If you follow this blog, you may already know my general opinion about contact lenses. As a matter of a simple yes or no, you will usually hear me say ‘no’ to the contact lense.
First though, on the positive side: Contact lenses do serve well as a task specific solution. For sports, or specific activities not ideally suited for a frame on your face, polycarbonate to get dirty, sprayed with water, or fogged up, the contact lense is appropriate. As such, if you see a specific need for them, by all means you should use them.
The problem with contact lenses is how they are in fact used, by most people.
Most people wear contact lenses from the time they get out of bed, until they go to sleep again. Meaning, lots of close-up time, with contact lenses. I won’t repeat here what is discussed quite a bit about the wrong focal plane change for close-up, in other blog posts.
It isn’t just the close-up use, that troubles me. In the many years of my practice, having seen countless clients with extensive contact lense use, I have seen quite a bit of physical effects that are more than likely caused by contact lenses. The problem of the physical contact on your eye is increased by the way we use them frequently – while working on the computer. Looking at computer screen tends to reduce blink rate. As a result, your eye becomes less lubricated. The contact lense as a solution depends significantly on good tear fluid coverage, to prevent abrasions – with reduced blinking, staring up-close, risk of damage to the eye increases over time, with use of contact lenses.
I don’t like the physical contact solution, on top of your eye, for eight or more hours a day. Sure, they say that they are gas permeable, of course they float on a layer of tear fluid. But regardless of the claims, they are very significant object intrusions on that very sensitive part of your physiology, for extended periods of time.
So when you ask me about contact lenses for all day use, I will more than likely recommend against it.
But then, there is a caveat. A fairly notable caveat, for some cases:
Contact lenses can offer a significant optical benefit, for higher myopes, in specific circumstances.
Properly correcting high myopia with glasses creates a whole lot of optical compromise. The curvature of the lense, often the less than highest possible index, you tend to get a distorted, darkening image, to a degree that does appear to create a notable strain (as suggested by observation, and over extended periods).
In cases like this, I occasionally recommend contact lenses, as they create less of these effects. Even myopia around -5 diopters, sometimes the contact lense makes sense. I generally limit the recommendation to outdoor and distance vision use. For program participants, this means items such as the ‘No Correction Sundays” and focus pulling / outdoor related suggestions.
If you are currently using only glasses and it works for you, by all means stick with it. Glasses are better, as they remind us of their true purpose: glasses should be seen as crutches, temporary aides in your healthy eyesight recovery.
Contact lenses can be too easy to forget, and aside from all else, we don’t want convenience to prevent you from doing the right thing up-close (switching to the differential prescription or no correction).
But if you struggle with focus pulling at a distance, or you have been at it for several month and would like a new experience, you could use contact lenses, just for the distance focusing work. Likewise, for sports and other activities not conducive to glasses, contact lenses are an appropriate choice.
Contact lenses can also help by providing a better field of vision than glasses, to include more peripheral vision – which specifically in the Vision Improvement Courses is one of the activities worth including as an ongoing habit.
And as always, the overarching theme is to keep prescription use as simple, and positive habit conducive as possible. Use only what you need to see clearly, and give you opportunity to actively work on focus.
Enjoy!
