Are You Thinking About Wearing Contact Lenses?
Are you tired and annoyed with wearing eyeglasses? Are you thinking about maybe switching to wearing contacts instead? Wearing contact lenses probably isn't as difficult as you may think and there are a number of advantages as well. Find out more by taking a minute to read this short article about wearing contact lenses.
Contact Lens History
The first contact lenses actually date back to the 19th century, believe it or not. They were brown glass lenses and were hard to wear but helped people that could not wear eyeglasses. The big breakthroughs came about in the 1940s and 50s when plastic lenses started being made. These early plastic contact lenses were made of polymethyl methacrylte, which did not allow oxygen to pass through. The new ones are rigid gas permeable and allow oxygen to pass through. Your corneas don't get oxygen from your blood but instead get it from the air around you, so it's important that contact lenses are breathable.
We've seen in the last few years how technology in contact lenses is still improving. People that have astigmatism can now get toric contact lenses. And people that need bifocals can now get special contact lenses made, too.
Reasons for Wearing Contact Lenses
Beside for cosmetic reasons, people wear contacts for a variety of other advantages including:
* The lens moves with your eye and there is no distortion, unlike with eyeglasses.
* Eyeglass frames can annoyingly block your side vision.
* It's annoying when glasses steam up when you come from the cold outside into a warm room.
* Some people need different types of lenses for each eye and contacts are sometimes the only solution for them.
* An injured cornea can heal faster when its protected by contacts.
How Do You Go About Getting Contacts?
The next step, if you're interested, is to to see your eye doctor to get a prescription for contact lenses since you can't order contacts with a prescription for glasses. You'll go through some easy vision tests that only take about 15 minutes or so. You should also get the test for Glaucoma, which is the one where there's a tiny puff of air that gets shot into your eye. Jennifer Aniston's character, Rachel, from Friends made a big deal about it, but it's actually no big deal at all.
Contact Lens History
The first contact lenses actually date back to the 19th century, believe it or not. They were brown glass lenses and were hard to wear but helped people that could not wear eyeglasses. The big breakthroughs came about in the 1940s and 50s when plastic lenses started being made. These early plastic contact lenses were made of polymethyl methacrylte, which did not allow oxygen to pass through. The new ones are rigid gas permeable and allow oxygen to pass through. Your corneas don't get oxygen from your blood but instead get it from the air around you, so it's important that contact lenses are breathable.
We've seen in the last few years how technology in contact lenses is still improving. People that have astigmatism can now get toric contact lenses. And people that need bifocals can now get special contact lenses made, too.
Reasons for Wearing Contact Lenses
Beside for cosmetic reasons, people wear contacts for a variety of other advantages including:
* The lens moves with your eye and there is no distortion, unlike with eyeglasses.
* Eyeglass frames can annoyingly block your side vision.
* It's annoying when glasses steam up when you come from the cold outside into a warm room.
* Some people need different types of lenses for each eye and contacts are sometimes the only solution for them.
* An injured cornea can heal faster when its protected by contacts.
How Do You Go About Getting Contacts?
The next step, if you're interested, is to to see your eye doctor to get a prescription for contact lenses since you can't order contacts with a prescription for glasses. You'll go through some easy vision tests that only take about 15 minutes or so. You should also get the test for Glaucoma, which is the one where there's a tiny puff of air that gets shot into your eye. Jennifer Aniston's character, Rachel, from Friends made a big deal about it, but it's actually no big deal at all.
About the Author:
Find out more about contact lenses and contact lens care tips at the Free Contact Lenses website that Jaxon St. James helps to maintain.