Gas permeable contact lenses are the modern name for what used to be known as rigid or hard contact lenses. But the gas permeable contact lenses of today are a world away from their forebears. The old style lenses were difficult to get used to and uncomfortable when you finally did get used to them. Aside from the general lack of comfort afforded by the old lenses they were not very good or healthy for the eyes.
This was mainly because of the fact that they were not permeable. This in effect means that no oxygen could go through the lenses and this meant they were not the best things for your eyes. The eyes need a good supply of oxygen to stay healthy and this is the main area where the newer gas permeable contact lenses have made great improvements over their predecessors.
Gas permeable contact lenses use silicone as opposed to the PMMA that used to be used and this is a great improvement. Silicone allows oxygen tom pass freely to the eyes. This has led to a great improvement to the comfort levels that can be achieved It is also is a great benefit to the health of the eyes and generally improves the experience for the wearer. Although not as comfortable to the average wearer as soft contact lenses, gas permeable contact lenses actually, in many instances can provide a better supply of oxygen to the eyes.
Many wearers who have gotten use to wearing gas permeable contact lenses believe that the quality of vision that they get is better than with the more comfortable soft contact lenses. And many who had opted for soft lenses and had not been impressed with the clarity, have been impressed by they greater precision of sight that gas permeable contact lenses can deliver. It is, of course, purely a matter of personnel opinion as to whether this makes up for the greater comfort and ease of soft contact lenses.
Part of the reason for the greater clarity is the very fact that the material from which they are made is hard rather than soft. This means that when the eye blinks the gas permeable contact lenses stay the same shape, as they were when the eye was open. This means that there is no readjusting of the lenses back to their normal shape, and consequently the vision remains somewhat clearer than with soft contact lenses that allow the eye to change focus slightly when the eye blinks and then have to regain its original focus.
Gas permeable contact lenses also tend to last longer than soft lenses because they are stronger. They are not so easily damaged and are more likely to give a greater return, providing the prescription does not change, in terms of longevity, than other lenses. This can be an important factor if you are on a limited budget and want to get the best value for money from your lenses.
One of the problems that are associated with gas permeable contact lenses is the comfort aspect. When you start wearing them at first they can be quite uncomfortable. It takes a little while to get used to them but it is worth persisting. After a while they user can get a very good level of comfort with them and be perfectly happy when wearing them.
This is very good if you wear then every day but if you only wear them intermittently or during the week, for example at work, then you will found that when you start wearing them again the level of comfort that you built up with them has gone and you have to get used to them all over again. Of course this is not a problem if you wear them every day, but is worth considering if you do not always require the extra vision and prefer to do without your lenses on occasion.
Choosing whether to buy soft contact lenses or gas permeable contact lenses is really a matter of personal choice. It depends whether your main focus is on comfort and wearability. Or whether your main priority is clarity of vision, or longevity of the lenses and the overall cost. The best person to help you make this decision is your optometrist and it is always worth taking the time to talk it over with them before making a decision.
Little to the knowledge of a lot of people, there is another counterpart of regular soft tints available in the market. As they say, gas permeable contact lenses are kind of low- profile because only a handful have been patronizing such. This ocular aid is rigid but it should not be confused with the "hard ones" that rose to fame in the second World War.
The "hard ones" consist of a material dubbed as polymethyl methacrylate (PMMA) that was regarded as an indispensable substance priorn to 1971, the year when the regular soft ocular aid was introduced. The problem with PMMA was that it was very complicated to utilize as it did not permit any oxygen badly required to enter the eyes unlike the gas permeable contact lenses.
As the name suggests, these lenses are gas permeable - they don't block oxygen flow to your corneas. Oxygen is very important for the health of your eyes because its lack can cause serious eye problems, including inflammation of the cornea.
RGP lenses are made from silicone which gives them more flexibility and allows oxygen to permeate through the lens. The RGP type lenses allow more oxygen than most soft contacts and this means more comfort as well as better eye health.
Another advantage of RGP contact lenses is that they are resistant to protein buildup. Anyone who has worn contacts knows how the protein deposits can make the lenses uncomfortable so this is a boon. This also makes them more durable than regular soft lenses. Although you can't really see the protein buildup when you look at the lens, it does make a difference to your clarity when you look through the lens so the RGP lenses may even help you see better!
RGP lenses are quite pricey. But when consider that RGP lenses usually last for 2-3 years, the overall cost isn't so high. You would spend much more replacing soft contact lenses every 2 weeks. A concept of a rigid lens being in your eye scares most people, because they don't believe that such a lens can be comfortable. But in fact it is - people who wear RGP contact lenses report that a minute after they put the lens in they feel like there is nothing in their eyes.
Both Emanuele Allenti & Ray Lam are contributors for EditorialToday. The above articles have been edited for relevancy and timeliness. All write-ups, reviews, tips and guides published by EditorialToday.com and its partners or affiliates are for informational purposes only. They should not be used for any legal or any other type of advice. We do not endorse any author, contributor, writer or article posted by our team.
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