GPC is not a serious condition, but it is something that affects many contact lens wearers. It is annoying, difficult to treat, and can really be a bummer for contact lens lovers, especially the color contact lens lovers who never show their real eye color to anyone, because you have to discontinue the use of contacts if you really want to treat it.
GPC are little bumps inside your upper eyelids, which may or may not be visible to you, but will always be visible to your eye doctor under the microscope (they flip your eye lid and look at it). These bumps vary in degree, and can be mild to severe, but no matter the degree they are always irritating.
Symptoms: itchiness, especially when you remove the contact lenses, feeling of "sand" in your eyes, excessive mucous production, blurry vision, lenses that keep "riding up" in your eye. Not all symptoms need to be present but they can sometimes all be.
Causes: Hydrogel contacts appear to result in an overall prevalence of GPC of approximately 20%. Silicone hydrogel contacts may be more prone to GPC development, perhaps because of their mechanical stiffness or their higher propensity for deposition. Heat sterilization, poor cleaning, rough contact lens edges, and extended wearing times favor development of GPC. Increased frequency of contact lens replacement (especially daily disposables), rigorous cleaning (particularly with enzymes), peroxide disinfection, and decreased wear times appear to reduce the prevalence of GPC among users of hydrogel contacts.
Treatment: Discontinuing the contact lenses for a period varying from one week to several months, and using topical mast cell stabilizers and antihistamine combination solutions to treat the problem. Usually the lenses have to be replaced after you are allowed to wear them again because the ones from before will have too much protein deposit on them.
Important: One chemical that has been found to be related with GPC is a preservative in various contact lens solutions called thimerosal. You should read the labels of the contact lens solutions and make sure that that is not an ingredient or you may have allergic GPC as a result.
GPC are little bumps inside your upper eyelids, which may or may not be visible to you, but will always be visible to your eye doctor under the microscope (they flip your eye lid and look at it). These bumps vary in degree, and can be mild to severe, but no matter the degree they are always irritating.
Symptoms: itchiness, especially when you remove the contact lenses, feeling of "sand" in your eyes, excessive mucous production, blurry vision, lenses that keep "riding up" in your eye. Not all symptoms need to be present but they can sometimes all be.
Causes: Hydrogel contacts appear to result in an overall prevalence of GPC of approximately 20%. Silicone hydrogel contacts may be more prone to GPC development, perhaps because of their mechanical stiffness or their higher propensity for deposition. Heat sterilization, poor cleaning, rough contact lens edges, and extended wearing times favor development of GPC. Increased frequency of contact lens replacement (especially daily disposables), rigorous cleaning (particularly with enzymes), peroxide disinfection, and decreased wear times appear to reduce the prevalence of GPC among users of hydrogel contacts.
Treatment: Discontinuing the contact lenses for a period varying from one week to several months, and using topical mast cell stabilizers and antihistamine combination solutions to treat the problem. Usually the lenses have to be replaced after you are allowed to wear them again because the ones from before will have too much protein deposit on them.
Important: One chemical that has been found to be related with GPC is a preservative in various contact lens solutions called thimerosal. You should read the labels of the contact lens solutions and make sure that that is not an ingredient or you may have allergic GPC as a result.
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