so which is better? hard versus soft contact lenses? i know a lot of people
think that hard lenses are a thing of the past but in fact they have many advantages
and benefits over the soft contact lenses so join me today as we review the pros and cons
of soft contact lenses versus hard that's today's video let's take a look
hey what's up this is Dr Allan here from the Dr Eye Health show helping you learn all about the
eye's vision finding the best vision products and today this video is part of our complete beginner
series for contact lenses whether again you're a complete beginner you're just trying to figure out
which is best for you soft or hard lenses or maybe you're just interested in learning more about eye
care and understanding exactly what's going on with the eyes you're in the right place and if
you want to check out that full series i have a link to that in the video description below now
today we're talking about soft versus hard lenses historically hard lenses that's where contact
lenses used to be kind of the mainstream and then over time technology came out and soft lenses came
out and they start getting better and better and now by far i would say in the eye clinic most of
the time i'm prescribing soft lenses for people not because they're necessarily the best but for
mainly for convenience and for ease of the patient so let's go down some of the pros and
cons and kind of figure out which one might be better for you now when it comes to soft lenses
there's many different brands and different things out there we've done a lot of reviews on those
but soft lenses again they're very convenient they are off the shelf they're very kind of stock made
lenses and they're very comfortable and easy to get used to right away even for a brand new
contact lens where usually soft lenses because they're soft and they're larger lenses they fit
onto the eye they're not really uncomfortable and overall they're just easy to manufacture where
harder lenses those are made more custom and so they have to be made and tailored specifically for
your eyes both the power of your prescription but also for the shape of your eye so that they fit
correctly and because of that they're usually not as convenient and so a lot of times patients when
people think that they're getting contacts they automatically are just thinking of the soft lenses
now overall again soft lenses are good they do offer great vision unfortunately they don't
come in every parameter and they're not ideal for people with high or unique prescriptions so if you
have a high amount of astigmatism there are some lenses out there that are good for astigmatism
these soft lenses but oftentimes if you have a strange prescription you have a high amount of
astigmatism it may not fit super well on your eye and your vision likely won't quite hit a clear
20/20. if it is 20/20 it might be more of a soft 20/20. and the last two things about soft lenses
is that they do need to be replaced whether it's a monthly or a daily lens you may need to clean
them but ultimately you they do wear out and so you will have to get new lenses replace those
and then the price uh daily lenses or soft lenses in general can go anywhere from the 200 range for
your supply for both eyes all the way up to the six or even 800 us dollar range again for both
eyes for a full year supply and that can be pretty expensive sometimes but with that all being said
soft lenses by far are still usually the main way that people want to go it's what i wear pretty
much every day i think soft lenses are a great option and still because of the new technology
that's coming out they're getting better and better now compare those pros and cons over
to hard lenses now hard lenses are a little bit smaller than the soft lens the soft lens is around
14 millimeters in diameter on average where a harder lens is somewhere like 9 to 9.5 millimeters
in diameter hard lenses again are made custom they have to be made and tailored exactly to
the surface of your eye the cornea and they have to be fit to not move around so much because the
more it moves the more it can potentially either hurt the eye or you're going to be aware of that
it's not going to feel comfortable now hard lenses have some great advantages and a few disadvantages
one of the best advantages is that because they are custom-made they can be made especially for
your eye and they can enhance your vision a lot of patients that will come in and they're saying
hey yeah during examination finding their glasses prescription they're seeing 20/20
but they are just not happy they don't feel like 20/20 is good enough and maybe you're identifying
yourself right now you're like yes i am that picky about my vision then hard lenses are usually the
best way to go because hard lenses because of the optical quality of the plastic the lenses are made
out of and those lenses create what's called a tear prism behind the lens they kind of enhance
your vision and give you even sharper image and quality and essentially those contact lenses
negate any sort of distortion or scarring or any sort of real problems on the surface of that eye
and with that all being said if you're somebody with a really unique prescription let's say you
have a high amount of astigmatism the surface of your eye is really warped then hard lenses
again can be tailor-made for you and oftentimes give better results as well now the real reason
that a lot of people choose to go with the soft lenses versus hard is because soft lenses are
way more convenient in terms of just the initial comfort especially if you're a new wearer so hard
lenses wearing them and getting used to them takes a little bit more time you're putting a hard piece
of plastic on your eye and most of the time your eye is aware of it so when you first start wearing
