Astigmatism is a specific type of refractive disorder.\u00a0 If you are either near- or far-sighted, that means that your eye either focuses light too far in front of or behind your retina.\u00a0 When you have astigmatism, it means that your eye has an irregular shape, and as such, focuses light to multiple points.\u00a0 It is possible to have astigmatism and myopia or hyperopia, resulting in a corrective lens with two differing powers in the lens.\u00a0 Astigmatism correction needs to be aligned at a certain angle, or “axis” to properly correct your vision.\u00a0 Standard contact lenses can move or rotate on your eye without changing your vision.\u00a0 Astigmatism lenses are specially weighted to ensure that they sit on your eye a certain way. \u00a0Because of this, astigmatism-correcting, or “toric” contact lenses are generally more expensive than standard or “spherical” contact lens.<\/p>
A bifocal lens corrects for “presbyopia”, a condition in which the lens of the eye looses elasticity, making it harder to shift focus for clear near vision.\u00a0 There are many different types and designs of contact lenses and eyeglass lenses to correct this, but most have one segment of the lens to correct your distance vision, and another segment to correct your near vision, or reading.<\/p>
A color contact lens has pigment in the lens which will change the natural color of your eyes.\u00a0 There are two different types of color contact lenses: Opaque and Enhancer.\u00a0 Opaque lenses are darker and have more pigment in them.\u00a0 They are designed to dramatically change the color of your eyes, even if your natural eye color is very dark.\u00a0 Enhancer lenses are lighter and produce a more subtle change.\u00a0 Enhancer lenses are primarily designed for people with lighter colored eyes.\u00a0 Since enhancer lenses are lighter, they do not make a noticeable difference on darker colored eyes.\u00a0 Opaque lenses come in a wide variety of colors. \u00a0Enhancer lenses traditionally come in blue, aqua and green.<\/p>
Most bifocal contact lenses are made in this style.\u00a0 As the name suggests, the prescription in the lens varies in rings around it.\u00a0 Many of these lenses are designed with the distance correction in the center of the lens, and the reading prescription on the outside of the lens.\u00a0 Some manufacturers offer these lenses in both varieties, i.e. one lens has distance in the center and reading on the outside, while the other lens has reading in the center and distance on the outside.\u00a0 By manufacturing these lenses in both designs, this allows your eye care practitioner to help customize your prescription based on your specific visual needs.\u00a0 Some contact lenses are made in this design and have only one distance prescription and one reading prescription in them.\u00a0 Others have one distance prescription, and several concentric rings of differing power for reading.<\/p>
Some people have problems with protein deposits building up on their contact lenses.\u00a0 Depending on the chemical composition of your tears, you may or may not have this problem.\u00a0 Protein deposits can be seen as tiny white spots on your contact lenses that won”t rub off with standard cleaning.\u00a0 Most patients today use a multi-purpose solution which rinses, disinfects, cleans and stores their lenses.\u00a0 An enzymatic cleaner gives an added boost to your cleaning regimen.\u00a0 Often, these cleaners with include tablets that must be dissolved in your contact lens case, a hydrogen peroxide cleaning solution, and a special contact lens case with a metal disc in it.\u00a0 Some manufacturers make enzymatic cleaners that you simply need to drop on your contact lens and rub off, continuing your standard cleaning with a multi-purpose solution afterwards.<\/p>
This condition is also known as Hyperopia.\u00a0 This results in close items appearing to be blurry, or the lens \u201cover-working\u201d for near vision, while distant items are clearer.\u00a0 With Hyperopia, the eye is “too short” or the cornea is too flat, and the lens focuses light behind the retina.\u00a0 A hyperopic prescription will have a “+” power associated with it.<\/p>
This is also referred to as a visibility tint.\u00a0 Many contact lenses have a very light blue tint to them.\u00a0 This is designed to help make the lens more visible, thus helping you to handle the lens.\u00a0 A contact lens without a handling or visibility tint is completely clear, and can be harder to find in the case, or if the lens is dropped.\u00a0 A handling tint will not change your eye color, and will not appear blue to people looking at your eyes.\u00a0 If you wish to change your eye color, you need to purchase enhancer or opaqu colored contact lenses.<\/p>
High-Index lenses are eyeglass lenses that have a higher index of refraction than a standard lens, thus making them thinner than a standard lens.\u00a0 There are many different brands and types of high index.\u00a0 Most high-index lenses have a number value associated with them, such as 1.56, 1.60, 1.67, etc.\u00a0 The higher the index of refraction, the thinner the lens will be.\u00a0 Of the three indexes listed above, the 1.67 would be the thinnest, and the 1.56 would be the thickest.<\/p>
This is a bifocal lens that has a hard, gas-permeable center, and a soft lens exterior.\u00a0 These lenses are not commonly used, unless the patient has specific needs that prevent a standard contact lens from working properly.\u00a0 Keratoconus, a corneal disease, may sometimes require this type of lens.<\/p>
This is a method of correcting Presbyopia without using a conventional bifocal lens.\u00a0 With Monovision, one eye is corrected for your distance prescription, and the other eye is corrected for your near, or reading prescription.\u00a0 In some cases with monovision, the patient will actually only wear one contact lens to correct either distance or reading, with the other eye remaining uncorrected.\u00a0 Monovision can be initially disorienting affecting depth perception and general vision.\u00a0 With most patients, after a few days, the brain learns to rely on one eye for distance and the other for reading.\u00a0 Some people find this preferable to bifocal lenses.\u00a0 Monovision is traditionally only done with contact lenses, but on special occasions, monovision glasses can be prescribed at the discretion of your eye doctor.<\/p>
