Contact lens options appear to be limitless. While soft contact lenses are the most popular among patients and eye care professionals, numerous other contact lens options can provide comfortable, clear vision.
Rigid gas permeable lenses, as well as newer scleral or hybrid lenses, are commonly used to provide visual correction for those who struggle with soft contact lenses.
Specialty contact lenses can help with everything from improving symptoms of Dry Eye Disease to providing clear vision to people with a higher degree of astigmatism. They’re designed for patients with corneal conditions or other eye issues for which conventional contacts are ineffective.
Rigid Gas Permeable Lenses
RGP lenses are made of firm, oxygen-permeable material and have several advantages over traditional soft contact lenses. It may appear that “soft” is the natural choice for something that will come into contact with your eye, but this isn’t always the case.
RGP lenses were the first type of lenses prescribed to patients suffering from conditions such as keratoconus. They are also used for higher prescriptions and greater amounts of astigmatism.
RGP lenses are oxygen-permeable, allowing air to pass through and allowing your eyes to “breathe.” Because the materials used to make these lenses allow more oxygen to pass through, they provide a better oxygen supply.
Furthermore, because they are smaller than soft lenses and thus cover less of the surface of the eye, they allow moisture and oxygen to circulate beneath the lens, making them a good option for people suffering from Dry Eye Disease.
Scleral Contact Lenses
Scleral contact lenses are larger in diameter than traditional contacts, but instead of sitting directly on the surface of the eye, they vault over it, leaving a gap between the cornea and the lens.
Scleral lenses are an effective solution for a variety of issues that make wearing regular contact lenses impractical or impossible.
The space allows patients with corneal abnormalities such as keratoconus or surgical scarring to wear contact lenses. It also serves as a reservoir for tear film, keeping it on the surface of the eyes for longer and alleviating dry eye symptoms.
Multifocal lenses have different areas of the lens that are used for near and far vision. The wearer learns to use the area that provides the best vision for the distance automatically. They usually have distance vision in the center of the lens and near vision on the edges, but this can be reversed.