|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
 |
|
 |
|
 |
|
 |
|
|
|
Contact Lenses • Disposable Contact Lenses• Daily Disposable Contact Lenses • Fortnightly Disposable Contact Lenses • Monthly Disposable Contact Lenses • 3-Monthly Disposable Contact Lenses • Flexible Contact Lenses • Annual Contact Lenses • Overnight Contact Lenses • Toric Contact Lenses • Novelty Contact Lenses • Varifocal Contact Lenses • Cleaning Your Contact Lenses |
|
Introduction Many factors influence the decision of what contact lenses are right for you. These usually include lifestyle, health, astigmatism, corneal curvature, allergies, dry eyes, hygiene, previous over wear, and frequency of use.Below are individual categories that provide information on the different types of contact lenses that are available. Through this information, you will be able to see which type of contact lenses are right for you! If you feel like you are still not sure, please don't hesitate to contact our team for more information.  Disposables Disposables are divided broadly into: Dailies, Fortnightlies, Monthlies, and Three-Monthlies. In general, all disposables represent the best system of contact lens wear as they combine the advantages of convenience and good eye health. These lenses are always sterile when inserted into the eyes as they are never kept overnight and never need cleaning.DAILY DISPOSABLE CONTACT LENSES Daily disposable contact lenses are thrown away after one day of use. Many wearers like daily disposable contact lenses, because of their convenience and health benefits. They can easily be placed with prescriptions for most eye qualities, such as short-sightedness, long-sightedness, presbyopia, and astigmatism. A great way to figure out if daily disposable contact lenses are right for you is if you fall into one of these categories: • If you are considering infrequent use of contact lenses and are worried that you may 'waste' your lenses. • If contact lens solutions cause your eyes to sting. • If you pick up a slight infection from time to time with your current lenses. • If you over wear your lenses regularly. • If you usually have dirty fingernails or are a smoker. • If you have severe allergies that cause an intense itching of the eyes. FORTNIGHTLY DISPOSABLE CONTACT LENSES Fortnightly disposable contact lenses are one pair of lenses that are worn for two weeks and then thrown away and replaced with a new pair. Fortnightlies help minimize the risk of an infection by reducing the amount of deposit build up on the lenses. Every evening they must be removed, cleaned and stored using the contact lens solutions suggested by your 20-20 Optometrist. Our fortnightly disposable range can correct short-sight, long-sight, astigmatism, and presbyopia. Your 20-20 Optometrist will advise you on the best option for your eyes. MONTHLY DISPOSABLE CONTACT LENSES These are contact lenses that are worn for one month and then thrown away. These need to be cleaned every evening and stored overnight in contact lens solutions. Your 20-20 Optometrist will advise you if more cleaning is necessary. At 20-20, monthly disposable contact lenses are cost-effective and provide a healthier lifestyle since they do not require protein cleaning or daily surface cleaning. These always have more than one pair of lenses, so if anything goes wrong, you will always have a fresh pair to use. Should your prescription change, at 20-20, we promise to swap any unopened, unexpired boxes at no charge. 20-20 also offers a wide range of monthly disposable colours to choose from. Check out Novelty Contact Lenses for more information. THREE-MONTHLY DISPOSABLE CONTACT LENSES Three-monthly disposable contact lenses are becoming less and less used as people move on to the healthier, more frequent disposable types. However, some prescriptions may not be available in Daily or Monthly disposables. Three-monthly Toric Contact Lenses for high astigmatism are an example of this. Flexible Continuous Wear Contact Lenses Flexible continuous wear contact lenses are made from silicon hydrogel, which allows oxygen to reach the wearer's cornea. As a result, flexible continuous wear contact lenses can be worn for up to thirty consecutive days.Annual Soft Contact Lenses These are contact lenses that are replaced annually. They require extra cleaning agents in the form of daily surfactant drop cleaners, saline rinsing solutions (if the storage solution is not multi-purpose) and weekly protein removing tablets.Overnight Wear Contact Lenses Overnight wear contact lenses are lenses that are worn while sleeping. The only time you should wear your contact lenses at night is when you are using silicone hydrogel contact lenses AND your optometrist has said that this activity is safe for your lenses and eyes.At 20-20, you will be asked to return for numerous check-ups if you are considering overnight wear contact lenses. Most of these checks will need to be done in the morning soon after waking. This allows the optometrist to ensure that you have no mucus stuck behind