Can you use eye medication while wearing lenses? I have occasional bouts of
iritis and am going through one now. My practice has been to put in the
drops, wait awhile and then re-insert the lenses. I haven't had a problem
with this. Is this an ok practice? How long does it take for the eye to
absorb the medication?
Coincidentally, this recent bout (haven't have one for well over a year)
came 2 days after seeing the optometrist. She had given me new lenses to
try. Once I got the iritis I decided to go back to old lenses for a few
days as I wanted to give the new ones a fair trial. In the 2 days I wore
them, I found them a lot more comfortable than the Focus N&D I have been
wearing. The label says Acuvue senofilcon A. Anyone have experience with
them?
Jane
Dom - 12 Nov 2005 11:12 GMT
> Can you use eye medication while wearing lenses? I have occasional bouts of
> iritis and am going through one now. My practice has been to put in the
> drops, wait awhile and then re-insert the lenses. I haven't had a problem
> with this. Is this an ok practice? How long does it take for the eye to
> absorb the medication?
Generally the answer is 'no' - mainly because preservatives in the
medication can 'concentrate' in the contact lens and cause mild toxicity
to the cornea. Secondly because the dosage of the medication itself may
be increased by the same process - which sometimes is desirable and
sometimes not.
You should wait 15 minutes after using medicated eye drops before
inserting CL's.
Dom
Dr. Leukoma - 12 Nov 2005 13:32 GMT
Senefilcon is the material for Acuvue Oasys. I've been fitting them
for the past several months. I cannot keep enough in stock.
Dom is correct about the eyedrops and contact lenses. Normally when
you instill a drop of medication into the eye, most of it runs out, and
the rest is in contact with the eye for only a short time. Anything
that becomes absorbed into the lens matrix will be in contact with the
eye for hours, thereby amplying the effect. In this case it will be
the steroid, and you would probably need to adjust your dosage to take
that into consideration, but virtually nobody will have a formula for
calculating what that should be.
A better solution would be to remove your contacts altogether and use
eyeglasses temporarily. Remember those ancient devices? You can get a
pair made up in about one hour.
DrG