There are numerous simple recipes illustrated in Ayurveda to correct many disorders. Here are few gruel recipes which are strongly recommended in digestive disorders. These are simple and effective remedies which can be prepared easily at home to correct the digestive disorder and also to replenish the lost nutrients.

Gruel recipes

1. In Indigestion

Ingredients:

Rice-1/2 cup

Water -4 cups

Long pepper- 2or 3

Ginger -1’’

Method of preparation:

Cook rice with recommended quantity of water with crushed ginger and salt. Powder long pepper and fry it in a spoon of cow’s ghee and add it to gruel. Consume this when it hot. This is very light to digest and relieves colic pain.

2. In Diarrhea

Ingredients:

Rice -1/2 cup

Water – 4 cups

Ginger paste – 1/2 spoon

Salt to taste

Pomegranate juice: ½ cup

Method of preparation

1. Cook rice with recommended quantity of water with ginger paste and salt

2. Add pomegranate juice when the gruel is warm. This gruel rehydrates body and supply energy . This soothes inflamed walls of intestine and controls bowel movements.
3. In flatulence

Ingredients:

½ cup of rice

4 cups of water

Haritaki (Terminalia chebula) – powder-1/2 spoon

Roots of pippali or long pepper

Ginger paste -1/2 spoon salt to taste

Method of preparation

Cook Rice, haritaki powder , roots of pippali and water together. Add salt to it.Consume this when it is warm. This relieves flatulence and regularizes the bowel movement

4. In indigestion due to over consumption of oily food

Ingredients:

½ cup rice

4 cups of water

Butter milk – 1 cup

Salt to taste

Method of preparation

Cook rice water and salt together. Add a cup of butter milk when it is little warm and consume it . This relieves indigestion, nausea and corrects digestion.

Biography of Dr.SavithaSuri

Dr.SavithaSuri has been an Ayurvedic Practitioner since 1989. After getting a graduation degree in ayurveda (Bachelor of Ayurvedic Medicine and Surgery) in 1988 from University of Mysore, India, she started practising ayurveda . Her articles about ayurveda have been published in news papers and websites. She is a regular health columnist to a regional news paper.

Dr.SavithaSuri lives in Mysore , Karnataka, India. She gives consultations in Mysore and also in Bangalore, the silicon valley of India.
http://www.ayurhelp.com
email doctor@ayurhelp.com

Getting sufficient essential fatty acids is importance in clearing acne. It’s these fatty acids that help control the production of androgens – the hormones that surge during the teen-age times, which causes excess sebum oil to clog your hair follicle and contribute to creating your acne.

The three fatty acids you need daily are omega-3, omega-6, and omega-9. You need more omega 6, olive oil, than omega 3.

When you are deficient in the essential fatty acids, you will have,

§ A weaken immune system
§ Inflammatory disorders
§ Poor skin
§ Skin eruptions that won’t heal
§ Increase sebum production causing acne
§ Sebaceous glands size increase

Eating essential oils is necessary to provide the right oils that are used in the sebaceous glands. These oils can come from straight vegetable oils or from oils in specific foods such as nuts and seeds.

Use flax seed oil (omega-3 oil) and olive oil (omega-6 oil) in your salad. These are the best oils to eat and are called polyunsaturated fatty acids. The other oil that is even better for you is called monounsaturated fatty acid, omega-9. This oil is found in avocados.

Most diets people have contain an excess of omega-6 oils, so mostly likely you need to concentrate on getting more omega-3 oils into your diet.

You can get omega-3 oil from,

§ avocados
§ sesame seeds
§ pumpkin seeds
§ walnuts
§ dark leafy green vegetables (spinach, mustard greens, kale)
§ wheat germ oil
§ salmon
§ sardines
§ albacore tuna

Or, you can take one to 4 tablespoon of flax seed oil, omega-3 oil, each day. This will give you the amount of omega-3 oil that your body needs to reduce or eliminate acne blemishes. You can add this oil to your morning cereal, soups, smoothies, salads and other liquid foods. Each tablespoon of flax seed oil contains about 100 calories.

