If you need to read menu, newspapers from a further distance, you have probably developed presbyopia. Bifocal contact lenses are the solution to this vision problem. Bifocal contact lenses are available in soft and RGPs types, disposable type as well as silicone hydrogel extended type up to 30 days.

Multifocal contacts refer to lenses with more than one focal point or power. In this consideration, bifocal contacts are a sub-set of multifocal contacts. Lens design groups multifocal contacts into two categories: alternating vision lenses and simultaneous vision lenses. The latter one still has two types: concentric ring designs and aspheric designs.

With alternating bifocals or translating bifocals, your pupil looks through either the top section or the bottom section of the lenses for different powers in order to get respectively distance vision or close vision. The switching process requires the movement of your eyes, rather than the automatic adjustment of the lenses. Most alternating bifocals are RGPs, and their smaller size performs well during these shifts.

Concentric ring bifocals have a prescription in the center and one or more power rings around. These multiple rings alternate automatically for distance or close vision. The ring number is decided by your pupil size and light condition, while two rings are the most common. Different materials of bifocals bring different rings structures. GP bifocals always feature center-distance while soft bifocals feature center-near. Exceptions of soft bifocals include designs that are center-near on dominant eye but center-distance no non-dominant eye.

Aspheric multifocal contacts function similarly with progressive lenses which have multiple powers. They are the most popular multifocal contacts since they are also concentric and can simultaneously adjust to your vision needs at every moment.

Thanks to technological advancements in bifocals such as monovision and modified monovision, a large number of bifocal contacts are available for your selection. These technologies have helped bifocal contacts gain popularity. In detail, monovision allows your eyes to take a near prescription and distance prescription respectively, both using single lenses. Modified monovision combines single lenses and multifocal lenses on one person.

During bifocal contacts trials from your ECP, two elements are decisive: pupil size and near prescription. Bifocal contacts’ fitting is more complex and time-consuming, so you may be charged for the process. Some codes may be obeyed in choosing proper types of multifocal contacts: aspheric contacts fit low near prescription but reject large pupils, and alternating contacts suit high near prescription.

Contact lenses have been around for over one hundred years. In those early days, some people were not suitable to wear contact lense since the technologies were not so advanced. But nowadays, contact lenses are available for everyone. And contact lenses today are provided in more options that even colored ones are manufactured.

Contact lenses are one of the three ways that can correct eye diseases such as myopia, hyperopia and astigmatism. The other two are eyeglasses and eye surgery such as LASIK. Actually, contact lense has been the choice of a considerable population. In the United States, about 20 percent of people who need vision correction wear contact lenses.

To some content, contact lenses are special eyeglasses, because they also use lenses to help people improve their vision. However, the two types do have some differences. Eyeglasses are visible to others. They have obvious frames and lenses. In contrast, contact lense is invisible to others, because the lenses are made of transparent materials. This feature of contact lenses does help some people who prefer their appearance without a pair of eyeglasses. Contact lense also eliminates their need for eye surgeries.

Contact lenses can provide the vision correction effects as well as any eyeglasses. Once you put them on, contact lenses “contact” your pupils. Contact lense is large enough to cover your whole pupil even if you turn your eyes around in all directions, so that it can provide complete vision correction. Contact lense just provides unobstructed vision, which is helpful during sports and other activities.

Besides the wide selections of soft contacts themselves, their care is also an important aspect in order to prevent eye infections. The ever reported fungal eye infections is a clear warning against unhealthy contacts handling. You should always follow the guidance and steps while cleaning contacts, although the one-bottle care systems have made lens care much easier than before. And the basic requirement is that you should never switch care regimens between different soft lenses, which are not compatible.

In addition to regular contacts cleaning and rinsing, there are special products for further care. Daily protein removal is useful for infrequently replaced contacts, which provides further protein removal and maintains lenses’ comfort. Another product for protein cleaning weekly is enzymatic cleaner. You should clean and rinse your contacts before applying an enzymatic drop on each of them, and then leave them to dissolve for 15 minutes. After that, you may need other disinfecting products if necessary. Eyedrops can be used to lubricate your eyes and rewet your lenses. Some solutions contain preservatives that may cause problems at a high rate. For the small population who have eye sensitivity and allergies, cleaning products marked “preservative-free” are the right choice. If they use regular solutions, they may get symptoms such as itching, tearing, foreign body sensation, burning, redness and discharge. Actually, most of the preservative-free products have expiration dates after they are opened.

