Contact Lenses

Interesting fact here; almost 3.5 million people in the UK currently wear contact lenses! And although this figure is most definitely on the increase, national statistics suggest that it tends to be younger people who go for this option, with only 1% of those over 65 choosing to wear contact lenses.

However, that is certainly not the case here at David Gould Opticians, where we have never seen age (at either ends of the scale) to be a barrier.

With the wide range of innovative and quality products now available, choosing contact lenses can often offer the wearer more freedom and comfort than traditional spectacles, particularly if you participate in sporting activities or you are especially self-conscious in social situations.

Furthermore, unlike glasses, contact lenses don’t get steamed up in the rain and they’ll go with everything you’re wearing. In short, they’re an extremely convenient option for anyone aged 8 – 80!

What’s more, if you think contact lenses could be the option for you but you are unsure about making the commitment, we offer an initial free trial to anyone wishing to try them, so you really have nothing to lose…except maybe your glasses…

The most popular choice by far is from our soft lenses range. They are, generally speaking, the easiest to get used to and are remarkably convenient to wear, especially when choosing daily disposable lenses, which don’t even require solutions or a case. Weekly, fortnightly, monthly or every three monthly replacement options are also available, if a single use lens is not appropriate.

We are not the biggest fans of coloured soft lenses, but we will supply them if that’s what you really want!

Daily disposable lenses are typically available for around 75% of single vision prescriptions and are also available for Astigmatism and if multifocal are required.

Continuous wear lenses can be worn for up to 30 consecutive days and nights, and although they are not suitable for everyone, we will be happy to discuss the options post examination.

Multifocal lenses have continued to improve over recent years and this category represents one of the biggest growth areas of our contact lens business. New designs and materials are added to our portfolio of products regularly, as soon as they become available. One of the big advantages of being independent is that we can choose what we want to order and aren’t dictated to by a head office, so we can use what’s right for our clients every time.

Soft lenses for Astigmatism are something we have fitted successfully for years, and even though we still regularly meet people that have been told previously (often years ago) by other opticians that they are not suitable candidates for lenses, please don’t accept that as being the case unless we tell you that!

Late in 2018, Mark Ennovy (one of our Spanish suppliers) introduced their Versa custom made daily disposable toric lenses, which allows us to fit more eye prescriptions than ever before with daily disposable contact lenses. However, if you are still out of this prescription range, there are plenty of other options available, including two weekly, monthly and three monthly modalities.

Rigid Gas Permeable Lenses (RGP) are, frankly, lenses that a lot of practices seem to have stopped fitting. That isn’t the case at David Gould Opticians, though. As well as seeing our own Rossendale based patients who successfully wear RGP lenses, we are seeing an increasing number of new clients who travel to see us. The last few years have seen many technological advances in RGP materials and our Oculus Keratograph Topographer is used to help us optimise lens fit. Rigid Gas Permeable lenses are available in bifocal and multifocal form and can often offer a better standard of vision than soft lenses. It really is worth discussing RGPs with us if this is something you wish to try as a potentially less expensive option to disposables.

Orthokeratology is a fantastic process, which gently reshapes the Cornea by wearing specially designed RGP contact lenses overnight. The lenses are then removed during the day and there is no need to wear glasses. Sounds too good to be true? It’s not!

Although it doesn’t work for everybody, we have been practising Orthokeratology since 2005 and have many happy wearers. “OrthoK” (as it is known) has been shown to slow down the rate of increasing Myopia (short-sightedness) in growing children and teenagers by around 40%. Just ask if you’d like to know more.

Keratoconus is a condition where the cornea becomes irregular and cone like in shape, leading to blurred and distorted vision Spectacle lenses usually only provide limited correction, whereas specially designed contact lenses for Keratoconus can often provide a much higher standard of corrected vision.

David has over 30 years experience in treating patients with Keratoconus and we are more than happy to see clients through the Hospital Eye Service or through Private referrals. We have a huge range of lenses available to us for this condition, including hybrids from Synergeyes, Scleral lenses, like ICD 16.5 and Rose K.  Please do not hesitate to ask us for details.

Myopia (short-sightedness) can, in many cases, be successfully managed if treated correctly. In early March 2017, David Gould Opticians were invited to be one of a small, exclusive group of practices in the UK with access to a daily disposable soft lens known as MiSight, with a dual focus design developed specifically by Coopervision for management of Myopia.

Clinical trials conducted over a four year period show that this lens can slow down the rate of Myopic Progression by almost 60%. We are VERY proud to have been told by Coopervision that we were the first practice in the UK to have fitted a pair of MiSight lenses and we now have a growing number of young children wearing these lenses.

Not only are we really pleased that we are helping them to be less short-sighted in the future than they would have been, but we also know that being lens wearers has increased their self-confidence and allowed them to participate in sports and other activities that they would’ve found significantly more challenging had they still been wearing glasses.