Do your eyes feel dry when you wear contact lenses? Don’t worry because eye dryness is a common issue for contact lens wearers and non wearers too. The good news is that with a little help from your eye doctor, you can find a treatment plan that works well enough for you so that you don’t have to suffer from dry eyes while you are wearing your contact lenses.
Finding the Cause
A visit to your eye doctor is the first step to finding out why your eyes are so dry. Your eye doctor can find out the cause of your dry eye by doing what is known as a tear film evaluation. There are a few ways that your eye doctor can assess your body’s ability to produce tears. Your eye doctor may drop a fluorescein dye to the tear layer on your eye or with a strip containing the dye and then see how long it takes for your tears to evaporate.
Another way your eye doctor can evaluate your tear film is to place a piece of paper underneath your lower eyelid for five minutes and then seeing the length of paper moistened by your tears. If you have an insufficient tear film, you may have dry eye syndrome.
Discussing Contact Lens Options
While you may be afraid to tell your eye doctor about dry eyes and contact lenses because you want to keep wearing contact lenses, it helps to bring this issue up so that your eye doctor can recommend the right contact lens for you. If you do feel like your eyes are dry when you wear contact lenses, having a conversation with your eye doctor can help him or her recommend contact lenses that can address your specific needs.
Proclear contact lenses for example, are the only contact lenses on the market with an FDA clearance to carry the labeling statement, ‘May provide improved comfort for contact lens wearers who experience mild discomfort or symptoms relating to dryness during lens wear.’ If you do suffer from dry eyes during contact lens wear, make sure to ask your eye doctor about this as an option for you.
Follow Up
Once your doctor fits you with contact lenses, make sure to do a follow up appointment. This will help you and your eye doctor decide if the contact lenses you are fit with helps alleviate your dry eyes.