Two New Silicone Polymer Lenses For Everyone

ACUVUE^® ADVANCE™ with HYDRACLEAR™ and CIBA AIR OPTIX™ Night & Day^® AQUA Lenses Revolutionize Contact Lens Wear
by Michael P. Lange O.D.

The contact lens industry is constantly evolving.

Contact lens technology gets better and better every year. All the new advancements in the contact lens industry makes it easier for more patients to wear contact lenses successfully. No matter what your age is or what type of refractive error you have you may be a candidate for wearing one of the new generation contact lenses. If you are near sighted (myopia), far sighted (hyperopia), atigmatic or in the need of a bifocal lens there is a contact lens for you! If you have been contemplating refractive surgery you may want to consider one of the new silicone polymer contact lenses. Contact lenses have withheld the test of time, are less expensive than Lasik surgery, are extremely safe, reversible and upgradeable. The new generation silicone polymers are being incorporated into two contact lenses you can purchase in the United States. The ACUVUE^® ADVANCE™ with HYDRACLEAR™ and the CIBA AIR OPTIX™ Night & Day^® AQUA are two contact lenses that are gaining wide popularity.

The CIBA AIR OPTIX™ Night & Day^® AQUA contact lens has the highest oxygen permeability of any current silicone polymer contact lens and is approved for thirty days of continuous wear! What could be more convenient than that? Think about it— to be able to wear a contact lens for thirty days straight without having to take it out to clean every night. To be able to wear this lens without any complications is a huge advantage. In the past extended wear (overnight) was some what risky but now with these new silicone polymers it makes it extremely safe. The thirty day continuous wear lens can certainly be taken out every night or worn up to 30 continuous days without a problem. A patient that elects to go the thirty continuous days should be monitored by their optometrist or ophthalmologist routinely. This new contact lens modality now gives a valid option or good alternative to Lasik surgery. However not all patients will be able to wear the AIR OPTIX™ Night & Day^® AQUA continuous wear contact lens. Until recently they did not have any other options.

Acuvue has recently released their most advanced contact lens to date called the ACUVUE^® ADVANCE™ with HYDRACLEAR™. This contact lens is three times more oxygen permeable than the prior ACUVUE and is extremely comfortable thus allowing for a much longer wear time than before. Current ACUVUE 2 wearers will easily make a smooth transition into this newer lens.

This new ACUVUE^® ADVANCE™ with HYDRACLEAR™ will also allow many patients that were contact lens intolerant in the past the chance to get into all day comfortable wear. Most current Acuvue 2 patients will want to upgrade to the newer ACUVUE^® ADVANCE™ with HYDRACLEAR™ silicone polymer lenses and start to enjoy the benefits this new lens has to offer. Patients should be prepared to pay a little more for the ACUVUE^® ADVANCE™ contact lens. But remember you pay for quality.

Where should a patient purchase their contact lenses? Well I always recommend keeping the business with your eye care provider if they are giving you a competitive price. However if you want the convenience of purchasing your silicone polymer contact lenses over the Internet, I would recommend ordering from this website, ExpressContacts.com. Express Contacts has been in business for 10 years and provide very reliable, quick service at extremely good prices for all contact lenses.

In summary, if you want to have the newest contact lens technology available then go to your optometrist and ask to be fit in a free trial pair of the AIR OPTIX™ Night & Day^® AQUA or the ACUVUE^® ADVANCE™ with HYDRACLEAR™ and enjoy the benefits immediately.

Michael P. Lange O.D.
Lange Eye Care and Associates