You may be a person that has been wearing eyeglasses for some time or you may realize that your vision needs to be corrected and are considering going to the eye doctor to find out if you can wear contacts. If so, take a few minutes to read about how contacts work and how to go about getting them.

A Little History

Early contacts amazingly date back into the 19th century. At that time, they were made of brown glass and were not easy to wear. They were, however, helpful to people that could not wear eyeglasses. Contact lens technology improved in the 1940s and 1950 when they were able to make them from plastic instead. These were made out of a plastic material called polymethyl methacrylte and worked well. The only problem was that they did not allow oxygen to easily pass through them. Since then, the plastic material has improved and is now rigid gas permeable, allowing oxygen to get to your corneas. This is necessary because your corneas get the oxygen they need from the air, not your bloodstream.

Contact lens technology continues to improve as we’re seeing new kinds of lenses being made for people that have astigmatism or for people that need bifocal lenses.

Why Do People Wear Contact Lenses?

Beside for cosmetic reasons, people wear contact lenses for a variety of other advantages including:

* The lens moves with your eye and there is no distortion, unlike with glasses.

* The frame of eyeglassescan block your side / peripheral vision.

* Contacts don’t steam up like glasses do when you go from cold to warm temperatures.

* Sometimes contacts are the only solution for people who need vastly different lenses for each eye.

* An injured cornea can heal faster when its protected by contacts.

How Do You Go About Getting Contact Lenses?

To find out if you can wear contacts, you should go see your eye care professional and get a consultation. You can’t go and order contacts with just a prescription for glasses. It’s a different kind of prescription. When you get your exam, you’ll find it’s pretty simple and does not take very long. You’ll just do some vision testing including the test for Glaucoma, which is an important test to get. It’s just a tiny puff of air that goes into your eye.