Rigid Gas Permeable Lenses
Nearly 40 million Americans wear contacts lenses and over 90% of these are soft lenses. In 2012, Rigid Gas Permeable (RGP’s) accounted for about 9% of all contact lens fittings in the United States. Gas Permeable (GP) lenses are a high-tech alternative to soft contact lenses.
There are three main kinds of contact lens materials:
- The original contact lenses were Hard Contact made out of the plastic PMMA and are now obsolete.
- Gas Permeable lenses, made from fluorosilicone acrylate are rigid lenses with excellent oxygen permeability. These lenses are custom made for each person.
- Soft lenses are soft and foldable, made from a variety of plastics. They are the most common type of lenses worn in the United States. These lenses are mass produced.
Gas permeable lenses offer excellent eye health because they don't contain water like soft lenses do. They do not attract deposits and are much less likely than soft contacts to lead to a corneal infection. They are easy to clean, easier to handle and typically last much longer than soft lenses.
Most importantly, because GP hold their shape better than soft lenses, they provide substantially better vision than soft contacts.
