Traveling can be fun regardless whether you intend to relax on a beach or plan a city break. Exploring new countries is also an inspiring experience.
However, if you wear contact lenses, planning is crucial. Keep in mind that caring for your eyes is also as important to the success of your journey as packing your passport. Besides preparing for a flight and other long-haul trips, you must ensure that you are prepared for eye-related situations that you can encounter when you are far from your home. This article discusses how you can travel with your contact lenses.
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Types of contact lenses
The two common types of lenses are usually soft contact lenses that are made up of water-containing plastic and gas permeable or rigid gas permeable contact lenses which can be less flexible. You can visit https://www.contactlenses.co.uk/ to check these types of contact lenses.
When it comes to soft contact lenses, they have a soft structure which is like a piece of thick cling film, so this makes them quite comfortable to wear. Quite often, they are larger than the gas permeable contact lenses and cover the entire iris, which is the colored part of your eye. They can also cover the cornea, which is the transparent front of your eye and rest on the sclera, which is the white of your eye. Remember that this contact lens is common nowadays.
Soft contact lenses are usually known for their wearing schedule or replacement frequency. You need to replace them daily or bi-weekly or monthly. In some cases, you can also replace them every three months or six months. The daily disposable contact lenses are the most common soft contacts.
You can find soft contact lenses in a variety of fittings, materials, designs, and powers to correct various types of vision. Soft contacts incorporate water just like a sponge and you need to keep them in contact lens solution so that they should not dry out.
With the advances in materials, you can find a new generation of soft contacts called silicone hydrogels. These contact lenses allow more oxygen to go through to your cornea than the other soft contact lens materials. This makes them suitable and healthier for your eye. These contacts were originally designed for extended wear, but these materials are now utilized for various types of soft contact lenses.
Contacts for astigmatism also called toric contact lenses, which are bifocal and multifocal, are made of soft materials. Special-effect and colored soft lenses designed to change the appearance or color of your eyes instead of correcting vision are called zero-powered lenses. You can use them to mask disfigurement or eye injury. Most contact lenses have a UV inhibitor to help to protect your eyes.
With gas permeable contact lenses or rigid gas permeable contact lenses, they have been around for longer than soft contacts, but some improvements have been done to allow more oxygen to go through the material. These contacts are smaller that soft contact and often rest within your cornea area.
You should remember that rigid gas permeable contact lenses come in a wide range of fittings, materials, designs, and power. There has been a decrease in their use, but some contact lens experts believe that rigid gas permeable contact offers a healthier option for those who want to wear them for long-term than soft contact lenses.
Also, these contact lenses are good at correcting irregularly-shaped eyes compared to soft contact lenses. Even better, they tend to be more durable, so you can replace them every six or twelve months. They can sometimes take a long period to get used to wearing them, though regular wearers often find them comfortable.
Contacts for astigmatism like bifocal and multifocal contacts are made up of gas permeable materials. Rigid gas permeable contact lenses are usually used for daily wear, though there has now been renewed interest in orthokeratology.
This technique is for overnight vision correction or corneal reshaping, so there are specially designed rigid gas permeable contact lenses which you can wear overnight and remove them during the day. Ideally, you want to change the shape of your cornea so that you can correct or reduce short sight. This alleviated the need for contact or eyeglasses during working hours.
Traveling with contact lenses
When you decide to go somewhere regardless of how you want to travel, you should have space in your bag for some eye care essentials. You need a supply of contacts that cover your entire journey and a few extras so that you don’t run out of supplies.
You should also get a supply of contact lens solution, your contact lens case, especially if you intend to wear bi-weekly or monthly disposable contact lenses and your eyeglasses in case you want to remove the contacts. Also, you need to take sunglasses with UVB and UVA protection and your contact lens prescription in case you want to purchase replacements.
It’s convenient to wear daily disposable contact lenses while traveling because you don’t have to pack any cleaning materials. They are also great if you don’t have good access to hygienic spaces while traveling.
It can be quite exhausting to travel long distances by car. At the end of your trip, your eyes can become tired. Therefore, to give your eyes a chance to rest, you need to ensure that you take regular breaks and change drivers.
It’s also crucial to wear sunglasses when you are traveling on sunny days because they can protect your eyes from UV rays and assist in reducing any potential development of macular degeneration and cataracts. Make sure that you wear them while driving to prevent your eyes from the sun reflection on your windscreen.
And, if you are driving on a hot day, there is a chance that you can use the air conditioner. But you need to be careful because the air conditioners can dry out your eyes, so you should use sunglasses to prevent this from happening. You can also have a clean cloth or towel that you can use to remove sweat from your face. This helps to prevent the sweat from getting into your eyes.