Glasses & Contacts

Ways to Correct & Protect Vision

• Eyeglasses

• Sunglasses

• Contact Lenses

• LASIK and other refractive surgery procedures

• Intraocular Lenses (IOLs) for cataract surgery and for correcting presbyopia.

What Is a Refractive Error?

In the normal, healthy eye, the cornea is clear, smooth and round and the lens is clear, allowing light rays to pass through unobstructed and be focused sharply on the retina. However, if the cornea is not as smooth, clear or round as it should be, or the eyeball is too long or too short, light rays will bend (or refract) at odd angles, leading to blurry or distorted vision. This inability to achieve sharp focus is called refractive error, and is the most common eye problem. Refractive errors include nearsightedness, or myopia; farsightedness, or hyperopia; or astigmatism.

Similarly, the eye will have focusing problems if the naturally clear lens is cloudy due to cataract, isn’t as flexible as it should be (causing presbyopia), or has other problems with the way it functions.

How Do We See?

Light rays enter the eye through the cornea, pupil and lens. The cornea is the clear, round dome covering the iris, the colored ring in the center of the eye, and the pupil, the black circle in the middle of the iris. The light rays then pass through the vitreous, a clear, gel-like substance that fills the middle of the eye, and are focused on the retina, a light-sensitive tissue lining the back of the eye.

The macula is a very small area at the center of the retina that gives us our fine, pinpoint central vision. The area of retina surrounding the macula gives us our peripheral — or side — vision. The retina converts light rays into impulses that are sent through the optic nerve to your brain, where they are recognized as images.

By helping to focus light as it enters the eye, the cornea and the lens both play important roles in giving us clear vision. In fact, 70% of the eye's focusing power comes from the cornea and 30% from the lens.

Contact Lenses

Contact lenses are thin, clear disks of plastic that float on the surface of the eye. They correct vision like eyeglasses do for myopia (nearsightedness), hyperopia (farsightedness), astigmatism and presbyopia, and are safe when used with care.

Cosmetic Contact Lenses

If you’d like to use lenses to change your eye color or appearance, get your colored contact lenses prescribed by an eye care professional. It’s crucial that your lenses fit properly, and your individual prescription can only be determined by an eye exam.

Glasses

Correcting refractive errors with eyeglasses offers the opportunity to select from different types of lens options, frame designs and even lens coatings for various purposes.

Sunglasses

Spending long hours in the sun without eye protection can damage your eyes. Proper sunglasses are key to protecting your eyes from sun-related damage, and they should be worn anytime you are outdoors.