Facts about contact lenses

Contact lenses sit in front of your eye to improve your vision. They are particularly popular with people who need glasses but don't like the look of themselves with glasses on, or when glasses are impractical.

There are several different types of contact lens, each with some advantages and some disadvantages.

Advantages:

• You can often see better with them
• People don't know that you are wearing them
• They are especially useful for sport, because your vision is better, and there aren't the dangers of having glasses on your nose when you playing contact games like rugby

  Disadvantages:

You normally have to pay for them as they are not free under the NHS
• They are quite expensive
• You can loose them easily
• You can get infections and allergies to them
• You have to learn to put them in and take them out
• If you wear them for too long at one time you can temporarily damage the cells of the front of your eye called the cornea

Types of contact lenses: