Unlike glasses, contact lenses are not right for everyone. In fact there are a number of conditions that will disqualify you from being able to get a contact lense prescription such as if you have Blepharitis (inflammation of the eyelids), tear film abnormality, acne rosacea, ocular shingles or herpes, iritis (inflammation of the iris), or if you live or work in a dusty environment. Other conditions like astigmatism or glaucoma may also prevent you from being able to wear contact lenses.
Pros and Cons of Contact Lenses
Contacts have been around since the late 1940s, and now offer people with a range of vision problems with an immediate vision corrective device that is not detectable by the casual onlooker. The inconspicuous nature of this vision corrective device is just one of its benefits. Contact lenses also are more comfortable than glasses, they don’t fog up or glare like glasses do, and they are generally less expensive than glasses are. Also you don’t have to worry that your contacts are not fashionable because they aren’t visible.
While contacts have all of these advantages over glasses, they do have their own drawbacks. Most of the drawbacks of contacts are related to their over-use and their general limitations. Contacts have many physical impacts on the health of your eyes. First they reduce the amount of oxygen that reaches your eyes, even with gas-permeable lenses. Next contacts increase focal point strain on your eyes and affect the curvature of your cornea, reduce the thickness of your cornea, and they reduce your cornea’s ability to resist infection.
Importance of Seeing Your Eye Doctor
Again, like with glasses, seeing your eye doctor on a regular basis is important in order to get the right prescription and in order to detect the development of eye diseases and problems early. However, unlike glasses, contact lenses have to be prescribed by a doctor. This is because contact prescriptions have to take into account more variables in order to get the proper fit, shape, and magnification for your eyes.