Our Contact Lens Practice
A special aspect of our contact lens practice is our ability to obtain sharp, comfortable vision for our patients who have challenging contact lenses prescriptions. We have solutions for patients who have dry eyes, patients who work on computers, and patients who wish to wear lenses just part-time. We are also able to successfully place many patients in contact lenses who have struggled in the past. We are proud to provide quality contact lens care you can trust and afford to all of our adult and pediatric patients.
Contact Lens Prescription & Design
Above: a pair of Scleral Contact Lenses. Scleral lenses offer sharp vision and comfort for dry eyes, irregular corneas or hard-to-fit eyes. They are also helpful for keratoconus.
Part art and part science, the doctor’s understanding of the specific visual need of each patient is key in writing a contact lens prescription, and will help the doctor select your ideal lens design. Based on your prescription, needs and lifestyle, our doctors will provide you with a prescribed lens design and brand that will allow for the best comfort and vision possible.
Common Lens Persuasions
We offer many contact lenses options from daily disposable to three months changeable lenses. Our in-office supply of cosmetic enhancing lenses for modification of eye color is extensive. Specialty lenses including lenses for Astigmatism, gas permeable (commonly referred to as RGP or “rigid gas permeable”) lenses, and Multifocal designs are also available at our office and have real benefits for many of our patients.
While many contact lenses are on hand in our inventory, we are happy to order specialty designs or custom designs for the more complicated prescriptions.
Daily Wear:
Above: a pair of Silicone Hydrogel Contact Lenses. These are an advanced type of soft contact lenses that are more porous than regular hydrogel lenses and allow even more oxygen to reach the cornea.
Lenses are to be removed each night to be either cleaned or discarded at prescribed intervals. There are many types and materials of daily wear lenses available that offer varying advantages. Your doctor can fit you in the specific brand of contact lenses that would work best for your needs.
Flex Wear:
You may wear lenses overnight from time to time 1-2 days per week*.
*Note: Wearing contact lenses overnight may increase your risk for serious eye infection or ulcerative keratitis, which could threaten your success with future contact lens wear.
Extended Wear:
The lens is placed in the eye and remains there for one to two weeks.
Three Lens Systems:
Some patients who require correction at far and near must accept compromise at far or near. In some circumstances we may prescribe an alternative of a “third lens” prescription for specialty or high-demand tasks such as night driving, sports, needlework, etc. Some patients opt to have their vision optimized for their primary daily task—for example, working on a computer—and supplement their vision with glasses while driving to minimize dependence on glasses!
Another common adapter is for patients who get 80-90% of their best vision with contact lenses and wear glasses for critical tasks, like night driving or extended computer or screen time.
Peroxide and Solutions:
We generally prescribe peroxide systems for patients with dry or sensitive eyes. Please use the brand of solution prescribed by your doctor. Solution quality can range widely and use can have serious effects on your eyes when using contacts such as redness, irritation and other complications.
Multifocal Contact Lenses
Multifocal contacts give the user freedom from eyeglasses. To best approximate the vision in glasses, many different types of lens combinations may be applied. Almost all patients are successful, providing their expectations are reasonable and can understand the limit of the lenses, and are willing to make small compromises in their vision in exchange for the ability to not be dependent on eyeglasses. Our doctors and staff have seen many happy patients using the Proclear Multifocal, PureVision Multifocal, and Acuvue for Presbyopia designs.
Bi-focal contacts are here, they are reasonably priced, and there are several options that allow you to see near and far without eyeglasses! Give us a call to schedule a demonstration.
“RGP” Lenses
Rigid gas-permeable lenses (also called RGP or GP contacts) are made from a material that allows oxygen to pass through and reach the surface of your eye. They can provide a high level of vision correction and often work well with astigmatism and irregularities in the shape of the eye. Studies have shown that RGP lenses have helped slow down the development of nearsightedness in young and adult lens wearers.
Soft contact lenses are generally more comfortable to wear, however rigid gas permeable contacts have a lower rate of infection than soft contact lenses, and are much more durable, thus needing less frequent replacement. RGP contacts are custom-made for each patient. Because they are not mass-produced like soft contacts, gas permeable lenses are more expensive than soft lenses. Though the per-lens cost of gas permeable lenses is higher, a single pair of GP lenses can last a whole year.
Contact Lens Exam
Rhode Island law dictates that we must have a valid contact lens prescription within one year to fill any contact lens orders. The management fees for fitting and evaluation vary depending on the time and complexity of your case. The Contact Lens Exam is billed separately from a Comprehensive Eye Exam and is typically not covered by insurance. If there is no change to the brand from the last fitting the Contact Lens Exam ranges from $60 - $75.