Soft contact lenses are made of materials that hold water. They are available in a wide variety of designs. Innovations in lens manufacturing allow for almost any prescription to be made into a soft contact lens.
Characteristics of soft contact lenses:
- Easier to adapt to than gas permeable contact lenses
- Available in many designs and almost any prescription
- Good vision for most prescriptions, however, some prescriptions (like high astigmatism) may give variable vision as the contact lenses move with the blink
- Good initial comfort
- May cause dryness in some patients since they absorb a portion of the tears to stay wet. This varies with soft lens type, contact lenses with silicon usually stay wetter longer
- More likely to contain protein deposits from your tears and harbor bacteria
- Depending on the material and amount of time worn, soft contact lenses must be replaced on a regular basis. This may be daily, weekly, every 2 weeks, monthly, quarterly or yearly