Contact Lenses for Dry Eyes - Your Options
Posted: Friday, November 11, 2005
by Tanya Turner
Contact lenses can be a nightmare for people with dry eyes. In a healthy eye, a thin layer of tears always forms under a contact lens. If this layer dries out, the lens starts feeling like sand. Is this the inevitable price you have to pay for the convenience of contact lenses, or is there a better alternative?
Do contact lenses cause my eyes to dry?
Another cause is environmental - if you work in an overheated or air-conditioned room, of if you are exposed to smoke, dust or wind, your eyes will feel dry. Dry eyes are also a problem for most computer users. People tend to blink less when working on the computer and blinking is essential for wetting your eyes.
Finally, some contact lenses can also contribute to dry eye syndrome. Most soft contact lenses are made from polymers and water - sometimes up to 70% water. While it's this moist, the lens feels comfortable in your eye but the water evaporates from the lens as the day progresses. So the lens absorbs water from your tears, leaving you with dry-feeling eyes. Generally speaking, the more water the lens contains, the more prone it is to lose its moisture.
Soft contacts that can help with dry eyes
Since dry eyes is a serious problem for many contact lens wearers, lens manufacturers are constantly working to produce contacts that will be comfortable for people with dry eyes.
One way is to reduce the water content of the lens. Modern silicon hydrogel lenses are only about 30% water - much less than the 50-60% of traditional lenses. Also, the new polymers used in contact lenses help the lens to stay moist.
Out of all the lenses formulated for people with dry eyes, Acuvue Oasis and Proclear Compatibles receive the most favorable reviews from wearers.
Acuvue Oasis, by Johnson and Johnson, is specifically formulated for people who work or live in dry environments. It is made of high-quality polymer senofilcon A and contains a special rewetting agent - Hydraclear Plus - that makes the lens feel moist even if your eyes don't produce enough tears. Acuvue Oasis is a daily wear contact lens (you should take it off at night), and it should be replaced every two weeks.
Proclear Compatibles, by Cooper Vision, is made from omafilcon A, which has demonstrated very high on-eye water retention, during clinical studies. Also, Proclear uses the revolutionary technology of biocompability. The lens contains PC (phosphorylcholine) - a substance that occurs naturally in human cells. It prevents your body from perceiving contact lens as a foreign object in your eye and trying to reject it. As a result, Proclear Compatibles feel moist and silky in your eye and don't cause dehydration. Proclear are monthly disposable contact lenses.
See more reviews of contact lenses for dry eyes
RGP lenses for people with dry eyes
Some doctors recommend their patients with dry eyes to switch to Rigid Gas Permeable (RGP) contact lenses. The reason is that an RGP lens is made from polymeric materials and don't contain any water. So water won't evaporate from the surface of the lens, as with soft lenses. Thus one cause for dry eyes is illuminated.
However, RGP lenses may present other problems for people with dry eyes. Since the lens is rigid, it can irritate your eye if there are not enough tears under it. A rigid lens in a dry eye feels much worse than a soft one.
If you have dry eyes and your current contact lenses don't feel too comfortable, you don't have to live with the discomfort. Ask your doctor if the lenses we recommended would work for you.
Tanya Turner is an eye health and vision expert. She provides consumer information, tips and advice about healthy contact lenses as well as reviews of trusted online retailers of discount contact lenses
This Article has been viewed 21,183 times. (Not updated in real-time.)
Top-level comments on this article: (6 total)This article really helped me decide if I can wear contacts and the best brand for me.
Thanks so much for this article! I have dry eyes and now I know what to look for.i got dry eye can were contanct lenses
My first experience with contacts was with Acuvue Bifocals. Then I was tried on B&L Purevision . I have never had symptoms of "dry eyes" prior to wearing contacts. I've never used any lubricant or re-wetting drops until my experience with contacts. Apparently, I am experiencing excessive dry eyes with wearing either type of contacts. Any suggestions?
Thanks for the review. I have heard some problems (allergic reactions?) with oasis lenses? Any idea. thanks
Well written article. Thanks for the info. I suffer from dry eye with contacts and have been trying to come up some solutions. No eye professional has ever explained the water content part of the relationship between dry eyes and contacts to me before, so I thank you for that. I have tried out several different brands of contacts, and I find Acuvue Oasys to be the best, but still not perfect. I still suffer from bad dry eye in certain conditions where I wouldn't if I was wearing my glasses. I may try out the Proclear Compatibles. I'm also considering Lasik, but I hear dry eye is a problem there too.I've tried rewetting drops, but they seem to do almost nothing except relieve the sensation of dry eye for around 30 seconds or so.
great article... but still want help......my eyes water quite frequently especially my right eye.. the problem is that my softcontact lenses tend slip down a little bit after 5-6 hrs.. i didnt have this problem while using a rgp lens... but i switched to softcontact lenses coz those rgp lenses damaged my cornea lil bit... i dont know which type of lenses should i buy , rgp or soft ??? i am comfortable with rgp , but affraid a bit to use them again .. softcontact lenses are a bit uncomfortable... what to dooooo ????
We want your comments! If you can read this, you don't have javascript enabled, so you can't use this comment system. Please enable javascript.