact lenses can be a problem, if you have dry eyes. In a healthy eye, there is a thin layer of tears under a contact lens. If this layer dries out, you start feeling the lens like sand.

Is there a better alternative? Fortunately, you can be fitted with numerous new types of contacts. The silicon hydrogel lenses, for example, only contain about 30 percent water -- much less than up to 70 percent of conventional lenses. The lens materials allow the lenses to retain moisture and to resist deposits.

Dry Eyes and Contacts -- Soft Lenses

An example of contact lens brand you can wear is Proclear Compatibles -- one of Cooper Vision's contact lens brand. The dry eye contact lens is designed to maintain a thin layer of water between the eye and the contact lens.

It retains its water content in most environments. This means it doesn't rely on absorbing as many tears as other lens to maintain a moist state. With the dry eyes contact lens your eyes stay moist and comfortable all day long.

The Cooper Vision's Proclear lines of contact lenses are available for presbyopia treatment. Material of proclear compatibles multifocal lens can maintain its high water content throughout the day. Proclear lenses are monthly disposable contacts.

Another lens design is Acuvue Oasis, by Johnson and Johnson. The dry eyes contact lens contains a special re-wetting agent -- Hydraclear Plus -- that makes the lens feel moist. Acuvue Oasis is designed for dry environments. The dry eye contact lens is a daily wear contact lens.

Dry Eyes and Contacts -- RGP lenses

Rigid Gas Permeable or RGP contact lenses are another option. RGP lens is made from polymeric materials that don't contain any water. There is no issue of water evaporation, as with soft lenses.

However, there is an eye irritation risk, if it isn't enough tears under the lens. Also, the pain caused by a rigid lens in a dry eye is worse than a soft one.

So, you can still wear contact lenses even if you have dry eyes. If you have dry eyes and contacts that you currently wear aren't comfortable ask your eye doctor whether or not the abovementioned contacts would work for you.

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