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Dry Eye Disease and Contact Lens Wear

A day doesn’t go by at SkyVision when we don’t have a patient who has worn contact lenses for years and years, and now all of a sudden their lenses are too uncomfortable to wear for more than a couple of hours. “I can’t understand why I have a problem now. I never had trouble wearing any kind of contact lens before!” One of the major culprits causing this to happen isDry Eye Disease.

Dr. Darrell White has been seeing this for years. “Pretty much all contact lenses are drying agents. Take a dry surface, like the front of the eye in someone with Dry Eye Disease, put a dryer on it, and it will decompensate.” People really like to wear their contact lenses! The doctors and staff at SkyVision are always looking for new ways to keep you in your contacts.

Our contact lens specialist Dr. Kaye has been working on this problem, too. “In general, one-day contacts, or ‘Dailies’, are much better for all types of Dry Eye.” Some years ago Dr. Kaye started changing over Dry Eye patients to daily, disposable contact lenses for just that reason. Not only are they safer in general, but they are also more comfortable.

But are some dailies better than others when it comes to Dry Eye? We asked Dr. Kaye that question, and he does have a particular favorite. “I have had the best luck recently with a new soft daily wear lens from the company Alcon called the ‘Dailies Total 1’.

Almost everyone I prescribe this lens for is happy, but it is especially good for those people who are all of a sudden having trouble because of dryness.”

Eye doctors and scientists have known for a long time that it is very important for contact lenses to let lots of oxygen get through to the surface of the eye. Dailies Total 1 contacts were found to be up to 6X more breathable than some of the popular disposable contacts. The science of this contact lens is even more cool than how much oxygen gets through. Both the front and back of the lens itself is almost 80% water! This is very similar to the water content of our tears. This “lubricity” is maintained throughout the day, and patients are finding that it leads to high degrees of comfort. Even if they have Dry Eye Disease!

If you have Dry Eye Disease and would like to continue to be comfortable in your contact lenses, make an appointment with our contact lens specialist Dr. Greg Kaye. Be ready to talk about the very cool science behind his favorite lens, the Dailies Total1!
#contactlenscare #dryeye #AlconDailies