Contact Lenses for Dry Eyes

When a contact lens wearer is having problems, "My contacts make my eyes feel dry" often is the complaint. Fortunately, there are numerous remedies.

Dryness is common in contact lens wearers and non-wearers alike. (If you don't wear contacts, you can read about dryness-relieving strategies in our article on dry eye syndrome.)

Thankfully, if you suffer from dry eye symptoms when wearing contacts, today there are many lens care products and new types of lenses available, and the right combination of these products often can improve the comfort of wearing contacts.

While "contact lenses for dry eyes" is not really a particular type of lens, certain lenses may relieve your dryness. Supplementing your contact lens wear with lubricating eye drops approved for use with contacts also can help. The contact lens cleaning and disinfecting products you use also should be evaluated, as different products may work better to keep your contacts moist and comfortable.

Fixing the problem starts with a visit to your eye care practitioner (ECP), because they are experienced in evaluating contact lens-related dry eye and determining the best solution to increase your wearing comfort. Sometimes contact lens wearers avoid talking to their eye doctor about discomfort for fear that they'll be told they can't wear contacts any longer. But with today's variety of contact lens products, the need to discontinue contact lens wear altogether is very unlikely.

Water Content of Contact Lenses

Soft contact lenses are made of a combination of hydrophilic ("water-loving") polymers that hold water to keep the lenses moist and comfortable. The percentage of water content in soft contacts can vary widely — from about 38 to 79 percent.

Intuitively, you might think that if your eyes are dry you need a higher-water-content lens, but in fact the opposite may be true. A high-water-content lens may lose much of its moisture more easily due to environmental influences.

Also, if your eyes are inherently dry and you wear high-water lenses, the lenses may be drawing tears away from your eyes to stay properly hydrated, thereby increasing your eye dryness. If this is the case, your eye doctor may switch you to a contact lens with a lower water content.

Silicone Hydrogel Lenses

Silicone hydrogel contact lenses are a relatively new class of contact lens materials with high oxygen permeability — a characteristic that's good for your cornea, which needs high levels of oxygen to maintain eye health and good vision.

Silicone hydrogels generally are lower in water content than traditional soft lenses (simply called "hydrogels"). If you are experiencing dryness problems with standard hydrogel lenses, especially toward the end of the day, your eye doctor may recommend switching to silicone hydrogel lenses. A small portion of the population, however, doesn't seem to find silicone hydrogels to be comfortable.

Lens Brands That Solve Dryness Problems

Some contact lens brands have been found particularly useful in addressing dryness issues. Proclear lenses (CooperVision, Inc.), for example, are the only contact lenses on the market to carry the FDA-approved labeling statement, "May provide improved comfort for contact lens wearers who experience mild discomfort or symptoms relating to dryness during lens wear."

Extreme H2O (Hydrogel Vision Corp.) is another brand of soft lenses than many ECPs report to be useful in solving dryness-related comfort issues.

Cleaning and Disinfecting Products

Not all contact lens cleaning, disinfecting and storage products — collectively called "contact lens solutions" — work well with all contact lenses. In particular, some newer silicone hydrogel contacts have been found less comfortable when used with certain commonly available solutions.

Your ECP probably gave you a sample of a compatible lens care product during your contact lens exam and fitting. But if you switched brands later on, you may have started trouble. And if you switched a store brand of contact lens solution, you may believe you bought a generic form of the product you were already using, but in reality you could be using a completely different product. [Read more about store brands.]

Talk to your ECP about which solutions you're using, and bring the bottles to your visit.

Preservative Intolerance

Another issue with contact lens solutions, even if you're using the correct products, involves multipurpose solutions. While these single-solution products are very convenient, compared with the "old days" when lens cleaners, disinfectants and storage solutions were in separate bottles, multipurpose solutions contain preservatives that occasionally can cause problems.

Some contact lens wearers can develop intolerance to the preservatives in multipurpose solutions, which can manifest itself as dryness. If your eye doctor suspects you are sensitive to preservatives in multipurpose solutions, he or she may recommend switching to a preservative-free, hydrogen peroxide-based lens care system.

Another option is to wear daily disposable contacts that require no care products at all.

Eye Drops

Sometimes contact lens-related dryness can be solved with occasional use eye drops known as comfort drops, rewetting drops or artificial tears.