Contact Lens City

When you get contacts, there are certain measurements that might be important to know. One would be how ‘large’ the contact lens is. The DIA is the diameter of the lens. If you have a small eye, having a large lens would make the fitting ‘off’. So you sort of want the shoe that fits.

The base curve: The clear part of your eye, the cornea, has a certain curve to it. It’s either really steep or not…just regular steep, or flatter than regular steep.

When you put a contact lens onto the surface of the cornea, you want the curve of the lens to sort of match the curve of the eye, the cornea. If the BASE CURVE of the lens, when sitting on the cornea is too FLAT, then the lens will slosh all over the place and won’t settle in the ‘center’ so there’s a consistant refraction of the light. So that’s not so good.

If the lens is TOO STEEP, then when placed on the cornea, it’ll suck itself onto the surface, and then it won’t move at all. Then no tear fluid can get under the lens, the corneal epithelium won’t get it’s nutrition and oxygen and stuff… and if it gets too stuck, it’ll tear the cornea when you try to remove it…which is an OUCH. a big ouch.

It’s not that people can’t order and wear the ‘right’ lens once they have the right numbers. They can. The real "problem" is that you sort of need someone who is familiar with the effects of lenses on the cornea, to take a look here and there. There are so MANY complications, that it’s a wise investment to keep up on the exams.

No one is going to get rich doing contact lens exams. Checking lens fits. But it could save your eye….think infection, …stuff like that…..

Go see a good optometrist. That’s what those guys do, and do well. That’s what their training is in. And keep up your exams a couple of times a year. You’re worth it.

If its a spectacle prescription you cannot get it from that, spectacle and contact lens prescription are two different things.

Make sure they did your contact lens exam, you can call your optometrist.