Quick Links
- 1 Common Uses Of Contact Lenses – and How They Work
- 2 1. Refractive Error Correction
- 3 2. Presbyopia Correction
- 4 3. Cosmetic Purposes
- 5 4. Soft Lenses For Therapeutic Purposes
- 6 5. Scleral Lenses For Therapeutic Purposes
- 7 6. Other Types Of Vision Correction
- 8 Common Schedules For Wear and Replacement
- 9 Wear Schedule
- 10 Replacement Schedule
- 11 What Is Aveo?
- 12 Aveo’s Story
- 13 How It Works
- 14 Sign Up Process
- 15 The Benefits of Aveo
- 16 1. Comfort
- 17 2. Advanced Technology
- 18 3. Aqua lock
- 19 4. High Oxygen Levels
- 20 5. Steady View
- 21 6. Aspheric Optics
- 22 7. Superhuman Quality Assurance
- 23 8. Naturally Biocompatible
- 24 9. UV Protection
- 25 10. BlissEdge
- 26 11. Affordable
- 27 12. Flexibility
- 28 13. EyeSmile Promise
- 29 Aveo Hello
- 30 Aveo Joy
- 31 Final thoughts
- 32 Related Articles
The obvious answer is to correct your vision – either by wearing prescription lenses or glasses that are prescribed to you by your eye doctor, or by getting corrective eye surgery.
While vision-corrective eye surgeries like LASIK exist, most people are unable to afford the costs associated with such a procedure. Additionally, it may require multiple visits to achieve the desired result – and each visit carries with it the risk of surgical complications.
Because of this, most people would prefer to stick to wearing spectacles or contact lenses. While spectacles pose virtually no health risks whatsoever, some may find them to be bulky and uncomfortable to wear. As a result, they turn to the other available option – contact lenses.
Thankfully for customers, there are plenty of brands of premium contact lens brands to choose from. Aveo is one such brand, with its key selling point being the convenience they offer at some of the most affordable prices on the market.
But just what makes their lenses and services so special? Are they really the right brand for you? Here’s our Aveo review to help you better understand the company and their contact lenses!
Common Uses Of Contact Lenses – and How They Work
1. Refractive Error Correction
This is the most common use for contact lenses. They commonly achieve this sort of vision improvement by correcting bending and changing the way light enters the eye. When the light is focused enough to the correct degree, the wearer’s vision will improve.
Myopia and hypermetropia are usually corrected by spherical contact lenses, which evenly refract light from all directions. Some spherical contact lenses can be used to correct astigmatism, though they often do this by being rigid lenses that reshape the cornea.
By contrast, toric contact lenses focus and bend light horizontally. This allows it to correct astigmatism, but it must be oriented properly in order to do this. This means that they need to be designed to maintain that alignment, which makes them different from a normal, spherical contact lens. There are a few ways to do this – some lenses are weighted or physically designed to automatically rotate back into the correct position. Others instead have some kind of mark on them to orientate the user.
2. Presbyopia Correction
Presbyopia is a condition where two different prescriptions are needed for the person – one for normal distance viewing, and another for reading. Most eye doctors and manufacturers will take two approaches to this: monovision lenses and multifocal lenses.
Just like bifocal or progressive lenses found in spectacles, multifocal contact lenses have multiple focal points. Most multifocal-lens design the center of the lens for constant viewing, though some lenses allow you to access the lens’ reading power when the lens position shifts.
By contrast, monovision uses one focal point for each lens. This means that you only have one vision for each task. Often the dominant eye is given the focal point for distance vision, while the non-dominant eye is given the focal point for near work.
Despite the apparent complexity, most brains quickly learn how to use this setup, allowing the user to have a clear vision regardless of the distance. However, the use of single-vision lenses is not recommended for people who are at risk of eye misalignment, which monovision can worsen.
Another possible way to handle this is to simply have the user wear reading glasses over their distance contact lenses whenever they need to read something or do near work.
3. Cosmetic Purposes
Although some cosmetic contact lenses are capable of correcting refractive error, most of these lenses are meant to change eye color and appearance. Thus, you may occasionally see them in medical use to restore the natural appearance – or even function! – of an iris.
There are many different styles of cosmetic contact lenses available on the market. The most common kinds are colored contact lenses. One type merely tints the color of the iris, while the other one completely obscures the natural iris color for a dramatic color change.
In East Asia, it is also popular to wear circle contact lenses, which mimics the appearance of a larger iris that is thought to be cuter and more doll-like. More extreme cosmetic contact lenses may give the wearer the appearance of uniquely shaped pupils and irises, or even completely cover the sclera to give the whole eye a wildly different look.
It should be kept in mind that contact lenses require as much care as normal prescription ones to avoid irritation. It is also a good idea to have one’s eyes measured for these lenses so that you can ensure the lens will fit you without issue.
4. Soft Lenses For Therapeutic Purposes
Contact lenses can also be used for medical treatment and therapeutic purposes that are unrelated to vision correction. For example, it can be used as a form of bandage that allows the patient to retain their vision, all while protecting a healing cornea from the friction caused by eyelids.
