Do I Need Prescription Lenses?

Lens are often an alternative to glasses and are a small curved piece of material, often glass or plastic, that sits directly over the cornea to correct vision. The lenses sit on top of the cornea (a tough material that can withstand this abrasion) and the moisture of the eye works as a lubricant sticking the lens to the eye. Blinking, or movement of the eyelid, moves the lens a little which provides moisture to cover the lens and removes any bacteria or other unwanted foreign bodies present. If you have perfect vision, the light rays enter the eye and meet on the retina at the same point. This does not happen in those who are long sighted (light rays do not meet) or short sighted (light rays meet too early) and a lens helps to focus the rays of light into the correct place to provide perfect vision. Prescription lenses have a different amount of curvature depending on the size of the prescription.

There are many different reasons why people choose to opt for contact lenses. There are some prescriptions that actually benefit from using these lenses and thus are medically possibly the best option. There are also social reasons for wearing contact lenses, including confidence as there can be negative connotations with wearing glasses. Another social factor is the colour, changing eye colour can change appearance in a large way and it is easy to get coloured prescription lenses that can change even dark eye colours.

Not everyone has only one vision problem in their eye and a worry of many is that with more than one, lenses are not an option. This is not the case and thanks to new technology there are lenses that can correct bifocal problems and other problems including Astigmatism and fall under the umbrella of Multi focal lenses which are lenses which correct more than one problem at once. Both come in soft and hard forms and have many different methods of action. Firstly, the lens can have one vision corrector at the top and the other at the bottom so the eye tilts between the two correcting vision. Or the lens can be made up with rings of power surrounding a prescription and these can vary depending on which type of contact lens is chosen. Finally aspheric lenses blend the two vision correctors together and the eye must learn to accommodate this.