What’s the biggest challenge most people have with their single use contact lenses? It’s end of day dryness. Why is it that one day lenses tend to feel drier than other contacts? And why has Acuvue recently introduced the Acuvue 1 Day Moist to their line of daily disposables?
By design, a single use contact lens is extremely thin and light. If you think about it, manufacturers are stamping out hundreds of thousands of one day contact lenses all the time. Therefore the overall quality per individual lens is going to be a little less than say a lens that is designed and manufactured for monthly replacement.
A one day lens only needs to hold up the eyes elements for about 16 hours maximum, so why would a lens manufacturer put forth the effort to make the lens as comfortable in the 16th hour as it was in the first or second hour? Current market trends are causing single use contact lens manufacturers to re-vamp their operations, which only means better contact lenses for you.
There have been two recent introductions in the one day contact lens market that are designed to address end of day dryness. The first is the Focus Dailies with MoistureLoc. Ciba added the moistureloc agent to their line of dailies recently to combat dryness issues. The lens maintains its moisture more so than the original line of focus dailies.
Even more recently, Acuvue revamped their 1Day to include the new label: Acuvue 1 Day Moist. The material of the lens is the same as the original 1Day, however Vistakon has used what they call Lacreon technology to essentially infuse the lens with moisture locking agents.
If you suffer from end of day dry eye while wearing your contact lens, you may want to ask your eye care provider about the Acuvue 1 Day Moist. As of late 2006, this lens is being rolled out slowly throughout the United States, so your eye care provider may not have access to it just yet. As always, this lens may not be a suitable fit for your eyes and prescription, only your eye care provider can determine that.
The Acuvue Moist is not the only advancement in one day contact lenses. Vistakon is one of many contact lens manufacturers, and the others are also working hard at producing the best contact lens for you.