How to Choose Contact Lenses

If you are interested in buying contact lenses, you may be wondering what you need to do in order to choose the very best contact lenses for your own needs.  Through this article, you are provided with some pointers to keep in mind when it comes to choosing contact lenses.

Meet with Your Eye Care Professional

Once you have decided to set your eyeglasses aside in favor of contact lenses, you and your eye care professional have much to discuss. You will need to choose between rigid gas permeable contact lenses (RGP) and soft lenses. Will you want single vision, multifocal, or bifocal lenses? If you buy disposables, will you want to change them daily, every two weeks, or every month? Or do you want extended wear or continuous wear contact lenses?

The Benefits of Soft Contact Lenses

Soft lenses are often chosen for their immediate comfort, but they are not for everybody. Those who need toric lenses for astigmatism, bifocal contact lenses, or have problems with allergies often opt for RGP contacts. Toric lenses have to be set in one position, so placement is cruicial, as it is for some bifocal lenses. Some multifocal soft lenses have concentric microscopic rings of two different prescriptions to somewhat the same effect. RGP lenses are sometimes better for people with allergies because they don’t get the protein deposits soft contacts are prone to.

Single Vision Contact Lenses

Single vision lenses are for people with nearsightedness. Those who are farsighted often opt for single vision contacts, but correct one eye for nearsightedness (if necessary) and one eye for farsightedness. This is called monovision. Some can correct a little of one problem and more of the other with multifocal lenses, and can often use these to perform a modified monovision. Bifocal lenses are also available.

Disposable Contact Lenses

The length of time of your disposable contact lenses often depends on your lifestyle and needs. Those who wear their contact lenses for long periods of time often choose the daily disposable, and those who wear them only for a few hours per day or occasionally will sometimes choose the two-week or monthly disposable lenses. People with allergies often choose the daily disposable contact lenses to avoid the protein buildup that comes along with their allergic reactions.

Extended Wear Contact Lenses

Extended wear (one week of continuous wear) contact lenses are also popular, as are continuous wear (lenses that can be left in 30 days continuously). These lenses must be handled properly, and are sometimes more prone to protein buildup. But because they are more permeable to oxygen, they are more comfortable than standard lenses and many people use them as daily wear lenses and dispose of them after the weekly or monthly wearing term. There is also a higher risk of corneal ulceration and other eye health problems with extended wear contact lenses, so be sure to discuss how to wear them with your eye care professional.

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