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Tips For Contact Lens Wearers To Keep Their Eyes Happy

The cornea of the eye is one of the few "breathing" organsof the body. Hence, contact lens must be able to breathe inorder for you not to experience the discomforts that manypeople encounter upon wearing contacts. Some contacts arebetter for some people's eyes since some eyes are able toabsorb oxygen better. Unfortunately, not all eyes reactpositively to a foreign object like contact lens. For somepeople, it takes some time for your eyes to adjust to directcontact with lenses.

The oxygen supply to the cornea is slightly less absorbedwhen contact lenses cover the cornea. When the eye doesn'tget enough oxygen, it becomes dry. Soft or flexibledisposable contacts tend to alleviate this problem since thecontact is very porous. A porous contact allows more oxygento filter through. However, a very porous contact alsofilters more natural light than an eye is used to. Toadjust for this problem, most people find they must wear aslightly lower prescription. Also, by wearing sunglassesoutside, the wearer's eyes become less sensitive tosunlight.

Another condition that happens when your cornea doesn't getenough oxygen is a blood shot eye. A blood shot eye happensin response to the cornea looking for another way to getmore oxygen. Since the cornea is without blood vessels, theretina pumps up its veins in attempt to absorb more oxygen.This response can lead to other problems over time likecorneal neovascularization and macular degeneration disease.

If you encounter pain and swelling in your eyes while youwear contacts, immediately let your regular physician oroptometrist know. These conditions are not natural for theeye and sometimes are caused by not properly caring for yourlenses. Routinely cleansing your lenses with solutions isvery important to remove natural deposits on the lenses andkeep your eyes healthy. Special moisteners are available asdrops for contact wearers. Since saliva carries nastygerms, you shouldn't use your saliva to wash off or cleanyour contact lenses. Another tip to keep your eyes fromgetting irritated while wearing lens is to always freshmakeup so that it doesn't flake into your eyes and slidebetween your lens and cornea.

Over 30 million Americans wear contact lens.