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Contact Lenses RI
We offer a wide selection of contact lenses including soft, multifocal, toric, and colored lenses. Whether you wear daily, weekly or monthly lenses, our selection of lenses will fit your needs. An accurate contact lens fit starts with a careful eye exam to ensure the most precise prescription and detect any prior conditions that could affect contact lens wear. We will decide the best fitting lens based on your lifestyle needs, and the shape and health of your eye. As a rule, you’ll have the chance to try on lenses on the same day as your exam. We follow up the initial fitting and make necessary improvements in fit or materials to get you the best possible fit. We show every one of our patients appropriate contact lens care and possible consequences if care is not taken. At that point we proceed with a long term follow-up to check your eye health and ensure that legitimate cleanliness is being kept up.
toric contact lenses
Toric contact lenses are designed to fix astigmatism and custom made to fit the eye of the patient. As opposed to having a perfectly spherical surface like standard contact lenses, toric lenses have a more elliptical shape made to suit the shape of the astigmatic eye. Toric lenses can be made of either soft or rigid gas permeable (RGP or GP) lens material, however the soft toric lenses are more common.
Toric lenses are available in each wearing schedule from daily disposable to long term wear. Because of the customization required, toric lenses have a tendency to be more expensive and may take more time to make than regular contact lenses.
multifocal contact lenses
The term multifocal lenses can mean any lens with various powers. Multifocal contact lenses give you more flexibility over glasses and they allow you to see in any direction – up, down and to the sides – with similar vision. Individuals wearing progressive lenses in glasses then again need to investigate their glasses in the event that they need to see upwards or into the distance.
Simultaneous Vision Lenses
The most prevalent version of multifocal contact lenses, simultaneous vision lenses present the distance and near vision zones of the lens at the same time. Ordinarily after a short adjustment period your eyes figure out how to use the segment of the lens that they have to focus on the desired protest and essentially disregard the other.
Concentric Ring Design
In the most common form these are bifocal lenses that are comprised of a focal circular area of one power with a ring around of the alternate power, similar to a bulls-eye. The width of every ring is variable relying upon the power that is required most and the edges of the rings can be mixed for a smooth transition of focus, similar to progressive eyeglass lenses.
Aspheric Design
These multifocal lenses offer more realistic vision by mixing numerous lens powers across the surface and focal point of the lens. In this design both distance and near vision power are situated in the center of the lens and your eyes will adjust to focus on the area you are looking at.
Translating or Alternating Vision Lenses
Similar to bifocal eyeglass lenses, these contacts are separated into distinct areas or zones and your pupil will move to the desired zone dependent upon your vision needs. Regularly the highest point of the lens, which is the thing that you look through when searching straight ahead is for distance vision and the base territory (what you look through when you look down) is for near vision.
Monovision Lenses
Monovision is another contact lens elective for presbyopia especially if you are having trouble adjusting to multifocal lenses. Monovision splits your distance and near vision between your eyes, using your dominant eye for distance vision and your non-dominant eye for near vision.
Gas Permeable (GP) Contact Lenses
Gas Permeable (GP) or Rigid Gas Permeable (RGP) contact lenses are another option to soft contact lenses that are produced using a hard, oxygen porous material. GP lenses are at present less well known than soft lenses yet offer various advantages and are keeping on enhancing as research and innovation progress.
GP contact lenses are made of a firm plastic material which allows the passage of oxygen through the viewpoint to your cornea and the front surface of your eye – essentially permitting your eye to “relax”. This increases comfort, health and safety during contact lens wear.
Health
Unlike soft lenses, GPs don’t contain water which makes them less prone to attract and breed microbes which can cause eye infections. Protein deposits are less likely to develop on the lens, keeping them cleaner and healthier.
Hygiene
Because they are made with a rigid material, GP lenses won’t tear and are easy to clean and disinfect. RGPs maintain their firm shape and won’t get dried out. In addition, GPs last longer than soft lenses – when cared for correctly, a pair can last a year or more.
Comfort
GP contact lenses are custom made for every patient based on the eye’s individual ebb and flow, size, corneal shape. Their ability to transmit oxygen reduces eye problems such as dry eyes caused by decreased oxygen that are common in many brands of soft lenses or hard (non-GP) lenses.
Vision
Because of the inflexible material, GPs have a smooth surface and maintain their shape, moving alongside the eye to stay in place . This provides sharp and stable vision. This type of contact lens won’t dry out, which is frequently a cause for lessened vision with different lenses.
Adjusting to GP Contact Lenses
One of the challenges of GP contact lenses is that they require an adjustment period, especially in the event that you are used to soft lenses with a larger diameter. One of the real differences is “lens awareness” in which you feel the edge of the lens when you squint. It could take a couple of weeks to get used to the lenses, however many individuals report that after this period they find that GP lenses are just as agreeable as soft lens varieties.
GP Lenses for Astigmatism
In the most common form these are bifocal lenses that are comprised of a focal circular area of one power with a ring around of the alternate power, similar to a bulls-eye. The width of every ring is variable relying upon the power that is required most and the edges of the rings can be mixed for a smooth transition of focus, similar to progressive eyeglass lenses.
GP Lenses for Myopia Control and Ortho-K
Research shows that gas permeable lenses may be viable in slowing the progression or worsening of astigmatism or nearsightedness, especially in children. They are also used in Orthokeratology (ortho-k), a vision correcting method in which you wear the lenses during the evening to reshape your cornea for enhanced vision during the day.
Giant Papillary Conjunctivitis (GPC) and Contact Lenses
GPC is a type of conjunctivitis in which the inward surface of the eyelid becomes swollen. The condition can be caused or worsened by a development of protein deposits on contact lenses. Your RI optometrist may either recommend daily disposable lenses or RGP lenses (which are not water based) and in this manner don’t have a propensity for protein development. Your doctor may also prescribe eye drops and suggest you to stop the use of contact lenses until the symptoms stop.
Rigid Gas Permeable (RGP) Lenses for Keratoconus
Keratoconus is a condition in which the cornea thins and bulges forward into a cone shape. Conventional contact lenses may cause some discomfort in these patients and the vision may still be blurry in this manner RGPs are regularly used for treatment for gentle, direct, and some severe cases. Inflexible gas permeable lenses may slow down the cone shape from worsening in some cases. RGPs can assist in vision correction for keratoconus which is usually unrealistic with soft contacts or even eyeglasses.
Joseph V. Girgenti, O.D. Inc.