As the name suggests, a multifocal lens has multiple prescriptions or focal points in it.\u00a0 Bifocals, trifocals and progressive lenses are all multifocal lenses.\u00a0 These are prescribed to correct Presbyopia, providing clear vision for distance, intermediate and reading all in one lens.<\/p>
The technical term for this condition is Myopia. This results in distant items appearing to be blurry, while closer items are clearer.\u00a0 With Myopia, the eye is “too long” or the cornea is too steep, resulting in light being focused too far in front of the retina.\u00a0 A myopic prescription will have a “-” power associated with it.<\/p>
\u00a0Presbyopia is a natural condition in which the lens of the eye loses elasticity, making it harder to shift focus from far away to up close.\u00a0 Most people refer to this condition as “needing bifocals.”\u00a0 As you age, this condition generally gets worse, requiring more magnification for reading.\u00a0 Presbyopia most often begins in your early forties, even if you have never required glasses before.<\/p>
Also known as “special effects” lenses, these are opaque contact lenses that have a picture or design on them.\u00a0 They are popular for Halloween as well as in movies or television shows.\u00a0 Perhaps the most commonly seen theatrical lenses are “Cat Eye”, “White-Out.”\u00a0 Many of these lenses are available in a limited prescription range.\u00a0 Most theatrical lenses are clear in the center, allowing the wearer to see out of the center.\u00a0 Some specialty lenses (used for movies or television) are completely opaque, preventing the wearer from seeing out of them at all.<\/p>
This refers to how often contact lens wearers throw away their lenses and replace them with a new pair.\u00a0 Contact lens replacement frequency varies by brand and manufacturer.\u00a0 The most common type of lens is a two week disposables.\u00a0 These give the wearer approximately 14 days\u2019 worth of wear, at which point they are thrown away and replaced.\u00a0 Many other types of lenses exist; however, such as daily, one week, monthly, two month, three month and six month.\u00a0 It is important to ask your eye care practitioner what the replacement schedule for your specific contact lenses is, as wearing a lens for longer than it was designed for can lead to many different problems and ocular health risks.<\/p>
RGP’s are an older style of contact lens.\u00a0 They are often called “hard” contact lenses, although the term “hard contact lens” generally refers to older PMMA lenses.\u00a0 RGP’s are made of a much thicker and harder polymer than a soft contact lens.\u00a0 They are called gas permeable because gasses, such as oxygen can pass through the lenses.\u00a0 Older style “hard” lenses did not allow for the transmission of oxygen, so RGP”s were a great improvement when they first came out.\u00a0 The concept of these lenses is that they reshape the refracting surface of the lens, providing clearer vision.\u00a0 These lenses are still prescribed today for patients with higher astigmatism, patients who has been wearing RGP”s for a long time, or patients with a condition called keratoconus.\u00a0 Since the material from which they are made is much thicker and more durable than a soft lens, an RGP lens can have a wearing life of years.<\/p>
Most contact lenses prescribed and dispensed today are “soft” lenses.\u00a0 Like an RGP lens, they allow for the transmission of oxygen, but they are made of a much softer, thinner material than an RGP.\u00a0 Soft lenses also contain a certain percentage of water.\u00a0 There are various different materials and polymers that are used to manufacture soft lenses, creating a variety of different lens types to properly fit different eyes.<\/p>
Contact lens solution is a sterile liquid used in the care of contact lenses.\u00a0 Many solutions today are multi-purpose solutions.\u00a0 This means that they are used to store, rinse, clean and disinfect contact lenses.\u00a0 There are also solutions made that do only some of the above listed functions.\u00a0 There are many different brands and manufacturers of solution, the two most commonly-known in the US are Opti-Free and Renu.\u00a0 Be sure to ask your eye care practitioner which solution is the best fit for your contact lenses, as well as for your eyes.<\/p>
Spherical lenses have only one type of correction in them.\u00a0 They can correct myopia, hyperopia and presbyopia.\u00a0 These lenses do not contain astigmatism correction.\u00a0 They refer to the eye”s spherical shape.\u00a0 An eye needing astigmatism correction will have an asymmetrical or irregular shape.<\/p>
Toric is a term for a corrective lens required for astigmatism.\u00a0 A toric lens will have different powers at specified angles, or axis in the lens.\u00a0\u00a0 When you have astigmatism, it means that your eye has an irregular shape, and as such, focuses light to multiple points.\u00a0 Toric contact lenses must be weighted so that when they are placed in the eye, they will rotate to sit at the proper angle to correct your vision.<\/p>
A Trifocal is a multifocal lens designed to correct vision to allow clear sight at three focal lengths.\u00a0 These are distance, intermediate, and reading.\u00a0 Trifocal generally refers to an eyeglass lens.\u00a0 Patients often refer to progressive lenses, or “no-line bifocals” as trifocals.\u00a0 This is not technically correct, as a progressive lens actually has more than three prescriptive powers in the lens.<\/p>
Wear schedule refers to the amount of time each day that a contact lens may be worn for. New contact lens wearers or patients who have not worn contacts recently are often given a special reduced wearing schedule to help their eyes get used to contact lenses. Be sure to discuss your wearing schedule with your eye care practitioner. Different brands and types of contact lenses are approved for different lengths of wear time, and depending on your individual needs, your doctor may wish to prescribe you with a specific brand.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Astigmatism Astigmatism is a specific type of refractive disorder.\u00a0 If you are either near- or far-sighted, that means that your eye either focuses light too far in front of or behind your retina.\u00a0 When you have astigmatism, it means that your eye has an irregular shape, and as such, focuses light to multiple points.\u00a0 It…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-397092","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"yoast_head":"\n