Contact Lenses

 

Contact lenses are medical devices which can be used for vision correction, cosmetic effect or therapeutic treatment of various medical conditions. They can be used to correct distance vision, near vision and astigmatism. Contact lens technology continues to advance rapidly allowing for more options, better comfort, convenience and healthier wear.

Soft Lenses

By far, the most popular option, soft lenses offer a wide variety of prescription options, unmatched comfort and great convenience. They are available as a “daily lenses” (thrown away every day), 2-week replacement or monthly replacement. Some have been approved for limited overnight use. Soft disposable lenses are also available for the correction of astigmatism and presbyopia (reduced near vision with age).

Hard Lenses (Rigid Gas Permeables)

These lenses are smaller and harder than soft contacts. Like most soft lenses, they are intended for day time wear only. These lenses are made of highly oxygen permeable materials and are very durable. They may be a good option in cases where astigmatism or presbyopia was not successfully corrected for with a soft contact lens.

Hybrid Lenses

Contact lenses with a hard lens center and soft lens “skirt” around the edge for comfort. Each contact lens must be replaced every 6 months. This type of contact lens is excellent at correcting unusual astigmatism and in the treatment of certain medical conditions creating astigmatism. It is also available as a multifocal lens for the correction of presbyopia.

Scleral Lenses

This is the newest type of contact lens technology and is now offered at Harper’s Point Eye Associates. Scleral lenses are custom designed to fit the shape of your eyes, using computer generated corneal mapping and trial fitting. They offer outstanding vision for a wide variety of conditions including but not limited to keratoconus, vision correction for post-refractive surgery (RK or LASIK), cornea scarring, severe dry eye and high refractive error. These contacts are also available for patients without pathology who are looking for better vision and comfort. In many cases, scleral lenses can provide excellent vision for patients who have had poor vision for many years.

Scleral Expert

Dr. Alex Gibberman is a scleral lens expert. Being one of the few in greater Cincinnati who fit them, he also lectures extensively, teaching other doctors around the U.S. how to provide this life changing technology to their patients.

Are my glasses prescription and contact lens prescription the same?

Although the glasses prescription is often used to figure out the contact lens prescription, they are often not identical. Sometimes they can look drastically different depending on the prescription. It is important to remember that contact lenses sit on the eye where as glasses sit at a distance in front of the eye. This creates a difference in magnification that must be accounted for.

In addition, a glasses prescription may have a certain amount of astigmatism that is accounted for but not distinctly written in a contact lens prescription. If a contact lens prescription has expired, it must be renewed by a doctor prior to reordering a new supply. Even if your vision seems to be stable, a doctor must verify that your cornea remains in good health and that your contact lenses remain safely compatible with the surface of your eyes.