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...contact lens myths...
The statistics from the article are
bulleted in black print and commentary from Drs. Ryan and Berke dispelling
the myths are in red print.
The poll surveyed 1,009 adults, 18 years of age or
older, to evaluate their knowledge of available vision correction options.
- 36% of Americans still assume contact lenses are not appropriate for
children
By the time children
reach school age, their eyes have grown to near adult size so they can be
fit for CLs similar to adults. And, depending on their maturity level
and sense of responsibility, they can be taught to insert, remove, and care for
CLs (with some guidance from their parents). Children active in sports
and activities, where glasses are a hindrance, and children with large
prescriptions, benefit most from CLs. We have seen many
introverted, quiet children who wore thick glasses come out their shells once we
corrected their vision with CLs. CLs may possibly change their
lives.
- 45% of Americans do not know that contact lenses can correct vision in
individuals with certain conditions, such as astigmatism
Many advancements
have been made in the past few years in soft toric contact lenses
for astigmatism correction. Astigmatism is simply a factor of the
cornea (the front part of the eye) having two curvatures. It is very
normal. Most people
have at least a small amount of astigmatism. If the astigmatism is large
enough, specialty toric lenses may be indicated. They can provide a stable, and comfortable alternative to
glasses.
- 61% of Americans believe that 20/20 is the best vision attainable through
any means of vision correction
20/20 is the
standard measurement for your vision (i.e. visual acuity). This
measurement means that you can see a specific size letter at a distance of
20 feet. For example, if you can see the letters on the 20/20 line,
then you could see letters on the 20/200 line (larger letters) at 200 feet.
20/20 vision is average for the population. Some see better, some see
worse. So, it is very possible that you have better than 20/20 vision
through means of glasses or CL correction.
- <25% know that some brands of contact lenses can correct vision to
better than 20/20
As mentioned above,
it is very possible that we can correct your vision to better than
20/20. This depends on several factors: the size of your prescription,
the amount of your astigmatism, your age, your best-corrected visual acuity,
how your eyes react to the specific contact lenses, etc.
If you have any other questions that the
above article did not answer, please feel free to call our office or stop
in. We can let you know your options for what we feel will best correct
your vision.
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