More and more people today are using eyeglasses as fashion statements. Yet contact lenses are the overwhelming favorites with many who do not like the drastic way in which eyeglasses change their appearance. For others who lead active lifestyles, contacts offer far more freedom than do eyeglasses. These today are far more convenient, are far safer and offer more variety in terms of style than ever before.
Types of Contacts
There are many types of contact lenses in the market today and they can be differentiated based on:
1. What kind of material they are made of
2. Duration for which they will be worn
3. Frequency of disposal
4. Lens design
Type of Contact Lens Material
There are essentially two types in this group – rigid gas permeable or RGP ones and soft lenses. The RGPs, as their name indicates, are made from rigid plastics through which oxygen can permeate. These are considered particularly useful for people with presbyopia and astigmatism. Soft ones are softer, made from gel-like plastics and are the most commonly used type of purchase.
Duration of Wear
The longest period that contacts were ever worn initially, was for just one day, having to be removed and cleaned every night. Nowadays, you have them for daily wear, which like the conventional lenses have to be cleaned every night; extended wear lenses, which can not only be worn overnight but for seven days consecutively without having to remove them and continuous wear which can be worn for 30 consecutive days.
Frequency of Disposal
Soft lenses tend to have a tendency to cause more discomfort and infections because of proteins and lipids, found in tears, sticking to the surface of the lens. Though it helps to be thorough while cleaning lenses, over time the build-up of proteins and lipids is so much that the lenses have to be disposed of.
There are many kinds of disposable ones. Daily disposables have to be disposed every night; disposable, which are used for shorter durations during the day alone, can be replaced every two weeks; disposable ones, which are used continuously overnight need to be replaced faster, almost every week; continuous wear versions which can be worn for 30 consecutive days need to be replaced only once every 30 days.
Lens Design
The design of contact eye pieces depends specifically on the vision problem they are meant to correct. Spherical products are the conventional, round design of contact sizes and can correct most common vision problems like myopia (nearsightedness), hyperopia (farsightedness) or astigmatism.
Bifocal or multifocal solutions are the equivalent of bifocal reading glasses or PALs used to help with presbyopia. Orthokeratology versions are special editions that are worn during sleep when they work to reshape the cornea and can be removed during the daytime. Toric contact lenses are specially designed for people who suffer from both astigmatism and, myopia or hyperopia.
In addition to these very basic groups in eye wear today, you can also find highly sophisticated product like colored or theatrical contact lenses, prosthetic or UV-inhibiting lenses. With such variety on offer, contact lenses can truly offer the best of comfort, convenience and style.