There are many kinds of products for cleaning, rinsing, and disinfecting. Saline solution is exclusively for lenses rinsing and storing, rather than cleaning and disinfecting. You can use daily cleaner on your palm to rub your lenses on both sides. Multipurpose solution integrates all functions of cleaning, rinsing, disinfecting and storing. They are very convenient and eliminate the need for separate bottles of different products. Hydrogel peroxide solution is also for those four functions, but it provides a basket for rinsing and a cup for cleaning and disinfecting. The more convenient solution may be cleaning or disinfecting devices. You should just fill in cleaning and disinfecting solutions, and then the device will do the job for you. But the rinsing work is still your responsibility.

There are mainly two types of contacts care products in brands: name-brand products and store-brand products, all of which have FDA approval. Store-brand solutions from pharmacy and grocer may be cheaper, but they have potential problems. Since lenses solutions should never be switched without a compatibility test, you should always go to your doctor for consultation. And because the store does not produce solutions themselves, the product you have bought last time may be not available now, which requires additional doctor visits for compatible issues. What’s more, some of the store-brand solutions may be made of older formulations and they may frequently change their formulations.

You should keep many things in mind during daily contact lenses care. Most importantly, never shift to other brands without a compatibility consultation. The solution bottle tips may be contaminated by any touch. Microorganisms in tap water may cause dangerous infections. You should follow instructions while caring your lenses. Rinse and dry your lenses case regularly and discard it once a month.

Acuvue day, one of the most influential one day disposable contacts, is generally called 1 day Acuvue. As one of the best selling contacts of Vistakon, Acuvue day bears not only the merits in all Vistakon products, but also its own characteristics.

Acuvue day can block harmful UV radiations. This is a feature of all Acuvue lenses. Thereupon, with this 1 day Acuvue, wearers need not to worry that their eyes will be burnt.

Before wearing Acuvue day, people are suggested to do some eye examinations. This procedure is very essential. Though Acuvue day is very safe in its quality, some people may have been suffering some sort of eye diseases. And people are not suggested to wear Acuvue day and any other contact lenses before these diseases are cured.

Like many other Vistakon contact series, there are several products in Acuvue day series. 1 day Acuvue moisture is designed for people with eye dryness; 1 day Acuvue Define is made for cosmetic use; 1 day Acuvue toric is for people with astigmatism, etc. All these Acuvue day products have performed nicely in people’s lives

The peculiar features of Acuvue day can be divided into following two aspects. As its name indicates, 1 day Acuvue is a kind of one-day wear. Each day, people can enjoy the freshness and comfort of wearing a new lens. Such freshness and comfort are mainly reflected in its ability to insulate eyes from metabolic wastes. With 1 day Acuvue, people can feel that everything is new, and life is new as well.

The most outstanding feature that 1 day Acuvue has is that it is very convenient to use. It is not needed for wearers of 1 day Acuvue to use any sort of solutions as before. They need not to buy any cases to store such lens. In a word, 1 day Acuvue needs no maintenance.

Disposable contact lenses are worn for a certain period and replaced by a new pair, so that they are more convenient and healthy. For replacement interval, contact lenses can be divided into some types: disposable lenses replaced within two weeks, frequent replacement lenses replaced monthly or quarterly and traditional lenses replaced every six months or longer. Currently, disposable lenses including the first two types have been the most popular.

The terms replacement schedule and wearing schedule may be confusing. Replacement schedule is the frequency that your lenses are replaced, while wearing schedule refers to your removal frequency. Disposable lenses are offered in different wearing schedule: both daily wear and extended wear.

Contact lenses require regular cleaning to keep lenses clean and prevent eye infections. However, cleaning process can not wipe out all the deposits on them, including protein, calcium, lipids that are generated by tears. So that after a period time of wearing, contact lenses should be discarded.

