Looking for contact lenses for dry eyes? Wearing contact lenses typically causes people’s eyes to dry out after a long period of time.
If you already suffer from dry eyes, wearing contact lenses is probably like a nightmare to you. People with mild dry eyes may not feel any discomfort until they wear contact lenses, and the discomfort increases with the hours spent wearing them.
There are several causes for eye dryness. Older people tend to get dry eyes as the amount of tears produced decreases with age. Some people either don’t have adequate chemical composition in their tears or they simply produce less tears than normal.
The environment where you work or live can also cause your eyes to dry. For example, if your work requires you to constantly stay in front of a computer, or if you work in an air-conditioned or overheated room, of if you are exposed to dust, smoke, or wind, your eyes will feel dry.
Some doctors recommend Rigid Gas Permeable (RGP) contact lenses for dry eye patients. Unlike soft contact lenses, RGP lenses are made of polymeric materials that do not contain any water. So water will not evaporate from their surface.
However, RGP lenses may not be the perfect solution for people with dry eyes. They can irritate your eyes severely if there are not enough tears under them as they are rigid. This would make you feel much worse than wearing soft lenses.
In recent years, soft contact lenses have undergone various innovations to suit vision correction as well as people with dry eyes. Here we will take a look at several soft contact lenses available on the market today that are specially formulated for dry eye sufferer and have shown good results. If you are looking for contact lenses for dry eyes, these products are definitely worth a try.
ACUVUE OASYS with HYDRACLEAR Plus
These can be used as either daily wear or extended wear. They are made of silicone hydrogel material known as senofilcon A. It provides 98% of available oxygen to the eye. The lens contains a higher volume of wetting agent, which means they are more wettable than regular contact lenses.
Many users reported that they are so comfortable that they sometimes feel like not wearing contact lenses at all. We also found people from various age groups ranging from teenagers to people in their 50’s are having good results with ACUVUE OASYS. People who previously had dry eye problems with other contact lenses are able to wear ACUVUE OASYS for extended period of time.
Air Optix Aqua
These lenses are manufactured by Ciba Vision. They are made of silicone hydrogel called lotrafilcon B. It contains 33% water which is significantly lower than that of traditional soft contact lenses. Lower water content is said to be better for people with dry eyes as there is less chance the water evaporating through the lens.
Air Optix Aqua is designed to be daily or extended wear. They contains a unique moisture agent with hydrophilic properties that binds with the lens surface to create a comfortable feel when wearing them. It also has excellent wettability.