Contact Lenses General Contact Lens Information
Rather than following the all too common "one size fits all" method, our Doctors take an individualized and often innovative approach to fitting patients with contact lenses. Whether you're thinking of trying contact lenses for the first time, or have worn them for many years, we think you'll see and feel the difference. At the conclusion of your examination, the doctor will discuss with you which type of contact lens is recommended for your particular prescription for optimum vision and comfort. Our office stocks a large inventory of trial lenses so that in most cases you will be able to get a trial pair of lenses immediately. If we don't have what you need in stock, we will gladly order you a trial pair. For patients who are unsure if they can wear contact lenses successfully, our trial lens program allows you to test drive your contact lenses before you purchase them. If trial lenses are not available for your prescription, which is typical of gas permeable lenses, we still offer exchanges for a period of 60 days. Soft Silicone: the single most significant advancement in contact lenses over the past 10 years is the advent of highly oxygen permeable silicone lenses.  Silicone lenses are healthier for your eyes and are available as disposable, toric, and bifocal.
Daily Disposables
Daily disposable soft contact lenses offer the ultimate in convenience for patients who want the comfort of a clean new lens each day with no cleaning products to buy or use. The cost of lenses is about $1 per day, and can be even less with the available rebates. Daily disposables are an excellent choice for teenagers and patients who have difficulty keeping their contact lenses clean. Daily disposables can be worn every day, and they are also a very good option for people who only want to wear their contact lenses for social occasions, sports, and water sports.
Disposables and Planned Replacement
The vast majority of contact lens patients nationwide wear contact lenses in this category. Depending on the brand, lenses are generally replaced every two weeks or every month. These lenses offer the comfort of clean new lenses on a regular basis, less chance of infection than conventional lenses, spare lenses at your home, trial lenses available in our office, and modest price. Disposable and planned replacement lenses are available in sphere, toric (for astigmatism), bifocal, and tinted.
Soft Bifocals
Our Doctors custom fit several different brands of soft disposable and soft planned replacement bifocal contact lenses. Our high success rate with bifocal contact lenses is a result of our experience with a large number of bifocal contact lens patients, and our willingness to take as much time as is necessary to achieve optimum vision. Bifocal contacts are typically a circular design with the reading prescription in the center, and the distance prescription around the outside of the lens. These lenses do not need to spin to the correct orientation to have the bifocal at the bottom like with eyeglasses. Our office stocks a large inventory of trial bifocal contact lenses to allow patients to try them out before purchasing lenses.
Soft Toric
Soft toric contact lenses are readily available for virtually any prescription. If you've been told that you can't wear contact lenses because of astigmatism, we invite you to give us a try. We think you'll be pleasantly surprised with the difference our expertise makes. Trial disposable toric lenses are available for most any prescription.
Colored Contact Lenses
If you're looking to add a splash of color to your eyes, our office stocks a wide variety of colored trial lenses. Colored lenses are available as enhancement colors or as opaque colors to completely change your eye color.
Gas Permeable
Gas permeable lenses are rigid contact lenses that have replaced the old "hard lenses." Gas permeables offer sharp vision, particularly in certain cases of astigmatism, are more “breathable” than most soft contact lenses, and are available in virtually any prescription including bifocals. For teenagers with progressive myopia (nearsightedness), gas permeable contact lenses will often help slow down further progression of myopia.
Gas Permeable Bifocal
Our Doctors take pride in their ability to successfully fit a large number of patients in this specialty lens category. We primarily use the wave bifocal lens which is custom designed using our corneal topographer and computer software which allows a more exact fit of the lens to your eye.
Contact Lenses for Keratanocus
Patients with kerataconus (a distortion of the normal shape of the cornea) will see much better with gas permeable contact lenses than soft contact lenses. While sometimes a standard design gas permeable lens is adequate in early stages of kerataconus, in moderate to severe cases, specialty kerataconus lenses will provide a better fit. The wave contact lens (which uses computerized corneal topography to custom design the lens) usually works very well. For patients who are not comfortable with gas permeable lenses, we can also use the "piggy back method" of a gas permeable lens on top of a soft contact lens.
Monovision
Monovision is a technique of fitting contact lenses (for patients who require a bifocal prescription) using one contact lens with the distance prescription, and the other contact with the reading prescription. Although it may sound strange, it often works very well. The monovision technique can be used with soft or gas permeable lenses. In most cases, we will use trial lenses to make sure you are comfortable with this method before you purchase any lenses.