Eye Center Services: Contact Lenses Are you a candidate for contact lenses? There have been great advances in the field of contact lenses in the past ten years. This allows greater choice for the patient and doctor on which lens is the best for you. Advancement in technology has created more durable and less expensive disposable lenses, which allows greater freedom as well. Types of Contact Lenses Disposable These lenses are designed to be used and thrown away from as little as 1 day to 2 weeks or even 3-4 months. Extended Wear Contact lenses designed with the highest oxygen transmission allowing a lens to be worn safely for up to six days and nights consecutively. Color Changing or Enhancing These contacts can change the color of the eye, for example brown eyes could be green or blue, or light eyes can be enhanced to a more vibrant color. These lenses are available for people needing correction and those who do not. Astigmatism This is a type of refractive error where the shape of the eye causes light rays entering to focus in two meridians, therefore requiring a sphero-cylindrical spectacle or toric contact lens to correct. These contacts are also available in 2 week, 1 month and colored disposable lenses. Presbyopia A natural aging process of the eye where focusing on near objects becomes difficult so that reading glasses are needed to restore clarity. There are several contact lens options available for people desiring clear vision at distance and near without reading glasses! These include bifocal contacts in which both eyes have a reading correction or monovision in which one eye is corrected for distance and the other eye for reading. Either option can be fit for everyday wear or only occasionally like going out without having to put on reading glasses to see the menu. Rigid Gas Permeable These are custom designed contacts that are more rigid than soft lenses and are used to correct patients with irregular corneas, corneal disease or those with large amounts of astigmatism.