Contact Lenses

There are many reasons why someone may wish to wear contact lenses, including:

  • For those with strong prescriptions, contacts may provide better vision
  • Use for sports when glasses cannot be worn
  • Cosmetic reasons
  • Bandage and therapeutic lenses (lenses that protect eyes as they heal or release medications over time)

FIRST: A cautionary note where we try to scare you a bit 😉 …

Contact lenses are NOT for everyone.

There is a MASSIVE misunderstanding about how contacts work. The idea that you just “pop them in and go” is not only wrong, it is very dangerous to the health of your eyes. This is something we see over and over again, and if there is one message we could communicate to everyone out there it would be: Wearing plastic on your eyeballs is not natural, so you MUST take the process seriously!

Issues we see during check ups:

  • Overwear, causing neovascularization (blood vessels growing over your cornea, blocking incoming light)
  • Overwear, causing changes to the cornea, including edema (causing constant blurriness)
  • Overwear, causing extensive damage to the cornea so that nerve damage occurs and the patient is no longer able to feel the problem
  • Poor hygiene practices resulting in infection, sometimes leading to corneal scarring (which will block and/or distort incoming light)
  • Giant Papillary Conjunctivitis (GPC) which is an immune response on the underside of your eyelids due to dirt and protein deposits
  • Allergic reactions to cleaning solutions
  • Swimming with contact lenses in (which traps parasites onto your corneal surface, leading to ulcers and permanent blindness if left untreated (just Google “Acanthamoeba keratitis”)
  • … and more 🙁

Who are good candidates for contact lens wear?

  • Those with good ocular health
  • Those who take their eye health seriously
  • Those that come back for check ups
  • Those that are honest with us! If you’re wearing your contacts too much, no worries! Just let us know and we will refit you with a contact designed for longer wear times 🙂

Okay okay, now on to the good news!

Provided that the patient DOES take the contact lens process seriously, they can expect a very long and happy relationship with their eyes and vision.

Your eye care practitioner will provide you with all the information you need to keep your eyes healthy and seeing well. Any issues that are noticed during checkups will be assessed and treated, keeping you a good candidate for contact lens use. 🙂

We provide contact lenses for all modalities, including:

  • Single Vision, with and without Astigmatism
  • Multifocal, with and without Astigmatism
  • Daily, Weekly and Monthly wear
  • Scleral Lenses for those with special requirements and fittings.