THE RIGHT
CONTACT
By Jackie Muise
THE QUEST TO IMPROVE VISION THROUGH AN ARTIFICIAL
LENS THAT ACTUALLY MAKES CONTACT WITH THE SURFACE
OF THE HUMAN EYE HAS BEEN A DETERMINED PURSUIT
FOR MORE THAN 500 YEARS, BEGINNING WITH DA VINCI’S
RUDIMENTARY LOOKING-THROUGH-WATER EXPERIMENTS
TO TODAY’S RESEARCH INTO SURGICALLY IMPLANTED
“BIONIC LENSES,” PROMISING TO ONE DAY RENDER VISION
THREE TIMES BETTER THAN 20/20, REGARDLESS OF AGE
OR INFIRM.
12 Optical Prism | March 2016
Between those two extremes, however, the
average modern day contact lens wearer
has benefitted from improvements to
contact technology by a developmental renaissance of sorts over the last 60 years,
accelerating at an astounding rate during
just this past decade. It’s a progression
that has taken us from glass lenses covering the entire surface of the eye, to various
synthetic plastic materials covering only
the cornea (the clear eye-tissue over the
iris and the pupil), to the very latest in
electronic “smart-lens” technology.
Today, in addition to a huge range of replacement options, everything from daily
to annual, contact lenses fall into two
fundamental categories: soft lenses that
are made from moisture holding, pliable
plastics; or the “breathable” gas permeable
(GP) contact lens made of a sturdier, less
bendable plastic. The GP’s are also known
as RGP’s, or Rigid Gas Permeable, although
they should not be confused with the now
nearly obsolete hard lenses.
Both categories offer a range of designs to
accommodate many kinds of vision issues
and both have their advantages and disadvantages. The custom fitted considered
the choice for corrective, sharper vision,
are longer lasting and less likely to
harbour bacteria.