Whether you are a new contact lens wearer or you have been using them for years to correct your vision, you may be wondering how can you tell if a contact lens is inside out. If you suspect you may be wearing your contact lenses incorrectly or they just feel uncomfortable, here are some ways you can determine this to avoid the problem in the future.
Look at the Lens
Before placing the lens in your eye, hold it on the tip of your index finger and look at it carefully from the side. Is it shaped like the letter “U” or it is flared on the sides, like a soup bowl? The correct shape of a soft contact lens should be like the letter “U”. If it’s shaped like a soup bowl, then it’s inside out. Some people also recommend the “taco test” whereby you gently squeeze the lens so that the edges touch. If they touch completely, then the lens is right side out. If the edges flare out and don’t touch fully, then it’s inside out. Simply flip the lens around and it will be positioned correctly for wearing.
Another way to determine if your contact lens is right side out is to look at it from the top. This is especially important if you are wearing the colored enhanced type. The edge of a tinted lens will be look very blue. If it looks greenish, then it is inverted and you should carefully flip the lens around in order to wear it properly.
Find the Engraving
Some contact lenses have factory engraving on them, done by special lasers. This can include the manufacturer information, model number, brand name or grade of materials used. While this is not detected by the human eye when wearing, it can be of help when trying to determine if you are wearing your contact lenses correctly. Some brands have a “1-2-3″ engraved on them, so you would make sure this is the side facing downwards on your finger as you place the contact into your eye. If you can read this label, then the lens is inside out. You can remove it safely without damaging your eyes and flip it around for replacement.
Ask the Professional
Of course, please check with your eye doctor if you experience any discomfort with your contact lenses. They can often help you more with this perplexing problem or demonstrate to you further what to do. Common sense should tell you if you are wearing your contact lens incorrectly. If they feel uncomfortable or you feel slight pressure on your eyes, it’s probably because you have placed the lenses incorrectly on your eyes. You may want to practice a little when first getting a new set of contact lenses to see what works best for you and to get used to the feel of them. Once you do, you should enjoy months of enjoyable experience with your new lenses.
May 27th, 2009 | Posted in Contact Lenses | No Comments
Many, many people across the country and across the globe need some sort of vision correction in order to be able to see well enough to perform even some of life’s most basic functions. Things like reading a newspaper or deciphering the symbols on a traffic sign would be almost impossible for some people without the help of corrective lenses – what’s surprising though is that with all of the people who have an inherent need for corrective lenses, very few actually know how their prescription glasses are actually put together.
Making corrective lenses actually begins at the point of the eye exam, a person is examined by an eye care professional to determine what their prescription is – and then that information is sent off to a lab. Once the numbers are in the technician’s hand, he or she will determine what type of prescription blank is closest to the corrective requirements. The prescription blanks are preformed lenses that are flat on one side and curved on the other and most commonly made of impact resistant plastic. The thickness of the blank selected will be determined by the corrective needs of the individual patient. The prescription lens blank is expertly ground done by the technician until it will provide the corrective properties that are needed by the wearer.
Once the appropriate curvature for the prescription has been reached, the edges of the lens are then ground down to fit the frames that were pre chosen by the patient. It’s at this point in the process that the lenses will be specialized if necessary with things like tinting or UV protection.
Then lenses need to fit securely into the chosen frames so it often necessary to heat them in order to make them pliable before insertion into the frames occurs. Once the lenses are securely installed into the frames it’s time for everything to be cleaned up, packaged and shipped out to your eye care professional for you to pick up.
Though the process doesn’t sound incredibly difficult, it is a very exact science – even a minor error on the part of the technician could render the glasses useless to the patient, so the utmost care and precision must be exacted with every single lens that goes into the grinding machine.
Once you get your eyeglasses, you must exact great care in making sure that they don’t become damaged. Some frames are made to handle abuse, they are flexible and can almost bounce back from instances that would have destroyed and older set of frames – even though the technology with lenses has come a long way they still aren’t capable of holding up well to excessive abuse. If your lenses get scraped up or heavily scratched, it could be back to square one, prescription lenses can’t be ground down to remove marring because that would end up changing the prescription of the lenses and therefore effect the vision of the owner.
If you exercise the caution that you should when wearing your prescription glasses, damaging them shouldn’t be a very big concern but if you are careless in either the handling or cleaning of your prescription lenses you may find that you need a new pair much sooner than would normally be necessary. Prescription glasses can be costly because of the work that goes into producing them properly, most people can’t afford to be replacing a pair of prescription glasses more frequently than is necessary as a result in a change to their prescription. So think about all the care and hard work that goes into crafting your prescription glasses before you do any undue damage to them through improper handling.
April 15th, 2009 | Posted in Eyeglasses | No Comments
The difficulty of having to work out the way to accurately measure for glasses on your own is a comparatively new one. Today ordering glasses can be done over the Net with no visit to the optician needed, but to make sure that your new glasses will fit and cause you no issues you have got to know the way to measure for the frame accurately.
When measuring for glasses, the most vital piece of info to have is the PD, or the space between the wearer’s pupils.
This measurement is vital in the right fit of glasses because even if it is off by some millimeters the wearer can suffer some sick effects. It is possible to take this measurement on your own if you can not, for one reason or another have your glasses professionally fitted. Measure the distance from the middle of one pupil to the middle of the other whilst looking without delay ahead. If you know your prescription and have a correct measurement of your PD, it is definitely possible to get a good fitting pair of glasses with no need to take the trip to an optician. Going to an eye care professional for a glasses fitting also has some other advantages outside the correct measurement and general check up.
At the optician you can touch, hold and try on frames, lots of them if you so select, before making any last calls. Even if you do not have somebody to take with you to help decide on new frames, that’s what opticians do for a job – they are going to be happy to advocate certain frames that may flatter your face and go well with your personal features.
March 12th, 2009 | Posted in Uncategorized | No Comments