Contact lenses provide significant advantages, especially for activities such as sports in which spectacles are impractical, such as surfing and contact sports.
The first practical contact lenses were developed in the 1940’s with the advent of plastics. Prior to this, experimental glass contact lenses were available but impractical because of weight and the hazard of shattered glass.
Contact lenses come in a variety of forms but the most commonly used are rigid gas permeable (RGP) lenses and soft lenses.
Both forms have advantages and disadvantages. The main advantage of soft lenses is that they are immediately comfortable while the modern RGP lenses still require some adaption. On the other hand, RGP lenses provide significant benefits for certain optical corrections and unlike soft lenses do not require frequent replacement.
Those able to adapt to RGP lenses are often the most successful wearers with years of trouble-free vision correction.
A recent exciting innovative design (Image above) is used for Orthokeratology (OK) which are not only comfortable but also gently reshape the eye eliminating the need to wear spectacles or contact lenses during the day.
Specially designed contact lenses are now available which not only correct vision but also slow the development of myopia (shortsightedness) resulting in lower spectacle corrections as well as decreasing the risk of eye diseases such as retinal detachment, glaucoma and myopia induced macular degeneration.
Suitability for contact lens correction can only be determined following a routine optometric assessment as well as identifying requirements of the user.
