If you’re finding that it’s harder to see things close-up and far away, you may need bifocal or progressive lenses to help.

Bifocal lenses are made of two separate areas: one for seeing things close-up, and one for seeing things far away. Progressive lenses are a newer type of lens that provide a more natural transition between near and far prescriptions. They’re growing in popularity because they let you see more clearly at all distances.

Your lifestyle is an important consideration when choosing between bifocal and progressive lenses. If you have a job that requires a lot of reading or computer work, progressive lenses would be a better choice. If you’re more active and don’t do a lot of reading or computer work, bifocal lenses would be a better fit.

Both types of lenses have pros and cons depending on your visual needs. So, talk to your eye care professional about bifocals or progressive lenses for presbyopia. They’ll help you figure out the best solution for you.

Are you new to contact lenses? Have you been wearing contacts for a while but need some advice on your next steps? Contact lens evaluations are the perfect way to get one-on-one time with an optometrist and determine what’s best for you. Contact evaluations are typically recommended every year or two depending on how often you wear your contact lenses, and they can be done as either semi-annual visits or annuals. This blog post will discuss the importance of contact lens evaluations, what happens during an evaluation, who should consider this service, and why it’s important!

Importance of contact lens evaluations

There are many reasons why it’s important to have a contact lens evaluation on a regular basis. For one, evaluations can help to ensure that your contacts are still the right fit for your eyes. They can also help to evaluate the health of your eyes and correct any problems you may be having with your contact lenses. In addition, evaluations can provide new wearers with advice on how to best care for their contacts and help to solve any issues they may be having.

If you’re new to contact lenses, it’s especially important to have a evaluation. This will give the optometrist an opportunity to evaluate your eyes and make sure that contacts are the right choice for you. They’ll also be able to provide you with advice on how to care for your contacts and help solve any problems you may be having.

If you’ve been wearing contacts for a while but haven’t had a evaluation recently, it’s still important to go in for one. An annual or semi-annual evaluation can help ensure that your contacts are still providing you with clear vision and that your eyes are staying healthy. Plus, it’s always good to get some one-on-one time with an optometrist!

Steps in a contact lens evaluation

There are several steps in contact lens evaluation. The first is to determine the type of contacts that would be best for the patient. This can be done with a simple eye exam and consultation with the optometrist. After the type of lenses is determined, the next step is to measure the eyes and create a contact lens prescription. The optometrist will also determine the size and shape of the lenses, as well as the curvature. The lenses can then be tried in the office or if not available, ordered and tried on at another visit.

The next step is to try on the lenses and make sure they fit properly. The patient will typically put in a few different lens types so that the optometrist can determine which one provides the best vision and comfort. If adjustments are needed, the optometrist may order new lenses or modify the current ones.

It’s important to have regular contact lens evaluations because wearing contacts incorrectly can lead to eye health problems. Contact lenses should never be worn for more than eight hours at a time, and patients should take breaks every week to give their eyes a chance to rest. Semi or annual evaluation intervals help ensure that patients are following these guidelines and staying healthy while wearing contacts!

Who should consider contact lens evaluations?

In general, anyone who wears contact lenses should have regular evaluations. This includes both new and experienced wearers. It’s especially important for new wearers to have a evaluation, as this will give the optometrist an opportunity to evaluate your eyes and make sure that contacts are the right choice for you. Experienced wearers should also go for a evaluation every year or two to ensure that their contacts are still providing them with clear vision and that their eyes are staying healthy.

A successful contact lens evaluation is one that provides you with the most comfort and eliminates any risk of eye irritation or infection. If your lenses are not evaluated correctly, there’s a high probability that wearing your contacts will lead to discomfort, red eyes and possible eye infection. The best way to achieve an effective fit is to find out what type of contacts work best for you (soft/rigid gas permeable) and to ensure the contact lenses fit on your cornea without sliding off when blinking or looking up at something, or being too tight, which prevents tears from reaching the cornea.  

We provide all these services in our office so we can help identify the best contact lenses for your eyes and lifestyle. We also offer a satisfaction guarantee on all contact lens fits so you can try out the different contact lenses before committing to a long term supply!

Our optometrist is always here to help with any questions or concerns that you may have about contact lens evaluations – call us today at (301) 779-2424 or make an appointment online.

Tyrvaya (varenciline), manufactured by Princeton, New Jersey–based drugmaker Oyster Point Pharma, is the first nasal spray to treat dry eye disease has recently won approval from the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA).

This marks a significant development for patients suffering from moderate-to-severe dry eye. Sprayed twice daily into the nostrils, 0.03-mg varenciline solution (Tyrvaya) improves signs and symptoms of dry eye disease. It provides an alternative to the immunomodulators currently available as prescription treatments.

