Soft contact lenses are made of soft, flexible plastics that allow oxygen to pass through to the cornea. Soft contact lenses may be easier to adjust to and are more comfortable than rigid gas permeable lenses. Newer soft lens materials include silicone-hydrogels to provide more oxygen to your eye while you wear your lenses.

Rigid gas permeable contact lenses (RGPs) are more durable and resistant to deposit buildup. They tend to be less expensive over the life of the lens since they last longer than soft lenses.

They are easier to handle and less likely to tear. However, they are not as comfortable initially as soft contacts and it may take a few weeks to get used to wearing RGPs, compared to several days for soft contacts.

The majority of soft contact lens wearers are prescribed some type of frequent replacement schedule. "Disposable," as defined by the FDA, means used once and discarded. With a true daily wear disposable schedule, a brand new pair of lenses is used each day. Some soft contact lenses are referred to as "disposable" by contact lens sellers, but actually, they are for frequent/planned replacement (for example, 7 days to 30 days) and then thrown away.

Astigmatism. Toric contact lenses are designed to correct the vision issues that arise from having a different curvature of the cornea. This is possible because a toric contact lens is shaped like a ring doughnut rather than a standard spherical lens. This creates different vertical and horizontal refractive powers that increase or decrease gradually as you move around the lens.

Multifocal. Multifocal contact lenses have been designed to correct the visual issue of presbyopia (Near and Farsighted). They blend together two or more prescriptions to allow your eyes the ability to focus on objects at all distances, giving you the freedom from wearing multifocal eyeglasses

Scleral lenses are larger lenses made of gas permeable material used to correct vision in a number of conditions such as keratoconus, post-refractive surgery corneal issues, ocular surface disease, dry eye, and normal refractive errors.

They are called "scleral" lenses because, these lenses cover the "white" of the eye (the sclera). Because of this type of fit, they are less likely to accidentally dislodge from the eye compared to conventional GP lenses.