Soft lenses are also used in the treatment of various sorts of ocular conditions, and can even be used to deliver medication directly to the eye. Some of the conditions it is used for include corneal edema, Mooren’s ulcer, dry eyes, bullous keratopathy, and keratitis.
5. Scleral Lenses For Therapeutic Purposes
While scleral lenses are often used cosmetically to give the wearer a strange and alien look. However, they can also be used for medical purposes.
These lenses are large enough to rest on the patient’s sclera, which makes it ideal for patients with fragile and sensitive corneas. These lenses can be used to trap and hold moisture over the cornea, which may relieve severe dry eye syndrome. It can also be used to improve one’s vision, reduce light and pain sensitivity, or protect the eye during recovery after an injury.
Some of the disorders and injuries that may use these kinds of lenses including people suffering from microphthalmia, Stevens-Johnson syndrome, post-Lasik complications, post-corneal transplant complications, and various types of chemical and burn injuries.
6. Other Types Of Vision Correction
Contact lenses can also be used for other types of vision correction and vision enhancement.
For example, while restoring full color is not possible, specially tinted contact lenses may help color-blind people to better distinguish tonal differences and colors. It can also help the extreme light sensitivity found in certain visual deficiencies.
While these options won’t be ready for many more years, other future possibilities for contact lenses include assisting dyslexics with improving reading ability and embedding contact lenses with magnification and other assistive technologies that can augment reality.
Common Schedules For Wear and Replacement
Wear Schedule
Contact lenses are generally not intended to be worn long term or continuously, for hygiene and eye health reasons. Most of them are divided into daily wear and extended wear contact lenses. Daily wear contact lenses are meant to be used for a single day and are discarded before sleep. By contrast, extended-wear contacts can be worn overnight, up to a potential of 6 consecutive nights.
The biggest reason why these lenses are not meant to be worn for a long time is that they block the cornea from obtaining oxygen from their surroundings. Wearing daily wear contact lenses overnight may increase the risk of all sorts of eye conditions such as corneal ulcers, corneal infections, and corneal neovascularization. The latter condition is irreversible, and will eventually spoil one’s vision.
In order to get around this, extended wear lenses are designed to be oxygen permeable. This allows oxygen from the surrounding air and from the blood vessels on the back of the eyelids to reach the cornea without being hindered by the lens. While not as common, newer materials have allowed the development of lenses that can be worn for as long as 30 days. These lenses are usually called continuous wear contact lenses.
That said, it should be noted that extended wear and continuous wear contact lenses aren’t immune to complications, though most of them should be resolved with a properly fitted lens.
Replacement Schedule
Different types of contact lenses are meant to be replaced at different times. Although they can all be made of the same material, different manufacturing processes will result in lenses that have varying replacement schedules.
Single-use lenses, which are also called daily disposables, are meant to be completely discarded after use. Because they are not meant to stand up to daily wear and tear, manufacturers can afford to make these lenses much lighter and thinner than they would otherwise, which greatly increases their comfort. This may be beneficial for those who do not need to wear contact lenses often, or are unlikely to replace it should it go missing.
Additionally, as these lenses are meant to be replaced frequently, they can only collect a small deposit of germs and allergens before they must be replaced. This can be useful for those who easily develop eye infections or have ocular allergies since these lenses are less likely to cause an issue.
Another common type of disposable contact lens include ones that are meant to be replaced every 2 or 4 weeks. There is also a more permanent type called rigid gas permeable lenses, which are durable, rigid lenses meant to last a user for several years before requiring a replacement.
What Is Aveo?
Aveo Vision is a daily contact lens company that provides subscription services, where it sends its products directly to consumers. It was founded in 2018 with the goal of making eye health as accessible and sustainable as possible.
The company does this by maintaining ownership of both the manufacture and distribution of its lenses. This vertical integration allows it complete control over production and shipping, which ensures that they can invest advanced technology into the creation of their lenses, and keep costs low by delivering the lenses directly into the hands of customers.
Aveo Vision currently offers two products: Aveo Hello, their line of daily contacts for typical needs like nearsightedness and farsightedness; and Aveo Joy, the first-ever daily toric contacts that are direct to consumer.
Aveo’s Story
For medical equipment that is essential to such a large number of the population, corrective eyewear can be incredibly expensive and difficult to get.
Despite the burgeoning online market, the majority of the contact lens industry has yet to adapt and evolve. Instead of being able to purchase their prescriptions online, customers have to burn time and effort they cannot often afford and visit retail stores for their lenses. This is all before taking into account the additional costs that brick-and-mortar establishments impose on the products and services they provide, raising costs significantly – all which gets passed on down to customers.
As a result, most contact-lens users tend to cut corners and overwear their contacts in a bid to save themselves some money and hassle. Unfortunately, this often comes at the cost of one’s own vision – something that future Aveo CEO Cecile Thai had to learn the hard way when she nearly lost her sight to a serious condition caused by overworn contacts.
Not wanting anyone else to suffer the same experience she underwent, Cecile Thai founded Aveo with the goal to make premium eye health affordable and accessible to everyone – all while ensuring it is all sustainable and made with the best lens technology available.
