Contacts

Contact Lenses in New Albany — Daily, Specialty, and Hard-to-Fit

Whether you’re a first-time contact lens wearer, a parent wondering if your child is ready, or someone who’s been told “your eyes are too complicated for contacts” — we fit it. At Central Ohio Vision and Eyecare, Drs. Karres, Keller, and Dennis fit everything from daily disposables to scleral lenses for keratoconus, and we’ll help you find what actually works for your eyes and your routine.

Schedule a Contact Lens Exam | Or call 614-933-0575

Why we lean toward single-use daily lenses

We carry a full range of soft, rigid, and specialty contacts, but for most patients we recommend single-use daily lenses. The reasoning is simple: with a fresh lens every morning, you avoid most of the protein buildup, infection risk, and dry-eye discomfort that come with reusing lenses. Comfort is better, eye health is better, and there’s nothing to clean.

Annual supplies almost always come with a manufacturer rebate, and our team handles the rebate paperwork at checkout — the final cost is usually less than people expect.

What to expect at your contact lens exam

A contact lens exam is different from a routine eye exam. We measure the curvature of your cornea, check the health of your tear film and ocular surface, fit you with trial lenses, and bring you back about a week later to confirm the lenses are still comfortable in real life — not just in the chair.

You won’t be asked to buy contacts on the day of the fit. We want you to wear them, like them, and confirm the prescription before you commit. If you have vision insurance, our team verifies your contact lens benefit before you come in so you know what’s covered.

What we fit

Soft daily, weekly, and monthly lenses

Soft contacts make up the majority of what we dispense. They’re comfortable from day one, available in most prescriptions, and come in replacement schedules from daily to monthly. We’ll work out which schedule fits your routine, your budget, and your eye health.

Toric lenses for astigmatism

Most patients with astigmatism can wear contacts and see as well as they do in glasses. Toric lenses sometimes take an extra visit to dial in, but the result is sharp, stable vision. Follow-up fittings during the trial period are included — we work with you until you’re happy.

Multifocal contacts (over 40)

If reading glasses have become a hassle, multifocal contacts let you see near and far without switching glasses on and off. Most are available as daily disposables now, which is a big upgrade in comfort over the older monthly options.

Rigid Gas Permeable (GP) lenses

GP lenses give the sharpest vision available because they don’t flex when you blink. They’re durable (most last a year or more), come in bifocal designs, and are often the right answer for higher prescriptions, mild keratoconus, and patients who’ve never been satisfied in soft lenses. Dr. Karres has a research background in GP and specialty lens design.

Specialty and medically necessary contacts

If you’ve been told you’re “hard to fit,” or you have keratoconus, a corneal scar, severe dry eye, or post-surgical irregularity, you probably need more than off-the-shelf contacts. We fit custom soft lenses, scleral lenses, and Wave-mapped lenses for these patients. Many people are surprised how much vision they regain in lenses they didn’t know existed. Learn more about our Specialty Contact Lenses →

A note on extended-wear (sleep-in) lenses

Some lenses are FDA-approved for up to 30 days of continuous wear. Even with careful care, sleeping in lenses raises the risk of corneal infections, ulcers, and long-term complications. We don’t recommend this wearing pattern. If you want to wake up seeing clearly without lenses in your eyes, ask us about ortho-k. Learn more about Ortho-K →

Tinted / cosmetic lenses

We can prescribe tinted soft contacts that subtly or dramatically change eye color. These are FDA-regulated medical devices and require a real prescription and fitting — please don’t buy decorative contacts online without an exam.

Kids and contacts

A common parent question: “Is my child ready for contacts?” The honest answer is that it depends on the child, not the age. Dr. Keller has fit elementary school athletes who handled contacts beautifully, and high schoolers who weren’t quite ready. We’ll evaluate maturity, hygiene habits, and motivation alongside the prescription. For kids whose myopia is progressing, ortho-k or daily multifocal soft lenses can also help slow it down. Learn more about Myopia Management →

Schedule your contact lens exam

We see patients from New Albany, Gahanna, Westerville, Johnstown, and across Central Ohio. Whether it’s your first time in contacts or you’ve been told no by a previous doctor, we’d like the chance to take a look.

Schedule Online | Call 614-933-0575