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As a long time contact lens user and an eco-minded person I’ve been wondering for a long time if this is something I should change for something less wasteful. I’ve been wearing contacts since I’ve turned 15 or 16 (can’t really remember, but definitely since my teens), so it has been about 30 years of contact lenses. I started with yearly lenses (yep, absolutely not advised these days, they don’t even make those anymore I believe) and then switched to monthly lenses. They are better but not as healthy as the daily or weekly lenses, which I have been refusing for a long time for environmental reasons (and the cost of them). Lately, I have also noticed that my eye-sight is changing as I age. I’ve been short-sighted since my childhood, but now I’m noticing signs of long-sightedness. Which obviously brings the question: where do I go from here? Do I change contacts? Add reading glasses on the top of contacts? Or shall I just go for laser eye surgery, instead? Laser eye surgery has been always on my mind, but until now, it wasn’t really a priority. Although, if I decided to get it done, I’m pretty sure I will think: I should have done this much much earlier. But then, it’s never too late. So ahead of making this decision, I thought about how contact lenses versus laser eye surgery compares in terms of environmental impact. Are contact lenses or laser eye surgery is the greener choice? Let’s see.
Environmental Impact Of Contact Lenses
Contact lenses are made from hydrogel or silicone hydrogel which are both plastic materials. Unfortunately, a lot of users just flush them down sinks or toilets, which then contributes to micro plastic pollution as well as harms marine life because they end up in waterways. There are options and places to recycle them (or at least the packaging) but the drop off points aren’t widely available and we all know just how impractical that is. Some opticians have their own recycling scheme but even if you make the effort to return used contact lenses – we don’t know what happens them after that. We do know, though, that only a percentage of plastic that CAN BE recycled will GET recycled.
Another issue is the chemical footprint of the contact lenses. The saline and storage solutions used for cleaning and storing them contain preservatives and are packaged in single-use plastic bottles. Plus manufacturing and shipping them.
Environmental Impact Of Glasses
Same thing happens with glasses – although they are designed to serve you longer than the contact lenses, they are still mostly made of pure, virgin plastic. And of corse accidents happen – they never last as long as you’d like them to last. The average pair of glasses lasts about two years before needing replacement. Then you can bin them, or again, find a way to recycle them.
Another issue is of course, that most glasses are made in… did you guess? Of corse, in China. So packaging and shipping needs to be chalked up to the overall environmental impact.
Environmental Impact Of Laser Eye Surgery
Overall, laser eye surgery, like that offered by Optegra is winning over the corrective eyewear options.
Firstly, laser eye surgery provides a long-term solution without the need for any corrective eyewear after surgery. This saves a lot of future waste, eliminates manufacturing and shipping emissions associated with corrective eyewear as well.
True, the environmental impact of laser eye surgery is not zero, there is a need for the advanced equipment to be built, but the waste associated with this (as well as the regular disposable medical wear for example) is still way less waste compared to contact lenses and glasses.
So all in all, when we think about the whole of the process from manufacturing, shipping and usage – laser eye surgery has a lower environmental impact compared to my contact lenses. That’s all the energy, water, and fossil fuels included that would be required when it comes to manufacturing, transport and waste management.
What Will I Decide to Do?
I guess from the above, it’s pretty clear what’s the best solution for me going forward. Like I said, it’s never too late and I sort of wish I thought about this much earlier. I’m now off to explore different surgery options and clinics. If you have any experience with laser eye surgery, do share it with me – I’d love to know how you’re getting on, this will help me to make an even more informed decision.