Optical Contact Lenses

Optical contact lenses help to correct vision (long-sighted and short-sighted) and are an alternative to wearing spectacles. They work by being placed onto the eyes. They prevent many of the problems that are associated with wearing eye glasses such as steaming up, falling off whilst playing sporting activities and they allow you to look different. Many contact lens wearers like to wear them on a night out so that they can dance, feel more attractive and enjoy the night more easily. This is more about a perception issue and self-confidence because many people who wear spectacles just think that it would be better not to wear them. This is one of the reasons why wearers purchase contacts or even decide to go ahead with corrective laser eye treatment (which is, by the way, becoming much more advanced and more affordable).

Anyone who is thinking of getting a pair of lenses must first have their eyes tested to ascertain their prescription and to find out whether their eyes are okay to wear contacts. If the user’s eyes are healthy enough to wear contact lenses then the user must be trained by the optician on how to fit and take out the optical contact lenses. This can, initially, be a daunting task because no-one is innately confident about or used to putting things in their eyes. In fact, we must be instinctively geared towards keeping things out of our eyes which are delicate and precious. So when we first attempt to put in contact lenses we tend to blink as an involuntary reflex action.

It takes practice to put lenses in and some patients may get blood-shot eyes from the irritation that might be caused by the lenses. If this is the case then a more sensitive solution can be chosen. There are, indeed, different types of contact lenses available including daily disposables and other types of lenses that are reused and discard much less frequently.

So, to reiterate, the first phase in choosing whether or not contact lenses are right for you is to have a consultation with your local opticians contact lens specialist. If they then confirm that you can wear contacts then you need to take a short trial which will help you to decide whether you are comfortable putting in the lenses and taking them back out on a daily basis. Some people go back to wearing glasses after their trial, others continue to wear contacts on a regular basis whilst other decide to go for laser eye surgery.

For more info visit Optical Contact Lenses

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Importance of Good Sight for Safe Driving

We live in an age where getting from one place to another has never been easier. Need to pick up something from the store? Hop into your car. Need to visit a sick friend? No, problem, your car will get you there. Need to move stuff from one area to another? Again – those four wheels on your automobile is the way to go.

However, in order to drive safely and properly, one needs perfect eyesight and the ability to reflexively prevent a possible accident. Day driving presents dangers such as glares from the sun; while driving at night is especially dangerous. It requires special visual attention and focus owing to the glare of lights against the darkness, not to mention the darkness itself. At night, ones pupils dilate and even the best sighted people become short-sighted, and tend to see more glare and halos.

One also seems to have less peripheral vision. All these factors together result in visual fatigue and as statistics prove, even though night driving actually occurs less than day driving – both in time driven and in the amount of drivers on the road – close to half of road deaths occur while at night. In both cases, many deaths occur because drivers claim to to have been faces by a harsh glare that prevented them from seeing clearly.

So, what is the answer to protecting our eyes in both conditions?

First, one must wear sunglasses during the day – whether prescription or non-prescription. Aside from protecting ones eyes against harmful AVA/UVB rays, sunglasses should also include an anti-reflective coating to protect ones eyes from glares. The color lens also helps to enhance the visibility of contrast and depth perception, which ensures sharper visuals, less haze, and all round clarity.

For people who wear eyeglasses and cannot think of constantly having to swap their regular prescription eyeglasses for prescription sunglasses whenever going out, they can have photochromic lenses fitted into the frames. These lenses play the same role as sunglasses by turning dark outdoors and returning to regular lenses indoors, but you must check that they have been coated with the appropriate anti-glare protection.

Note: Following surgery, patients need to be extra vigilant while driving as the operation could result in seeing a halo effect – especially at night. Others may find that eye surgery drastically improves their night driving ability. In the end, each case is individual and should be viewed and treated according to its specific needs.

If you already wear prescription eyeglasses, a thorough eye examination may prove that you actually need separate, stronger lenses for night driving. If this is diagnosed, immediately purchase the new eyeglasses and ensure to have them coated with anti-glare protection. You should ALWAYS wear these glasses for night driving, without them you are a danger to yourself and others while on the road. If you do not generally wear glasses, you may want to buy eyeglasses with placebo lenses, but coated with the anti-glare tint. One of the most important points to remember when you buy glasses for driving is that cheap eyeglasses may be just that – cheap – so invest in a high quality pair of glasses frames.

Hillary Glaser is a social networking specialist and expert in cross-media promotion, currently working on promoting prescription eyeglasses. She is the Director of Marketing and Special Projects for GlassesUSA.com – the easiest way to buy glasses online, which now offers free shipping on all US orders with the code FreeShip10.

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Photochromic Lenses – What You Need to Know

When you wear eyeglasses full time, your glasses become part of your being – like a second skin. Half the time you forget that you’re wearing your eyeglasses and the reality hits when you step outside and the glare of the sun reminds you that you do not have appropriate UV or sun protection.

Sunglasses are an obvious option and with the stylish designs available it’s no wonder that so many choose to buy a pair of prescription eyeglasses in conjunction with a pair of prescription sunglasses. Still, having to remember to swap glasses and having to remember to actually carry both with you at all times can become tiresome and irritating.

In the late 1960s, Corning came along and introduced photochromic lenses into the eyeglasses industry; however, it was the brand, Transitions, in the 1990s that pushed this form of lenses into the market. Today, Transitions is the leading manufacturer of this type of lens and their branding success has led to the lenses being aptly referred to as “Transitions lenses.”

What exactly are these lenses? How do they work? How do they benefit long term eyeglass wearers? Photochromic lenses include an all-in-one prescription eyeglasses and prescription sunglasses solution with special lenses manufactured with a special mix of chemicals which react with one another when exposed to ultraviolet (UV) rays.

