Contact Lenses: Colored, Soft, Hard, Toric and Bifocal

Contact lenses have come a long way lately, and offer some exciting options for the consumer. You can bat a pair of baby blues one day, then flash golden tiger eyes the next. You can toss your disposable lenses in the trash each night. Or you can leave in your extended wear lenses for an entire month.

For people with vision problems, contact lenses remain an effective, almost invisible tool. The thin plastic or glass lenses are fitted over the cornea of the eye to correct vision problems such as nearsightedness, farsightedness or astigmatism. These days you can wear contact lenses even if you have presbyopia and need bifocals.

You have so many options, how do you choose? Check out your choices of contact lenses here. Then talk with your eye doctor about the contact lens that may work best for you.

• Colored Contact Lenses
• Soft Contact Lenses
• Hard Contact Lenses
• Bifocal Contact Lenses
• Toric Contact Lenses
• How do I know which type of contact lens is right for me?
• Who should not wear contact lenses?
• Where do I go to get contact lenses?

Colored Contact Lenses

They're hip and they're fun, but colored contact lenses can also be quite practical. There are four types of colored contact lenses, each offering a slightly different benefit:

• Visibility tint. These colored contact lenses are lightly tinted so you can find your lens if you drop it. Visibility tints don't affect the color of your eyes.
• Enhancement tint. These colored contact lenses have a translucent tint that's meant to enhance your natural eye color. Enhancement tints are slightly darker than a visibility tint.
• Color tint. Darker, opaque tints that change the color of your eyes. Color tints come in a wide array of specialty colors, including amethyst, violet and green. The center of this colored contact lens is clear so you can see.
• Light-Filtering tint. These colored contact lenses are designed for athletes and sports fans. They enhance certain colors and mute others to make balls stand out. For instance contact lenses for tennis players would enhance optic yellow, the color of tennis balls.

Remember, never share colored contacts lenses with anyone. Clean and care for them just as you would any prescription contact lens.

Next: Soft Contact Lenses »

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