Contact Lens Evaluations and Options
Yes, You Can Wear Contacts!
The technology of contact lenses has come a long, long way in the past 20 years, solving most of the problems that people associate with these medical devices.
“Contacts lenses irritate my eyes”
Done!… more natural and wettable materials to improve comfort and better dry eye treatments to make contact lens more tolerable.
“I can’t wear contacts because of my astigmatism”
With new Toric technology, it's a reality! And at Precision Family Eye Care, we are so confident that you’ll love the vision and feel of your contacts that if you’re not completely satisfied, we will buy them back.
“But I’m over 40 and need to wear reading glasses with my contact lenses”
Bifocals are sometimes a part of getting older. Did you know about Bifocal Contact Lenses? You're no longer tied to your glasses - You can wear contact lenses!
Daily Disposable
Contact Lenses
Daily Disposable or “Dailies” have become more and more common over the years thanks to increased availability and lower costs.
Why the Trend?
- Convenience - Use once then throw away (no hassle)
- Comfort - Fresh-feeling eyes every day
- Safety - Reduced risk of infections from bacteria
- Cost - Now more affordable than ever
New advancements in Daily wear technology can even correct for Astigmatism and some even come in a bifocal contact lens type.
Astigmatism Correcting
What is an Astigmatism?
Astigmatism is a condition associated with the cornea (link to our astigmatism page). With astigmatism, one area of the cornea is steeper and in another place it is flatter.
Another way to think of it, is instead of being round like a basketball, the astigmatic cornea is more oblongly shaped like a football or an egg.
Why does a difference in curvature matter?
Because there are different curves in the cornea, there are also different prescription powers in different places. Now with glasses, that is not a problem because the glasses are always sitting in the same place. In contacts however, the contact lens has a tendency to spin and turn as you blink. This lens rotation causes the astigmatism prescription to change, making the vision blurry as the lens moves and turns.
Therefore, an astigmatism lens has to sit at the exact same place on the eye throughout the entire day in order to work properly.
Contact Lenses for Astigmatism Correction
How do we do this?
There are several ways of stabilizing a lens on the eye.
The main way to overcome the lens wanting to rotate on the eye is to “weight” the lens. As seen in the picture above, the bottom of the lens is slightly thicker than the top.
As you blink, the lid catches on the thicker bottom part of the lens pushing it downward and into position. Each astigmatism lens also has small markings on each lens, this tell the doctor how the lens is sitting on the eye and if any changes need to be made based on how the lens works with an individual’s blinking.
These weighted designs have been quite sophisticated recently and allow clear and consistent vision throughout the day.
If you have astigmatism and had been told in the past you couldn’t wear contacts because of it, take another look into Astigmatism correcting contact lenses!
Contact Lenses For
Monovision and Bifocals
There is no panacea, or cure all, for the “Curse of the 40’s” but Monovision and Bifocal Contact Lenses are a large step in overcoming this problem without glasses.
Monovision
Think of monovision as essentially the 21st century version of the monocle, but done with contact lenses. One contact lens is prescribed in a power to correct for the distance prescription and the other eye is purposefully under-corrected to allow crisp, clear vision for near tasks. This way one eye is always in focus for any given task. A main benefit of monovision is that any contact contact lens brand will work for this, including astigmatism correcting or “toric” lenses. We simply adjust the prescribed powers, not the brand itself. Without question, this takes some getting used to, but over time the brain trains itself to only pay attention to whatever eye it needs to for a given visual task.
Bifocal Contact Lenses
The key to bifocal contact lenses is in the design
These lenses are bifocals in the name only, and work nothing like a pair of bifocal glasses. Bifocal glasses have different zones within each lens with very different prescriptions for clear vision from distance to near. You simply need to direct your eyes through that section of the lens for clear vision at that whatever distance you want to see. Since a contact lens is so small and always sits at the same place on the cornea, it is not feasibility for a soft lens to move around enough to look through different areas.
Instead, if you look at these lenses under a microscope they have concentric rings just like the rings on a dart board.
Each ring of a bifocal contact lens is designed to focus for a different place: distance, intermediate or computer, and reading (see right). All the vision from all distances is focused by the contact onto the retina in the back of the eye and the retina sends that information to the brain.
What the brain receives is a garbled, distorted mess, but the supercomputer sitting between our ears is able to filter out the distances that it’s not interested in.
This results in you being able to read a menu one moment and then check the score of a ball game on a television the next. This process sounds quite convoluted but it actually works surprisingly well!
No Hassle - No Regrets
Contact Lens Buy-Back Guarantee
When you are buying contact lenses, you are not buying just the contacts- you are buying the competence and the experience of a doctor who has prescribed and provided them for you. At Precision Family Eye Care, we are so confident that you’ll love the vision and feel of your contacts that if you’re not completely satisfied, we will buy them back. Yes you read that correctly, we are committed to a precise and hassle free experience and with our Guaranteed Contact Lens Success Program, your satisfaction is guaranteed!