By Michael Hutton 

Contact lenses for dry eye  worn only while sleeping may provide a means of helping to reduce the high and rising economic costs associated with the condition according to Dr David Kisling, a US expert on dry eye syndrome. Many sufferers delay seeking treatment until the condition has advanced to the point where the immune system of the eye's tears becomes adversely affected. Opticians have a much higher success rate in treating dry eye syndrome if the condition is addressed at an early stage but the treatment becomes more challenging if changes to the health of the corneal surface of the eye have occurred. In the most severe cases, this could result in a requirement for a corneal transplant which is an extremely expensive medical procedure.

As many as 20% of conventional daytime contact lens wearers give up every year due to the discomfort experienced through various forms of dry eye syndrome. To a large extent, this reflects the fact that daytime lens wear may extend for as long as 16-18 hours and often much of this time is spent in climate-controlled environments which typically increase the evaporative loss of tears from the eyes. Where this is associated with spending time working on a computer, the problem is exacerbated given that focusing on screen displays reduces blink rates - which determine tear film production - by as much as 80%. Unsurprisingly, shortsighted dry eye sufferers have welcomed the emergence of overnight ortho-k contact lenses for dry eyes  which are only worn at night then removed each morning, providing perfect daytime vision until the lenses are reinserted before going to bed.

Despite heavy investment by the contact lens industry to develop new soft lens polymers which offer higher levels of wettability, the dry eye problem continues to grow since such developments struggle to keep pace with changing environmental factors which determine how people live their lives. As Dr Kisling has noted, this isn't going to change anytime soon and vision problems caused by dry eye have increasingly significant economic cost implications including expensive eye-related surgical procedures, lost work days and even driving accidents attributable to the condition. Hence, in addition to the growing range of medications, devices and surgical procedures now available to dry eye sufferers, overnight ortho-k contact lenses for dry eyes  can remove the problems associated with daytime contact lens wear altogether.

Check if you are suitable for overnight ortho-k contact lenses  for dry eyes.