If you’ve decided to throw away your glasses and decided to wear contact lenses, there are certain things you should know before you buy. Different kinds of contacts are available these days and each one of them serves a different purpose and comes with a different price tag. So you need to find out which one is meant for your vision problem and suits your budget. Here in this article you will find out about the different kinds of lenses that you may consider buying for yourself.
There are mainly two types of lenses, one is the soft lens and the other is the gas permeable ones which you find in the market. Their benefits and functions are discussed below.
Soft Contact Lenses
These are very thin lenses of the shape of your eyes. They are easy to wear and much more flexible than gas permeable ones. These lenses stay in proper place better than the other kind of lens and are best suited for active and sports individuals.
Soft lenses are separately available in the market for single use, daily use or extended use and you can buy according to your requirements.
In case of single use contact lenses, you’ll find that some contact lenses are separately packed for a single day use only. You will wear a new pair of lens each pay day from the pack and dispose them before going to sleep. This saves you from spending on a solution for these lenses since they are already packed with a solution meant for a single day use however they are the costliest among all other kinds of lenses.
But if you buy daily wear contact lenses a single pair of lenses can be reused for one to four weeks depending on the manufacturing company’s policy. But the lenses which can be used for four weeks become stiffer. Since you’ll be regularly putting them on and taking them off, bacteria may collect on the surface. You need buy a solution in order to keep in clean.
If you buy extended wear contact lenses you can continuously wear it without taking it of for seven days. These enable oxygen flow to your cornea when you’re sleeping. But doctors raise questions regarding the safety of wearing lenses for a longtime because it leads to bacterial growth and sometimes block oxygen flow.
Gas Permeable Contacts
These kinds of lenses are a bit more rigid and smaller than soft contact lenses. But the main the advantage with comes with it is the breath ability of the lenses. Unlike soft contact lenses, gas permeable lenses allow oxygen to pass through them which is essential for healthy eyes. Its only drawback is that it’s less comfortable than soft contact lenses. But they can certain correct visual problems which soft contact lenses cant. Moreover they are much more durable and easier to maintain.
Hybrid Contacts
These lenses carry the plus points of both soft contacts and gas permeable ones. It has a gas permeable center with a softer outer ring. These kind of lenses can fix visual problems like presbyopia, astigmatism etc.
So now that you know the details of the different kinds of lenses along with their advantages and disadvantages, I guess it won’t be difficult for you to find the right pair of lenses for your eyes.