One fact is that if you replace contacts with a higher frequency, more healthy insurance your eyes will get. In this case, daily disposable contact lenses just provide the extreme solution. Also called one-day disposables, these contact lenses are discarded every night and replaced by a new one in the morning. Daily disposable contact lenses eliminate all care such as cleaning and storing.

In the early days, contacts were expensive devices and most people thought that it was pity to discard them frequently. This concern originated from the contacts materials and designs. Nowadays, new manufacture methods have been created thus contact lenses can be made in greater volume and still at lower price. Furthermore, even new materials are created to produce these disposable contacts that bring down their price.

If you take conventional contact lenses, cleaning products like solutions are a necessity, which are also a part of the total expenses. Disposable contact lenses remove this cost, so that the incremental cost is relatively reduced, even if you use daily disposable contacts. In addition, disposable contacts’ price may vary between different cities, ECPs, and your specific prescriptions.

The only thing that may affect your eligibility for disposable contacts is your prescription. If you have a special prescription, your selection of disposable may be narrowed down. For example, you may only be permitted to wear frequent replacement contacts, rather than disposable lenses. Even if you can only wear traditional contacts, the good news is that the cleaning technology has been improved.

The replacement frequency of disposable contact lenses depends on your eyes conditions. Some people may have more proteins and lipids in their tears, while others may have allergies. For these people, the frequency should be higher. Always follow your doctor to determine the best replacement schedule and wearing schedule.

It is exciting that the technology named orthokeratology applied to your contact lenses can reshape your cornea at night and offer a clearer vision even without contacts at daytime. Although the magic effect lasts about only one day, it is great for many people.

Ortho-k has been practiced to reshape cornea since decades ago, but it got a complete approval from FDA only several years ago. The development of Ortho-k contact lenses has undergone a harsh process. Until now, some new manufacturing methods such as “reverse geometry” and lens designs such as “return zero” have bring a higher success rate to Ortho-k contact lenses.

By reshaping the cornea, Ortho-k contact lenses can re-focus the light rays, making them focus properly on the retina. In this ways, myopia is corrected. Eyeglasses, traditional contact lenses and LASIK perform in the same way.

Currently, Paragon Vision Science provides Corneal Refractive Therapy (CRT) and Bausch & Lomb offers Vision Shaping Treatment (VST) as certification for Ortho-k practice. Other Ortho-k lenses have no FDA approval for overnight wearing.

CRT is approved to treat up to six diopters of myopia and up to -1.75 of astigmatism, while VST has approval to correct up to five diopters of myopia and up to -1.5 of astigmatism. Ortho-k lenses fit all generations with healthy eyes. But they are more appealing to people like sporting or work in dusty and dirty environments. Ortho-k lenses also perform as a perfect substitute for LASIK so that they are preferred by adolescents who can not accept the surgery. According to researches on patients who use Ortho-k lenses, most of them receive a good vision above 20/32.

Before prescribing Ortho-k contact lenses, your doctor will measure your corneal curvatures using a corneal topographer, which is painless and takes a minute. The exact prescription may be achieved after a trial. Ortho-k contact lenses can reshape two to three diopters of myopia within two weeks, accompanied by side effects such as glare and halos. You should wear these lenses to maintain the reached prescription over sleeping or during part of the day.

Ortho-k lenses are always comfortable during sleep because your eyes seldom blink, so that the interaction between the eyelid and lens edge is reduced. For daytime wearing, these RGP Ortho-k lenses may cause discomfort.

Although ortho-k lenses are covered by vision care service plan, they may cost $800 to $1500 for both eyes, followed by additional cost of subsequent replacement lenses. The specific fee is determined by difference of regions, and ECPs. This high price is reasonable because the Ortho-k lenses fitting costs more time and attention.

Ortho-k lenses are perfect for people who want to get rid of lenses during daytime. These lenses act as a better alternative for LASIK since it may worsen dry eyes. Ortho-k lenses only have temporary effects so that you can receive LASIK at any time as you wish. But you should stop wearing them before taking the surgery, letting the cornea to recover its natural shape. Ortho-k contact lenses can not avoid side effects and complications as regular contact lenses.

