Are your contact lenses causing eye irritation? Do your eyes itch more than usual? Then, perhaps you may be suffering from contact lens discomfort.
If your eyes don’t feel good and you can’t see clearly through your contact lenses, immediately remove the lenses and contact your eye specialist to determine which of the following 5 remedies will solve your problem and discomfort:
1. Nutritional Supplements
To wear contact lenses comfortably, you need to produce enough tears. However, the quantity of tear production isn’t that important, it is the quality that matters. Therefore, you can take nutritional supplements which enhance tear quality & production. Research shows that fish, such as salmon, are good for tear production as they contain omega-3 fatty acids. Also flaxseed oil has been proven to help with tear production as well as inhibition of tear evaporation.
2. Punctal Occlusion
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Punctal occlusion blocks the ducts which drain tears from your eyes. This operation includes the insertion of a punctal plug, also known as tear duct plug, which decreases tear drainage. This, in turn, keeps more moisture on the surface of your eyes. To test whether these punctal plugs work for you, there are also many dissolving plugs available. However, it is important that you do not keep using dissolving plugs as they may aggravate eye irritation and dryness.
3. Artificial Tears or Eye Drops
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Artificial tears or eye drops can relieve occasional dryness in your eyes. However, it is important that you follow your eye doctor’s recommendation, as some eye drops are incompatible with different types of contact lenses. Eye drops which are incompatible with your lenses may cause discoloration and ruin your lenses. Furthermore, avoid products which advertise ‘removing the redness’ from your eyes. This is because these products only shrink the size of the blood vessels to remove the appearance of red eyes, but do not actually treat the problem of dryness.
4. Orthokeratology
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If wearing contact lenses all day is causing eye irritation and dryness, maybe you should opt for a different lenses’ wearing schedule. Doctors recommend wearing lenses only at night for those who have contact lens discomfort. Orthokeratology is a method of reshaping your eye surface with special lenses worn only during the night or while sleeping, which, in turn, enables contact and glasses-free vision the next day. Many eye care doctors recommend orthokeratology for people who spend a lot of time in dry and dusty environments.
5. Dry Eye Contact Lenses
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If your current lenses fit perfectly but still cause irritation and dryness, you can consult a doctor and perhaps opt for dry eye contact lenses or a different eye lenses wearing schedule. There are many types of contact lenses available nowadays and it may be possible that dry eye contact lenses may be more comfortable than your previous ones. Examples of such lenses are daily disposal lenses, lenses with different water content, FDA-indicated lenses, and silicon hydrogel lenses.
So, now that you are familiar with the 5 remedies described above, fighting contact lens discomfort won’t be a problem.