With many types of contact lenses on the market, it can be confusing as to which type of contact lens to choose. Once you find the correct contact lens, you’ll never want to go back to wearing glasses. Not only does it help improve your appearance, but at the same time gives you excellent peripheral vision. There are 2 main types of contact lenses to choose from – soft and hard.

Soft lenses

Soft lenses are very popular and easy to use. In general, they are made from a soft polymer-plastic material which contains between 38% to 70% of water. The water allows oxygen to pass through the contact lens material increasing the comfort. As soft lenses contain more water than hard contact lenses they are more comfortable to wear.

Soft contact lenses have a number of flexible wearing options. One great option is daily disposables where you wear the soft lens for one day and then throw them away. This saves you time in cleaning and also reduces the chance of infection. Popular models include 1 Day Acuvue, Soflens Daily Disposable and Focus Dailies.
A recent addition to hit the market is silicone extended wear disposables. These soft contact lenses are made with a new silicone hydrogel material allowing you to wear the lenses for up to 30 days and nights. Air Optix Night & Day and Focus Night & Day contact lenses are great for extended contact lens wear.

Hard Lenses

Hard lenses are more rigid than soft contact lenses making them more durable and less likely to tear. One type of hard lens is rigid gas permeable lenses made from silicone polymers which allow more oxygen to reach the eye than traditional hard lenses. Rigid gas permeable lenses maintain their shape and offer clearer vision for some types of prescriptions. Compared to soft contact lenses, rigid gas permeable contact lenses take longer to adjust to and should be worn each day to achieve maximum comfort.

Through consultation with your local optician, a suitable contact lens model will be recommended to suit your lifestyle. Contact lens manufacturers are constantly developing new materials so that those unable to wear contact lenses in the past now can.