Optical Correction
Spectacles and contact lenses are both solutions for sight correction.
Many people find that a combination can provide the best of both worlds, with spectacles providing more lens design options while contact lenses provide the wonderful advantage in outdoor activities with non prescription sunglasses or frame free vision.
A good fitting frame is essential, not only for comfort but for the many sophisticated multifocal lens designs which require exact positioning. Certain prescriptions will look and work better in larger frames, while others will have a thinner lens edge in smaller frames. An experienced optical dispenser is the best person to advise you on a frame choice as they are also able to adjust many aspects of a frame to improve the fit.
Prescription optical lenses are the workhorses for your vision. Technology has provided an incredible number of options which not only maximise your vision but also provide excellent cosmetic results. At Panoptic Vision, we are proud to support a local Port Macquarie laboratory which provides the latest European freeform technology lens designs with the added advantage of being able to provide a next day service in many cases.
Shaw Lenses
At Panoptic Vision we also use specialty lenses from elsewhere as needed. For example, we are authorised to prescribe SHAW lenses. These lenses are ordered as a pair and are used to reduce the problems that occur when there is a big difference between the magnification of the eyes. This is most important for children with anisometropia / amblyopia (high prescription in only one eye that can cause a lazy eye) and can be very useful for older patients who have had cataract surgery on one eye but the other eye still has a high prescription. Both these cases cause major problems in binocular vision and can cause spatial problems such as lack of 3D and vertigo type symptoms. SHAW lenses are made to equalise the magnification difference, no matter what the prescription to avoid these complications.
Contact Lenses
Contact lenses are now available in daily, fortnightly, monthly and annual replacement schedules. Extended wear materials now allow the lenses to be slept in safely, bearing in mind that this requires strict monitoring during the initial period of trialing the lens.
Contact lenses are able to correct nearly all vision conditions, including long and short sightedness, astigmatism and presbyopia ( needing a multifocal to help with tasks up close).
At Panoptic Vision we have many trial lenses available at our practice for you to try. As an independent practice, we are able to order specific trial lenses from any one of the many contact lens manufacturers.