Topherbordeau,
I'm an American Optician's Board Certified Optician, having worked 17
years for an ophthalmologist who fits contact lenses, and assisting in
that process.
I have never looked for a ranking such as you mention (for reasons
you'll see below). As far as a study on this topic, comparisons I've
seen have been produced by a manufacturer, and/or would be limited to
one product and the "benefits" of one manufacturer's product over
others in similar categories. Generally this type of study is used for
the purpose of convincing eye care professionals to purchase a fitting
set of the lenses and try them on patients.
Tutuzdad's point is valid and I can take it a little further to give
you an idea of the difficulty you may have finding a straight answer.
Contact lenses come in categories and then in many sub-categories.
For example: There are two categories that the majority of contact
lenses fall into these days - Gas Permeable and Soft Lenses. Now,
take Soft Lenses and you'll find that there are sub categories such as
1.Manufacturer, 2.Exact Make Up of Soft Lens Material (% of oxygen
permeability), 3.FDA approval for wearing times (extended wear/daily
wear), 4.Variety of fitting qualities available in any particular
series of lens that each manufacturer makes (e.g. Base Curve,
Diameter, Thickness, Edge Design), 5. Power - or diopters of
correction, 6."Specialty Characteristics" (UV Protection, Cosmetic
Colored Contacts, Bifocal - several different bifocal designs
available, Toric - several different designs to correct for
astigmatism) 7.Durability ... and on and on.
When a patient comes into a professional office to be fit in soft
contact lenses, for example, the fitting qualities of the lenses are
the first variable to tackle. Every eye is different in a number of
physiologic characteristics. Also, soft contact lenses will adapt
themselves somewhat to the shape of the eye which changes the optics -
or the power needed through them. Therefore fitting soft contact
lenses is always done on a per case basis, and often by using an
educated "trial and error" method during the fitting session.
For each individual there is usually a "best" combination of those
types and sub-types of contact lenses. In some cases, it will turn
out that a patient has a particular combination of (eye) physiological
characteristics, sensitivities, and prescription requirements that
(out of all the possibilities) we end up with only one set of contact
lenses that can even be considered for that patient.
You will likely find that eye care professionals tend to have
"favorite" brands and even series of contact lenses. That usually
means they have been able to fit quite a few patients into those
lenses successfully. Ask the eye care professional across the street
from the first, and you're likely to find a different "favorite".
I imagine, though, that you are now beginning to understand what a
large question you asked. Even if you could narrow down the types of
contacts you would like to consider in your question, or even if you
could define the word "best" in your question, I am afraid that there
may not ever be a definitive answer as to which type of contact lens
is "best".
4hcLady |
