August 27, 2013

Pinguecula

Several months ago while I was still wearing my Ciba Vision Dailies (non-toric) I looked into the mirror and noticed more veins were prominent in my eyes and furthermore, there was a small white bump in my right eye. The bump was between the iris and the white portion of the eye. I was a bit alarmed and decided to seek the advice of my optometrist. He informed me that it was 'pinguecula'.

What exactly is pinguecula? It's basically a stye or a bump that forms on your eye. There aren't any symptoms or known reasons as to why it occurs but it does seem to be more prevalent in individuals whose eyes are exposed to UV light or live in sunnier climates.

According to the articles I've read and the opinions of my optometrist, there is a consensus that there is no cause of alarm and there is not much you can do except wear sunglasses when your eyes are exposed to the elements. He states that pinguecula is common for people that live in California. As for the veins in my eyes, the eye doctor states I am simply more prone to veins than most other individuals.

Great article on Pinguecula.

Toric Lenses

It have been while since I've had any update on my contact lenses/eyes. For the past several years I've been doing fine with wearing the Ciba Vision Dailies but after my yearly exam, it turns out that I have astigmatism. It's not as bad as most individuals and I could definitely stick to the Dailies but I decided to give Toric lenses a try to see if I could benefit any. My optometrist fitted me in Dailies Toric and the 1-Day Acuvue Moist with Lacreon.

Dailies


The material in these lenses are 31% nelfilcon A, 69% water, same as my previous Dailies AquaComfort Plus. Comfort-wise they are the same. I do notice the contacts floating around in my eyes here and there but definitely doesn't bother me. If a fan is blowing or wind is blowing in my face, it does dry out my eyes with these contacts. Toric lenses are 'weighted' so it is not uncommon for them to move around; you have to blink to get them back into focus. However, your optometrist should have the ability to fit you in the correct toric lense. After 8 or 9 hours the comfort started to diminish for me and one one occasion, a noticed a red ring around my eye after taking these contacts out. However, I did happen to just hop out of the shower (you shouldn't shower with contacts, I'm sure you all know this). All in all, still not a bad lense.


Acuvue Moist

The Acuvue Moist with Lacreon for Astigmatism did surprisingly well seeing as how I'm not a huge Acuvue fan. Since all of issues that people have had with the Acuvue Oasys lenses over the past few years I decided to stray from this brand but figured it was time to give the Moist lenses a try. The material here is etafilcon A, 58% water. Both etafilcon A & nelfilcon A are 'hydrogel lenses' as opposed to 'silicone hydrogel lenses'. This was important to me when making my transition to Torics. Both have pro's and con's and you can read more about them through google. Back to my Acuvue Moist review, I must say these are FLIMSY lenses. When you take them out of the package, it is not uncommon for the lense to fold onto itself. They are very soft. However, they have a certain comfort that the Dailies could not produce for me. My eyes seemed to stay moist and comfortable all day. According to Acuvue's website, the Lacreon technology makes it so there is less friction in your eyes and the wetness doesn't go away. This time around I had to choose Acuvue Moist over the Dailies since the difference was so noticeable. *As a side note, as long as you are gentle with these lenses they will not rip as you are inserting them into your eyes. Be cautious.