5 Important Facts About Hybrid Contact Lenses

There are types of contact lenses that are specifically suited for very specialized eye conditions.  

If you would ask someone about contact lenses, it is pretty apparent that what they will say and describe are those of regular contact lenses.

But what a lot of people don’t know is that there are new kinds of lenses that are newly discovered.

This article will cover five important facts about the most advanced, if not the most modern innovation in terms of eye care, known in the industry as the hybrid contact lens.

What are Hybrid Contact Lens?

Hybrid lenses have central zone made of a rigid gas permeable lens material.

It is surrounded by a zone or what is also called as “skirt”. Skirt is formulated with a soft hydrogel or silicone hydrogel material which might be the reason why some people who need contacts for astigmatism deem hybrid contact lenses as the right choice for them because of the ease and comfort that these hybrids give to their eyes.

Hybrid are specially made for those people who suffer from keratoconus and other irregular cornea conditions.

When successfully fitted, hybrid contact lenses provide the best of both types of contact lenses for astigmatism — the very sharp vision of gas permeable (GP) lenses and comfort that’s comparable to wearing toric soft lenses.

Discovery of Hybrid Contact Lenses

The first hybrid was invented by the Precision Cosmet and it was named the Saturn II. The men behind the first ever discovered hybrids were Erikson and Neogi who later gained FDA approval for their lenses and appeared on the market in 1984.

The next generation of hybrids were produced in the next few years, however, a combination of poor durability, reproducibility and fitting challenges, including lens adherence, meant these lenses never became mainstream and were largely used to troubleshoot keratoconic patients with RGP tolerance issues.

It wasn’t until 2005 that it was reintroduced in the market again. According to an article published by the Optician, “SynergEyes Inc in California was single-handedly responsible for the rebirth of the modern hybrid when in 2005 it launched SynergEyes A for the correction of myopia and hyperopia with moderate to high astigmatism and the KC, for use with irregular corneas and keratoconus.”

It was said that these first generation lenses proved to be “very durable and popular, especially in the hospital-fitting arena, giving clear vision and superior comfort to more challenging fits.”

With the advent of hybrid contact lens, people are becoming curious. If you are one of those people who want some information about these lenses, here are the five important facts about hybrid contact lenses that can purposely help you in your endeavor to understand these lenses.

1. Advantages of Hybrids

The comfort of skirt in hybrids ultimately permit the best comfort unlike any other lens.

As what the AOA found, these lenses also have the tendency to center well due to “the large overall diameter, providing stable vision in both astigmats and presbyopes.”

Hybrids are ideally good for astigmats and presbyopes for the lens have the sensational optics by toppling any corneal irregularity present with the help of the soft lens skirt. 

To reiterate, hybrid contacts are commonly suitable for people who have astigmatism, as mentioned.

With hybrids, you can benefit from the clear, crisp, great vision, that is most often regarded as similar as wearing glasses.

With the soft lens skirt, you have the comfort of a soft lens which makes your eyes not dry up and breathe with ease.

Hybrids allows more oxygen to go through to the eye.

If you’re a person who does a lot of physical activities, either recreational and sports, hybrid lenses have lesser risk from being ejected or from coming off your eyes during intense body movements, because these lenses are about the same size as hydrogel and silicone hydrogel lenses and have thinner edges than gas permeable lenses which have tight clasp around your eyes.

In terms of the expenses with hybrids, the cost is at par with regular soft multifocal and GP multifocal contact lenses which is not a lot.

It is said that the hybrids are more durable than any other lenses, which exempts them from the standard requirement of frequently replacing them as much as needed.

2. Disadvantages of Hybrids

If you suffer from lenticular astigmatism, hybrids are not for you. Since hybrids are very specialized, diagnostic fitting is essentially required.

If you are to guess it, this takes more time, and the price will be higher than a regular contact lens fitting.

Hybrid lenses require some training and education for correct use. The insertion, removal and care of the contact lens is different.

If a patient is not agreeable to learn these new techniques, hybrid lenses may not be the best choice.

Even if the lens fit is perfect, there is a possibility of the hybrid lens flattening the cornea over time.

Which needs requires the users to have the need to adjust to the lenses. And everytime you remove or stop wearing your hybrids for a long time, chances are you will be needing to make some re-adjustment.

You will have to do this process again and again if you are the type of wearer who needs a break from them every once in awhile.

Fitting hybrid contact lenses, like fitting gas permeable contacts, takes more time and expertise than fitting soft contact lenses.

They are more complicated than you might think since they are not like the regular ones, since they are specifically custom-made for each wearer’s eyes.

3. Lens Care of Hybrids Aren’t as Complicated as You Might Think 

It might seem like it, but hybrid lens care is just like any ordinary lens care. All it needs is the regular and standard cleaning practice as the regular ones.

All readily available soft lens chemical disinfection systems can be used with hybrids.

The authors’ preference would be for MPS over hydrogen peroxide. RGP lens care solutions are contraindicated.

Should more effective cleaning be required a soft lens daily cleaner can be used. Soft lens comfort drops can be used as necessary; ideally preservative free and instilled into the bowl of the lens before application. 

4. Suitable Candidates for Hybrid Lenses are Astigmats or with Cornea Irregularities

Since hybrids are very specialized, and wearer’s have their own specific fit that is drawn from their own eye shape and are only appropriated as their own.

Ideal and suitable candidates for hybrids are low to high astigmats, presbyopic astigmats, and those soft toric patients who don’t have the same clear vision capacity or that same level of clarity as with their spectacles.

On top of that, they concluded that “hybrid contact lenses may be an option for people needing vision correction for problems such as astigmatism, keratoconus or presbyopia.”

In addition to that, people in the sports industry or anyone who has a job that requires them to constantly move around, hybrids are best suited for you since you need an enhanced vision for your field.

5. The Application of Hybrids Takes Precision

Normally, how you put on a hybrid is just similar to any other soft lenses however deliberately and with precision.

The basic application and recommended amount of unpreserved solution should be applied to the lens before you place it on your eye.

Due to the more rigid nature of the lens, some people find it easier to support the lens with more than one finger and lean over the lens and place it onto the eye from below.

As for the way you remove the hybrids, you will be needing to dry your hands as well.

Essentially, some contact lens wearers tend to forget to dry their hands first after washing them.

The reason why your fingers should be dried with a lint free tissue or towel is so that you won’t cause any eye infection.

With these five important facts about hybrids, you can gather the basic information that you need and use them for future reference.

Reference:

https://www.aoa.org/Documents/optometric-staff/Articles/Hybrid%20Lens%20Basics%20Article.pdf

https://www.healthhub.sg/live-healthy/141/contact_lenses_facts

https://www.allaboutvision.com/contacts/torics.htm

https://www.opticianonline.net/cet-archive/4659

https://www.clspectrum.com/issues/2017/june-2017/keeping-hybrids-in-focus