You can get omega-6 oil from,

§ Flaxseed oil
§ Flaxseeds
§ grape seed oil
§ pistachio nuts
§ olives
§ olive oil
§ sunflower seeds
§ evening primrose oil
§ pumpkin seeds

Taking 2-3 tablespoons of omega-6 oil a day will give you the amount of this oil that you body needs. You can add olive oil and other oils into your salad with the flax seed oil.

You can get omega-9 oil from,

§ Olive oil
§ Avocados
§ Cashews
§ Almonds
§ Olives
§ sesame oil
§ pecans
§ pistachio nuts

Taking around 1 ½ tablespoon of olive oil per day will give you the omega-9 oil that your body needs.

Fish Oils

In addition to supplying your diet with omega-3 and omega-6 oils, you need to supplement your diet with fish oils. Fish oil contains EPA and DHA fatty acids.

Normally, enzymes in your body break down omega-6 into EPA and DHA fatty acids.

Eicosapentaenoic Acid (EPA)
Docosahexaenoic Acid (DHA)

These two fatty acids eventually change into prostaglandins.

What are prostaglandins?

Prostaglandins are chemical hormones that come from omega-3 and omega-6 oils and that help,

regulate every function in your cells and organs.

Postaglandins also keep androgen hormones in control so that excess sebum is not produce in the hair follicle, which results in acne.

However, eating plenty essential fatty acids may not insure that you produce enough EPA and DHA, which produce the essential prostaglandins.

It is critical for acne and more importantly for your health that you get enough EPA and DHA in your cells and organs so they can produce the required prostaglandins.

To increase the prostaglandins in your cell walls, it is necessary for you to take a fish supplement, which contains both the EPA and DHA.

Of course eating salmon, halibut, and mackerel twice a week will be a plus in providing your body with more EPA and DHA.

Include at least 20% of your diet calories as good fats – omega oils and fish oil. This is essential for controlling the excess activity of your hormones and reducing the inflammation of your acne.

Rudy Silva is a Natural Nutritionist. He is the author an acne e-book can be found at: http://www.acne-remedies.for–you.info
In addition you can get a free special acne facial cleansing report at: http://www.for–you.com/SkinCareTreatment

Contact lenses manufactured from silicone hydrogel represent the most important advance in soft contact lens technology in recent years. Wearers would obviouly prefer lenses they can sleep in with total safety, so it was only a matter of time before the industry developed a safe product for continuous wear. After years of ongoing development and testing, such lenses are now readily available for everone to wear at an affordable price. This article looks at what’s so special about silicone hydrogel lenses and why they might be just the right choice for you.

YEARS IN DEVELOPMENT

The concept of lenses made from silicone hydrogel was first proposed over 20 years ago. The potential benefits were clear but the technological challenge was as difficult as needing to combine oil and water to produce an optically clear product. Researcher organizations have to date invested considerable academic and financial resources to achieve the high performance soft lenses of today. They have done this quite simply because they see this material as the way forward and the ultimate standard of the future.

At the time of writing, silicone hydrogel lenses are available in the USA from four manufacturers: “Night & Day” and “O2OPTIX” from CIBA Vision, “Pure Vision” from Bausch & Lomb, and “Acuvue OASYS” and “Advance” from J&J Vision Care.

OXYGEN TRANSPORT

So what’s so special about silicone hydrogel as a lens material? Essentially, the great benefit of this material is it’s ability to transport oxygen to the eye and thus maintain proper eye health. Modern contact lens technology is all to do with oxygen permability, which is measured using the “Dk” index. And for optimal oxygen transmission, this must be as high as possible.

The Dk of traditional, non-silicone based hydrogel lenses is directly related to the amount of water that the material can hold, since oxygen dissolves into the water-component of the material and thus diffuses through the lens. The Dk in fact increases logarithmically with increasing water content. Water itself has a Dk of only 80, thus placing a ceiling on the Dk of convential materials, and the original soft contact lens material, polyHEMA, possesses a Dk of only around 10 (with a water content of about 38%).

However, in silicone hydrogels, the relationship between Dk and water content is the opposite. Here higher water content implies lower Dk. With these lenses Dk increases significantly as the silicone content – not water content – of the lens increases. The Dk values of silicone hydrogel contact lenses are much higher than those of older soft lens materials.

