Contact Lenses Glossary

Contact Lenses are aptly named: they are lenses that make direct contact with the lens of your eye! Understanding a few terms used in the eye care field can help you understand how contact lenses work and what their benefits are.

Astigmatism: Means that your cornea is shaped more like a football than a baseball - longer and flatter than round. If you have astigmatism, all objects are distorted, like looking through wavy glass. Until recently, astigmatism restricted you to glasses. Now there are even contact lenses that actually help correct the astigmatism, called toric contacts.

Cornea: The cornea is the clear part of the eye tissue that lets light in. Contact lenses cover part or all of your cornea.

Dry Eye Syndrome: A fairly common complaint among contact lens wearers that is caused by insufficient tearing. Re-wetting solutions can be used throughout the day to relieve this discomfort.

Farsightedness: If you have hyperopia, you actually have blurred vision at all distances; infants are normally farsighted and as the eye grows, the condition corrects itself naturally for most people. Presbyopia is often confused with farsightedness, but the cause is actually a hardening of the eye lens that comes with aging, making it more difficult to focus, most commonly on close-up objects. Bifocal contact lenses help with presbyopia.

Nearsightedness: If you have myopia, you have difficulty seeing things in the distance.

Retina: The retina receives the images that come through your lenses. Farsightedness, nearsightedness and other vision conditions arise due to the variations in the light reaching the retina.