The choice between different types of soft contact lenses comes down to comfort, cost, and how often you plan to wear contacts. Get the facts you need to make an informed decision.
June 19, 2024
Written by
Katherine Solem
Expert review by
Siddarth Rathi, MD
The choice between different types of soft contact lenses comes down to comfort, cost, and how often you plan to wear contacts. Get the facts you need to make an informed decision.
June 19, 2024
Written by
Katherine Solem
Expert review by
Siddarth Rathi, MD
Unlike eyeglasses, which can be worn endlessly until you need a new prescription (and until you need to go to bed!), contact lenses are different. You can only wear them for a specific time period (called wear duration). And you must throw them out and replace them with new ones at specific intervals (called replacement schedule).
This is important because, over time, contact lenses accumulate germs and dirt. This can lead to an eye infection. Sticking to a specific wear duration and replacement schedule helps reduce this risk.
You may be more familiar with these concepts through terms like “daily disposable” and “extended wear” contacts. Your eye doctor will help you choose between the best options for your lifestyle and vision needs. The choice often comes down to comfort, cost, and how often you plan to wear contacts. Here are the facts you need to know to make an informed decision.
These soft contact lenses are meant to be thrown out after a single use. That’s typically one day or no more than 14 to 16 hours. The big advantages of daily disposables are comfort and convenience. You don’t have to worry about cleaning and storing your lenses each night. However, this also means you can’t reuse them. If you plan to wear contacts every day, you'll need a large supply on hand. This can make dailies more expensive than biweekly or monthly contacts.
As you might guess, these soft contacts can be worn for up to two weeks or one month, respectively, before replacing. Your eye doctor will tell you how often you should replace your contacts with a fresh pair. Because you rewear these lenses, you must disinfect and store them each night.
The advantage of biweekly and monthly contacts is that they can be less expensive than daily contacts. That’s because you can wear them for longer periods before replacing them. You do need to buy cleaning and storage supplies, but you can still expect to pay less overall.
These are soft contacts that have been approved for wearing overnight. Your eye doctor will determine the exact length of time you can wear these contacts based on your vision needs. After the wear period, you must sleep at least one night without the contacts in.
While these lenses are approved for overnight use, most eye doctors don’t recommend sleeping in contacts. This raises the risk of eye infection. Talk with your eye doctor if you’re interested in extended wear contacts.
Of all the soft contact lenses, extended-wear lenses are typically the cheapest. That’s because you must buy relatively fewer of them over the long haul. You can expect to pay much less for extended-wear contacts than daily disposables.
No, switching from one brand or type of soft contact lens to another is very common. Different factors can change over the many years you might wear contact lenses. These include:
Whatever you and your eye doctor choose, clear, comfortable, and healthy vision is what matters most!
Ready to order new contacts?
Shop our selection of daily, weekly, or monthly soft contacts from top brands like Acuvue, Dailies, Air Optix, and Biofinity.
