Contact lenses are designed to move but the movement goes unnoticed. Every time you blink, your lenses spin since they are supposed to float on your iris. The movement allows fresh supply of tear film and facilitates oxygen permeation to help your eyes breathe. Hence, subtle movement of contact lenses should not bother. Excessive sliding may indicate fitting issues due to one’s unique ocular anatomy. Have your lenses been uncomfortable due to unnecessary movement? Continue reading to find out what could be causing it.
What is Base Curve of Contact Lenses?
Base curve is the radius of the lens curvature. If it is too steep, it will be tighter on your eyes leading to a medical concern “neo-vascularisation” characterized by itching, burning, irritation & watery eyes. Similarly if it is too flat it will be loose on your eyes causing excessive movement. Although BC does not really make a huge difference with soft contact lenses; it is very important to consider the accurate measurements with gas permeable rigid lenses.
An average Base curve varies from 8.00 mm to 10.00mm. Universally, soft contact lenses are made with 8.6mm and is widely accepted to fit most of the patients. An 8.6mm is a tighter BC than 8.8mm which usually makes no major difference. Yet, there are patients who might not feel fit with certain contact lenses. It is important you discuss your concerns with a licensed optometrist before you start experimenting with colored contacts.
Uncomfortable lenses that fit ill run the risk of long term damage for instance corneal abrasion & ulcers. If your contact lenses sting, don’t sit right, keep moving or keep falling out then you must observe caution with them. Remove them & consult your eye care practitioner.
Things to Remember: First Time Wearer/ Beginner of Contact Lenses
If you are a beginner and have just started wearing contacts you might conclude wrong. Since contacts may show same symptoms with many different problems, you might confuse one with another. Please note your eyes take a while to adjust with contacts and may run water the first time you put them on. Blink a few times and give your eyes a minute to accept the contacts. Wipe your eyes softly and blink again a few time. If it feels fine and causes no stinging you are good to go.
Dry Eye Syndrome: Some patients’ eyes do not produce a sufficient tear film that turn your eyes dry quickly and make contact lenses intolerable. Experts recommend using eye drops compatible with contact lenses. Rewetting drops are actually artificial tears that enable floating of contact lenses facilitating oxygen supply to your eyes.
To spot the issue with your uncomfortable contacts and hold the BC responsible; it is important you try and examine a few different brands of the same BC and see if the problem persists. If it does not then most probably it was not BC but may be water content that turned your eyes dryer.
You only have one set of eyes and you are definitely not going to get another! You may get yourself contact lenses a hundred times in life though. Do not experiment and conclude on your own. Meet your eye doctor today!
Also Read: Is it wrong BC causing me headache?