As a part of one of our labs during the second year of optometry school, my classmates and I were given a rigid gas permeable (hard) lens blank. A lens blank is the template from which one grinds and shapes and polishes it down to the finished product. So, for a week--every night of that week--in the contact lens lab, I whittled and cajoled and coaxed that lens blank into a wearable piece of plastic.

Oh, and to prove its wearability, each student had to do so! I was incredibly pleased with the result (especially since my prescription is somewhat challenging to correct with a hard lens).

But let me tell you, the process of producing it was one of my least favorite exercises while in optometry school. Nonetheless, I became intimately familiar with hard contacts. I am sure you can imagine. :)

Of course, I have learned oodles about soft lenses as well, while in school and while practicing optometry. Oodles and oodles.

And the first oodle I would share with you about contacts, namely soft ones (most of this site is dedicated to the soft ones) is: Wear the best. Please. We (you and I) are speaking about your eyes, your little ocular pools that are the windows into your world. Your eyes and you deserve--need!--the best. I can help you take care of them, but you, ultimately, are the boss.

I subscribe to a guide that lists the sizes, shapes, measurements, and details of every contact lens—soft and hard—available in the United States. It’s about 72 pages long! I refer to it frequently during clinic.

I mention this guide to illustrate just how many are available on the market and how much there is know about them simply as a product by themselves--without considering all the related products like disinfecting solutions, reading glasses, cases, rewetting drops, sunglasses, . . . yeah, you know what I mean.

Hi, my name is Dr. Mike Vernon and I’ve been fitting and dispensing contact lenses for 10 years. I have seen it all and I have heard it all. I know a lot about them, and I know you have a lot of questions, so . . . I'm to be your personal guide and take you inside all-things-contact-lens.