C.lens types
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Generally Soft or Hard, in the old days hard/gas permeable lenses were mostly prescribed as every practitioner had their horror stories of poorly looked after soft lenses.

The problem with conventional soft lenses was keeping them clean for a year or so.

With the advent of disposable soft lenses we found that most people who didn't have masochistic tendencies had found what they were looking for.

ACUVUE & FREQUENCY 55

The best contact lenses currently available.

Very thin and high water content (55%)

  • Extremely comfortable to wear allowing longer wearing times.
  • Easy to maintain
  • Even suitable for occasional overnight wear.
  • Frequent replacement good for the eyes

SUREVUE, ASPECT 55 (& VISTAVUE)

A SUREVUE is like an ACUVUE made 50% thicker. Replace every 4 weeks, daily wear only.

  • Generally harder wearing and easier to handle if you find ACUVUE a bit fiddly.
  • Less expensive than ACUVUE.
  • Require a little more maintenance.
  • Not suitable for occasional overnight wear.

These are still a much better lenses than normal soft lenses.

PRECISION U.V.

Very high water content (74%) lenses, They have a comparable level of comfort to ACUVUE.

  • Especially suitable for someone with dry eyes.
  • Ultra Violet block makes them worth considering if you work outdoors etc.
  • Higher water content does make them a bit more fragile.
  • Replace every 3 or 4 weeks according to wearing schedule.

WHICH TYPE SHOULD I HAVE?

  • For longer wearing times, 15-17 hrs a day, 7 days a week and you want the most comfortable lens choose ACUVUE or F55 (2 wks replacement)
  • For up to 14 hrs a day average wear or if you are on a budget but don’t want to compromise the health of your eyes consider SUREVUE or F55 (4 wks replacement)
  • If you are happy wearing specs most days but would like to wear lenses odd days or just at weekends consider 1-Day ACUVUE

Virtually everyone has either ACUVUE or SUREVUE lenses these days, a simple way to choose is try ACUVUE for the first week and then SUREVUE or F55 for the next month and let your eyes decide.

ONE DAY ACUVUE

1-DAY ACUVUE lenses allow flexible wearing times, you might wear them everyday on holiday and once a week at other times.

(Or of course anywhere in between!)

We have just taken delivery of three new types of lenses set to (possibly) change the current order of things.

PureVision 

This is a silicone based lens allowing phenomenal oxygen transmission and (in theory at least) 30 days constant wear. The ultimate lazy man's contact lens! The downside is that they are a bit expensive at about £33 / month and we will have to monitor your progress very carefully. My guess is they will be more of a "specialist" lens for the foreseeable future rather than mainstream but watch this space....

Acuvue2

Now this is more like it! Acuvue's have long been regarded as the numero uno lens on the planet. My own feeling has been that Vistakon have been sitting on their laurel's for a bit too long. The new lens is slightly thicker for improved handling and has a back surface curvature which gives a big increase in comfort.

I expect these to rapidly take over as the best cost/wearability compromise available. Fee's £22 / month as for the original Acuvue's

Acuvue Toric

At last we have a 2 weekly lens that corrects astigmatism. Competitively priced at £26 / month as for Acuvue Bifocals I suspect that these will have a big impact for failed gas-permeable / hard lens wearers and astigmatic soft lens wearers.