There are several reasons why our patients want freedom from glasses or contact lenses:
Firstly, some people don’t like the effect that glasses have on their peripheral vision. This is particularly noticeable when they’re playing sport or driving.
Glasses often steam up or smudge giving patients glare and halos and a reduced quality of vision.
Glasses are also not very good at correcting significant levels of astigmatism, so this will lead to patients having a suboptimal level of vision even with glasses on.
People often misplace or break glasses which leads to frustrations and high costs.
On the other hand, contact lenses result in a different set of problems. Their prolonged use deprive the surface of the cornea of oxygen resulting in the growth of blood vessels into the cornea and occasionally scarring. They can also desensitise the cornea resulting in dryness, and a break-down of its surface. Finally – and rarely – their use can be associated with sight-threatening infections.