Extended Wear Contact Lenses - What Are They? by:James Watts
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.