If you are not already aware of all the possible refractive errors that one can have in their cornea and lens, then you should learn a bit more about them. Most likely when you have gone to your opthomologist they have been discussing myopia, hyperopia or maybe even astigmatism when discussing your vision. These three are simply normal issues that people have with their cornea and lens, in relation to their eyeball.

To make things really simple I will post two pictures here that will describe the whole thing in detail.

First of all there is the hyperopia. You can easily see that the eye is simply too short for the beam of light to be correctly focused on the retina, or in some cases the refractive power of the lens and cornea combined simply isn’t enough. To take care of this issue you need to use a lens that will create a false image a lot further away so that it doesn’t seem blurred for the naked eye.

Secondly there is myopia that is the complete opposite of hyperopia. This also can be easily corrected with a lens.

The third condition is astigmatism that isn’t so simple. The cornea or the lens is not regular, and for that reason it acts like multiple lenses that all have a different foci – the point where the lights that went through the lens meet. So for this reason we need to have specially made lens that can help with this issue.

Today the optics have evolved quite a lot and you can get toric lenses that are specifically designed for astigmatism – mostly custom made according to a prescription that you get from your doctor. Contact lenses have also take huge leaps and you can even get toric color contact lenses at a decent price these days. And unlike in the past you won’t have to wait for weeks to get them done, but the optician will prepare your lenses in a short time.

Contacts pose another problem when it comes to astigmatism, and that is the fact that since there are multiple planes where the light refracts, the lens has to be in a correct position to assure clear vision at all times. This has posed a few problems with contacts, but there are delicate mechanisms that allow the contact to be placed correctly each and every time.

I know that peopel know that a lot of athletes wear specific types of sunglasses when they are performing their exercise and when they are competing, This is because they want to maximize the capability of their senses and at the same time perform as well as they can. A lot of sports, fishing, tennis and golf just to name a few, really benefit from wearing a specific lens, and you can even get sport tinted contacts.  The traditional lens that is used with fishing is the polaroid lens. What it does is it prevents light that is vibrating horisontally to pass the lens, and thus preventing reflection from the water. Someone wearing these glasses can see through the water and see the fish in the water even on a sunny day.

For sports like tennis there are sport tinted contacts that are specifically designed to make it easier to see the ball and also moving objects. What these lenses usually do is they improve the contrast of your vision by a lot. That means that you are able to see differences in distances and altitude easier. Someone looking at the ground directrly over it, might think that it is completely flat,  but as move you will see the differences in height – well the same can be achieved with tinted contact lenses that enhance contrast – you can see differences in colors easily.

In my opinion these are really good and they are what people should use. A lot of athletes think that they are cheating, since the  vision of the person is also a measure of their performance, and if they can’t see well, they are not as good in the sport. Well in my opinion this is complete BS – no sport tinted contacts are going to make you spectacular in a sport which you don’t already master. People who don’t use these contact lenses are free to use them to enhance their performance  – once they have tried them out they will notice that the advantage that is gained isn’t that great. It is good for someone who is having problems with their vision, but in the end they won’t get benefits over people who have sharp eyes and good vision to start with.

It can be a good thing though to wear sport tinted contacts sincei it will relief your eyes from some of the strain. That way you won’t get headaches and stuff that can make you feel bad.

If you are like me and you have worn glasses or contact lenses for decades, you will know that in time there are problems with them. Witn eyeglasses – no matter how light weight the frame is – you will start having pain because of the weight that they apply on your nose and ears. There are many glasses that try to fight this problem, but you can’t get the same results as with contact lenses when it comes to this issue. The problem with contacts is that you can’t wear them for a long time in a rown because many people experience ache in their eyes.

Why don’t breathable contact lenses cause eye ache?

A lot of people are familiar with the ache that you can get with contacts, and this is usually associated with  the traditional hard contacts. They make your eyes ache because they block the gas exchange that is happening naturally at the top of your cornea. Your cornea doesn’t only get oxygen from the blood but also from the air surrounding it. When you wear contacts that block this air, you will get corneal oxygen deficiency, that will not only cause pain in the eyes but also it is going to cause excessive vascularity that can make your eyes look really red at all times. To have healthy looking eyes I suggest that you take a look at RGP lenses, also known as breathable contact lenses.

These rigid gas permeable lenses are still hard – well a lot softer than the traditional hard lenses – but they allow gas to go through them, almost to the same extent that would pass when you are not wearing contacts. This increases the comfort of wear a lot, and it also makes wearing these contact lenses a healthier option. Eyesight is something that no-one should be fooling around with, and we all would like to see a little better, so don’t only wear contacts, but also make sure that you are wearing the right power.

Having wrong powered contacts can cause eye pain also

Why is this then? I won’t be giving you a lecture on how the eye works, but instead I will give you the short explanation for this issue. Anyone who has done serious sports knows that when you contract a muscle for a long time it starts to ache. This is caused because the lack of oxygen in the muscle which causes specific transmitter chemicals to be released from the cells to the surrounding nerves that react by informing your brain that they are in pain. Well the muscle that controls the lens in your eye has this same quality, and it doesn’t only limit the pain to your eye, but it also causes headache. So instead of eating NSAID when your head hurts, try choosing the correctly powered breathable contact lenses!