If You Can’t Wear Regular Contact Lenses, Custom Contact Lenses May Be For You
Some people just can’t wear regular contact lenses. They may have had unsuccessful LASIK surgery or suffered an injury to the eye. Maybe they have unusually severe astigmatism. Maybe they have an unusually shaped eye. Or maybe the problem is they just haven’t found contacts that are comfortable for them. Your optometrist in Redding, CA, Redding Eyecare Center in Redding, CA, offers custom-made soft lenses and rigid gas-permeable lenses that help our patients achieve more comfort and sharper vision than regular contacts.
What your optometrist can tell you about why you may need gas-permeable custom contacts
Just about every optometrist will confirm that gas-permeable contacts provide patients with sharper vision. This is especially true for people who have severe astigmatism. Some patients, however, have trouble getting used to gas-permeable contact lenses. These lenses are designed to have a tiny gap between the eye’s surface and the edge of the lens. This “lift” provides more oxygen to the eye and allows tears to flow beneath the contact. The problem is that this edge can become uncomfortable during blinking, and the motion of the lens reduces its ability to correct astigmatism. Mass-produced gas-permeable contacts also cause this problem for patients who have irregularly shaped corneas.
What your optometrist can do to customize your custom gas-permeable contacts
Getting contact lenses that both correct your astigmatism and fit your eye requires measurements with an instrument called a keratometer. Your optometrist uses this device to determine the flattest and steepest meridians of your eye. The curvature of a conventional gas-permeable contact lens is based on just three measurements: The curve of the steepest meridian on your cornea, the curve of the flattest meridian on your cornea, and the orientation of the flattest meridian (in degrees clockwise from the top of your cornea). The contact lens manufacturer uses just these three measurements to shape the back of the contact lens.
To make a custom gas-permeable contact, your optometrist takes far more measurements. The optometrist takes several thousand measurements of the curvature of the cornea of your eye. Your optometrist creates a detailed map of your cornea, which the lens manufacturer can use to make a much better fitting contact lens. This lens will not allow tears to roll beneath the contact to lubricate the surface of your cornea, but modern materials allow more oxygen to reach the surface of your eye so that tears are not necessary.
Let Redding Eye Care Center help you get the custom contacts you need.
We’re here to help you see better for life for less. Make your appointment with Redding Eye Care Center to get the contacts that finally give you comfortable, sharp vision at an affordable price.