RGP Contact Lenses - Would They Work for You?
Posted: Monday, June 20, 2005
by Tanya Turner
Modern RGP contact lenses have a lot of advantages over soft contact lenses. They are healthier for your eyes, they don’t dry out and they last for years. But people are afraid that RGP lenses aren’t comfortable. Lets look at the advantages and disadvantages of RGP lenses and how they can work for your eyes.
Whenever they hear the words "Rigid Gas Permeable", most people think "hard contact lenses", confusing RGP lenses with PMMS - hard lenses of the previous generation. RGP are made from a different type of plastic, which makes them more flexible than hard lenses. And their most important feature is high oxygen permeability. See comparison of RGP contact lenses and soft contact lenses.
As the name suggests, these lenses are gas permeable - they don’t block oxygen flow to your corneas. Oxygen is very important for the health of your eyes because its lack can cause serious eye problems, including inflammation of the cornea.
RGP contacts don’t contain any water, so they don’t dry out. RGP is ideal for people who work in the dry conditions or outside, in the wind. RGP can also benefit computer users, since people blink less often, when working at the computer, and their eyes can become dry. If you wear soft lenses and your eyes feel dry by the end of the day, consider RGP - they don’t suck moisture from your eyes and feel comfortable even at the end of the day.
RGP are very good for correcting high degree of astigmatism and presbyopia. They are also the only lenses for some eye diseases, like keratoconus.
RGP lenses are more resistant to protein and lipid deposits. This is especially important for people with high protein secretions
Rigid Gas Permeable contacts provide extremely sharp vision, even in the dark.
See more information about contact lenses and eye health
Do RGP cost a fortune?
RGP lenses are quite pricey. But when consider that RGP lenses usually last for 2-3 years, the overall cost isn’t so high. You would spend much more replacing soft contact lenses every 2 weeks.
Are RGP lenses comfortable?
A concept of a rigid lens being in your eye scares most people, because they don’t believe that such a lens can be comfortable. But in fact it is - people who wear RGP contact lenses report that a minute after they put the lens in they feel like there is nothing in their eyes.
However, RGP lenses have an adjustment period. During the first 5-7 days of wearing RGP contacts you might feel a little discomfort. Eventually, though, your eyes adjust and you stop noticing the lenses.
Many doctors agree that RGP lenses are healthier for your eyes than any other kind of contact lens.
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Top-level comments on this article: (4 total)This an unprofessionaml article. It is not trou that it takes 5-7 dayes to adust to RGP. It wil take several weeks to adust. An dyou do not fill a little discomfort. You feel the very very well! in the first weeks. Slowly slowly your cornea will adust.No it doesn't take weeks. If worn properly I would say a maximum of 2 weeks. I've worn RGP's and soft lenses and whilst it initially took 2 weeks to get used to the RGP's they were then very comfortable. I switched to soft last year as my optician thought I would get good vision for my astigmatism with the newer soft lenses and I never got used to them. Very uncomfortable things, large and stuck directly to your eye whilst RGP's float on the eyes surface. Terrible vision to. I'm collecting my new RGP's next week and can't wait to see clearly again.
She didn't say 5-7 days to adjust. She said 5-7 days of discomfort. It still annoying weeks later but not so uncomfortable as the initial period.
I have been wearing RGP lenses for a year now and I've got to say that they are the most UNcomfortable things you could ever put in your eyes! I had to switch from soft lenses because I developed GPC (giant papillary conjunctivitis) The gas perm lenses are as or more uncomfortable than dealing with the giant bumps on the inside of my eyelids after wearing soft contacts.
Badly written and inaccurate.
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