CONTACT LENS SPECIALTY

Mill Valley Optometry provides contact lenses to fit your lifestyle, while fulfilling your vision needs. There are many new materials and designs available for todays' contact lens wearer. Our goal is to provide you with excellent comfort, vision and eye health for many years of successful contact lens wear. We can design contact lenses for you, whether you are trying them for the first time, starting all over, or need an update. It is not unusual for us to improve vision and comfort by utilizing the new products that are available.

It is important to remember that contact lenses are prescription medical devices. Each brand is designed and manufactured differently. The selection of a particular contact lens will be based on your specific prescription, eye health, comfort requirements and lifestyle. We will discuss the advantages of each lens type with you, while we determine the best choice for your eyes.

A successful contact lens fitting is dependent on many factors. This is why we find it important to evaluate the health of the tear film and measure the shape of the cornea. We find it important to first solve any dry eye problems, while also making sure that your eyelids are healthy. Next, we choose the appropriate contact lens care system to ensure your long-term success as a contact lens wearer.

Contact lenses are not right for everyone. Even if you have astigmatism or need bifocal lenses, we may have the answer. We fit all type of lenses and maintain a full inventory of trial lenses for your convenience.

CONTACT LENSES

Silicon Hydrogels - The next generation of soft contact lens materials that provides improved comfort and durability. Your eyes will look and feel healthier with these disposable soft lenses.

Orthokeratology Lenses or Corneal Refractive Therapy (CRT) - These unique gas-permeable lenses gently reshape the cornea while you sleep. CRT has been FDA-approved for children and adults, so you can benefit from great vision all day long. The benefits range from preventing deterioration of eyesight to the comfort of playing sports without wearing contacts. I have been certified in VST (Vision Reshaping System) since 2004, when Bausch & Lomb and Contex, Inc. developed this program.

Read more at www.oklens.com/hotnews.html  

Conventional Soft Lenses - Soft lenses are very comfortable and come in a variety of designs, depending on your needs. Conventional soft lenses are worn during the day and are cleaned and stored properly at night. Usually, once a week the lenses must be cleaned using an enzymatic cleaner, which removes protein deposits. These lenses can last for a year, or more, if your prescription stays the same and you take good care of them. 

Frequent Replacement Lenses - These lenses are similar to conventional soft lenses except they are replaced more frequently. Oftentimes, they are worn for one-month periods, and then replaced. Other frequent replacement soft lens types are worn two or three months before they are replaced. Like conventional soft lenses, they have to be cleaned and stored at night and cleaned once a week with an enzymatic cleaner to remove protein deposits.

Disposable Soft Lenses - Disposable soft lenses are much more popular than conventional soft lenses. These lenses are worn for a period of time and then, of course, thrown away. The most popular disposables last for two weeks; there are also one-week and one-day disposables. These are perfect for many patients who were previously told they couldn't wear contact lenses because of allergies or mild dry eye conditions. They have a low-cost per lens and are also popular for athletes and hobbyists who don't necessarily want to wear contact lenses every day.

Tinted Soft Lenses - Next, you have tinted soft lenses, available in conventional, disposable, or frequent replacement types. With tinted soft lenses, you can change your eye color or enhance your eye color. Even if you don't need corrective lenses, you can use "plano" tinted lenses to change your eye color.

Bifocal Soft Lenses - Recent technology has greatly improved bifocal soft lenses. Many patients past their 40's who need bifocals can now enjoy the comfort and benefits of soft contact lenses.

Toric Soft Lenses - Toric lenses are used to correct astigmatism. Astigmatism is a vision condition where an irregularly shaped cornea affects the vision. In the past, if you had astigmatism, your only options were either glasses or hard gas permeable contact lenses. But toric lenses now offer an alternative. There are several types of toric lenses to choose from.

Soft Multifocals & Soft Multifocals for Astigmatism These lenses have been perfected. They are primarily for those who want to eliminate the need for full time glasses. They tend to work extremely well at the computer.

Extended Wear Soft Lenses - Extended wear lenses are the result of new technology in lens materials that transmit more oxygen to the cornea of the eye. Some of these lens materials can be worn up to 30 days, day and night, without removal. Extended wear lenses can last one week, two weeks, or one month, depending upon the lens material and your doctor's recommendations.

Rigid Gas Permeable (RGP) Lenses - As the name implies, these lenses are hard and gas permeable. If you've been told you can't wear soft lenses, RGP lenses are often a great alternative. RGP lenses are available in specialized designs to correct just about any vision disorder. They can be designed as a mulitfocal to correct for distance and near vision, including astigmtism correction.