Making the decision to change from spectacles to contact lenses or vice versa can represent a significant change in your daily routine. If you are thinking of going through this process, here are some important steps you will need to take.

Switching from spectacles to contact lenses

Many glasses-wearers get great satisfaction from switching to contact lenses. However, it's not simply a matter of transferring your glasses prescription over to contact lenses. If you are thinking of making the switch from your usual spectacles to more regular contact lens use, you will need to visit your optometrist first. They will conduct a professional eye test and make a recommendation on the type and brand of contact lenses that would be best for you. The test will let your optometrist assess whether contact lenses would be a suitable solution for correcting your vision problems.

There are a variety of soft contact lenses and hard contact lenses to choose from, but your optometrist will be able to advise you on which option would be the best for your eyes. Soft lenses are more common and can correct for myopia (nearsightedness), hyperopia (farsightedness), blurred vision and changes in close-up vision caused by age. Hard lenses are rigid and more 'breathable', which can reduce your risk of an eye infection. The eye test will also enable your optometrist to identify your contact lenses prescription. This will contain the refractive power of each eyeball, which describes the amount of correction your lenses need to do to enable your vision to improve. It will also show a number of other measurements such as the base curve (BC) and diameter (DIA) of each lens, which help to ensure the contact will adhere closely to the shape of your eye. It's important to get these measurements from your optometrist as the wrong prescription can result in irritation or pain when inserting the lenses. Your optometrist will also advise you on how to properly care for and store your lenses, how to insert and remove them and anything else you need to know about your eye condition in relation to wearing lenses. Changing contact lenses for glasses

When it comes to correcting your vision, comfort is one of the key concerns - so whether you want to wear contact lenses or glasses most of the time, it's up to you to decide what works best for you with help from your optometrist.If you do choose to go back to wearing glasses after having worn contact lenses, you may experience some minor issues such as headaches or dizziness as you go through the settling in phase. This can be an effect of your brain adjusting to the change in vision aids. Wearing contact lenses means you are always looking through the optical centre of the lenses, but when you have glasses on you are only looking through the centre when you're staring straight ahead through the lens. If you've been wearing high prescription contact lenses for a significant period of time, your brain may take several days or even weeks to adjust to this change. Before making the decision, it's important to see your optometrist again as they will need to carry out another examination. This will identify whether you need a different prescription or any other changes to the fit and construction of your glasses to give you the best experience. Sometimes a slightly weaker prescription for your glasses may help to resolve the problem, or it may be an issue of keeping the lenses clean from any specks of dust or dirt that may accumulate. If you experience any issues or any uncomfortable effects at all after changing from contact lenses back to glasses, don't hesitate to go back to your optometrist for more expert advice and assistance.