So you have decided that you would like to wear contact lenses and want to know what is involved. There are many factors that must be considered before contact lens wear becomes a reality.
In this day and age nearly everyone knows someone who wears contact lenses. Undoubtedly, stories come up about benefits and problems that were experienced. It is important to remember that contact lenses are plastic medical devices placed directly on the eye and are not as innocent as they are often thought to be. With proper care and awareness contact lenses can, and should, be safe and enjoyable for the wearer. Here are some things that are considered in the wearing of contact lenses.
Compatibility - Can I even wear contacts? - First of all, are contact lenses even a good idea for you? This is the first thing the doctor will help you determine. Some factors to consider are: maturity, hygiene, dry eye, allergies, pregnancy, harsh work environment and certain systemic diseases.
Lifestyle and vision goals – How you plan to use the lenses will be important. Factors such as sporting activities, overnight (extended) wear, and presbyopia (“over 40” reading problems) will be important in the choice of lens type.
Over 40 Vision – There are many options available to address the problem with aging vision:
Multifocal lenses come in various designs and offer different focus points on the lens. This type of lens allows both eyes to have some distance and some close range available.
Monovision works by correcting the dominant eye for distance and the other eye for reading or computer range.
Reading glasses can be used over distance contact lenses if convenience is not an issue.
Astigmatism – If the amount of astigmatism is large enough it may require the use of a toric lens. A toric lens has to line up the prescription accurately and consistently in order to offer good visual acuity.
Cosmetic contact lenses are available to change the appearance of the eyes and can be prescribed without power as well. These types of lenses can help temporarily change the color of the iris, portray Halloween themes, or even allow you to promote your favorite sports team. Certain cosmetic lenses can cover up disfigurement of the eye and/or block out annoying light to the pupil in very poorly seeing eyes.
Soft Contact Lenses: We fit and have trials for a wide variety of major brands of soft spherical, toric (astigmatism), and bifocal/multifocal lenses such as: Acuvue brands, Soflens 66, Purevision, Air Optix, Extreme H2O, Avaira, Biofinity, Proclear, Focus Night & Day, and more.
Rigid Gas Permeable (RGP) Contact Lenses: We fit and carry standard and bifocal/multifocal RGP’s. Also available is the Wave contact lens that is custom fit to the contour of your cornea.
Another exciting lens that we offer is the SynergEyes hybrid contact lens. It offers the best of both worlds: the sharp vision of a rigid gas permeable lens and the comfort of a soft lens. This is achieved by placing the rigid lens in the center with a soft lens skirt. This product line also has available correction for Keratoconus, corneal distortion, and bifocal needs.