Our Optometrists will examine your eyes and determine their health and suitability for contact lens wear. We will then advise you on the best lenses for your requirements. This may be daily disposable lenses for convenience and simplicity, lenses to correct astigmatism or multifocal contact lenses. We also fit contact lenses for children, and in particular Myopia Management to slow the rate of myopia progression.
We are proud to have been recognised by Johnson & Johnson as an Acuvue Centre of Excellence giving us access to the very latest products before they are available on general release.
Nowadays, these make up the vast majority of contact lens fits due to huge improvements in materials and the advent of daily disposable lenses.
Soft lenses are made from gel-like, water-containing plastics called hydrogels. These lenses are very thin and pliable and conform to the front surface of the eye. Introduced in the early 1970s, they made contact lens wear popular because they typically are immediately comfortable.
A more recent and advanced type of sort contact lens are Silicon Hydrogel lenses. They are more porous than regular hydrogel lenses and allow even more oxygen to reach the cornea.
As mentioned above, many designs are available for different visual requirements allowing contact lens wear to be tailored to individual needs.
These lenses are smaller than soft contact lenses and made from stiffer, much less pliable materials. They are fit less often now than in the past due to both the improvement in soft lenses and the fact that they are less comfortable on initial fitting. Tolerance to this type of lens needs to be built up over a few weeks.
The original rigid lenses were called PMMA lenses but these have been superseded by Gas Permeable lenses which allow more oxygen to reach the cornea and are often found to be more comfortable.
The main advantage of rigid lenses is that they often allow sharper vision compared to soft contact lenses particularly if you have astigmatism. Because tolerance needs to be built up over time, they are less suitable for intermittent wear e.g. sports and so are generally fit for those individuals who require full-time wear. Rigid lenses are also the lens of choice when treating eye conditions such as kerataconus.
Teaching session lasting approx 30-40 minutes which includes: