If you’ve just learned you are in need of prescription eyewear, you’ll basically have two choices: glasses or contacts. While you are probably familiar with glasses, you may want to explore the option of disposable contacts so you can make an informed decision on whether they are a good fit for you or not.
What Are Disposable Contacts?
Disposable contact lenses are soft contacts that are worn for a scheduled length of time and then tossed out. Soft contacts typically come in daily, bi-weekly, monthly or extended-wear versions. Disposable contact lenses refer to daily-wear lenses that are replaced with a new pair every day, two weeks or monthly.
While contact lenses date as far back as 1888, they were much different then. Both soft and hard contacts had their share of problems. Soft lenses hit the market in the early 1970 and have come a long way since then.
Benefits of Disposable Contacts
According to the experts, disposable contacts have an upper-edge over extended-wear lenses for multiple reasons. Two main reasons are health and convenience. When following your eye care professional’s replacement schedule, they come with less risk of eye infections caused by airborne allergens , bacteria and poor cleaning habits. In the days of old-school contacts when one pair was to last as long as possible, individuals were more likely to compromise the health of their eyes by overwearing lenses that were dirty, torn, or simply worn out.
Second advantage to disposable contact lenses is the convenience that comes with them. An extra set can be carried along just in case it becomes necessary to change them. This is a huge plus for those who enjoy outdoor activities or water sports where the chance of losing them is highly likely. Another convenience of disposable lenses is not having to worry about cleaning your lenses every night. You just put a fresh pair on in the morning and off you go. This has helped many teens to get into wearing contact lenses safely.
Disadvantages of Disposable Contacts
Disposable contacts don’t come without drawbacks. They are more expensive than extended-wear contacts as far as the upfront cost, but many manufacturers offer mail in rebates and don’t forget you will be saving on all that cleaning solution that you won’t need. Another con to wearing disposable contact lenses is that in order to save money, it is not uncommon for individuals to keep them on longer than recommended. Doing so puts the wearer at high risk for eye infections and poor eye health. And then of course there is the environmental impact of this convenience. Just like with any disposable product we are contributing to our environmental footprint.
Will our human nature ever change??
Focus on Excellence
Even though disposable contacts are readily available from many different retailers, it is imperative to have an annual eye exam to determine the health of your eyes and your exact prescription and insure a proper fit. One size does not fit all!
When choosing the brand of contacts you want to go with, be sure to stick with those that are high-quality. It is not unheard of for lenses to be tainted when purchased from unreliable sources. When you use good judgement and do your research on the brand and retailer of disposable contacts, you’ll be able to reap the benefits they were designed to bring you.