No One Contact Lens Is Best for All

Today, contact-lens wearers can choose from numerous options. Here, two eye-care experts discuss the pros and cons of soft lenses and rigid gas-permeable lenses. The experts emphasize that there is no right or wrong lens; the best lens for one person might be all wrong for another.

Carl Moore, optician and past president, Contact Lens Manufacturers Assn.

“The benefit of a soft lens is its comfort. But some soft-lens wearers do not get as ‘crisp’ vision as they do with glasses. With rigid gas-permeable lenses, you are more likely to get vision as crisp as you do with eyeglasses.

“The life (expectancy) of a soft lens is substantially less than that of a rigid gas-permeable lens. For most people, a non-disposable soft lens lasts about a year. Of course, you will always find a patient who wears out soft lenses in six months and another whose soft lenses still look pristine after three years.”

“The initial cost of soft lenses is less than rigid gas permeables, but the soft lenses don’t last as long. So in the long run, soft lenses are more expensive.”

Rodger Kame, Los Angeles optometrist

“Each individual should be evaluated to consider what’s best.

“Rigid gas-permeable lenses are easy to take care of. We can get more oxygen through the (extended wear) rigid gas permeables than the soft lenses. So RGPs are safer for extended wear.

“We can correct the need for bifocals better with gas-permeable lenses than with soft lenses. For bifocal use, gas-permeable lenses work in 80% to 90% of patients who try. With bifocal soft lenses, the success rate is only 20% to 50%, according to various studies.

“Rigid gas permeables last longer than soft lenses. Generally, gas permeable lenses last about two years. Their start-up cost is more expensive, but they are less expensive (over the long term) than soft lenses.”