My 5 Favorite Contact Lenses for 2018

It is difficult to classify what best contact lenses> are; however, I have found that these particular lenses tend to accommodate the specific needs of my patients and garner the most positive reviews and feedback from my patients who wear them.

There used to be one sheriff in town, the Alcon’s Dailies Total 1^®. This was the first and only water gradient contact lens manufactured, with a silicone core, sandwiched between an outer and inner layer of an ultrasoft hydrophilic surface.

It wasn’t until the release ofACUVUE^®OASYS^® Daily Contact Lenses with HydraLuxe^™ Technology that we were armed with a major competitor to Alcon’s Dailies Total 1.

The ACUVUE^® OASYS^® Daily Contact Lenses with HydraLuxe^™ Technology has a Dk/t of 121, and water content of 38%. The secret to the comfort of these lenses can be found within the HydraLuxe™ Technology which is tear infused, which means it works all day long.

These lenses are truly top contact lenses that offer patients seeking a daily lens the best experience in contact lens wearing. These lenses are extremely comfortable and maintain wettability all throughout the day which is critical in our modern visual environment where computer and digital device use is at an all-time high.

Bausch & Lomb’s ULTRA™ monthly modality lens was the first of its kind since Cooper released the Biofinity^® lens back in 2007. In recent times, Johnson and Johnson, Vision released the ACUVUE^® VITA™ with HydraMax™ Technology.

It is hard now to find a monthly lens that offers newer technology than VITA. It is designed to maintain it’s wettability over the entire duration of its wear cycle (30 days).

It achieves this by incorporating the maximum amount of pure, long chain polyvinyl pyrrolidone (PVP), a highly effective hydrating agent, throughout the lens and by integrating the optimal density and distribution of lipids from the tear film throughout the lens.

As daily lenses become increasingly more popular, I have undoubtedly found myself prescribing more daily or single-use lenses within my practice. In past years, there were not many daily options available to presbyopes; however, within the last few years, we’ve seen the emergence of new contact lenses in this realm.

The 1-DAY ACUVUE ^® MOIST Brand MULTIFOCAL which is part of the 1-DAY ACUVUE ^® MOIST Family of products with LACREON^® Technology was large in part the best daily lens option for presbyopes.

However, within the past year, Alcon released the Dailies Total 1 Multifocal. This lens takes the technology that makes the Dailies Total 1 so incredibly comfortable and utilizes special optics to give presbyopic patients the best in vision and comfort.

In this particular demographic, where dry eye is increasingly prevalent, I find myself reaching for the DAILIES TOTAL 1^® MULTIFOCAL very frequently.

These lenses utilize the same water gradient technology that make the Dailies Total 1 extremely comfortable, all day long, and also use Unique Precision Profile Design^TM which ensures seamless vision up close, far-away, and at intermediate distances.

If it were up to me, every patient would be wearing a daily contact lens for the benefits of convenience, health, and compliance. These lenses, unfortunately, are not options for everyone, particularly those seeking more economical options. No need to fear, there are still fantastic lens options available for these patients.

With countless rebates available to patients by contact lens manufacturers, the savings on contact lenses, particularly when purchased as year supplies continues to mount. These patients do not need to sacrifice a quality lens in regards to material and breathability to save some money.

I find myself prescribing these patients ACUVUE OASYS^® Brand Contact Lenses. With the advent of rebates, even without insurance, patients can obtain a year supply of contact lenses for around $200 a year.

If that is still too much of a burden, I typically rely on the Acuvue 2 which still features one of the highest levels of UV‡ protection available in a contact lens and other propriety lens technology such as INFINITY EDGE™ Design to provide for additional comfort.

The Acuvue 2 is an older lens, but I still trust its performance and ability to maintain a healthy ocular surface far more than any “generic lens.”

While I am not a major advocate of extended wear modality, I along with all other practitioners out there, have a subset of patients who prefer or need this specific type of wear schedule.

I find myself typically recommending AIR OPTIX^® NIGHT & DAY^® AQUA contact lenses which are FDA-approved for daily wear and up to 30 nights of continuous wear. These lenses have the highest Dk/t (*Dk/t = 175) of any soft contact lenses, which means this patient subset will receive adequate oxygen to the eyes overnight.

I typically use the 30-day wear schedule as a compromise with these patients. I generally educate patients on the risks of sleeping in lenses and overnight wear and educate them that these particular lenses are only approved for 30 days of wear.

I tell them that the only way to protect themselves from the dangers of overnight wear is to ensure they are changing the lenses on time every month.

I feel that most patients take these recommendations seriously and appreciate the extensive education on risks associated with sleeping in lenses, particularly lenses that are not approved for overnight wear.

Unchanged from my list in 2014 and 2016, Cooper Vision® is still the company offering contact lens options to this class of patients. Cooper has several lens options available to patients with high prescriptions.

For high ammetropes, Cooper Biofinity XR^® is the clear choice with power ranges from 20.00 to +15.00. For those patients needing astigmatic correction of over >2.25D, my go-to for these patients is still the Biofinity Toric XR^®.

These contact lenses range from spherical powers of +10.00 to -10.00 with cylinder from 2.25 to 5.75 in 5-degree axis steps.

Let me know your thoughts in the comments below!