Understanding Contact Lenses

What type of contact lens is best for me?

It’s that time of year again: time for a trip to get your yearly eye exam at the eye clinic. If you’ve found out that you need corrective lenses, you may want to take a look at what contact lenses have to offer. Whether you don’t enjoy having glasses on your nose all day or just don’t think glasses would fit your style, contact lenses can be a safe and low-hassle optical option for your daily routine. Optical Solutions we offer vision care that includes giving you information about contact lenses. Here are just a few of the different kinds of contact lens you should consider:

Soft contact lenses

By a pretty wide margin, soft contact lenses are the most popular option in North America. They’re safe for your optimal health, easy to use and widely available throughout the continent. These lenses are called “soft” because they’re made of a malleable, gel-like plastic that matches the shape of your eye. Contact lenses are available to correct the most common kinds of eye problems including myopia, hyperopia, astigmatism and presbyopia. Here are just a few of the subcategories of soft contact lens.

• • One Use:  contacts that you wear all day but take out just before bed.
  • Disposable: these lenses should only be worn once before being disposed of. More than that risks eye infections and other problems.
  • Bifocal: contacts are even available for people in need of bifocals.
  • Tinted: if you want to change how you look a little more radically, you can find contact lenses that make your eyes appear to have a different coloured iris. Be sure you buy these kinds of lenses from a licensed vision care specialist in Calgary. Many non-prescription lenses can damage your eyes.

Hard contact lenses

As the name suggests, hard contact lenses are made of a much more rigid and gas-permeable material than their soft counterparts. If you’ve tried the soft kind and found them uncomfortable or are constantly getting dry eyes from them, hard contact lenses might be a great alternative for you. These types of lenses have to be removed at night and cleaned daily. Hard contact lenses are most commonly used with corneal trauma or degenerations though, typically are thought to provide crisper vision than their soft lens counterparts.  Hard contact lenses have a bad reputation of not being very comfortable, with newer technologies and designs this is no longer the case, there is even hard lenses designed to treat dry eyes.

Where can I find the contact lenses that are right for me?

At Optical Solutions, we offer many kinds of vision care services for all your optical needs. Contact us today if you’d like to know more about glasses, contact lenses, or anything else about how to keep your eyes healthy.