Soft Disposable Contact Lenses
Soft contact lenses are made of flexible plastics that allow oxygen to pass through to your cornea. Many people find soft contacts easier to get used to than the rigid type. Some newer soft lens types can provide even more oxygen to the eye. The big advantage of soft contact lenses is they are often more comfortable initially and take less time getting used to.
Rigid Gas Permeable (RGP) Contact Lenses
Oxygen can also pass through RGP lenses, thus helping you to be comfortable and your eye healthy. In general, RGP lenses transmit more oxygen than traditional soft lenses (with the exception of the newer soft lenses).
The advantage of the RGP contact lenses is their durability, their tendency to not build up as much protein deposits, and their ability to provide better vision. In addition, since they last longer, they are less expensive than soft lenses.
Extended Wear Contact Lenses
Extended wear contacts are great because you can wear them continuously for anywhere from 2 days to 30 days, depending on the lenses. Most extended wear contacts are soft contact lenses, but a few are the rigid gas permeable (RGB) type. The length of the extended wear time is also determined by your eye care professional, based on your tolerance to overnight wear.
Multi Focal Contact Lenses
Multi Focal Contact lenses have more than one prescription in the same lenses. Consider these lenses as two prescriptions in one lens. It includes a prescription for distance and one for near. They are often used by people 40 or older. It benefits them by not having to wear glasses over the contact lenses for reading or computer related work.
Myopia Control Contact Lenses
Using a new process called orthokeratology, or “ortho-k”, many people are able to reshape their cornea and reduce nearsightedness (myopia). Orthokeratology is a good technique for people who have low to mild nearsightedness.In general, the best candidates for ortho-k are people under age 40, including youngsters from 8 to 12 years old who have progressive myopia, as well as most adolescents. People with a large pupil size, a high degree of myopia, or dry eye syndrome are likely to be poor candidates. Other names for orthokeratology are “corneal refractive therapy”, “corneal reshaping”, and “gentle vision reshaping”.
Another type of myopia control contact lenses are actually soft disposable multi-focal contact lenses that have shown promising efficacy in controlling nearsightedness. These are the same type of lenses that we may use on someone who is over 40 with reading problems. But on children these serve a different purpose. It is a great substitute for those who cannot adapt to the gas permeable lens treatment.