Contacts

Contact lenses have come a long way — and so has the fitting process. At Hiemstra Optical, a contact lens fitting isn’t a transaction; it’s a clinical service performed by experienced opticians who take the time to find the right lens for your eyes, not just your prescription.

Whether you’re putting contacts in for the first time or you’ve been wearing them for years and want to explore newer options, we’re here to help you see clearly and wear comfortably — every day.

Contact lenses are a medical device, and a proper fitting matters more than most people realize. A prescription written for glasses does not translate directly to contacts — lens type, curvature, diameter, and material all need to be assessed for your individual eye.

• Eye measurements: We measure the curvature and diameter of your cornea to identify the right lens parameters for your eye.
• Trial lens fitting: You’ll wear a trial pair in-office so we can assess fit, movement, and comfort — and so you can experience the lens firsthand before committing.
• Vision assessment: We verify visual acuity with the trial lenses and make any necessary adjustments to the prescription.
• Wear & care instruction: For new wearers, we walk through insertion, removal, and proper care — taking as much time as you need to feel confident.
• Follow-up: We’ll schedule a follow-up to confirm long-term comfort and make any final adjustments. Contact lens prescriptions are updated annually.

For patients with complex prescriptions or conditions that make standard contacts difficult, we offer professional fittings for specialty lens types:

Scleral lenses are large-diameter rigid lenses that vault over the cornea entirely, resting on the sclera (the white of the eye). They create a liquid reservoir between the lens and the eye, making them a transformative option for patients with keratoconus, irregular corneas, severe dry eye, or other conditions that make soft lens wear difficult or impossible. If you’ve been told you’re not a good candidate for contacts, scleral lenses may change that conversation.

Presbyopia — the gradual loss of near focusing ability that typically begins in the mid-40s — doesn’t have to mean reading glasses over your contacts. Today’s multifocal contact lenses offer simultaneous or alternating vision designs that provide meaningful correction at distance and near. We’ll assess whether your prescription and visual demands make you a good candidate and guide you through the adaptation process.

Astigmatism once limited contact lens options significantly. Modern toric lenses correct astigmatism reliably and comfortably across a wide range of prescriptions — and in both daily and monthly replacement schedules. If you’ve avoided contacts because of astigmatism, it’s worth revisiting that assumption.