Varenicline is a safe and effective way to help relieve dry eye disease symptoms for those who have not been able find relief with artificial tears or if they need more than the typical use of 3-4 times per day.

Tyrvaya harnesses cholinergic activity (promoting parasympathetic nervous system processes) to transport medication through the mucous membranes to the trigeminal nerve pathways and into the ophthalmic nerve, to stimulate the nicotinic receptors housed there, which then causes natural tears to be created that help relieve symptoms of dry eyes.

The spray works in as little as 14 days, and doesn’t irritate eyes. In 47% of patients who were given varenicline instead of a placebo eye drops, Schirmer test scores increased by 10 mm within just one month.

Almost all patients who took varenicline had some  sneezing, but almost no ocular side effects. There were no reports of burning or stinging; instead some patients experienced some coughing and throat irritation.

Abstract

Background: Patient non-compliance, that is, failure to perform standard wear and care orthokeratology (ortho-k) lenses procedures, has been shown to be a major risk factor for contact lens-associated complications. Therefore, this study aimed to investigate the compliance with wear and care behaviors of ortho-k patients and analyze its influencing factors.

Methods: Patients who were successfully prescribed ortho-k lenses at the Eye Center of the Second Affiliated Hospital of Zhejiang University School of Medicine (ECSAHZU) were enrolled in the study. Patient compliance with wear and care behaviors was examined through a questionnaire.

Results: This study assessed 238 subjects. The subjects’ ages ranged from 7 to 25 (mean ± SD, 11.3 ± 2.5) years. The compliance with wear and care behaviors was 19.7%, and the subjects’ self-assessment compliance was 96.6%. The compliance rate of subjects wearing lenses for less than 1 year was higher than that of subjects wearing lenses for more than 1 year (p < 0.001). In the first year, the compliance rates of wearing experiences for less than 1 month, 1 month, 3 months, 6 months, and more than 6 months were 45, 29, 21.6, 20, and 27.6%, respectively, and there were no statistically significant differences in compliance among these periods (p = 0.314). No correlation was identified between compliance and age (r = – 0.061, p = 0.527) or sex (r = 0.114, p = 0. 751). There was no correlation between compliance and lens care operator (r = – 0.626, p = 0.151).

Conclusions: The compliance of ortho-k patients was poor. After wearing ortho-k lenses for more than 1 year, compliance with wear and care behaviors declined. In clinical practice, measures should be taken to solve these problems and improve the safety of wearing ortho-k lenses.

Bian Z, Xu X, Chen D, Ni H. Assessment of patient compliance in orthokeratology and analysis of influencing factors: a cross-sectional study. BMC Ophthalmol. 2021 Nov 16;21(1):396. doi: 10.1186/s12886-021-02148-2. PMID: 34784895; PMCID: PMC8594163.

Purpose

To investigate the relationship between dry eye disease (DED) and vision-related quality of life (VR-QoL) at population level.

Methods

DED and VR-QoL were assessed in 89,022 participants (18–96 years, 59% female) from the Dutch population-based Lifelines cohort using the Women’s Health study (WHS) and Visual function 25 (VFQ25) questionnaires. The relationship between DED and compromised VR-QoL was assessed with logistic regression, corrected for age, sex, BMI, income, education, smoking, and 55 comorbidities.

Results

9.1% of participants had DED. The participants with DED had higher risk of compromised average of ten domains of VR-QoL (OR 3.12 (95% CI 2.98–3.27) corrected for age, sex, BMI, income, smoking, and 55 comorbidities). Increasing symptom frequency was highly associated with decreasing VR-QoL (P < 0.0005). In all VR-QoL domains, including measures of daily visual function and emotional well-being, DED was clearly associated with compromised VR-QoL. Compared to macular degeneration, glaucoma, retinal detachment, and allergic conjunctivitis, DED presented similar or higher risks for compromised score on all VR-QoL domains. The population-attributable fraction of DED for compromised general vision exceeded that of other eye diseases investigated, especially in the younger age groups.

Conclusion

DED is associated with reductions in all domains of VR-QoL, also after correction for associated comorbidities. We found that DED imposes an extensive population burden regarding compromised VR-QoL due to its high prevalence and substantial impact on VR-QoL, higher than that for other common vision-affecting eye disorders. Our results emphasize the importance of recognizing DED as a serious disorder from both patient and public health perspectives.

Mathias Kaurstad Morthen, Morten Schjerven Magno, Tor Paaske Utheim, Harold Snieder, Nomdo Jansonius, Christopher J. Hammond, Jelle Vehof, The vision-related burden of dry eye, The Ocular Surface, 2021,

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jtos.2021.10.007