SLEEPING IN CONTACT LENSES

According to market data from CIBA Vision, 84% of soft contact lens wearers occasionally sleep with their lenses in, and one-third admit to doing this regularly. 25% of wearers of one to two-week disposable lenses with low oxygen transmissibility occasionally or routinely sleep in their lenses overnight. And 72% of soft contact lens wearers said they would prefer to be allowed to wear their lenses overnight provided it was safe.

Thus the demand for lenses with the capablities of silicone hydrogels is evidently very high with almost three-quarters of soft lens wearers wanting to be able to sleep in their lenses.

LENS HANDLING

Silicone hydrogel lenses are significantly more rigid than their conventional counterparts, due to the presence of silicone. This increased rigidity does possess some advantages, making the lenses markedly easier to handle and thus the ideal choice for wearers with a less delicate touch. There is a downside to this however in that the rigidity makes the lenses less prone to adopting the shape of the eye so readily, resulting in the possibility for some of reduced comfort.

REDUCED DEPOSITIONS

Historically, the deposition of proteins and lipids has been a problem with contact lenses. The amount of depositions is essentially linked to the duration of wear, the lens material and the tear composition of each individual wearer. With traditional lenses, a frequent replacement schedule greatly reduces the buildup of harmful deposits.

Silicone hydrogel contact lenses have been proven to offer major benefits in the reduction of protein and lysozyme deposition. Indeed, combined with the correct replacement schedule and appropriate care system, problems associated with protein deposition have become almost a thing of the past.

DRY EYES

A problem frequently encountered by wearers of traditional soft contact lenses is one of a feeling of discomfort and “grittiness” in the eyes towards the end of the day. It has been reported that after one week wearing silicone hydrogel lenses, the quantity of regular soft lens wearers in a particular study group who previously suffered significantly from end-of-day dryness, was reduced dramatically to only 13% of the sample.

LIFESTYLE BENEFITS

Silicone hydrogel contact lenses also provide some benefits that conventional lenses don’t. Continuous wear contact lenses can be particularly beneficial for use by members of certain professions, such as medical workers, police, the armed forces and firefighters who frequently work unpredictable and long hours.

Furthermore, an increasing numbers of contact lens wearers can now enjoy active outdoor lifestyles, enjoying pursuits such as camping and hiking where it is often difficult to handle and disinfect the lenses with the appropriate level of hygiene.

THE FUTURE FOR CONTACT LENSES

There is much evidence to suggest that, owing to their significant benefits over conventional soft lenses, silicone hydrogel lenses will ultimately, and sooner rather than later, displace other types of contact lens as the prefferred choice for both daily and overnight wear for the majority of contact lens wearers. Silicone hydrogel lenses provide a much improved physical performance, excellent handling properties and greater comfort. They might be considered as the ideal lens for general purpose use that exists today and are likely to become the new everyday standard.

BY DR. BIANCA TAVARES

Dr. Tavares is a medical consultant with wide-ranging experience and interests in both traditional and complementary medicine and health care.

She has a particular passion for disseminating quality medical information to the people who matter – the patients – and acts in an advisory capacity to numerous journals and health related web sites. Her writing about eye health and contact lenses can be found regularly at Contact Lens Advisor.

This article is copyright by Dr Bianca Tavares. It can be reprinted freely online as long as the entire article and this resource box are included.

B VITAMINS

Thiamin (B1); Riboflavin (B2); Niacin (B3/B4);
Pantothenic Acid (B5); Pyridoxine (B6);
Biotin (B7); Inositol (B8); Folic Acid (B9);
Para-aminobenzoic Acid (10); Choline (B11);
Hydroxy / Cyanocobalamin (B12)
Pangamic Acid/ Calcium Pangamate (B15)

The vitamin B family consists of 15 different B vitamins. B Vitamins help us use energy. Its like putting a sandwich up against your forehead. Not going to do you any good is it? All B vitamins are all required for different stages of the process whereby energy is released from the food we eat every day.