Some people have special eye problems and are not suitable to wear contacts. They require particular fitting by ECPs. Some ECPs specialize in these hard-to-fit patients. They provide more expertise and advanced equipments for contacts fitting.

RGPs are the right solution for Keratoconus since they are made of non-bendable materials. RGP contacts replace the irregular surface of a Keratoconic cornea. If the Keratoconus eyes are not suitable for direct RGPs, “piggybacking” is used. RGPs are covered over soft lenses so that they will be more comfortable. Keratoconus eyes may also use exclusively designed hybrid contacts, which combine a GP center and a soft ring around it. Another option of contacts for Keratoconus relates to the white sclera of the eye. These large diameter sclera GP lenses provide the irregular Keratoconus eye surface with a more stable and comfortable fitting.

Astigmatism eyes are also difficult to fit than common myopia or hyperopia eyes, since the eye cornea is not perfectly round. The current solution to astigmatism eyes are toric contacts, which should never rotate while blinking. They are provided in soft type, RGPs as well as customized style for high prescription. Hybrid contacts are another possible option for astigmatism.

Chronic dry eye is a common eye problem which is estimated to affect 20% of the Americans so that they may feel not so good with contacts. This eye problem has some usual symptoms, such as frequent tearing, red eyes, watery tears and feeling objects in the eyes. Since dry eyes affect the fitting of contacts, some doctors may treat these eyes using various methods. For example, using artificial tears and medicated eye drops can help people generate more tears and improve eye nutrition. Opticians may also insert punctal plugs into your eyelids’ inner margin, so as to hold most of your tears, which only costs several minutes and is painless. All these treatments aim to keep more tears on eyes. For people with dry eyes, traditional soft contacts are not the right solution since they absorb tears. New designed soft contacts do better in keeping moisture in the eyes. RGPs provide a better way to fit dry eyes, because they never “consume” moisture in the eyes.

A common inflammatory problem named Giant papillary conjunctivitis (GPC) also cause difficult contacts fitting. The protein excretions in tears bring a filmy coating on contacts, which affect comfort and good vision. Eye drops may help in reducing the possibility of GPC. Contact lenses should keep away from these proteins. A simplest way is to wearing soft daily disposable contacts, which will never be bothered by protein deposits. Another choice is GP contacts, which are more resistant to proteins deposits than soft lenses. Common soft lenses retain proteins easily even with frequent cleaning.

Since LASIK does not always resume a perfect vision, especially treating high prescriptions, contact lenses are still helpful after LASIK. This condition requires more consideration and trials for contacts fitting. Soft contacts, special RGPs and hybrid lenses are effective to provide a better vision after LASIK for high degree astigmatism. RGPs and hybrid contacts can help solve LASIK complications and excessive glare, as well as providing sharper night vision.

Presbyopia eyes are also hard to go with contact lenses. Opticians always use bifocal contacts and monovision lenses with precise fitting to correct this eye problem. The fitting process is time-consuming so that these lenses are more expensive. In fact, they deserve the high price.

Actually, most of the contacts dealing with hard-to-fit eye problems require more time and money. Eye practitioners must acquire more expertise to be competent.

People may need customized contact lenses if they have special eyes or high astigmatism, or they just need additional comfort and particular clear vision. Both RGPs and soft lenses are available for people’s personalized needs.

RGPs are commonly acknowledged that they provide clearer vision than soft lenses, especially for astigmatism. However, most of the traditional RGPs have a slight gap between the lens edge and the eye surface, in order to allow more oxygen in tears during blinking. It is still this special design which may make people uncomfortable, especially for those with irregular eye surface shapes. In this case, customized RGPs are designed to tackle this dilemma, which have different measurements and lens designs.

For conventional RGPs, an instrument called keratometer is used to measure the cornea’s curvature. And the curvature of conventional RGPs has three elements: the curve of the steepest meridian, the curve of the flattest meridian and the orientation of the flattest meridian. These measurements help doctors or manufacturers determine the curves of RGPs’ back surface. Conventional RGPs always have a central curve and two periphery flatter curves.

