Types of Daily Contact Lenses

Are you ready for the flexibility and freedom that contact lenses offer? Discover how daily disposables and specialized toric lenses can transform your vision and simplify your busy life.

Key Takeaways: Simplified Vision Solutions

• Dailies Beat Allergens: Daily disposable lenses minimize eye allergy symptoms by eliminating the build-up of deposits and microorganisms, offering a fresh, clean surface every day.

• Zero Maintenance, Maximum Time: Choosing daily disposables removes the need for lens cleaning and solution purchasing, saving you both time and ongoing cost.

• Astigmatism Requires Precision: Toric lenses are the specific solution for astigmatism, designed with varying focal powers and built-in stabilizing features (like thin/thick zones) to ensure a precise fit and superior visual clarity.

• Stability Over Softness: While slightly firmer than conventional soft lenses for stability, the vision correction provided by Toric lenses for astigmatism significantly outweighs any minor difference in initial comfort.

• Consultation is Key: Always consult with your eye doctor to determine if you are a suitable candidate for daily disposables or specialized toric lenses, ensuring the best outcome for your unique visual needs.

Wearing contact lenses gives patients the flexibility and freedom to live life to the fullest, without some of the difficulties presented by wearing glasses. Many people who choose contact lenses do so because they don’t like the way that glasses look or feel, or because wearing glasses compromises their ability to perform certain tasks or activities, such as sports or jobs that require the use of safety goggles.

There are lots of different contact lenses to choose from, with two of the most popular being daily disposables and toric lenses.

Disposable Lenses

As their name suggests, these daily contact lenses are disposable. This means that they can and should be discarded at the end of each day rather than re-worn. Disposable lenses do tend to be a little more expensive than some repeat-wear varieties, but the benefits usually outweigh the cost.

Some of the advantages of choosing daily disposable contact lenses include:

• You don’t have to clean them, which saves patients a great deal of time and hassle. It also helps save money in terms of the ongoing cost of cleaning solutions.
• Disposable lenses are also great for people with eye allergies. This is because with ordinary lenses, there’s an opportunity for deposits and microorganisms to build up. With daily disposables, allergens have less chance to attach themselves to the lenses and cause irritation and other allergy symptoms.
• You don’t need to schedule regular replacements either, which makes wearing contact lenses easier on your schedule.
• Disposable contact lenses are particularly good for people who have busy lives and are likely to cut corners when it comes to caring for their eyes or contacts, since there is no cleaning or maintenance required.

Daily disposable contact lenses are available in a wide range of prescriptions, including those for patients with nearsightedness and farsightedness. Your eye doctor will be able to advise you if you are a candidate for disposable contact lenses.

Toric Lenses

Toric contact lenses are recommended for patients who have a refractive eye problem called astigmatism. Patients with astigmatism have corneal abnormalities that cause the refraction of the eye to be different between the vertical and horizontal planes, causing blurred vision and difficulty seeing fine details. Toric contact lenses are shaped in a particular way that creates the different focusing powers needed in each part of the lens to correct your vision. For this reason, Toric lenses must be placed into the eyes in the correct position.

Fortunately, manufacturers design Toric lenses with features that help them to stay in place, including:

• Thin/thick zones
• Creating areas of the lens that are thicker or heavier, which helps secure it in position
• An area where the bottom of the lens is slightly cut off

To keep them stable, Toric lenses are a little firmer than conventional soft lenses. This means that some patients can find them a little less comfortable, but the superior vision they obtain outweighs this. Your eye doctor will be able to advise you if you are a good candidate for Toric contact lenses and which variety would best suit you.

Resources and Citations

1. Understanding Astigmatism and Toric Lenses: Clinical guidance on corneal abnormalities and specialized lens solutions.

2. Benefits of Daily Disposables for Eye Health: Research supporting the reduction of microbial and allergen build-up in daily disposable lenses.

To find out more about daily contact lenses, speak to our friendly and knowledgeable team.