Over 24 million people choose contact lenses to correct vision. When used with care and proper supervision, contacts are a safe and effective alternative to eyeglasses. And with today's new lens technology, many people who wear eyeglasses can also successfully wear contacts.

Fagadau & Hawk, M.D. LLP offers a full service, comprehensive contact lens department, recognized for finding solutions to the most difficult fits. Steve Fitzpatrick and Claire Shaw are outstanding specialists, with over 30 years of experience.

At Fagadau & Hawk, M.D. we provide all brands of contact lenses, along with the newest innovations in contact lens materials and designs. This allows for the best fit for every individual.

Important considerations for achieving the best fit are:

  • Performance
  • Comfort
  • Convenience
  • Quality
  • Affordability
The different types of contact lenses are:

Rigid Gas Permeable Contact Lenses:
Rigid Gas Permeable (RGP) contact lenses, also known as oxygen permeable lenses, are today's state-of ­the-art hard contact lenses. Most RGPs are made of different compositions of silicone with variations in wettability, oxygen permeability and flexibility. Today, there is a selection of more comfortable hard contact lenses that provide better eye health.

RGP lenses are manufactured for daily and extended wear; single vision and bifocals; and as specialty lenses (keratoconus, astigmatism, etc.)

There are some outstanding benefits offered by RGPs over soft lenses. For one, because a RGP is a stiff material, it retains its shape well when you blink, which tends to provide crisper vision than would a soft lens. Also, RGPs are extremely durable. With proper lens care, they may last years, as long as you do not require a prescription change.

They are also easier to care for than soft lenses, for two reasons: Because they are rigid, they are easier to handle. And, because they are made of materials that do not contain water (as soft contact lenses do), protein and lipids from your tears do not bind to RGPs as readily as they do to soft lenses. For both RGPs and soft lenses these deposits, if not removed, will impede vision and can cause potentially serious eye conditions.

RGPs are frequently the answer for people who do not obtain acceptable vision with soft lenses. This not only includes some people with astigmatism and presbyopia, but also people who have a condition called keratoconus.

Recent studies also have shown that fitting nearsighted children with RGPs can slow the progression of their nearsightedness.

Still, by virtue of the material, soft lenses are more comfortable. RGPs can take one to two weeks to get used to wearing if you have never worn them before. Plus, unlike soft lenses, to achieve maximum comfort with RGP, you have to wear them every day. You can decide not to wear your soft lenses for a week, and they will still be comfortable when you put them on a week later. If you do not wear your RGP's for a week, you will probably need some time to adapt to them again in terms of comfort.

Soft Contact Lenses
Soft contact lenses are manufactured in different materials with various water concentrations, oxygen permeabilities, designs and production techniques. Soft contacts are available in daily extended wear, single vision and bifocals, and assortment of tints and colors, various replacement programs, and specialty lenses (astigmatism, bandage cosmetic, keratoconus, etc.) Soft contact lens are noted for their comfort and ease of adjustment. They are the best lenses for intermittent or periodic wear.

Soft contacts do not correct regular or irregular astigmatism as well as, RGP lenses. Under these conditions RGP contact lenses give better vision. Soft contact lenses do not last as long as RGP lenses.

Disposable Contact Lenses
Disposable contact lenses are designed to be worn and replaced daily, weekly or biweekly. Frequent replacement contact lenses are replaced bimonthly, monthly or quarterly. They are only available as soft contact lenses.

Disposable contact lenses can mean healthier eyes, more comfort, better vision and convenience. Deposits build up on soft contacts no matter how strict the cleaning regiment. Disposable contact lenses require less cleaning and in the case of daily disposables, none.

Disposable soft contact lenses may cost more over time.

Extended Wear Contact Lenses
Extended wear contact lenses are FDA-approved for overnight wear. They can be either rigid gas permeable (RGP) lenses or soft contact lenses. Most are approved for weekly or biweekly continuous wear.

In 2002, two extended wear soft contact lenses were approved by the FDA for 30 days of continuous wear. One of the lenses, The Focus Night and Day, is six times more permeable to oxygen than the usual extended wear lens.

Extended wear contact lenses eliminate the daily hassles of inserting, removing and cleaning. The Focus Night and Day lenses, with 30 days of wear and disposability, and superior oxygen permeability offers incredible convenience with improved comfort and safety.

Tinted
Tinted or colored contact lenses are available in almost every form as clear lenses, plus a form that provides no vision correction at all. The different varieties of colored lens are:

    Visibility tint: A light blue or green tint added to a lens for easier insertion and removal. It does not affect eye color.
    Enhancement tint: A solid but translucent tint that enhances the existing color of eyes. It is best for people who have light eyes and want to make the color more intense.
    Color tint: Deeper, opaque tints made of patterns of solid colors to dramatically change eye color.
    Costume/Theatrical lenses: Opaque tint long used in the movies for special eye effects now widely available for novelty use. Examples include cat's eyes white, red and hypnotic swirl.
    Light-filtering tint: Designed for sports use these lenses enhance certain colors by muting other colors. This makes tennis, golf, and softballs stand out against a background.

Doctors Fagadau & Hawk advise wearers not to share or exchange colored contact lenses with friends.

Bifocal
Bifocal contact lenses are designed to provide good vision to people who have a condition called presbyopia. The key sign that you are developing presbyopia is that you need to hold reading material further from your eyes to see it clearly. Today's bifocal contact lenses are even available in a disposable or frequent replacement wear regimen, the latest being a daily wear disposable. Bifocal contact lenses work much like bifocal eyeglasses having two powers on one lens, one for distance and the other for near vision.

There are three different designs for bifocal lenses:

    Simultaneous vision: The lens centers on the cornea with both the distance and near prescriptions within the pupil area. The eye receives both in-focus and out-of-focus images at the same time.
    Concentric vision: The center portion of the lens has the distance power and the outside of periphery portion has the near power, or vice versa.
    Segmented or Alternating vision: Like bifocal eyeglasses with a line across the lens, these lenses include the top of the lens with one power and the bottom with another. However, unlike eyeglasses where gaze can be directed through the portion of the lens needed, the segmented lens moves slightly on the eye. When looking straight ahead, the patient is looking through the distance portion of the lens. When looking down to read, the lens moves slightly to bring the near vision segment into the line of sight. Fitting segmented lenses requires much skill and patience to position them just right, often requiring several office visits.
Monovision Contact Lenses
Bifocal contact lenses may not be for everyone. If that is the case, monovision contact lens wear may be the answer. With monovision, you wear one contact lens to correct distance vision and the other contact lens to correct near vision. While monovision may appear to be an unusual choice, most people actually accommodate well.

Special Lens Fittings
Fagadau & Hawk's contact lens staff is experienced in even the hardest to fit contact lens patients.

    Aphakic Contact Lenses: A contact lens used to correct vision following cataract surgery, in which the natural lens is removed and not replaced with an intraocular lens.
    Keratoconus Contact Lenses: A contact lens to correct irregular astigmatism caused by non-inflammatory thinning of the cornea.
    Cosmetic Contact Lens: Special contact lens made to hide cosmetic defects in an eye.