Who Needs Specialty Contact Lenses?

Many prefer contacts to prescription glasses due to comfort and convenience. But a condition may prevent you from wearing conventional contact lenses. Fortunately, there is a viable option called specialty contact lenses.

Specialty contact lenses can help you see when traditional contact lenses are unsuitable for your eyes or conditions. They also benefit individuals suffering from some disorders by helping treat them. These types of contacts are not from shelves. Your eye specialist custom-fits them according to your eyes to ensure they are comfortable and you have excellent vision.

Keratoconus

People with a thin and bulging cornea need specialty lenses. Keratoconus causes this effect, and the bulging slowly continues and causes the cornea to change into a cone shape. As a result, wearing traditional contact lenses becomes hard.

Regular soft contact lenses or eyeglasses can treat mild keratoconus. But when the condition advances more, custom-fit specialty contacts like scleral lenses may be ideal. They will allow you to wear contacts comfortably and enjoy crisp vision. 

Unusually Large or Small Eyes

Sometimes, fitting conventional contact lenses with unusually small or large eyes can be very hard. Rigid gas-permeable contact lenses are easier to wear for people with smaller eyes. Custom toric lenses are ideal if you have large pupils.

Giant Papillary Conjunctivitis (GPC)

Individuals with GPC find wearing conventional contact lenses uncomfortable as the lenses move around often and stick to the eyes. Your tears have proteins that cause an infection called giant papillary conjunctivitis. Daily soft lenses are the ideal specialty contacts because you use them for less than a day. They cannot have a buildup of protein in less than 24 hours. 

Gas-permeable lenses are also another option. The sticky substance cannot adhere to its rigid material.

Astigmatism

Astigmatism is the irregular shape of your eye surface. Toric lenses are the ideal specialty contacts to help correct the lenses due to their various powers in diverse meridians. They are different from spherical lenses because the lenses cannot rotate whenever an individual blinks. They only move straight up when blinking because they are heavier at the bottom.

Getting the ideal brand for your comfort and vision may require different tries. Thus, you will need an expert with knowledge beyond standard lens fittings and exams.

Dry Eyes

Wearing contact lenses if you suffer from dry eyes can be uncomfortable and sometimes impossible. Your eye doctor may recommend wearing gas-permeable lenses to allow a better flow of oxygen into your eyes. These specialty contacts also allow tears to spread under them to keep your eye surface moist and lubricated.

Scleral lenses are also another excellent option for individuals with chronic dry eyes. These types of specialty contacts help with fluid retention to help relieve your dry eyes.

Refractive Surgery

You may need contact lenses to sharpen your vision more after LASIK surgery, as the procedure may not always fix your vision issues completely. Sometimes, undergoing vision correction procedures can lead to complications or irregular astigmatism in different forms.

For more about specialty contact lenses, visit Professional Eye Care at Westar at our office in Westerville, Ohio. Call (614) 686-2300 to book an appointment today.