it you're like uh you can you can feel it on the eye usually people are encouraged to try wearing
them for at least two hours to kind of adapt and then the next day you wear them again for
a few hours and again you adapt and then you keep pushing it maybe two to three hours three to four
until finally after a few days you're wearing them the entire day and then you just don't realize
they're on the eye anymore so your eyes and your eyelids do get used to the contact lens on the eye
and then finally when you're fully adapt people are wearing them the entire day and they don't
realize it there but if you are somebody that is able to adapt and get over that initial discomfort
period again hard lenses have a couple other cool benefits yes you do need to clean them and take
care of them but as long as you don't scratch them and you don't break the lenses and your
prescription stays stable these lenses can last almost theoretically forever that means you pay
for one set of contact lenses you take good care of them you clean them appropriately and yes you
still want to follow up with your doctor but you may need not need to order new lenses for years
and because the manufacturing process of hard lenses is usually not as extensive of technology
that needs to go into that whole process soft lens is usually more expensive than hard lenses in fact
i've seen hard lenses go for only like a hundred dollars now of course with everything there are
advanced technologies and some of the best most specifically tailored made lenses can be much
more expensive even in the hard lenses realm but still i think in general a lot of the hard lenses
are cheaper than going with the softer lenses now the other big difference between the two is the
fitting process because soft lenses are kind of made stock so that they can just be able to order
them or grab them off the shelf usually it doesn't take that much of a process for the doctor to fit
them it's a little bit easier and if it doesn't one brand doesn't work for you then changing a few
of the parameters are again pretty simple to do as long as your doctor has good experience in knowing
how to fit that lens and get it onto the eye now hard lenses these take a lot more experience
and expertise in order to fit them it also takes more time and oftentimes you know maybe
you'll finish get a full finalized prescription for contacts within maybe a day or two visits
but with harder lenses expect that it may take a couple more visits it may take three or four just
to tweak and get these lenses custom made so again they fit well on your eye they're comfortable give
you good vision and they're not going to hurt your eye either now there are two specialty lenses that
i did want to mention here quick but first let me know in the comments section are you wearing soft
lenses hard lenses have you tried them both what are your thoughts uh do you have a real preference
between one of the two again drop that and comment in the section below love to hear from you now
after hearing about the pros and cons of both soft and hard lenses you may be thinking like wow
the really only negative side effect or negative problem to a hard lens is that they're not
comfortable right away and why can't we like mix the two why can't we have a hard lens with a soft
edge around the outside and you're exactly correct there are hybrid lenses which they are a hard rgp
or rigid gas permeable lens that has a soft skirt around the outside and these lenses are fit and
they're usually replaced every six months now the great advantage again you get good clear vision
it helps correct really unique prescriptions and the soft lens on the outside makes it more
comfortable the only real downsides is the price and again the fitting process and quite honestly
removing those lenses i find to be a lot more challenging even personally taking them out oh
it's it's a little bit of a trick to it we don't have a video out right now but if i
eventually get a video going over hybrid lenses i'll come back and i'll put that video link in
the description below so check for that in the future or if you're catching this on the replay
we'll have that down below and the other cool technology i want to quick mention is about rgp
or gas permeable contact lenses that you sleep in at night most regular gas permeable lenses
those ones are lenses that you don't sleep in in fact you're at a higher risk of infection if you
do sleep in those lenses but there are ones that are made specifically for sleeping in and those
are called orthokeratology or ortho k lenses and those lenses are made so that they push on the eye
and reshape the surface of the eye so that in the morning you take out the lens and then you
can see sharp you can see clearly throughout the day it's like an inverted treatment for
the contact lenses it seems kind of backwards but there's a lot of cool advantage to that people
can use it as an alternative to lasik if they're not a candidate for lasik and there's some useful
benefits of using ortho k or orthokeratology lenses in order to slow down the progression of
nearsightedness for children so there's a lot of cool technology in that and we have a video coming
up soon about that topic as if there's a lot of people who've requested that so hey thanks so
much for watching i hope you enjoyed this video if you want to learn more about contact lenses about
learning how to put in contact lenses whether the soft lenses are hard lenses check out our full
series up over here by clicking or tapping the screen here to the side or if you want to learn
another cool thing from dr eye health click or tap the screen down over here thank you again so much
for watching hope you found this educational keep an eye on it and we'll talk to you soon