Contact Lens Education

With so many contact lens materials, parameters and modalities available today, it is important for your doctor to match the proper lens to each individual patient. Much information contributes to this decision, including the data collected from your medical history, refraction, keratometry/corneal topography and biomicroscopy.

Our doctors personally do the fitting to ensure that the contact lenses fit the patient's eyes, and to ensure that the patient is getting enough oxygen, movement and minimal rotation. This is especially important for patients who require specialty lenses to correct astigmatism and muti-focals. Not all contact lenses are the same. Some are better for dry eyes, while some are better for oxygen transmission. The doctor will determine the type and material that is best for you.

Contact Lens fitting includes:

Contact Lens Prescription. One’s prescription for contact lenses is quite often different than that for glasses. (e.g. –6.00D in glasses maybe only –5.50D in contact lenses). It may even vary from one brand of contact lens to another. It is essential to determine the correct contact lens prescription to prevent overcorrection (wearing contacts that are too strong).
Contact Lens Diameter and Curvature. Different patients will have different eye sizes and curvatures, therefore they must be measured and fitted with lenses of the correct parameters. Lenses that are too loose on the eyes will lead to discomfort while lenses that are too tight will lead to red eyes and other complications.
Trial pair of contact lenses to ensure the patient is comfortable with the vision and comfort. For some more specialized brands, we may need to custom order trial lenses.
One bottle of starter contact lens solution.
One contact lens case.

All patients who have never worn contact lens are required have a contact lens teach session with our optometric assistant. This is to ensure that the the patients are able to safely insert and remove their lenses on their own as well as learning to properly care for their lenses. Depending on the patient, the teach can last anywhere between 30 minutes to an hour. It is also not uncommon for patient to have to return for a second practice session.