Extended wear contact lenses - what are they?
There are two types of extended wear contacts that include daily
wear and overnight wear. Your lifestyle and preferences will
affect which type of extended wear contacts are best for your.
The extended wear daily contacts are worn every day and removed
at night for either seven or 30 days. Then there are the same
lenses that are worn 24 hours per day for either seven or 30
days. The risks that have been associated with extended wear
contacts include lack of oxygen reaching the eye. The eye needs
a lot of oxygen to be healthy, so if you are wearing lens 24
hours per day for a month then the lens needs to be permeable so
your eyes can be healthy.
These lenses have undergone some serious changes over the last
couple of years and now there are several lenses on the market,
Ciba Night and Day as well as PureVision by Bausch and Lomb,
that have new patents and allow significantly more oxygen to
reach the eye. Because of this the FDA has approved these lenses
for extended wear. However, not everyone will qualify for
extended wear contacts because of the increased risk to eye
health. Individuals with past eye health problems should
continue wearing other lenses that are not extended wear to
ensure eye health. If you are interested in extended wear
contacts you should talk to your eye care practitioner in order
to find out if you are a good candidate or not. If not, your
optometrist will be able to suggest other options.