Wearing, or not contact lenses with astigmatism - a personal matter for everyone. Until recently, patients with such a diagnosis had no opportunity to see better without the use of glasses. First there were hard lenses with which you could correct astigmatism, and a few years ago, manufacturers learned how to make soft toric lenses. Gradually, the list of advantages of correction of astigmatism with contact lenses increases, the list of shortcomings - is shortened. Nevertheless, they are still quite a lot.
Features of choosing contact lenses for astigmatism
There are three basic schemes of wearing contact lenses for astigmatism:
- Soft contact lenses for correcting visual acuity in combination with glasses, whose lenses have flasks for correcting astigmatism. This reduces the burden on the eyes and the risk of complications.
- Soft lenses are toric in shape, which correct both astigmatism and myopia .
- Rigid toric or spherical lenses that improve visual acuity and take into account astigmatism.
The first method is the most safe and comfortable for the eyes. Since astigmatism is a shift in the focus of the eye, it is undesirable to constantly wear lenses and glasses that eliminate this deficiency. This is fraught with a headache and a violation of the lens. Thanks to this method, we continue to see well thanks to lenses, even when we give the eye an opportunity to relax, taking off corrective astigmatism glasses. Unfortunately, the method is not very popular.
Soft contact lenses with astigmatism are convenient in that they do not interfere with the metabolic processes in the eye and provide a wide view of both eyes. Due to the fact that they are not spherical but toric, care must be taken to ensure that the lens maintains a stable position on the cornea and does not move. In general, the rules for wearing these lenses are the same as for conventional soft contact lenses.
Hard contact lenses must be removed at night. They have the greatest ability to influence astigmatism, but the eyes will need more rest.
How to choose the right contact lenses for astigmatism, depends on many factors, but the underlying one in this case is your personal comfort. Even the most successful from the optical point of view, lenses can harm if they are felt too clearly on the eye.
Advantages and disadvantages
If you still doubt whether you can wear contact lenses for astigmatism, pay attention to the list of disadvantages of this method:
- a high probability of development of inflammatory processes due to the non-standard form of the lens;
- an increase in myopia due to a deterioration in the flow of oxygen to the cornea;
- the probability of changing the shape of the cornea;
- change the topography of the cornea, which complicates the further selection of the correct optical power of the lens.
At the same time, the advantages speak for themselves:
- the possibility of correcting even high corneal astigmatism;
- minimal change in the field of vision;
- optimal binocular vision;
- minimum optical aberrations and distortions.