Contact Lenses & Eyewear

The latest and greatest contact lenses have been lenses that are worn for a single day only–daily contact lenses. These lenses are used for one day only and thrown away at the end of the day. This is a better lens for several reasons.

First, the lenses can be made thinner so they are less noticeable on your eyes which leads to longer wear times per day without discomfort.

Second, replacing the lenses daily eliminates any residual build up on your lenses from decreasing comfort. All monthly wear contact users have felt their contacts becoming less comfortable over time and can’t wait to get a new pair on again. Imagine that same feeling every day! Daily wear users have the benefit of a fresh, clear, clean lens on their eyes every day!

Third, many people overuse their monthly lenses by wearing them longer than is recommended by the FDA. Many people think that they are VERY careful with their lenses so they can wear them longer. Trust us on this. No one is more careful with their lenses than the test group where every move they make is monitored and scrutinized by the FDA to gain approval of the lenses for public use. And all the tests show that the test lenses are all much less healthy for your eyes after 1 month of use than they were the first day of use, no matter how you treat them. Wearing monthly contacts for the normal month is still not as good as daily use lenses. So wearing them longer than a month will cause stress and damage to your eyes, every time. So daily contacts never become as unhealthy for your eyes as a contact lens you have worn for a month. This is because of a buildup of debris from your tears that occurs every day for the life of the lens. Cleaning removes a lot of the buildup, but never 100% of it.

Fourth, contact solutions aren’t needed with daily lenses. They are prepackaged with enough solution to insert them in your eyes. This means no more cost of solution throughout the year. Typical solutions cost $125-150 per year if you are using them correctly. Reusing solution or “topping off” of solution saves money but was found to be the reason many people had to have eyes removed several years ago. So it was definitely not worth the savings!

Fifth, daily contact lenses have come down in price very dramatically over time. With many manufacturers offering rebates on only the newest lenses, daily contact lenses are often times less costly per year than monthly comparable lenses. This is helped by not needing to purchase solutions as well. In the end, there are very few reasons to stay with older lens technology now. The newer lenses are healthier, more comfortable, more convenient, and now more cost effective!

There are many lens types and coatings on the market today. Lenses have been made for many hundreds/thousands of years. Modern R&D has led to some new lens materials that can make a much thinner lens, or a much lighter lens than lenses of the past. Crown Glass and CR39 are the basic lens materials that have been around for generations. They both give very clear vision but both suffer from being thick, heavy and somewhat easily broken. Other lens types have been developed that are lighter, more impact resistant and can be made thinner as well. Polycarbonate is the most widely used lens type now, due to its impact resistance and it is lighter and thinner than either glass or CR39. However, polycarbonate isn’t always the best lens option.

Trivex is a newer material that is the lightest material available for glasses today. It is a perfect match for drilled rimless frames (like our Silhouettes) because it holds up the very best to the drilled holes and won’t crack or split. It is also very light, matching the benefits of a rimless frame which are usually chosen due to their very light feel. Trivex also has clearer optics than polycarbonate; it distorts vision less than polycarbonate does. Trivex is almost as tough as polycarbonate for impact resistance as well. In fact, it is the second best material for safety reasons. As a result, your glasses can be very light, very clear and very tough.

Hi-index materials are made of materials that bend light better than crown glass or CR39. This means that they can give you the same level of correction as the other lenses while still being much thinner. For those with high prescriptions (those over 4.00DS usually benefit from these) these materials can sometimes make the difference of being able to close the temples on your glasses, to fit in a case or your pocket, or not.