April 17, 2018 - Prescription lenses
Hey folks, it’s Dr. Sam. Good morning! I’m on a great hike here in southern Utah.
I wanted to keep you up to date on some breakthrough news about contact lenses. The FDA has just approved this light adaptive technology for contact lenses. What it means is that when you go outside and you’re in the sunlight like I am right now, the contact lenses now have a technology where they adaptively darken. Let’s say you get back into your car or you go to an indoor restaurant, the contacts will begin to lighten up.
These are called photochromatic lenses. We’ve seen them in eye glasses for many years but for contact lenses, this is a breakthrough. With FDA approval, this can now expand to reach up the 40 million Americans who wear contact lenses.
What are the pros and cons?
Now they’re mostly pros in terms of why this is a great thing, but there are some drawbacks as well.
- When you start wearing these light adaptive contact lenses, you’re going to reduce the need for sunglasses because there is a UV blocking agent in the contact lenses.
- They definitely are not going to get as dark as adaptive sunglasses, but for somebody who’s active and doesn’t want to carry sunglasses around, these lenses will work well.
- Some things I don’t like about the contacts in terms of the light in the dark is that we know that light is a food and we actually need light to balance our endocrine system, nervous system, and our eyes. When you wear adaptive contact lenses just like glasses, it blocks some of the natural light that we see. And I know that there’s a lot written about avoiding ultraviolet light, which I largely agree with. But I also think it’s very important that we get trace amounts of ultraviolet light. There have been lots of studies that show that ultraviolet light in small amounts does things like balancing the immune system, improving our mood, and are great for overall health. So when you wear adaptive contacts you run the risk of being unconcious of the fact you are not letting much UV light in, because it is difficult to take contacts in and out. That being said I think that contacts are fabulous for people that are active playing sports or going on a hike like I am right now.
Overall, I recommend implementing some variety in your contact wear. So if you’re in your bedroom in the morning, don’t put your contacts in right away. Let your eyes be in their natural state, even if it’s a little bit blurry. I think these light adaptive contact lenses are a breakthrough and are definitely worth checking out. If used part-time, they will be very supportive to your visual experience and eye health.
Well that’s my message for today I’m going to get back on the trail and until next time take good care.