Pros and Cons of Extended Wear Lenses - What You Need to Know Before You Buy

Extended wear lenses can be kept in overnight. Previously one week was the maximum length of time for which they could be worn. The FDA has recently approved two brands of contact lenses for extended wear of up to one month.

You can use extended wear lenses continuously because they're designed to supply enough oxygen to your cornea while you sleep - for up to seven days with ordinary extended-wear contact lenses, and all the way up to thirty days with lenses made of super-permeable silicone hydrogel. The 30-day lenses are a bit more rigid and less comfortable than the seven-day ones.

Pros

The pros of using extended wear lenses are fairly obvious. They are more hygienic than normal contact lenses because they are to be disposed of after a month. Extended wear lenses also save you money in the form of cleaning solutions. These lenses are particularly valuable for overnight camps, trips and other circumstances where you need to be in your lenses for a long time.

Many hydrogel contact lens wearers claim that they are able to peel onions without the usual extreme tearing, thus indicating protection by the lenses against the action of the allyl disulfides present in onions. Also reported is defense against tear gases - persons wearing contacts that are exposed to tear gas keep their eyes open more easily, recover faster, and suffer minimal damage compared to those not wearing contacts.

Silicone hydrogel lens claims include improved end-of-day comfort, less subjective dryness than with ordinary soft contact lenses, excellent wettability and sharp, clear vision. They seem to resolve patient complaints about dry and red eyes.

Cons

One of the problems with extended wear contact lenses is that since you don't clean them every day, minute specks of dust can build up on them. To prevent this stick to the following rules:

- Keep away from dusty rooms
- Avoid cigarette smoke
- Try to keep the water away from your eyes when showering and wear tight goggles while swimming
- Never wear your contact lenses for longer than your doctor recommends

Extended wear lenses also carry the highest risk of corneal infection - at least ten times greater than for daily wear lenses. The rigid variety can also unintentionally reshape the cornea.

Of course, the perfect solution would be not wearing contacts at all, and an increasingly popular option is laser eye surgery. However, not everyone is keen on doing eye surgery. For those who would still prefer to wear contact lenses without replacing them every day extended wear contact lenses is a good solution. The early problems have been sorted out and although not recommended for everyone, extended wear contact lenses are a much safer and better product.