Looking for an alternative to contact lenses?

Many people who need glasses for vision correction are increasingly opting for contact lenses. There are many benefits of contact lenses, they’re convenient, easy to use and prevent you from having to carry a pair of spectacles. However, contact lenses have their own share of troubles. Contact lenses often cause discomfort, they might fall out of you eyes and often even cause mild to extreme irritation.

To being with, contact lenses and their upkeep is an expensive process. The cost of lenses and lens solutions over the year really tends to add up. Lenses are small and transparent, which means they’re easy to misplace and difficult to locate. They may dry up and need replacing. This all adds up to a pretty hefty annual cost.

Even if you ignore costs alone, there are many other unknown factors too. Contact lenses, even the new, latest and swanky ones, are prone to blocking oxygen from your eyes. This can lead to a long list of complications and infections. They are also a hassle. They need removal and preservation every night before bed and need to be reinserted every morning. And until you do that, your vision will remain blurry. Even putting in the contact lens, can lead to your inadvertently touching your eyeball and causing an infection.

There are quite a few alternatives to contact lenses available if you want to avoid all of the above hassles.

• Refractive Surgery: It is a broad term used to describe the many surgeries utilized to reduce multiple eye problems. Nearsightedness, farsightedness, etc. Procedures like LASIK, LASEK, CK, etc. Refractive Surgeries is a process that includes post and pre eye care. LASIK is the most popular among them all and really the most easily accessible. LASIK, the surgeon first makes a thin flap of corneal surface tissue using an instrument and lifts the flap without removing it completely. This is used by the surgeon to remove some tissues and replace the flap.
• CRT Lenses: CRT lenses are placed in the patient’s eye when he/she sleeps. It is the exact opposite of contacts because they’re only worn at night and removed as soon as you wake up. They use pressure to reshape the eye so eye problems may be corrected.
• Vision Therapy: Only works on children under the age of 18. This is because at this age the eyes are still developing and can be corrected without the use of glasses or contact lenses of any sort.

You can always have an open conversation with your ophthalmologist about how comfortable you are with lenses and glasses. If you believe they hinder your daily functions, you can easily opt for one of the many procedures listed above. Your doctor will be the best judge of what procedure works best for you.