Understanding Prosthetic Contact Lenses

Although the term commonly is not used -- certainly not by the general public -- contact lenses technically can be considered prosthetic devices.  Through this article, you will be presented with some basic information about how contact lenses can be considered prosthetic devices.

What is Meant by a Prosthetic Device

Generally speaking, when a person thinks of something being a prosthetic device, a person thinks of something like an artificial leg or arm -- something to that effect.  Generally speaking, a person does not relate a prosthetic device with a person’s vision unless a person has had a serious injury or disease and has lost his of her eye.  The prosthetic device that is considered in such an instance is a replacement eye.

You do need to keep in mind that a prosthetic device can also be defined as a device or something along those lines that is designed to supplement a defective body part.  Therefore, and with that in mind, if a person has vision problems -- a defective eye (defective body part) -- contact lenses that are used to supplement the defective body part (here, the eye) can be considered a prosthetic device.

A More Cosmetic Approach to Prosthetic Contact Lenses

As we have discussed, any device that can be construed to supplement a defective body part -- here, contact lenses -- can on some level be construed to be a prosthetic device.  In some instances, contact lenses are being utilized no so much to correct a vision problem but to correct an appearance problem associated with a person’s eyes.

In the vast majority of instances when contact lenses -- prosthetic contact lenses, if you will -- are being used to mask over a “defect” (so to speak) the defect is what is perceived as being an unflattering eye color.  People are drawn to contact lenses in some instances in order to enhance or improve their appearances (at least in their own minds) by altering (many times rather significantly) the coloring of their eyes.

There are also some very limited instances when a person has had some more superficial damage done to his or her eye or eyes and contact lenses are utilized to mask over (at least to some degree) a defect that may be lingering following the injury that gave rise to the damage in the fist instance.  While this does happen, this is not a frequent use of so-called prosthetic contact lenses, at least at this point in time.

Finally, some blind people who have “discolored” or “colorless” eyes (which is the case in some instances) are taking to using prosthetic contact lenses to make their own eyes appear more “real.”  This allows a blind person to be more confident about his or her appearance and to avoid masking his or her eyes all of the time with dark glasses (which has been a common practice in the past).