The 21st century has brought new technology in contact lens material and designs and solutions, so that more patients can now wear contact lenses.
New Materials
The cornea, which is part of the front surface of the eye and is where the contact lens sits, requires oxygen in order to stay healthy. Conventional soft contact lenses provided some oxygen to the eye, but now a new material, which adds silicone to the conventional hydrogel plastic, allows oxygen flow to the eye at a much higher rate. This means enhanced eye health for contact lens wearers – particularly those who wear their lenses for long hours. A new treatment on the surface or within the matrix of those lenses enables them to stay wet longer-enhancing comfort for most people. So now, people who were unable to wear soft lenses because of oxygen dependence or dry eyes, have new materials that make contact lens wear possible.
New Bifocal Designs
People who needed separate prescriptions for distance and reading (most of us who are over 45 years old) up till now had only two good options: wear contact lenses for distance and put reading glasses over them, or use one eye for distance and one for near (a technique called monovision). Now there are effective contact lenses that are available in bifocal designs that enable you to see distance, intermediate, and near, with minimal dependence on additional glasses. These lenses are available in conventional soft material, the new silicone-hydrogel materials, and gas permeable (rigid) lens material, making it possible for us to continue to wear contact lenses as we get older and our vision needs change.
New Contact Lens Solutions
For patients who have dry eyes, contact lens wear is often punctuated with insertion of wetting drops throughout the day. While wetting drops have a place in everyone’s contact lens wear routine, new contact lens solutions can reduce the number of drops that have to be used during the day. The newest generation of solutions has moisturizers added to the liquid, enabling lenses to stay wet throughout the day. New in-eye rewetting drops provide enhanced comfort and some surface cleaning as well.