The Pros of Contact Lenses

There are several different types of contact lenses made to correct various vision problems. Soft lenses are more popular, but hard lenses are sometimes necessary to correct certain vision. The Wills Eye Institute reports that 26 million people wear contact lenses in the United States and 95 percent of people trying contact lenses are successful with long-term use. Contact lenses have many pros over wearing glasses.

Convenience

• The pros for soft lenses include convenience and comfort. You can wear soft contacts daily over an extended period of time. You can also wear them while sleeping. You can replace disposable lenses on a daily or weekly basis.

  Silicone gel soft contacts make it easier for people who have dry eye to use the product and avoid eye glasses.

  Of course, one of the biggest conveniences of contact lenses over glasses is that you don't have the risk of losing or breaking glasses. Contacts also do not produce a glare like glasses do, making them convenient to use outdoors.

Better for Physical Activities

• People who wear contact lenses can participate in sports without the worry of having glasses getting in the way or breaking. Also, peripheral vision is greater with contacts, which can have a positive affect on a runner or cyclist.

Vision Correction

• Contact lenses offer a variety of options for vision correction. The hard-gas permeable lens allows oxygen through the eye, making them healthy for the cornea. They can correct astigmatism and are available in bifocals. Hard-gas permeable lenses offer sharp vision. They do not carry a risk of infection.

  Specially designed lenses are another option. A hybrid lens has a center that is gas-permeable with a soft outer edge. The lenses are beneficial for people who have an irregular curvature to the cornea called keratoconus. They also are an option for people who cannot wear the gas-permeable lenses. According to the Wills Eye Institute, a lens called the Macro has been developed for advanced keratoconus.

  Monvision lenses correct far-sighted vision and close vision for reading. One lens corrects myopia, nearsightedness, and the other lens corrects presbyopia, an age-related problem focusing on objects that are near.

  The bifocal lens blends two prescriptions on the same lens. It can correct distance and near vision used for reading. People do not have to wear bifocal glasses or reading glasses.

  The X-chrome lens is red lens and fitted for one eye in order to correct red-green color blindness. It is a hard lens fitted for the least-dominant eye.