Advances in contact lens technologies have created many options
in addition to hard and soft lenses. Today, contact lenses are
likely to be described in one or several of the following ways.
By their prescribed wearing period: The time that the lenses are
left in the eyes.
Daily Wear (Up to 18 hours)
Extended
Wear (For overnight use, up to seven days)
By their replacement schedule: The time interval for replacing
lenses.
Planned - (Frequent replacement: 1 month, 1-2 weeks;
daily disposable)
Unplanned, or Conventional
Replacement - (No predictable schedule)
By the type of vision correction for which they are designed:
Spherical (For near- or farsightedness -- myopia or
hypermetropia)
Toric (For
astigmatism)
Bifocals (For
presbyopia)
By whether they are clear or have tints:
Clear Tinted for easy handling only
Tinted
to enhance your eye color (For light-color
irises)
Tinted to change your eye color (Opaque
tints for light or dark irises)
Of course, contact lenses are also still described by the basic
type of material of which they are made.
Soft (hydrophilic)
Rigid Gas
Permeable