Use of Disposable or Daily Lenses: A Healthy Choice?

Disposable lenses are worn for a specific period, then discarded and replaced with new lenses. This type of lens is among the most common. Most eye care specialists and users prefer this type of lens because it offers health and convenience benefits.

What are disposable lenses?

Contact lenses generally fall into the following categories, based on how often they are replaced:

• disposable or replacement lenses: these are replaced every two weeks or sooner
• frequent replacement lenses: these are replaced monthly or quarterly
• traditional reusable lenses: this type of lens is replaced only every six months or longer

The term "replaceable" often refers to both disposable and extended wear lenses.

Lens Replacement and Care Schedule

One of the common sources of confusion about contact lenses is lens care and replacement.

• A replacement schedule refers to how often you should throw away and replace your lenses. This depends on whether they are lenses you need to replace daily or regularly, or lenses for extended use.
• The wearing schedule refers to how long you can wear the lenses before taking them out for your comfort. Daily use means you can only wear the lenses during the day and must remove them at night. Extended wear means you can wear them continuously for one or two days, including at night when you sleep.

Replaceable lenses can be prescribed for either daily or extended wear, depending on what your specialist has recommended based on your specific needs.

Why discard lenses?

The more often you replace your lenses, the healthier and more comfortable your eyes will be.

Proteins, calcium, lipids, and other substances naturally present in your tears can build up on your lenses. These deposits make your lenses less comfortable to wear than when they are new, and they can even temporarily cause an eye infection.

Of course, you can clean contact lenses, but this process is never 100% effective. Some deposits will remain and accumulate over time.

Daily disposable lenses: the ultimate in wearing comfort and health

There are only two ways to ensure you don't have too much lens maintenance. One is to wear your extended-wear lenses for several days and discard them immediately after removing them.

Unfortunately, extended wear and wearing contact lenses overnight is not a good idea for everyone. Also, wearing contact lenses while you sleep only increases the risk of eye problems.

Many eye specialists and contact lens wearers believe that daily replacement lenses offer the best of both worlds.

On the one hand, they are comfortable to wear because you do not have to clean the lenses, and on the other hand, they are better for the health of your eyes because no deposits of substances in your tears can accumulate on the lens.

Also, when you don't wear the lenses at night, you are less likely to experience eye problems that can result from the lenses.

How different are disposable lenses from regular lenses?

Long before disposable lenses became popular, specialists knew that regularly replacing lenses was good for the health of your eyes. However, contact lenses used to be too expensive to replace very often.

As a result, a lot of lens care products came onto the market to extend the life of your contact lenses.

But in the meantime, research did not stand still. Lens manufacturers have developed all sorts of new methods to bring high-quality lenses to the market on a larger scale and at a lower cost.

This ensures that lenses have become affordable, and that people can replace them more quickly, which is only good for the health of our eyes.

Some of today's disposable lenses are made from the same materials as traditional lenses. Other disposable lenses are made with special new materials developed specifically for this purpose.

What is the cost of disposable lenses?

What you have to pay for your contact lenses depends on many factors, such as where you live, which specialist you choose, and how difficult it is to determine the correct type of lenses.

The cost of disposable lenses compared to traditional lenses is increasingly reasonable, especially since you no longer have to purchase maintenance products.

This makes this type of lens more affordable than most people might think. If you immediately purchase a year's supply of disposable lenses, the cost per day will be less than one euro. This is because you no longer have to purchase products for maintenance with this type of lens.

Am I suitable for wearing disposable lenses?

You probably qualify for this. To be really sure, it is best to have an examination by a specialist.

The key question is: is your specific prescription available in the form of a disposable lens?

Today there is a wide selection of disposable and regularly replaceable lenses available, including colored lenses that can change the color of your eyes, other lenses that correct astigmatism, and bifocal disposable lenses.

If you have received a less common prescription from your ophthalmologist, there is a chance that it will not be available in the form of disposable lenses. But don't worry, there may be lenses that can be replaced more often that are suitable for you.

If you have a rare prescription or a specific condition, you may still have to opt for traditional lenses. Be sure to take into account the advice of your specialist and do not wear lenses on your own initiative.

There is also good news for those who wear traditional lenses: maintenance is becoming increasingly easy.

Which replacement schedule is right for me?

That depends more on the condition of your eyes than on the lenses themselves.

Certain lenses are in any case better suited to be replaced at regular intervals. But the frequency with which they need to be replaced mainly depends on how your eyes react to wearing lenses.

Some people's eyes produce twice as many proteins and lipids as others, which means they will have to replace their lenses more often.

If you suffer from certain allergies, you may also need to replace your lenses more quickly, especially during periods when allergies peak.

A thorough evaluation by your optometrist or eye specialist can help determine what the best wearing and replacement schedule is specifically for you.