Selecting contact lenses
Selecting the right contact lens for your eyes involves several important considerations:
Your Prescription
The first step is to find a lens that accurately corrects your vision. If contact lenses are not properly prescribed, your vision won’t be accurately corrected. Because your eyes can change over time, contact lens prescriptions are valid for one year. Your doctor will evaluate the health of your eyes annually to review accuracy of your prescription and evaluate the fit of your lenses.
A Proper Fit
The lens must fit your eye properly. To accommodate the wide variety in eye shapes, lenses come in many thousands of combinations of diameters and curvatures. A poorly fit lens – or one made from a material not well-suited to your eyes – could result in discomfort, inflammation, swelling, abrasion, or other problems that could (in rare cases) result in eye tissue damage.
Medical Issues
Medical issues may also affect the choice of lens. For example, if your eyes tend to be dry, our fitting specialist will choose a lens designed to help address this condition.
Wearing Time
In the past, contact lens wearers removed and cleaned their lenses nightly. However, with the recent addition of new lens materials, some patients are able to wear their lenses for extended periods of time. Extended wear lenses are made of a special material that can typically be worn for 7–30 days without removal. Your vision needs and eye health will determine whether daily wear, extended wear, or continuous wear contacts are right for your eyes.
Which Contact Lens is Right for You?
Finding the perfect lens for your eyes may take several tries. People react differently to various lens materials and cleaning solutions. Also, the correct power, diameter and curvature of your lens can be finalized only after you’ve successfully worn the lens.