Vitamin B-1 (Thiamine): RDA 1.2 MG

Vitamin B-1 is a water soluble vitamin. It is known to be beneficial to the nervous system and positive mental state. B-1 aids digestion and promotes growth. Things such as cooking vegetables, drinking alcohol or caffeine, and even antacids can destroy this essential vitamin.

Its main role is to break down carbohydrates from food and convert them into sugar
Thiamine is destroyed by alcohol, so many alcoholics are thiamine deficient
Thiamine is found in pork, sunflower seeds and peanuts
Thiamine is added to many cereals

Vitamin B-2 (Riboflavin): RDA 1.7 MG

This easily absorbed water soluble vitamin is needed for tissue repair and healthy skin. It also helps the body use oxygen and aids in the formation of healthy antibodies and red blood cells.

Helps body release energy from proteins, carbs and fats
Food sources include milk, cheese, yogurt, beef, and green vegetables
Riboflavin is destroyed by light-if you have breads that contain riboflavin, keep them in the dark

Vitamin B-3/4 (Nicain/Niacinamide): RDA 20 MG

Water soluble Niacin is important to the brain’s functions, and in promoting healthy skin, nervous and digestive systems. Niacin is also a natural cholesterol-lowering agent.

Provides energy for cell tissue growth
Food sources are chicken, fish, veal, certain cereals and liver
The body can produce niacin from tryptophan which is found in milk and eggs
If you have a diet high in tryptophan, your need for niacin is reduced

Vitamin B-5 (Pantothenic Acid): RDA 10 MG

Our body’s adrenal glands and digestive system depend on B-5. It helps in cell building and maintaining normal growth. It is believed to be a factor in helping the body fight physical stress.

In association with coenzyme A, it helps to convert nutrients to energy
Can lower cholesterol and some people say it enhances their athletic abilities
Food sources include yeast, liver, eggs, peas, peanuts, lean meats and legumes

Vitamin B-6 (Pyridoxine): RDA 2 MG

Pyridoxine, this water soluble vitamin is needed to help keep teeth, gums, blood cells and our nervous stysem funtioning helthily. B-6 plays an important role in converting fats, proteins and carbohydrates into usable energy for your body. B-6 is an essential B-Vtiamin that the human body needs to stay in a healthy state. It can help protect the body in helping to form antibodies. B-6 also plays a role in the body’s potassium and sodium balance.

Uses protein to build body tissue and metabolizes fat
Food sources include chicken, beef liver and blackstrap molasses
It is necessary for the production of antibodies and red blood cells

Vitamin B-7 (Biotin): RDA 0.3 MG

Water soluble Biotin helps keep your skin and circulatory system in a healthy state. It is also needed to break down fats and proteins. Biotin plays a role in maintaing healthy hair and helps other B-Vitamins work better. B-7 is essential for healthy skin.

Metabolizes protein and fat
Enables the body to absorb vitamin C
Lack of biotin in the diet can lead to eczema and hair loss
Food sources include fruit, nuts, brewers yeast, peanut butter cauliflower and egg yolks

Vitamin B-8 (Inositol): RDA 40 MG

Inositol is a B-Factor in the B-Vitamin family. Inositol aids in fat breakdown and offers nourishment to brain cells and metabolizes fats and cholesterol. Inositol also plays an important part in the health of cell membranes especially the specialized cells in the brain, bone marrow, eyes and intestines. Inositol is said to promote healthy hair, hair growth, and helps in controlling estrogen levels and may assist in preventing breast lumps. It may also help reduce blood cholesterol levels.

Vitamin B-9 (Folic Acid/Folate): RDA 0.4 MG

Folic acid is important for the formation of new red blood cells and aids in the converting go proteins into energy. It is necessary for the growth and division of body cells. Folic Acid is also very important in preventing birth defects related to the spine and brain. A definecy of folate can lead to many major help problems.