Essentially, the lenses darken into sunglasses when outside and exposed to sunshine (aka ultraviolet rays); yet slowly return to being regular indoor eyeglasses as soon as the UV is removed. The amount of shade the lenses turn is dependent on the amount of UV light they come in contact with.

The general timeline is that they will respond to either the UV rays, or the absence of them, within one minute, and then gradually darken or fade over a course of fifteen minutes; however, the full visual effect is usually seen within five minutes. An important side note is that when outdoors, photochromic lenses will darken enough to protect the eyes against harmful UVA and UVB rays, but will not darken to the point of looking like true sunglasses.

An important note to keep in mind is that photochromic lenses do not respond to visible light – only to UV light. Therefore, there are times when, you are outdoors and yet, they will not darken – such as while driving. To compensate for this and ensure maximum optical protection, most photochromic lenses also contain anti-glare tints.

As a method for helping with certain medical conditions, photochromic lenses can be tinted to a specific color (most often red) to help patients to see when eye conditions have caused visual deterioration (as in the case of macular degeneration patients).

With advances in technology and manufacturing capabilities, photochromic lenses are now available in a wide range of materials, and are usually very lightweight -therefore glass is rarely used. Those needing multifocal glasses can also enjoy the benefits of photochromic lenses, along with those who wear standard vision-correcting prescription glasses.

In the end, there are clear advantages to this form of lens, though we also cannot blind ourselves to any disadvantaged. Advantageously, one needs only one pair of eyeglasses to perform three of the most important optical roles – providing clear sight; protecting against the sun’s harmful rays; and blocking against glares which can cause headaches, eye strain and car accidents.

The very small disadvantage is that they do not automatically transition to the state that you need them for and so, you will find yourself with semi-sunglasses for a few moments when you step inside; and regular eyeglasses for a few moments when you step into the sun.

Just a few last points: as it currently stands, one can buy glasses with photochromic lenses in shades of gray and brown. Advances in manufacturing have also ensured that aside from being suitable for multifocal glasses, as well as regular ones, they are available to fit into any frame of any style, color or lifestyle need. Convenience, protection, style and comfort – all in one frame!

Hillary Glaser is a social networking specialist and expert in cross-media promotion, currently working on promoting prescription eyeglasses. She is the Director of Marketing and Special Projects for GlassesUSA.com – the easiest way to buy glasses online, which now offers free shipping on all US orders with the code FreeShip10.

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Human Sight Vs Canine Sight

As the saying goes, a dog is man’s best friend- yet the interesting thing is that although we rely on our canine pets to see for those who can’t; to protect us against those who want to harm us; and to know who their owners are and to love them unconditionally, few of us really know what it is that they actually see on a day to day basis.

For people who take their pets to be a part of their families and lives, it is almost unbelievable that we would not take a wider interest in knowing what and how our pets see the world and how that differs from the human optical world. Knowing these differences may help people to better understand, love and view their furry friends.

While dogs cannot see as much detail as humans can, their field of vision happens to be wider because of the placement of their eyes. Therefore, although your dog may not pay the attention to detail that a human friend would, your dog will be able to spot an intruder far sooner than you would. In addition, dogs are ultra-sensitive to moving objects (and movement in general) and so, will spot any movement up to a mile away – this is precisely what makes them such an invaluable support for the blind and such excellent search and rescue companions (not to mention hunters). It is necessary to add that dogs could be considered far-sighted as their close-up vision is far inferior and they do not and cannot focus at close range and will generally see things as being fuzzy. They also do not have proper depth perception.

Another interesting fact is that while dogs do not have clear day vision, their night vision is far superior to humans. While we head off to the optometrist for glasses to wear at night – like while driving, a dog becomes an even better watch-dog when the sun sets.

Interestingly, in stark contrast to humans, one should know that a dog who becomes blind generally adapts well to his new condition as sight is least strong of his five senses, with smell and sound being the two strongest. Just as humans who become blind will need time to adjust, so too will a dog – they just do so quicker than their human masters. A noticeable similarity between dogs and humans is that both can note down failing eyesight as one of the downsides to the aging process.

For years now, the myth has circulated that dogs are completely color blind and cannot see or distinguish color at all. Studies have disproved this theory and shown that just as humans (mostly males) can be colorblind, and still detect some color, so can dogs. For canines, red and orange are generally the only two indistinguishable colors, while blue and yellow are the most distinguishable. Today, one would describe a dog as being red-green color blind.

Just like humans, dogs also face a possible host of eye problems and conditions – including cataract, pink eye, glaucoma, dry eye, tumors and infections – just to name a few. Moreover, just as humans need to visit their eye doctors when eye disease seems to be lurking; so too should they see to it that their dogs are afforded the same right. Sure signs that they are up for a veterinary visit include them rubbing their eyes, avoiding light and rubbing their faces on the ground. An excess of tears or red eyes are other tip offs.

Where we find solutions for our optical problems, the nature of a dog is to adapt accordingly and use his other senses as compensation. In the end, probably the greatest difference between the visual ability of humans and canines is that where humans have the simple solution of visiting their eye doctor, updating their eyeglasses prescription and choosing to buy glasses which will correct their visual inefficiencies, the same is not available for dogs.

Hillary Glaser is a social networking specialist and expert in cross-media promotion, currently working on promoting prescription eyeglasses. She is the Director of Marketing and Special Projects for GlassesUSA.com – the easiest way to buy glasses online, which now offers free shipping on all US orders with the code FreeShip10.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Hillary_G_Glaser