Contact Lens Alternatives

Contact lenses can be troublesome for some users. They can dry out in your eye, have nicks in them making them painful to wear and can be a good surface for bacteria to grow on it they are not washed and worn correctly. There are many procedures that can take away the need of contact lenses in people whom cannot tolerate wearing them.

LASIK Surgery

• LASIK surgery, or laser-assisted in situ keratomileusis, corrects vision and removes the need for contact lenses or glasses. According to All About Vision, LASIK surgery is a very popular option. You can achieve good vision by the following day with minimal pain compared to other eye procedures. An instrument called a microkeratome or a laser is used to create a flap in the cornea. Next, the flap is peeled back and corneal tissue is removed using an excimer laser. Removing tissue will reshape the cornea. This helps focus more light into the eye and the cornea, restoring vision for both near-sighted and far-sighted patients.

Photo Refractive Keratectomy

• Photo Refractive Keratectomy, or PRK, is the predecessor of LASIK surgery. It has a longer recovery time that could add up to one month and requires regular visits to the hospital or optometrist to see that it heals well. During this procedure, the epithelial tissue is either scraped away manually by the surgeon or it is removed by excimer laser, one eye at a time. The excimer laser or surgeon will reshape the cornea by removing bits of it so that more light can shine into the eye and retina to restore vision.

Intraocular Lens Implants

• This procedure is like having cataracts removed, except for the fact that the patient's lens is not cloudy, but clear. The surgeon will remove the eye's lens and replace it with a n intraocular implant lens. This procedure corrects vision and allows for clear sight. It works particularly well for farsightedness.