Potential cancer fighter because it produces red blood cells and genetic material in cells
Pregnant women must get adequate amounts of folic acid or there is risk of serious birth defects
Heavy drinkers and women on birth control pills have a high risk of becoming deficient in folic acid
Food sources include green leafy vegetables, legumes, liver, peanuts and bananas

Vitamin B-10 (Para-aminobenzoic Acid): RDA 25 MG

Water soluble PABA is important in the break down of protein. It has important sun screening properties and helps keep the skin healthy and smooth. PABA is a factor in helping to form folic acid. PABA is used in sun protection lotions to help reduce and protect you from sunburn.

Vitamin B-11 (Choline): RDA 200 MG

Also known as amanitine, lipotropic factor. An active constituent of lecithin, Choline is a water soluble member of the Vitamin B complex. It is not a true vitamin as it is synthesized in the liver. Choline helps assists in the correct stabilizing and metabolism of fats. Without Choline, fats can frustrate metabolism by becoming trapped in the liver.

Vitamin B-12 (Hydroxy/Cyanocobalamin): RDA 0.006 MG

Vitamin B-12 also known as the “red vitamin”, helps play a role in building rich blood and in the development of your body’s red blood cell growth. B-12 is also important for the nervous system. Vitamin B-12 plays an important role in concentration, balance and memory. It is hard to digest so we need to ingest much higher amounts than the RDA in order to absorb enough. It’s found only in animal foods, so a supplement may be needed to aquire the RDA

Vitamin B12 is stored in the liver, kidneys and other body tissues
It may take years of a vitamin B12 deprived diet to show signs in a persons health
Reduces fatigue and memory loss
Food sources include meat, fish, eggs and dairy products

Vitamin B-15 (Pangamic Acid/ Calcium Pangamate): RDA 25 MG

Vitamin B15 is a water-soluble vitamin. It is not a vitamin in the strict sense because it has not been proven to be an essential requirement for the body. It detoxifies the by-products of human metabolism, assists in the regulation of hormones, extends cell life and is an instant oxygenator. Pangamic acid also has antioxidant properties, which may help explain why it is so highly touted for its ability to confer protection against urban air pollutants, stimulate increased immune system response, lower blood cholesterol levels, protect the liver from the ravages of alcohol, cure fatigue, and ward off hangovers, Vitamin B15′s effect is improved when taken with vitamin A and vitamin E.

A convenient way to get you’re recommended amount of the B vitamins is to take a high quality vitamin B complex supplement while continuing to eat a variety of the recommended foods above. A vitamin B supplement will help with a vast array of health issues including promoting good eyesight, a good immune system, strong nails and hair and a healthy nervous system. It can also prevent shingles, cancer, physical stress, heart disease, high cholesterol, neurological damage such as memory loss and mood changes as well as birth defects.

Signs that you may be vitamin B deficient include:

mental problems
heart palpitations
indigestion
chronic fatigue
Paranoia
fear that something dreadful is about to happen
nervousness
ADD
irritability
feeling of uneasiness
insomnia
restlessness
tingling in hands fingers and toes
rashes
crying spells, inability to cope

Article Source : http://www.online-health-source.info/Vitamins-and-Supplements/Vitamin-B-Family/

Tyler D Falls

More than 18 million people in the United States have diabetes. And nearly one-third of them are undiagnosed. This can be devastating, as diabetes is the main cause of kidney failure, limb amputation, and new onset blindness in American adults.

People with diabetes are also two to four times more likely than people without diabetes to develop heart disease. In fact, 65 percent of diabetics die from heart attack or stroke.

Diabetes mellitus is a condition in which the amount of glucose (sugar) in the blood is too high because the body cannot use it properly. Glucose comes from the digestion of starchy foods such as bread, rice, potatoes, chapatis, yams and plantain, from sugar and other sweet foods, and from the liver which makes glucose.

Diabetes is a disorder that affects the way your body deals with the foods you eat. Normally, carbohydrate foods are broken down into the sugar glucose, which travels in the blood (hence the name blood sugar) until it reaches your cells, where it is taken in and used for growth and energy. For this to happen, however, the hormone insulin must be present. Produced by the pancreas, insulin acts as a key that unlocks cells so that they can receive blood glucose.

Insulin works like a key to open the door of the cells so glucose – the fuel you get from food – can come inside and be converted into energy – cause serious complications and premature death. Insulin is vital for life. It is a hormone produced by the pancreas that helps the glucose to enter the cells where it is used as fuel by the body.

