Karen Hurt heard about a new kind of contact lens--one made out of silicone--that changed her mind. These new lenses can be worn continuously for up to 30 days and nights without having to remove or clean them.

"A silicone hydrogel is a silicone-based contact. It's not made out of regular plastic that most contact lenses are made out of. And because of that, it allows six times more oxygen to the cornea than what normal soft contact lens allows," said Christine Sindt, M.D., UI Health Care eye specialist and director of the Contact Lens Clinic.

For Karen, the freedom of wearing contacts for a month straight was just what she needed.

"With three kids to get ready and up and going in the morning, this is one less thing for me to have to worry about. Not having to put them in or take them out or clean them, it's wonderful," she said.

Karen is not alone. Eye care specialists say 40-percent of contact lens wearers want to keep their lenses in at night and nearly just as many don't want to deal with the daily hassles of cleaning.

"It's driven by the patient who wants to have the convenience, and it's driven by the practitioners who are looking for a contact lens that is safer and more effective," Sindt said.

"They're very comfortable. They don't move around on me," said Karen. "I don't even know they're even in there."

That's just what the doctor--and the patient--ordered.

The new silicone hydrogel contact lens is FDA-approved. It costs a little more than soft lenses, but specialists say the cost equals out over a year's time because of the savings on cleaning products.

For more information:

Department of Ophthalmology: Contact Lens Clinic