The Risks of Contact Lenses

Despite their wide use and popularity, contact lenses are not the safest way to correct your vision.

2012-12-13

CHICAGO, IL, December 13, 2012 (Press-News.org) Despite their wide use and popularity, contact lenses are not the safest way to correct your vision. Contact lenses come with many inherent risks that patients should be well aware of, especially if you rely on contacts on a daily basis. Many of these risks can be lessened through correct wear and careful hygiene. Still, it is often difficult to identify problems with your contacts without the help of an experienced ophthalmologist.

Symptoms of Eye Irritation or Infection

According to the FDA, contact lenses can potentially cause both eye irritation and eye infection. Both of these conditions can develop quickly, and in some cases, even lead to blindness.
Some of the most common symptoms of contact lens problems include:

- Excess tearing
- Abnormal discharge
- Itching, burning, or "gritty" feeling in your eyes
- Blurry vision
- Mucous in the eyes
- Pain
- Increased light sensitivity
- Redness in the eyes

If you experience any of the symptoms listed above, you should remove your contact lenses and contact your ophthalmologist as soon as possible. Do not throw away your contact lenses; bring them to your eye doctor. He may want to examine them to determine the cause of your condition.

Other Risks of Contact Lenses

Apart from irritation and infection, contact lenses can also cause several other problems, including:

- Corneal ulcers - Open sores on your cornea's outer layer. Typically caused by infection.
- Pink eye - Also known as conjunctivitis, pink eye can be caused by both viral and bacterial infections.
- Corneal abrasions - Scratches on the surface of your cornea.
- Corneal thinning - Your cornea cannot maintain its normal production of new cells if a contact lens is covering it for too long. Some corneas decrease in thickness by 10% because of frequent contact lens wear.
- Blindness - This is unfortunately not a rare consequence, but eye infection or corneal ulcer can lead to loss of vision.

If you wear contact lenses, make sure they are thoroughly cleaned according to the instructions every day, and be sure to see your eye doctor regularly to check for problems. Because of the risks and hassle associated with contact lenses, many people look into LASIK eye surgery as a permanent solution for Vision Correction. By limiting or completely removing your dependence on contact lenses, LASIK can help protect the health of your eyes for years to come. Dr. Golden believes that LASIK is much safer than wearing contact lenses with less than one in 1,000,000 people going blind from LASIK and about one in 40,000 people wearing contact lenses.

If you would like more information about the risks of contact lenses, please visit the website of experienced Chicago eye doctor Dr. Mark Golden at Doctors For Visual Freedom at www.doctorsforvisualfreedom.com.

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