The main symptoms of untreated diabetes are increased thirst, going to the look all the time – especially at night, extreme tiredness, weight loss, genital itching or regular episodes of thrush, and blurred vision.

In diabetes, either the pancreas may produce insufficient insulin, or the body has lost its ability to use it effectively (insulin resistance). Glucose builds up in the blood, overflows into the urine, and passes out of the body without fulfilling its role as the body’s main source of fuel.
Two types of diabetes:

Type 1 diabetes develops if the body is unable to produce any insulin. This type of diabetes usually appears before the age of 40. It is treated by insulin injections and diet and regular exercise is recommended. Type 2 diabetes develops when the body can still make some insulin, but not enough, or when the insulin that is produced does not work properly (known as insulin resistance). In most cases this is linked with being overweight. This type of diabetes usually appears in people over the age of 40, though in South Asian and African-Caribbean people often appear after the age of 25. However, recently, more children are being diagnosed with the condition, some as young as seven.

Type 2 diabetes is treated with lifestyle changes such as a healthier diet, weight loss and increased physical activity. Tablets and/or insulin may also be required to achieve normal blood glucose levels.

The main aim of treatment of both types of diabetes is to achieve blood glucose, blood pressure and cholesterol levels as near to normal as possible. This, together with a healthy lifestyle, will help to improve wellbeing and protect against long-term damage to the eyes, kidneys, nerves, heart and major arteries.
Managing Diabetes: Begin with the ABCs

The National Diabetes Education Program suggests that you reduce your risk of heart disease and stroke by working with your health care team to monitor three critical factors, which they have named the Diabetic ABCs.

“A” is for the A1C test.

This is a number that shows how well your blood glucose has been controlled over the last 3 months. Bad glucose control can hurt your eyes, kidneys and feet. The goal for most people is an A1C of less than 7. It should be checked at least twice a year.

A 1998 research study showed that increased in blood pressure could be prevented significantly by goji’s master molecule polysaccharides. Polysaccharides are very long-chain sugar molecules that provide nourishment for macrophages, the large white blood cells which are an important component of the body’s defense system against invading microbes and the malignant cells which form tumors.

Four polysaccharides discovered in Goji berries have not been found in any other fruit. The Goji polysaccharides enhance the body’s production of human growth hormone (HGH), which helps build muscle and repair skin cells. The LBP polysaccharide complex unique to Goji berries has been found to be a powerful secretagogue – a substance that stimulates the secretion of human growth hormone (HGH) by the pituitary gland.

One research study in China showed that the LBP polysaccharide facilitated the proliferation of stem cells and increased the number of monocytes in bone marrow. The LBP polysaccharide helps the monocytes convert to matured leukocytes.

“B” is for blood pressure.

The goal for most people is 130/80. High blood pressure can cause heart attack, stroke and kidney disease.

“C” is for cholesterol.

Bad cholesterol (LDL) can oxidize and clog blood vessels, causing heart attack or stroke. Good cholesterol (HDL) helps to lower bad cholesterol. The goal for most people is LDL under 100 and HDL over 40.

Goji contains eta-sitosterol, which has been shown to lower cholesterol levels. Its antioxidants keep cholesterol from oxidizing and forming arterial plaques. Goji increases exercise tolerance, stamina, and endurance. It also helps to eliminate fatigue, especially when receiving from illness.

Katrina Coyoca is a staff writer for Goji Juice Review, a leading information resource for news and articles about goji juice. For more information about goji, please visit Goji Juice.

Developments in the field of contact lens technology are producing ever better contact lenses that are increasingly convenient to wear throughout the whole gamut of vision conditions and lifestyles. Bifocal contact lenses are today available to correct presbyopia, a common problem in the over-40 age group.

Presbyopia is a vision condition in which they eyes are not able to focus clearly on near objects. It usually begins after the age of about forty when the lenses in the eye start reducing in flexibility. Presbyopia affects around 90 million adults in the USA alone and about one in four patients passing through an optometrist’s door will suffer from it.