the lenses and that your eyes have not reacted adversely. However, it is strongly advised that contact lens wearers do not wear their lenses overnight, for it could lead to harmful complications. Toric Contact Lenses Toric contact lenses are specially designed for people with astigmatism, which is caused by an irregular shaped lens, or cornea, and come in both Soft and Rigid Gas Permeable forms. At a certain level of astigmatism the contact lens prescription needs to be "tailor-made" in order for you to see clearly. Toric contact lenses for astigmatism have two functions: correcting the astigmatism itself and balancing the short or long-sightedness. These lenses also contain a mechanism that makes sure that the contact lens stays on your eye when you blink or move it. The only way in which they differ from regular lenses is their design.SOFT TORIC CONTACT LENSES Soft toric contact lenses have different curves in different meridians to correct astigmatism. Special weighting ensures that the accurate lens meridian is used at the right time to correct the astigmatism. This makes sure that the lens does not move around when it is being worn. RIGID GAS PERMEABLE TORIC ASTIGMATIC CONTACT LENSES Rigid gas permeable contact lenses are hard lenses and contain 'pores' that allow oxygen to pass through. These are generally for patients that may have enough astigmatism to warrant the use of an RGP lens. Unlike Soft Toric Lenses, they do not conform to the uneven contours of an eye with astigmatism. The way that they correct astigmatism is by causing the space between the back of the lens and the front of the cornea (making it even) to fill with tears. At 20-20, we recommend that you change your RGPs once every year. However, RGPs require very careful cleaning in order to maintain the optical clarity of the surfaces and keep the eyes free of dirt and bugs. A surfactant cleaner is first used and then the lens is rubbed and rinsed with saline (never tap water). After this the lens can be stored in the container with the conditioning-disinfectant solution. Then after every 7 days of use the lenses must be protein cleaned. This is when a pill is popped into the container with saline and after fizzing for about 20 minutes, it is rinsed, re-cleaned and reconditioned again. Novely Contact Lenses Novelty contact lenses can be very striking and ensure that you stand out. They can also be great if you simply want to try out a new look by changing or enhancing your eye colour. Coloured contact lenses are available in Daily Disposable, Monthly Disposable, and Annual contact lenses. Coloured lenses for astigmatic eyes are available in soft lenses. As they are custom-made and more time is taken to fit and produce them, a waiting period of at least 3 weeks can be expected.If you are keen to stand out and really make a statement, ask our team about Wild Eye or Crazy Lenses! Your choices can include smiley face, footballs, cat eyes, lightening bolts, hearts, spooky white-out eyes and much more. These are only available as annual replacement lenses. Although novelty contact lenses can be a lot of fun, if you are planning to wear them, you should ensure that they are fitted by a registered optician. Varifocal Contact Lenses Varifocal lenses are designed for people with presbyopia. This is a condition that affects many people after the age of 45. The great thing about varifocal lenses is that they give you excellent long AND short vision. New technology in contact lenses has brought newer and better varifocal designs to the market. Even those with astigmatism can now be fitted with varifocal toric contact lenses and single-use daily disposable varifocal contact lenses make it perfect for seeing those poorly printed menus when out for dinner in the evening.Cleaning Your Lenses If you have sensitive eyes or suffer from hay fever, eczema, or asthma, your lenses are best cleaned with preservative free system or a multipurpose system, such as Optifree Replenish. The preservative-free systems including the hydrogen-peroxide varieties may be better for you, as it could be this preservative that is causing and exacerbating your sensitivity.Soft contact lens one-step-systems require only one solution type whereas the others use more than one. Examples of one-step-systems include: Optifree Replenish, Renu, Focus, and Complete. All that is required is to remove the lenses from the eyes, rub and then rinse them with the solution. Patients on Fortnightly or Monthly disposable lenses need only use a disinfectant solution as per the above. Those on Three-Monthly or Annual soft lenses still need to clean their lenses with a surfactant cleaner daily and perform weekly protein removal. |
|
 |
|
 |
|
|
|
 |
|
Monthly Disposable Contact Lenses | Flexible Continuous Wear Contact Lenses | Coloured Lenses | Varifocal Lenses | Astigmatic Toric Lenses |
Terms & Conditions | Site Map |
Featured Article:Daily Disposable Contact Lenses
Site Content:Vanessa Ho Yan | Site Design & Manager: Hassan. K. Bana
Site Content 2008:Andrea Laws |