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For soft contacts there's two primary types in use. Regular hydrogels and silicone hydrogels (SiHy's). Most doctors will prescribe SiHy's now as they provide so
by joecool1029 7y ago
For soft contacts there's two primary types in use. Regular hydrogels and silicone hydrogels (SiHy's). Most doctors will prescribe SiHy's now as they provide some key benefits. Those being: better air permeability (dk/t number) and the ability to be used for continous wear (overnight).
The SiHy's had a bit of a tradeoff though, despite being able to let a lot more oxygen through (which the corneas need, they can directly absorb it), they are not inherently wettable. Silicone is hydrophobic, it naturally repels water. So 3 generations of silicone hydrogel are in use. 1st gen has an external wetting agent that rubs off over time. 2nd gen has an internal wetting agent that some people are allergic to. 3rd gen has the molecular structure arranged in such a way they are inherently wettable.
I wear 3rd gen SiHy's now. Cooper Biofinity is the name brand. These are approved for extended wear up to a week. I have done longer than this but risk of complications increase. However, these were a huge improvement over the regular hydrogels I used to wear. If I had them in over 17 hours or so my pupils began to dilate from my eyes being oxygen starved. They are a little stiffer (and hence, slightly less comfortable than my regular hydrogels were). They also have a slightly higher chance of feeling dry due to higher water content than most other SiHy lines.
Anyways, hope that helps. There's a lot of options on the market and for you it might be better to look for a higher water content with lower stiffness, if you need to wear them when sleeping that really limits you to 4 or 5 continuous wear brands. Don't wear a non-approved regularly for sleep, it'll screw up your eyes in a mess of different ways (vascularization and such).
- Mirioron 7y agoThank you very much for the write up! I had no idea that things had improved so much. I had switched back to glasses several years ago because of the complaints above. It sounds like I should check out contacts again.