Custom RGPs require more complex eye measurements and lens designs. Unlike conventional RGPs, they need the eye’s several thousand points’ curvatures data obtained by a corneal topographer. All these curves are used to form multi-curved lenses, which conform more closely to cornea surface and create smoother point-to-point curvature changes. These measurements and lens designs provide more comfortable fitting for special eyes and also permit more oxygen to directly reach the eyes.

Custom contact lenses offer a change for everyone who has been disappointed by traditional RGPs. Custom RGPs are particularly useful for people with keratoconus and irregular corneal curvature, caused by eye injuries, failed LASIK or just born with that. Another type of custom RGPs are multifocal RGPs, which are created for presbyopia. In conclusion, custom RGPs provide a more effective way to correct myopia and astigmatism.

Soft contacts are also available in custom types, even if they are not as competitive as custom RGPs. But custom soft contacts do offer a better solution for high level astigmatism than conventional toric contacts, which are effective only for astigmatism below 2.5 diopters. Custom toric lenses offer higher powers as well as slighter increments.

Custom contact lenses may be your choice once you have failed in fitting some conventional contacts or you just want to make a change. Requiring additional time and skills, custom contacts cost about two times more than common contact lenses. You may contact your eye doctor for detailed information.

Both experienced and newbie wearers may have specific problems with contact lenses. One of the common problems is inside-out lens, even though it never brings any damage. When the lens on your finger forms a “U” with the top edges flared out, rather than a perfect “U”, it is inside out. Some contact lenses offer a handling tint or brand laser marking to help you see them easily.

There are many tips for contact lenses applying. The preparation work of hands washing should avoid scented or oily soaps, because they may adhere to lens surface. You can shake the lens case to loosen lenses but never use your finger. Always slide the lens out of case onto your index or middle finger. For easier applying, you can look upward or forward. To better settle the lens, you should roll your eyes in a complete circle and then blink. It is better to apply the lens to a same eye every time.

For soft lens removal, always use your nails-clipped index finger and thumb finger to lift it off the eye, with your eyes looking upward or sideways and lower eyelid pulled down. For rigid contact lens, the removal process is easier that it can be popped out into your palm with proper handling. There are still removing devices that only touch your lenses.

Although contact lenses with a UV blocker can not replace regular sunglasses for complete UV protection, they still protect the white part of the eyes that is covered. Evidences show that UV light may lead to various eye diseases such as cataracts and photokeratitis. You should ask your doctor if the contact lens has UV protection treatment, since it is always provided in a clear form to avoid vision disturbance.

Contact lenses may affect your eye makeup to some degree. Many tips are useful in preventing lens from adhering makeup. You should apply your lenses before getting makeup. Use allergy-free makeup brands such as Almay and Clinique. Keep your eyes closed when you applying powder and brush off excess powder before opening your eye. At night, you should firstly remove your contacts without touching your eye makeup. Your eye makeup should be replaced frequently to prevent bacteria built-up.

Bifocal contact lens is a relatively new member in the family of bifocals. For their special designs and features, bifocal contact lens did not come into being until 1930s. But the first bifocal contact lenses are not ideal alternates for many people. And many people did not bear very good passion for these newly designed bifocal contact lenses. This is because of the backwardness of technologies and this has caused a lot uncomfortable to wearers. However, with the development of technologies in bifocals, great achievements have been made in bifocal contact lens. Especially, since the year 1982, new technologies have solved all the problems in bifocal contact lenses. Hence bifocal contact lenses have become very popular among the masses. Now many people make bifocal contact lenses as their first choice.

Bifocal contact lens allows wearers to see objects both far and near. Because the bifocal contact lens are the results of very complex designs. Wearers of bifocal contact lenses can move their eyes freely, either upward or downward. Wherever the eyes moves, some adjustments can be automatically made in bifocal contact lenses.

Generally speaking, the materials of bifocal contact lenses can be divided into to categories: rigid gas permeable and soft toric lenses. Principally, there are no differences between the two categories. And consumers can also find disposal bifocal contact lens at the market. This bifocal contact lens can be replaced at intervals.

Some wearers of bifocal contact lens worry whether the prescription can be adjusted with the change of vision. In fact it is no need to worry that. For bifocal contact lens can be adjusted at any time with the change of the need of the wearers.