The cornea of the eye is one of the few "breathing" organs of the body.  Hence, contact lens must be able to breathe in order for you not to experience the discomforts that many people encounter upon wearing contacts.  Some contacts are better for some people's eyes since some eyes are able to absorb oxygen better.  Unfortunately, not all eyes react positively to a foreign object like contact lens.  For some people, it takes some time for your eyes to adjust to direct contact with lenses.

Contact lens are a foreign object that somewhat block oxygen from being absorbed through the cornea.  A person who finds that contacts dry out their eyes too quickly will prefer soft or flexible disposable contacts.  On the upside, these soft contacts are very porous and allow more oxygen to get through.  The flip side of this feature is more natural light is able to get through as well.  The wearer usually finds that his prescription will be adjusted slightly less strong to accommodate this excessive light.  Also, the wearer usually is more sensitive to light and is advised to always wear sunglasses outside.

Another condition that happens when your cornea doesn't get enough oxygen is a blood shot eye.  A blood shot eye happens in response to the cornea looking for another way to get more oxygen.  Since the cornea is without blood vessels, the retina pumps up its veins in attempt to absorb more oxygen. This response can lead to other problems over time like corneal neovascularization and macular degeneration disease.

If you encounter pain and swelling in your eyes while you wear contacts, immediately let your regular physician or optometrist know.  These conditions are not natural for the eye and sometimes are caused by not properly caring for your lenses.  Routinely cleansing your lenses with solutions is very important to remove natural deposits on the lenses and keep your eyes healthy.  Special moisteners are available as drops for contact wearers.  Since saliva carries nasty germs, you shouldn't use your saliva to wash off or clean your contact lenses.  Another tip to keep your eyes from getting irritated while wearing lens is to always fresh makeup so that it doesn't flake into your eyes and slide between your lens and cornea.

Over 30 million Americans wear contact lens; two-thirds are female and 80% wear soft lens every day.  While most contact lens wearers believe contacts look better on them than glasses, the benefits of wearing contact lenses are only justifiable if you take good care of your contacts and your eyes.