Contact lenses provide you with an alternative for correcting your vision that frees you from the concerns of glasses.  The staff at DiStefano Eye Center will take great care to perform a full evaluation to insure your contacts are comfortable, provide you with the usage characteristics that match your lifestyle and preserve the health of your eyes.

There are numerous types of contacts now available with different implications for the quality and functionality of your vision. Some of these include:

• Bifocal lenses – to provide near vision for people with presbyopia
• Custom made lenses – to improve fit for people who have an irregularly shaped eye or too much astigmatism
• Gas permeable lenses – which allow more oxygen to be transmitted to the eye, improving comfort, promoting a healthier environment for the eye and possibly improving vision
• Monovision lenses – providing distance correction in one eye and near vision correction in the other, over time you learn to adapt to this new method of vision
• Orthokeratology lenses – temporarily reshaping your cornea at night to improve your day time vision for people who are nearsighted
• Silicone hydrogel lenses – allow the transmission of more oxygen to the eye in a soft contact lens, improving the environment for the eye and extending the time for continuous wear
• Toric lenses – have two powers in them, created with curvatures at two different angles and designed to remain stable in the eye to accommodate an astigmatism in soft and gas permeable lenses

Each of these options and others have indications and risks that must be evaluated within the context of your eyes and lifestyle. Additionally, different manufacturers produce lenses with slightly different characteristics that can influence your experience. We can help you sift through these choices and find a solution that is right for you.

Can I wear contacts if I have dry eyes?

Every person is unique and the severity of your dry eye condition, along with other factors, will influence your ability to wear contacts. The following options have proven successful for some people.

Switching to soft contacts with lower water content that lose less of their moisture due to environmental factors can preserve tears for your eyes.

Silicone hydrogel contact lenses have higher oxygen permeability and are lower in water content than traditional soft contact lenses and are a good choice for dry eye conditions.