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How Much do they Cost?
When asking about contact lenses, most people start by asking "How much
do they cost?" I think people ask this because they just don't know what
else to ask. A contact lens can cost as little as 50 cents (single use
disposable), or more than 100 dollars (alternating vision RGP bifocal) . As
one example, a year's supply of Acuvue 2 contact lenses costs $15.08 per 6-pack
plus sales tax. That amount includes a rebate from Acuvue, and it's subject to
change as our costs change, etc. We charge less than most mail-order and
internet contact lens suppliers, and we do fill outside prescriptions.
The only way to accurately quote the cost of a contact lens
fitting is to first find out which types of lenses make the most sense for you. Are you
nearsighted? farsighted? Do you have astigmatism? If so, how much astigmatism?
Do you need bifocals? We are always happy to give exact cost quotations for any
type of contact lens fitting, but we need to know exactly which lens and what type of fitting before we
can do that.
If it has been more than a year since your last vision exam, the best place
to start is with a vision exam, to check the health of your eyes (putting a
contact lens on an unhealthy eye can cause serious problems), and to find out
your exact prescription. If you have a fresh eyeglass prescription and your eyes
have a "clean bill of health", Dr/ Burley will be happy to sit down
and discuss the best contact lens designs for you, and there is no charge for
this consultation. We can then quote exact fees for the best lenses to meet your
needs. We don't mind if you comparison-shop before you decide where to be fitted
with contact lenses; people who compare "apples to apples" usually
decide to return to us for contact lens fitting.
What are the different Types of Contact Lenses?
What does "disposable" have to do with "extended wear"?
(The two issues are not related). Are extended wear lenses always soft lenses?
(No; some of the very best extended wear lenses are not soft lenses). Perhaps a
few explanations will help sort out the confusion. Here is an overview:
Soft Lens Types
 | Conventional Soft Lenses: Lenses that are worn, removed, disinfected
and worn again, over and over, until they are so worn out, coated, and
uncomfortable that you cannot stand to wear them anymore.
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| Planned Replacement Lenses: Lenses that are worn more than one time,
but only for a limited (planned) number of times, usually 2 weeks. Lenses
that are replaced regularly are more comfortable and give you sharper vision.
Eye infections are less frequent with planned replacement.
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Disposable Lenses: Lenses that are removed from their
sterile package, applied to the eyes, and discarded after they are worn one
time. In addition to the advantages of planned replacement lenses above, these
lenses are the ultimate in convenience because they are never cleaned, never
disinfected, and they require no care whatsoever. |
Hard Lens Types
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Regular Hard Lenses: Made of Polymethyl Methacrylate,
also known as PMMA, acrylic, or plexiglass. These lenses are optically
excellent, but they do not transmit oxygen. Because the cornea requires a
constant supply of oxygen at the surface, enough oxygen must dissolve in your
tears and pass underneath the lens to supply your cornea. This usually places
the cornea in a state of mild oxygen deprivation, and for this reason, we seldom
use this lens type any more.
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RGP (Rigid Gas Permeable) Lenses: These are hard lenses
that are made of plastic that transmit oxygen. They are optically excellent, and
with the possible exception of disposable lenses worn only one time, are usually
the healthiest contact lenses for your eyes. Most optometrists, myself included,
think that we should be fitting more RGP lenses and fewer soft lenses. There is,
however, the need to adapt to this lens type before it becomes fully comfortable.
That's the reason we don't fit them more often than we do. |
Wearing Schedules
Daily Wear refers to removing your lenses at night before
bedtime, then reapplying them in the morning. Extended Wear refers to lenses
that are worn overnight. Many newer lenses, hard or soft, are oxygen-permeable
enough that they can be worn overnight by at least some people. Most people are
surprised to learn that the very safest lenses to wear overnight are the new
"hyperpermeable" hard lenses, rather than soft lenses of any type.
Astigmatism Correction
Toric Lenses, to correct astigmatism, are available as both hard
and soft lenses.
Bifocals
Bifocal lenses are available as both hard and soft lenses. Alternating
Vision Bifocals have your distance correction on top and your near correction on
the bottom. When you look straight ahead, you see through the distance portion.
When you rotate your eyes downward to read, your lower eyelid lifts the lens so
that you see through the near portion of the lens at the bottom. Simultaneous
Vision Bifocals are designed to simultaneously produce a "near image"
and a "distance image" on your retina at the same time. When wearing
simultaneous vision bifocals, you learn the technique of paying attention to the
sharply focused image, and ignoring the blurred secondary image.
Ortho-K (Orthokeratology)
For many years, those of us who fit contact lenses have observed
that it is possible to change the shape of the human cornea, often dramatically,
by placing a hard contact lens on it. The concept is similar to using braces to
reposition your teeth. Until recently, the amount and direction of this corneal
reshaping was not very predictable. Using corneal topography to accurately
measure the cornea, and using computer-designed and computer-aided-manufacturing
of the lenses, it is now possible to achieve a fairly high level of accuracy in
the desired result.
Hyperpermeable RGP lenses, worn overnight and removed during the
day, have shown to be the most effective lenses for Ortho-K. If you would like
to learn more about this, do not hesitate to ask us.
Questions?
The only stupid question is the one that is not asked.
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