Contact Lenses

If you don’t want to wear glasses all the time, have you thought about contact lenses? If so we have the time and patience to find you the perfect fit for your eyes.

We fit premium contact lenses, which allow you to see clearly and comfortably at all distances all day.

Contact lens development has changed enormously in the last few years and we are able to fit many more eyes than was possible in the past, so even if you have been previously told that you are not suitable for contact lens wear, there may well be lenses that are perfect for your needs. We fit daily and monthly disposable soft lenses, and all sorts of specialist lenses also.

If you need an eye examination, we start with our usual thorough eye examination, but if you have an up-to-date spectacle prescription we can start from there. After talking through various aspects of lens wear, we carefully examine and measure the cornea, the clear part of the eye that sits in front of the iris, the coloured part of the eye. The contact lens sits on the cornea and we need to check its dimensions and health before we start.

Then we try lenses in the eyes. We may have to have these made-to-measure for more complicated eyes or otherwise fit you with lenses from our stock. These are “trial” lenses, an intelligent starting point because until the lens is actually on and we can see how it reacts with the eye, we cannot find the perfect lens for you.

Once the trial lenses are in (and most people find them much more comfortable than they had been expecting) we usually ask you to go for a wander around the shops or for a coffee to allow the lenses to settle before we assess them. When you come back, after around half-an-hour or 40 minutes we check the fit and position of the lenses, how they move and how the eyes have reacted to them.

If you decide to go ahead we order your first lenses and book an appointment to teach you how to put them in and out and how to look after them. (Don’t worry if this seems difficult at first- it seems so to lots of people, and we have the patience to enable you to learn- and you’ll get there in the end). When we are sure you can handle them you take them home with instructions and a wearing schedule.

If you need to wear different spectacles for distance and near, or wear bifocal or varifocal glasses, we can fit you with contact lenses also. The lenses are carefully designed to allow clear vision at all distances (please don’t ask me to explain the physics of it) in comfort. The brain has to adjust to the new way of seeing that these lenses give and this may take a little time- the longer you wear the lenses the better your vision becomes initially.

Also, the “physics” of different designs suit different people so we may have to try more than one set of lenses to find the perfect ones for you. If you have the time and patience to find this perfect lens, so do we.

There are also other types of lens for more complicated eye conditions, including gas permeable lenses, both spherical and toric (depending on the shape of your eye) and corneal-scleral lenses. These can be fitted if ordinary soft lenses are not suitable, or if you prefer. These lenses last for one or two years, depending on use.

We also fit children with contact lenses. Wearing contact lenses can really enhance a child’s self-confidence.

Usually, we need the children to have the maturity to be able to learn to insert and remove and look after the lenses themselves, and that will vary from child to child, but in special circumstances, the parents or guardians can learn to do it instead.

The most important thing is whether the child him or herself wants to wear the lenses; the motivation must come from the child, and indeed from anyone who wants to wear lenses successfully.