Archive for February, 2009
February 20th, 2009 by Dan
Yesterday’s post discussed how to look after your contact lenses. Whilst cleaning and storing your contact lenses is paramount to reducing the likelihood of any bacteria developing, insert and removing your contact lenses correctly also ensures that the risk of any problems occurring is reduced.
Inserting Your Contact Lenses
1. Ensure your hands are clean and free from any dirt of dust by washing them under warm, soapy water
2. As it is best to develop a routine, always start with your right eye
3. Place the lens on the middle finger of your right hand, with the concave side facing up
4. Using two fingers on your let hand, open your top eye lid
5. Pulling the lower eye lid down with a spare finger on your right eye, begin to place the contact lens onto the eye centre. Being in front of a mirror will generally help this process
6. Once the contact lens is on the eye, allow your top eye lid to fall over your eye, followed by your bottom eye lid
7. The contact lens should now be in place and feel comfortable. If not, remove the contact lens and start the process again
8. Repeat and follow the above steps for your left eye
9. Rinse out your contact lens case and allow to dry
Removing Your Contact Lenses
1. Once again, ensure your hands are clean by washing them with warm, soapy water
2. Facing a mirror, maneuver your head so your right eye is looking towards the centre of your face
3. Opening your eyes wide, ensure that both your eye lids are not touching the contact lens
4. Press and pull the corner of your eye, so your eye lids become tight
5. Blink your eyes and the contact lens will come out
6. To begin with, this procedure can be a little difficult to get to grips with. If the contact lens fails to fall out of your eye, repeat the process from step 2
7. Rinse and clean the contact lens
8. Store in it’s disinfected case
9. Repeat and follow the procedure for your left eye
February 19th, 2009 by Dan
Unsurprisingly, a lot of contact lenses are damaged and become unwearable due to the fact that many people don’t know how, or forget to, look after their contact lenses properly. If you take proper care of your contact lenses, you can ensure the best possible experience when wearing your contact lenses.
• Only wear your contact lenses for the allotted time – contact lenses have come on leaps and bounds over the past 50 years and they are available in many different styles, types and wearable lengths. Always ensure you wear your contact lenses for the recommended time. For example, if you have daily disposable contact lenses, make sure you take them out after the day has ended. Similarly, if you have contact lenses that can be worn for two weeks, don’t be tempted to wear them for another week – it will cause a variety of problems and may result in your vision deteriorating.
• Wash them properly and as recommended – There are some exceptions, for example, extended use contact lenses, but most contact lenses needed to be cleaned daily. Always ensure you use a high quality cleaner and that your contact lenses are never stored or worn after they have been dropped, without washing them first.
• Store your contact lenses in a clean environment – as well as your contact lenses, the case which they are stored in must also be kept extremely clean to ensure no bacteria develops and is then transferred onto the contact lens. Keep your contact lens case clean by using a daily soaking solution that keeps the case and contact lenses both fresh and disinfected.
Following the above three points should ensure a safe and clean environment for your contact lenses, reducing any risk of bacteria or infection developing.
February 18th, 2009 by Dan
As mentioned previously, the problem with a lot of futuristic based contact lenses is that our technology is currently as advanced as many peoples’ ideas – and some experts believe it may take longer than expected for them to both be on the same level.
Daniel Palanker, a Stanford University expert on retinal implants argues a very interesting point. Palanker explained that most people’s eyes cannot focus properly or effectively on anything closer than 25 cm and no matter how much technology is produced and developed, as it’s an issue with the actual eye and not technology, it could be a major problem. Because of this, he is questioning many people’s future contact lens ideas, explaining that the quality of image would be so poor it would be somewhat pointless in creating the contact lens.
Of course, as with most stumbling blocks, there are ways and means round it. One Simon Fraser University professor has replied to Palanker’s theory, explaining that the 25 cm problem is only an issue when light enters the eye at the ‘normal’ angle. However, if it could be adjusted so it entered at a different angle, there is a very high likelihood that this issue could be solved.
Even if Palanker was correct and there was no way around the issue, that doesn’t mean these contact lenses cannot be put to good use elsewhere. For example, the quality of image isn’t a factor when creating contact lenses for medical reasons other than correcting the wearer’s vision – such as sending data on people’s health back to their GP via the contact lens or, as mentioned previously, administering regular dosages of medicine.
February 17th, 2009 by Dan
Similar to the contact lens with at television screen in it, a variety of University of Washington developers are currently working on a contact lens that would allow interaction with a variety of different devices.
The development began after Babak Parviz, an expert in the field of electrical engineering, began to think about revolutionising the contact lens concept. Until recently, contact lenses were used primarily for correcting vision and it has only been the last few years that has seen coloured contact lenses become popular and worn for non-medical reasons. However, this section of the contact lens market is minimal, with medical contact lenses dominating overall. Parviz wondered whether it was possible to develop a contact lens that instead being manufactured to correct vision was created to enhance the wearer’s experience.
The ideas may seem a little farfetched at first – Parviz believes that contact lenses will eventually replace the need for most handheld devices – but when listening and understanding his ideas and theories, they seem completely plausible.
For example, one of Parviz’s ideas is to create a contact lens that will allow the wearer to be fully submerged in a gaming environment. Playing the latest computer games on a High Definition television seems immense – currently. But what would they seem like if there were no surroundings, as if the gamer was sat 2 inches from the television screen, but everything was in crystal clear focus?
Of course, Parviz’s developments are someway off being marketed yet, if not purely for the fact that our technology isn’t at the same level as his ideas. However, the wheels are in motion and it may be sooner than most would think that we are all wearing electronic contact lenses.
February 16th, 2009 by Dan
After the recent post regarding the possibility of television screens being designed and implemented into contact lenses, I thought it would be interesting to take a look at what the future holds for contact lenses on a wider scale.
When you consider the forward steps that the contact lens world has taken in the past 100 years (or even the past 50 years), in theory, the next couple of decades should bring some remarkable achievements with contact lenses.
A lot of research has already been carried, some behind closed doors (as well as barred windows in high security buildings) and some more freely available. Some of the ideas are no where near possible, due to the limitations we currently have in the technological department, whilst others are extremely close to being finished and finalised, ready to be brought on to the contact lens market.
For example, a group of students at the University of Florida have developed a contact lens that administers medicine at regular, pre-decided intervals. On first glance, these contact lenses appear to be no different than regular contact lenses. However, when looking more closely, the contact lenses are created with many nanoparticles which are full of the appropriate medicine. Furthermore, as the contact lenses are created with the medicine as part of the actual contact lens, no deterioration in vision is caused. There has been huge praise for this contact lens development, as compared to eye-drops where the majority of the medicine enters the patients bloodstream rather than the eye, these contact lenses should release the medicine solely into the eye, ensuring a quicker and more effective recovery.