CONTACT LENSES

The advances in lens design and lens materials mean almost everyone who wears glasses can also wear contact lenses.

Contact lenses are small pieces of complex plastic that are placed directly over the cornea and can correct many types of prescriptions. The advances in lens design and lens materials mean almost everyone who wears glasses can also wear contact lenses, including multifocal wearers and people with astigmatism.


Whether you are interested in using contact lenses for most of the time, or just for special occasions, our Optometrists can assess your suitability and prescribe the best lenses for your prescription and lifestyle.

  • DISPOSABLE CONTACT LENSES

    Disposable soft contact lenses are the most commonly used lenses today - newer lens materials provide much better eye health and improved comfort and frequent replacement schedules reduce the risk of eye infections.  

     

    Disposable soft contact lenses are generally designed to be worn during the day and taken out each night.  They need to be replaced either daily, weekly, fortnightly or monthly, depending upon the prescription and type of lens material.  Also available are Extended wear contact lenses, which can be worn without removal for seven to thirty days, depending on the type of lens. 

  • ORTHO-K LENSES

    Orthokeratology (also known as Ortho K, or corneal reshaping) is an innovative way of wearing contact lenses – custom lenses are worn overnight, temporarily altering the shape of the cornea enough to produce clear, lasting vision after removal and throughout the day.  This corneal reshaping can be likened to the use retainers used to straighten teeth, however, unlike a tooth which will remain in its new position after correction, the cornea is highly elastic, and always returns to its original shape.  This is why ortho-k lenses are worn several times per week, during sleep, to maintain the moulding effect.  There is evidence that this procedure may slow down the progression of myopia (short-sightedness) and so we highly recommend this type of contact lenses for young people who are becoming myopic. 

     

    For more information on Ortho-K and to see if it may be suitable for you, click here.

     

    Not all Optometrists prescribe or fit Ortho-K contact lenses, and so may not suggest it as an option.  If you are interested in seeing if your eyes and vision requirements would be suitable for ortho-K, please book an appointment. 

  • CONVENTIONAL & RGP CONTACT LENSES

    Some peoples prescription or eye curvatures don’t allow the use of disposable soft contact lenses.  In this instance, conventional soft contact lenses are custom made specifically to your prescription and eye curvature measurements. The life of a conventional soft lens is typically one to three years.


    Rigid Gas Permeable (RGP) contact lenses are a hard lens which provide sharper vision correction and are more appropriate than soft lenses for people with conditions such as high astigmatism, and can also be used to correct specific conditions such as keratoconus or other irregularities of the cornea. 

  • OTHER SPECIALIST LENSES

    Many other specialist lenses are available that may be used in more unusual or difficult cases, including mini scleral lenses which are fast becoming our favourite gas permeable contact lens for keratoconus, and combination lenses which can be used for other corneal conditions where we do not want a lens touching the delicate cornea of your eye.

TYPES OF CONTACT LENSES

Disposable soft contact lenses are the most commonly used lenses today - newer lens materials provide much better eye health and improved comfort and frequent replacement schedules reduce the risk of eye infections.  

 

Disposable soft contact lenses are generally designed to be worn during the day and taken out each night.  They need to be replaced either daily, weekly, fortnightly or monthly, depending upon the prescription and type of lens material.  Also available are Extended wear contact lenses, which can be worn without removal for seven to thirty days, depending on the type of lens. 

Orthokeratology (also known as Ortho K, or corneal reshaping) is an innovative way of wearing contact lenses – custom lenses are worn overnight, temporarily altering the shape of the cornea enough to produce clear, lasting vision after removal and throughout the day.  This corneal reshaping can be likened to the use retainers used to straighten teeth, however, unlike a tooth which will remain in its new position after correction, the cornea is highly elastic, and always returns to its original shape.  This is why ortho-k lenses are worn several times per week, during sleep, to maintain the moulding effect.  There is evidence that this procedure may slow down the progression of myopia (short-sightedness) and so we highly recommend this type of contact lenses for young people who are becoming myopic. 

 

For more information on Ortho-K and to see if it may be suitable for you, click Learn More Below.

 

Not all Optometrists prescribe or fit Ortho-K contact lenses, and so may not suggest it as an option.  If you are interested in seeing if your eyes and vision requirements would be suitable for ortho-K, please book an appointment. 

Some peoples prescription or eye curvatures don’t allow the use of disposable soft contact lenses.  In this instance, conventional soft contact lenses are custom made specifically to your prescription and eye curvature measurements. The life of a conventional soft lens is typically one to three years.


Rigid Gas Permeable (RGP) contact lenses are a hard lens which provide sharper vision correction and are more appropriate than soft lenses for people with conditions such as high astigmatism, and can also be used to correct specific conditions such as keratoconus or other irregularities of the cornea. 

Many other specialist lenses are available that may be used in more unusual or difficult cases, including mini scleral lenses which are fast becoming our favourite gas permeable contact lens for keratoconus, and combination lenses which can be used for other corneal conditions where we do not want a lens touching the delicate cornea of your eye.

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