Do you use contact lenses? Do you want to extend the lifespan of your contact lens? Are you finding ways and other relevant information regarding this? If so, you are in the right place. Here in this article, we will talk about some essentials of extending contact lens life.
Let’s start the discussion with some basic knowledge about contact lenses. After you get the basics, we will shift to the main topic. So, let’s get started.
Contact Lenses
We all know what a contact lens is and what a contact lens does. If we do not want to wear glasses to improve our poor vision problem, we can opt for contact lenses.
But whether you are using a one-time contact lens or a better version of it, they always come with a particular life span. When you try to extend the usage after the lifespan, several issues occur, which are harmful to your eyes.
Extending Contact Lenses Life
With the usage of contact lenses, a question has arisen about the extension of contact lenses. Extending the life of contact lens increases the risk of various types of infection along with subsequent damage to the cornea.
The cornea is the clear front surface of our eyes. Apart from that, you also can experience increased redness of the eyes, decreased discomfort, and clarity. The material of the contact lens is responsible for all these things.
The materials of the modern contact lenses usually break down over the course of their particular life span. Due to this very reason, bacteria, other particles, or organisms can bind to the surface much more easily. Thus, the comfort decreases, and the risk of infection increases.
You have to understand your eyes are the most crucial sensory organs, where you are applying a medical device, the lenses. If the lens you are using is dictating to extend the life, before doing so, consult with your oculist.
Only a specialized professional of GMCClinics will be able to various modalities of lens wear, which would offer fewer costs without increasing the risk factors.
Harmful effects
Here we will discuss some common harmful effects of extending the contact lens life. We hope after knowing these effects, you will not want to extend the lifespan of your contact lens. So, let’s check them out.
Allergic Reaction
Whenever a lens is worn beyond the recommended duration, the results of excessive protein deposition lead to allergic reactions, dry eyes, conjunctivitis, and discomfort of the eye.
Conjunctivitis
As we have mentioned earlier, due to the deposition of excessive protein build-up as the result of over-wearing contact lenses, bacterial infections are caused. It is also known as Pinkeye. There are various symptoms of it. They are as follows.
- Burning.
- Redness.
- Itching.
- Blurred vision.
- Light sensitivity.
- Mucous discharge.
Lack Of Oxygen
The longer you will wear a contact lens after the recommended time period, the less oxygen flow will be there to the cornea. It is similar to starving the cornea from the food source.
Corneal Edema
The swelling or cornea is known as corneal edema. Some types of fluid accumulation result in halos around lights as a result of lack of oxygen, blurred vision.
Neovascularization
It is basically abnormal blood vessel growth. You might know that our cornea is avascular, which means it does not have any blood vessels. But due to lack of oxygen, our body develops new and weak blood vessels in the hope of feeding the cornea with oxygen.
This abnormal growth of blood vessels might interfere with vision. As the new blood vessels are also weak and can also hemorrhage, it can cause blindness.
Corneal Ulcer or Corneal Abrasion
As a result of the lack of oxygen, the corneal surface cells become weak and also lose their attachment to the cornea. By causing very serious infections and complications, corneal abrasions, or even in some worse cases, corneal ulcers occur. It can lead to blindness.
Do Not Extend Contact Lens Life
We hope from the above discussion; you get the whole concept of extending contact lenses’ life. However, if you don’t want to lose your vision permanently or want to harm your precious eyes, you should not extend contact lenses for too long.
