There are two main contact lens options: rigid gas permeable lenses and soft contact lenses. Both types are made of plastic, but soft contact lenses are used by the majority of contact lens wearers today. Most soft contact lenses are disposable contacts, which may be replaced every day, every week, every two weeks, or even just once a month.
Your Contact Lens Options: Hard & Soft Contact Lenses
In the 1990's, silicone was introduced into soft contact lenses, drastically increasing oxygen levels and making contacts much healthier and more comfortable for patients for longer periods of time. However, not everyone is a candidate for extended wear disposable contacts, so it's up to you and your optometrist to determine your best option for vision correction.
Find more Eye Health videos and articles.
Rigid gas permeable (RGP) contact lenses are used far less often than soft contact lenses. In many cases, they are prescribed because a patient can't wear soft contact lenses, due to having an unusual prescription or requiring specialty contact lenses. While soft contact lenses are instantly comfortable, rigid gas permeable lenses feel foreign and take some time to get used to – at first they feel like a hair in the eye. Eventually, the eye becomes used to the contact lenses and the patient doesn't feel them at all.
Find more eye health videos and articles.
Other Types of Contact Lenses: Ortho-K
Another type of hard contact lens is used in orthokeratology (or ortho-k), a non-invasive alternative to laser eye surgery. A patient is fitted for special lenses which are worn each night to reshape the cornea. Ortho-k works by flattening the cornea so light can properly focus on the retina, which temporarily improves vision. As long as a patient regularly wears the ortho-k lenses, the vision will remain improved.
Most patients are suitable candidates for hard or soft contact lenses, as long as the eyes are healthy. When you visit your optometrist to discuss contact lens options, he or she will perform a thorough eye exam that may include corneal topography.