There are three main categories of contact lenses, the soft disposable lens, the rigid gas permeable lens and the hard plastic lens.
The soft disposable lens
This type of lens is by far the most popular choice among contact uses and all the major brands offer a huge range of different types in this category. Soft lenses are available in daily, weekly and monthly types as well as different coloured and special effects lenses. Soft lenses are made from a gel like plastic and there content of water is very high, with the absorption of water the lens will become softer and this helps them mould to the shape of your eye. Soft lenses are probably the most comfortable lens that you can wear and are available in prescriptions for correcting nearsightedness, farsightedness and Astigmatism.
Soft contact lenses are different from rigid gas permeable lenses in that they are far more comfortable to wear, they are easier to insert and they fall out less. For first time contact less use these are probably the best choice as break in time is less for the soft lenses. Although there are a lot of advantages to wearing the soft lens there are also some bad ones to consider when choosing a lens type. The soft lens are usually costlier than the RGP lens, they require replacing more and also eye infections are more common in users wearing soft lens than the rigid type. Soft lenses require more cleaning and maintenance than the rigid ones unless you specifically go for the daily disposable types.
Rigid Gas Permeable Lenses
These are the choice in about 15% of contact lens users and unlike the hard lenses they are gas permeable, which allows oxygen to pass through them. They are more durable than the soft lenses and also less expensive, unlike the soft lenses the water content in the RGP lens is low. Because the lenses are rigid when you blink the lens doesn’t change shape as the soft ones do and therefore your vision remains clear and crisp at all times. The rigid form of lens will require some getting to use at first and as such may at first feel uncomfortable for a while until your eyes adjust to them. This type of lens will have to be fit to the exact shape of the cornea.
Hard plastic lenses
This type of lens doesn’t allow oxygen to pass through them; they cannot be worn for any longer than 12 hours at a time and the period of time that it takes to get adjusted to wearing them is a lot longer than the soft lens and RGP type of lens. Because they are hard they are also not as comfortable as either the RGP or soft lens type and as such are not as popular as the other two choices. This type was the first type of contact lens used, and requires a lot of maintenance. They are now considered to be almost obsolete and are very rarely considered as a choice among contact lens users.