Natural Health October 2017

PREVENTION & Remedies
The Advantages of
Contact Lenses
Contacts were first envisioned in the early
1500s by famed artist and invention
Leonardo da Vinci, but only became
widely available in the 1980s. Since
then, their popularity and ease of use has
only increased. Some of the advantages
of contacts include:
• Vision is corrected in the entire field of
vision, including your peripheral vision.
• You can participate in physical
activities (that don’t involve water)
without the hassle and fear of having
them break
• Soft contact lenses are safer for sports
and, once inserted, can be forgotten
for the day.
• Contacts do not fog up, slide down
your nose or weigh heavily on your
face. If a lens in scratched or gets dirty,
you can discard it and use another.
• In some cases, contacts are much
cheaper than specialty glasses.
The Disadvantages of
Contacts
Not everyone is able to tolerate contact
lenses, just as not everyone can master
inserting and removing them. Other
disadvantages include:
• Contact lenses are only manufactured
in certain prescriptions. You may have
to accept a slightly different power
than you need.
• Some people experience irritation,
burning or blurred vision with extended
wear as the amount of oxygen
reaching the eye is reduced.
• It can sometimes take time for them to
sit comfortably in your eye which may
require some adjustment.
• Require frequent cleaning and
maintenance to reduce the risk of
bacterial infections.
• Depending on your prescription and
brand needs, contacts can be much
more expensive than glasses
• Unless your prescription is very mild,
you will likely want to purchases
glasses to use as back up. This can
increase your costs
Glasses and contact lenses are both
excellent options for vision correction.
As with many medical decisions, your
choice is highly personal and individual.
Your optometrist can work with you to fit
your vision correction to your needs, and
he or she can also order you trial contact
lenses if you’re curious about trying them.
50 Natural Health * October 2017 VOL 84