When you are told by your eye doctor that you need contact lenses, you may need to decide between hard contact lenses and soft contact lenses. Traditional hard contact lenses made from glass or polymethyl methacrylateas (PMMA) are mostly obsolete, and rigid gas permeable (RGP) contacts are being prescribed in their place. Each pair of contacts is manufactured from a different material to suit your correction needs. Following your eye examination, your doctor will likely discuss the benefits and drawbacks of both types.
Features
Hard contacts are custom-made for each individual, while soft contacts are for more flexible use for people that may alternate between eyeglasses and contacts. Hard contacts retain their shape better and can often help people who need a higher correction. You should wear hard contacts every day to achieve the highest level of comfort. Soft contacts are often disposable and can be worn temporarily.
Benefits
Disposable soft contact lenses are thrown out frequently, which decrease the chance of infection when compared to hard contacts. This is as long as the patient follows the recommended schedule provided by her eye doctor. Hard contacts are for long-term use but to decrease chance of infection, the patient must regularly clean and disinfect the lenses.
Materials
Hard contact lenses were originally made from glass and then later produced from PMMA. These types of contacts were not a popular choice since they did not let oxygen pass through to the eye. Soft contact lenses are made from a soft plastic and combined with water. Soft contact lenses can become fully saturated with water and are generally more comfortable to wear.
Considerations
The newest alternative to soft contact lenses are gas permeable (GP) contacts, sometimes called rigid gas permeable (RGP) contacts. Instead of being made from glass and PMMA, like the original hard contact lenses, they are made from plastic. Instead of a soft plastic, GP contacts are made from a harder and more durable plastic. The harder plastic retains its shape better and won't dehydrate like soft contacts. Many eye doctors will refer to the rigid gas permeable contacts as GPs or still call them hard contact lenses, because a hard plastic is used to manufacture them.
Warning
At first, you may feel the hard contact lenses in your eye every time that you blink. This is because the hard contacts are smaller than soft contacts. Soft contacts typically tuck under your eyelid so that you do not feel them in place. Your eyes will have to adapt to the hard contacts before you can experience the same comfort level as soft lenses.
