Contact Lenses
A good contact lens fit starts with a thorough eye exam to ensure the most up-to-date prescription and rule out any pre-existing conditions that could interfere with contact lens wear. We will determine the best fitting lens based on your lifestyle needs, the shape and health of your eye.
We perform follow up visits and then make any necessary changes in the contact lenses to get you the best possible fit. We teach all our patients proper contact lens care and also possible consequences if proper care is not taken. Then we continue with long-term follow-up to monitor the condition of the lenses and to ensure that proper hygiene is being maintained.
Toric Lenses for Astigmatism
Astigmatism is a condition that causes blurred vision (in some cases double vision) because rather than being round, the front of the eye (the cornea) has two curves instead of one, therefore, having two focal points instead of one. This makes it hard for traditional contact lenses to fit and therefore requires specialized contact lenses such as toric lenses or rigid gas permeable lenses (RGPs).
Toric contact lenses are designed to correct astigmatism and custom made to fit the eye of the patient. Most are made of soft material designed to stay in place on the eye, however in some cases, when the rotation of the lens (due to blinking and eye movement) can’t be stopped, gas permeable lenses might be tried. Due to the customization and more complicated fitting process required for these lenses, they are more expensive and take more time for the contact lens laboratory to make than traditional lenses.
Multifocal Contact Lenses
If you are over 40 and have difficulty seeing close up, you probably have a common age-related condition called presbyopia which is when the eye’s natural lens loses the ability to focus on close objects. Presbyopia is a natural process as the eye ages and affects the majority of people from age 40 and upward. Individuals with presbyopia are often familiar with the need to hold reading materials such as newspapers an arm’s length away from their eyes in order to see clearly, yet reading glasses with bifocal or multifocal (progressive) lenses can help.
Fortunately for those who don’t like the look, feel or inconvenience of reading glasses, there is another option. Multifocal lenses are also available in contact lenses in both soft and Rigid Gas Permeable (RGP) varieties.
Multifocal contact lenses give you added freedom over glasses and they allow you to be able to view any direction – up, down and to the sides – with similar vision. People wearing progressive lenses in glasses on the other hand have to look over their glasses if they want to view upwards or into the distance.
An Alternative Option to Multifocal Contact Lenses: Monovision
Monovision is another contact lens alternative for presbyopia particularly if you are having difficulty adapting to multifocal lenses. Monovision splits your distance and near vision between your eyes, using your dominant eye for distance vision and your non-dominant eye for near vision.
Rigid Gas Permeable (RGP) Lenses
Rigid Gas Permeable (RGP) lenses are effective for many hard to fit patients. The hard, oxygen permeable material lets the eye breathe and significantly reduces the chance of infection due to protein deposits which tend to harbor bacteria on soft lenses. RGPs also hold moisture under the lens to keep eyes from drying out.
One of the downsides of RGP contact lenses is that they require an adaptation period, particularly if you are used to soft lenses with a larger diameter. One of the major differences is an experience of “lens awareness” in which you feel the edge of the lens when you blink. It could take up to a few weeks to get used to the lenses but many people report that after this initial period they find that RGP lenses are just as comfortable as soft lens varieties.
