Types of Contact Lenses

Confused about contacts? Advances in contact lens technologies have created many options in addition to hard and soft lenses. Today, contact lenses are likely to be described in one or several of the following ways.

By their prescribed wearing period: The time that the lenses are left in the eyes.

Daily Wear (Up to 18 hours)

Extended Wear (For overnight use, up to seven days)

By their replacement schedule: The time interval for replacing lenses.

 

Planned - (Frequent replacement: 1 month, 1-2 weeks; daily disposable)

Unplanned, or Conventional Replacement - (No predictable schedule)

By the type of vision correction for which they are designed:

Spherical (For near- or farsightedness -- myopia or hypermetropia)

Toric (For astigmatism)

Bifocals (For presbyopia)

By whether they are clear or have tints:

Clear

Tinted for easy handling only

Tinted to enhance your eye color (For light-color irises)

Tinted to change your eye color (Opaque tints for light or dark irises)

Of course, contact lenses are also still described by the basic type of material of which they are made.

Soft (hydrophilic)

Rigid Gas Permeable