Did you know that since 2007, 40% of contact lens wearers in England and Japan wear daily disposable contact lenses, but in the United States dailies only comprise 14% of the market?  See Contact Lens Spectrum for more information.  We haven't embraced daily disposable contact lenses in the US to their full potential, but here's why I think these other countries are getting it right.

1) Daily Lenses offer maximum comfort
Contact lenses get dry; it is just a fact of life.  Try putting a piece of plastic over your eye all day and why would we think they should be comfortable?  But daily lenses are the thinnest options on the market, and since you are opening a fresh pair every day, they will have no build up or deposits that plague extended wear lenses even with the best cleaning solutions.  Do you suffer from allergies?  The last thing you need to put on your eye is a lens that has been exposed to your allergens for the past 2 weeks.  A fresh lens will have collected no dust, pollen, or other allergen, so you will be getting maximum allergy relief.
I also love daily lenses for dry eye sufferers and 8+hour a day computer users.  Sometimes getting just 8-12 hours a day of comfortable wearing time is a success, and with dailies my average patient is getting 12-14 hours routinely.  With new materials like Acuvue's Trueye and Bausch and Lomb's new Biotrue 1-Day lenses, the amount of hydration and comfort with dailies continues to improve!

Daily lenses are individually packaged, so you always have a fresh lens and never need cleaning solution

2) Daily Lenses have less complications
If you have ever had an eye infection, you know the pain, discomfort, and blurry vision that comes along with it.  On top of all that, you are out of contact lenses and stuck in glasses for days to weeks.  The best way to prevent your risk of infection is to limit the amount of bacteria exposed to your eye, which is why a daily lens is such a great option.  With dailies, you have no cleaning to perform because you throw the lens away every night.  You only touch the lens one time, when you are putting it in that morning, so the risk of dirty hands contaminating the lens is much lower than a lens you wear for 2 weeks or a month. Studies report that daily disposable wearers are about half as likely to have moderate to severe bacterial infections than other soft lens wearers (link).

3) Daily Lenses offer better oxygen to the eye
The amount of oxygen transmissibilty in a daily contact lens (DO/T) is typically lower than some monthly silicone hydrogel lenses when you look at the numbers, but don't be fooled.  A monthly lens has to provide oxygen to your eyes for 30 days.  A daily lens only has to allow oxygen for one day, and  for 12-18 hours, your eye is going to be getting a lot more oxygen than it does through a conact lens that is a few wears old.  I hardly ever see signs of oxygen deprivation like corneal neovascularization, infiltrative keratitis, and corneal scarring with daily lens wearers.  What does that mean to you besides a happy optometrist?  You will be seeing better, with less redness and irritation than with other lens modalities.

A lot of patients ask me about Acuvue's Trueye marketing campaign declaring you will have whiter eyes. There is no bleaching here -- daily lenses just offer maximum oxygen and moisturization, preventing blood vessel growth (neovascularization) and a chronic "red eye" appearance that plagues dry eye sufferers and patients who are overwearing their lenses.

I know that daily disposable lenses can be a lot more expensive than older hydrogel lens options, but besides price tag, there are really no reasons to not be fitting dailies.  And for patients who want comfort, safety, and convenience, dailies can be more than worth a price difference.  Acuvue 1-Day Moist for Astigmatism has really increased the options for daily lenses in astigmatism patients, and for presbyopes I have had success with Cooper's Proclear 1-Day Multifocal lens.  There is a reason that daily wear is gaining ground (finally) in America-- up to 17% of contact lens fits in 2012 versus only 11% in 2009 (Contact Lens Spectrum).  Hopefully we can catch up with the rest of the world and embrace the best available contact lens technology at an even more increasing rate!

Let's face it, wearing contact lenses can be a very uncomfortable experience.  Think of a contact lens as a little piece of plastic that you are putting into your eye.  The higher your prescription, or if you have astigmatism, the thicker that piece of plastic is going to be.  It's amazing you can even stand wearing it for a few hours!

Contact lenses have come a long way in to improve their safety and  comfort since first being introduced mainstream in the 1970's.  With that being said, today's contact lenses can still provide major health risks (see THIS post) and cause significant dryness, pain, and comfort issues.  Here's a break down on how to get the BEST contact lens experience.

1) WEARING TIME
All contact lenses are going to lose their moisturization as the day goes on.  Typically, you can expect 12-14 hours of comfortable wearing time with today's soft contact lenses.  Some people can get more; some people can get less.  It all depends on your body's own chemistry and amount of tear film production.  Your work environment can also play a role.  On the computer all day?  Your contact lenses are going to be a lot dryer that the average person's, because we blink about 50% less during computer use.

Not everyone can sleep in contact lenses, and if you wake up with dry, uncomfortable eyes, discontinuing "extended wear" or overnight wear is the first change you need to make.  Think of sleeping in lenses as a special ability that only some, super moisturized eyes can take.  And remember, your brand of contact lens may not be approved to handle overnight wear without major medical risks. Only Air Optix Night and Day has the moisturization and oxygen transmission to the eye that meets FDA standards for a month of continual overnight wear.  If you don't wear this lens, then you need to be taking your lenses out at night, at least a few nights a week.

2) DISPOSAL SCHEDULE
All contact lenses have an expiration date that is determined after rigorous FDA studies that investigate safety and corneal health factors.  Your cornea is a delicate tissue with NONE of it's own blood vessels.  It gets all of its oxygen from the atmosphere.  Now you are going to put a piece of plastic over top of it, and slowly suffocate it for the next month.  Sounds crazy, right?  Wearing contact lenses is a dangerous activity, and should be treated with the utmost responsibility.  Your doctor will tell you how long your contact lenses are approved for, but the information is also readily available online.  The most popular monthly lenses are Air Optix, Biofinity, and Pure Vision.  If you wear Acuvue products, then the MOST you can wear your lens  is for 2 weeks.  Acuvue doesn't make any monthly products.  Even if you take them out EVERY night (like you are supposed to if you wear Acuvue lenses), you have to throw them away every 14 days!

With a few exceptions, most of today's soft contact lenses are either monthly, bi-weekly, or daily disposal.  No surprise here, but if your contact lenses are uncomfortable, then changing to a brand that you throw away more often will increase comfort.  A recent study published in Contact Lens Spectrum showed that 2 week disposal lenses (when thrown away every 2 weeks) consistently rated higher on vision quality, comfort, and dryness than monthly contact lenses.  Dailies are the ultimate for dryness and comfort issues.  If you are having difficulty with your contact lenses, often times changing to a lens that you throw away more often is going to solve the issue.  Nothing beats a fresh, new contact lens that you throw away every single day!

I have tried on a LOT of contact lenses, and Acuvue TruEye is the most comfortable lens I have worn thus far.  It is an excellent daily option for people with very intense dryness issues.

3) SOLUTIONS
Yes, solutions DO matter.  There's a reason that name brand solutions cost more than generics.  Let me reassure you, all contact lens solutions that you can purchase over the counter are approved for killing bacteria and pathogens.  The difference comes in the amount of preservatives and moisturizers.  Today's best contact lens solutions kill pathogens with less preservatives (these are toxic to your eyes!) and added moisturizers.  Try Opti-Free Pure Moist and Biotrue for great options.

If your contact lenses are still feeling uncomfortable towards the end of the month, try using a hydrogen peroxide solution for an extra intensive clean.  Clearcare solution will solve almost everyone's end of the month comfort issues, but you can use it every single night too for ultimate contact lens 'freshness'.  Just remember, you have to let the solution sit in the special case for at least 6 hours before you get any solution in your eyes!!