Symptoms of presbyopia include difficulty in reading, difficulty in seeing in low lighting conditions and, occasionally, headaches.

Traditionally these vision problems were addressed with the old-fashioned reading glasses. Or existing eyeglass wearers could opt for bifocal eyeglasses. However the use of modern contact lenses for use with presbyopia has some distinct advantages beyond their cosmetic appeal. For example they can be well suited to other aspects of a wearer’s lifestyle such as sporting activities, exercising or using a computer.

Recently, contact lenses for correcting presbyopia have become available in more convenient types such as disposable or frequent replacement varieties. Today these are very popular lens types providing obvious benefits for the wearer.

HOW CONTACT LENSES CORRECT PRESBYOPIA

From a technical perspective, there are three distinct ways by which contact lenses can be used to correct presbyopia, each with advantages and disadvantages for particular types of patient. But the important thing here is that there is a choice and each wearer is likely to find one method best suited to their unique situation. The different contact lens methods are as follows:

MONOVISION

The monovision technique involves using in one eye a lens for seeing near objects and in the other eye a lens for seeing distant objects. Many people find that monovision works very well for them. It relies on the brain’s ability to selectively process and combine information from the best available sources in order to provide the clearest possible vision. In some instances, the optometrist might employ a bifocal lens in one eye and a normal distance lens in the other. The main problem associated with monovision is the apparent loss of depth of vision for some patients.

BIFOCAL CONTACT LENSES

As with traditional bifocal eyeglasses, each lens in bifocal contact lenses possesses two powers – one for seeing near objects, the other for distant objects. Some types of bifocal lenses when magnified look a little like a bull’s eye with an central inner zone surrounded by the outer zone. The drawback to this type of lens is that in certain conditions of reduced lighting, the vision might not always be as sharp in certain areas.

MULTIFOCAL CONTACT LENSES

Multifocal contact lenses work very much like the progressive lenses for eyeglasses. These lenses possess several zones of differing power in order to assist the eye gradually as it changes its focus on different objects at different distances. Therefore these lenses are designed to function well for seeing near, intermediate and distant objects. Their drawbacks are typically the same as for bifocal contact lenses, with occasional loss of visual acuity.

Bifocal lenses are available in two basic design types, ‘Translating’ and ‘Simultaneous’, the essential characteristics of which are as follows:

TRANSLATING BIFOCAL LENSES

Another name for the translating lens type is an ‘alternating lens’. Gas Permeable bifocal lenses are regularly of this type. Their usage is very much like that of traditional bifocal eyeglasses. The wearer will look through one zone for distance vision then ‘translate’ to look through the other zone for near vision. Both zones aren’t looked through at the same time.

SIMULTANEOUS BIFOCAL LENSES

The majority of soft bifocal contact lenses on the market are of the ‘simultaneous’ type. As the name implies, with simultaneous lenses the wearer actually looks through the various powers of the lenses at the same time. What happens is that the brain steps in and ‘suppresses’ the power or powers, which aren’t needed at that particular time in order to see clearly. There exist further subdivisions of this lens type, but we won’t go into the details in this brief overview.

As with all contact lens selection and wear, choosing the right type of bifocal lens depends equally as much upon the wearer’s unique lifestyle as his unique vision characteristics. For example a patient who regularly undertakes sporting activities will have different needs from one who only needs to wear them socially or for use at work.

However, the success of adopting bifocal contact lenses relies very much on the expectations of the wearer who should realize that, almost by definition, bifocal lenses are very much a compromise and that he or she is never going to regain the acuity of vision in all environments that they had when younger. In most cases this is perfectly acceptable and bifocal lenses have now earned their place in the optometrist’s ever-expanding repertoire.

BY DR. BIANCA TAVARES

Dr. Tavares is a medical consultant with wide-ranging experience and interests in both traditional and complementary medicine and health care.

She has a particular passion for disseminating quality medical information to the people who matter – the patients – and acts in an advisory capacity to numerous journals and health related web sites. Her writing about eye health and bifocal contact lenses can be found regularly at Contact Lens Advisor.

This article is copyright by Dr Bianca Tavares. It can be reprinted freely online as long as the entire article and this resource box are included.