This review is about Bausch & Lomb's 30-day extended-wear lenses, which are lenses that you can wear day and night for upto a month. In this review I will compare before-and-after the lenses, give tips on how to take care of them, and list a bunch of precautions to take while using them.
I have been wearing contact lenses for 4 years now. At first I wore regular soft lenses, which I had to take out every night, clean with solution, store, then take out and clean every morning again. Frankly, it was a big hassle. At the end of a long, hard day, the last thing I want to do is spend five minutes taking out my lenses and cleaning them. They're also not handy for rushed mornings, where I barely have enough time to pop them in my eyes and ensure that they're clean.
So after wearing soft lenses for 3 years, I tried Bausch & Lomb's 30-day extended wear lenses. My review of them follows:
1. Introduction
What are 30-day extended-wear lenses?
It's really quite simple. ''30-day'' means that these lenses are to be disposed of at the end of every month. ''Extended wear'' means that these lenses can remain in your eyes during the day AND during the night while you sleep, without causing any damage whatsoever to your eyes. How is this possible, you ask, and why do normal contact lens wearers have to remove their lenses every night?
Normal contact lenses (soft or hard) are not very oxygen-permeable. This means that not too much oxygen can pass through the lens material and reach the eye. This makes it very dangerous for you to sleep in normal contact lenses overnight.
Extended-wear lenses, on the other hand, are made of new silicone hydrogel substances, which allow 6 times more oxygen to reach the eye than normal lenses. This makes them perfectly safe for overnight use for upto 30 days and nights.
2. Pros
The pros of wearing the extended wear lenses are fairly obvious. Firstly, it saves you the hassle of removing them, cleaning them, etc. I found that when I wore normal lenses, the lenses were more likely to fall out of my hand and get lost simply because there was so much activity around them. With extended-wear lenses, this hassle is avoided.
Extended wear lenses are also more hygienic than normal contact lenses because they are to be disposed of after a month. This means that any foreign particles that MIGHT be trapped under your lens will not have a chance to wreak havoc because the lens itself will be thrown away.
Extended wear lenses also save you money in the form of cleaning solutions. All you need is a mini-travel bottle in your closet in case you decide to take them off one night or you just want to hydrate them.
These lenses are especially useful for overnight camps, flights, and other situations where you need to be in your lenses for a long time.
3. Cons
There are no real cons to wearing extended wear lenses except one - do not wear them past the recommended date, unless your ophthalmologist advises you to do so! There is no immediate danger, but overwearing lenses creates a potential for eye infections to increase and develop.
4. Instructions
Extended-wear lenses are very low maintenance and require minimal care. All you need, as I mentioned before, is a travel-sized bottle of hydrating/cleansing lotion for emergencies. I use ReNu because it dissolves protein, cleans the lens, and lubricates it all at once.
It is your choice as to whether or not you should wear these lenses overnight everyday for a month - you can do so safely, but if it makes you feel better, you can choose to wear them overnight only a couple of days at a time.
If you experience any undue discomfort while wearing these lenses, see your ophthalmologist immediately. This article is merely a review, and is in no way a substitute for professional advice.
5. Etcetera
A couple of other things I would like to mention:
Why wear lenses instead of glasses? There are many reasons. First of all, glasses restrict your field of view and make objects seem smaller since they are farther away from your eyes. Lenses are extremely comfortable since they sit right on your eye and you can see things 'as they are'.
Wearing lenses may also boost your confidence about your image and beauty, although this is a superficial reason for wanting to wear lenses. Do not wear lenses just because you want to look better - make sure that they will actually work for you.
Lenses also help control conditions such as astygmatism, and are known to reduce the growth curve of your eyesight.
Secondly: some precautions. These might seem nonsensical, but do NOT share your lenses with anyone else, always properly clean them if you're going to store them, and consult your ophthalmologist immediately if you experience any problems. Avoid rubbing/irritating your eye while wearing lenses, and do not let water come in contact with them, as this removes their finish. Also do not wear lenses that have been in storage past the recommended amount of time.
This website has extra information on how to care for lenses:
https://allaboutvision.com
- Some of my statistics have been researched from this website.
In conclusion, I would like to say that investing in Bausch & Lomb's 30-day extended-wear lenses is one of the smartest things I did. It has helped me in numerous ways outlined above, and I find that the convenience and ease of wearing these lenses are definitely worth the cost. I was struck by the difference between lenses and glasses - but please, do what works for you. Always consult an ophthalmologist, and remember, you only have one set of eyes, so take good care of them.
Hope this helped!