How It Works
Aveo works off a subscription-based service, which allows customers to choose and schedule deliveries as they wish. It costs $36 for 30 pairs of daily contact lenses and $55 for toric lenses, and they offer free shipping. They also offer a 30-day return on any unopened boxes you may have.
All new customers are given a free trial, where the company will gift you 10 free pairs of lenses when you first sign up with them. However, you will have to pay a one-time $5 shipping fee.
Based on the delivery date picked by the customer, the lenses are then shipped directly to the given address. Customers are also given the option of changing, pausing, or canceling their subscription at any time, without any additional costs. This can be beneficial to those who require flexibility and customizability in their scheduling, due to irregular income or personal scheduling conflicts.
Sign Up Process
The sign-up process for Aveo is relatively simple. Upon entering the site, you will immediately be greeted by the option to get started on your free trial.
Upon choosing to get the free trial, you will be directed to a new page. There, you are instructed to input your prescription. They offer lenses from -12.00 to +6.00, which you can adjust for each eye. A small pop-up box will ask you to double-check and ensure you’re putting in the right values. After that, you have the option to select for astigmatism.
If you click “Yes”, you’ll be asked to input your prescription for astigmatism. You will also be asked to key in your name and email so that the company can inform you when toric lenses are available for you. The sight will also offer to sign you up for their newsletter, but this is something you can opt out of. You will then have to wait for the company to contact you for further information.
If you click “No”, the site will inform you of the base curve and diameter for Aveo Hello, their non-toric contact lenses. You will then have to click “Proceed” to continue.
In order to verify your prescription, the site then asks you for your birthday, your doctor’s name, and your doctor’s phone number. After keying in these details, you will finally be taken to checkout, where you can key in your shipping and payment details. You will also be given the option of making a new account or logging in at this point.
The Benefits of Aveo
1. Comfort
Aveo contacts may be suitable for customers who are interested in comfort. This is because they are designed to be ultra-hydrating and breathable, which may provide you with a full day of comfortable use.
2. Advanced Technology
Aveo prioritizes manufacturing top-quality contact lenses that are comfortable and healthy for the eyes and subsequently invests heavily in research and development to this end. This means that they produce contact lenses with the latest lens technology available on the market, in clean-room facilities that are fully automated for maximum hygiene.
The company then has each and every single contact lens put through strict quality control, where they are inspected individually with a high-definition, magnifying camera. After ensuring the contact lens are up to standards, they are then shipped out from a distribution center that has a LEED Gold certification and directly to their customer’s doorstep.
3. Aqua lock
It is highly important for contact lenses to be hydrating, to avoid discomfort and potential eye health issues. To combat this, the company’s lenses are embedded with a unique technology called AquaLock, which allows the lenses to stay hydrated even after 12 hours of continuous wear.
AquaLock achieves this by mimicking a hydrophilic molecule that the human eye naturally produces. This allows the lens to create and maintain a layer of moisture between the direct surface of the eye to ensure maximum hydration. Since this technology is integrated right into the physical makeup of the contact lenses themselves, the company guarantees that it won’t dissipate or wear off as a coating will.
4. High Oxygen Levels
Most people don’t realize that our eyes get most of their oxygen from the air around us – which means that non-breathable contact lenses can potentially cause eye damage.
To avoid eye health problems associated with a lack of oxygen, Aveo uses premium Omafilcon A to make their lenses. This high-quality material ensures that their contacts have oxygen transmissibility that’s rated at 37 Dk/t.
5. Steady View
In order to correct astigmatism, toric lenses will have to stay in the correct position so that they can refract light properly. However, our eyes undergo a fair amount of movement, which can make designing toric lenses that stay in place difficult.
Aveo avoids this issue by engineering their toric lenses with a technology called SteadyView. SteadyView is a modified prism ballast that’s uniquely designed to reposition the lenses each time the wearer blinks. This allows the lenses to remain thin and comfortable while ensuring that the lenses stay in the correct position to give the wearer clear optical vision.
6. Aspheric Optics
Aveo utilizes aspheric optics design, which means their lenses will follow the curve of your eye. This allows them to adjust the different refractions you would get from all over the lens, avoiding any lens glare you could potentially get and ensures the user has a crystal-clear field of vision.
7. Superhuman Quality Assurance
Aveo’s vertical integration includes designing, manufacturing, quality control, and shipping. This means that they can maintain complete control over every aspect of the production and delivery, from establishing clean-room production in a fully-automated factory with small tolerances to stringent quality control processes, and finally to careful shipping directly to customers.
As a result, Aveo can guarantee the quality of their lenses, which can be assuring to those who are concerned about the quality of their contact lenses.
8. Naturally Biocompatible
A concern many contact wearers have about their lenses is whether their eyes will reject them. This can make the lenses uncomfortable and irritating to wear, and may even cause cloudiness.
Omafilcon A is a unique polymer that closely mimics the surface of the eye. Aveo combines this with the company’s AquaLock technology, which not only repels any bio-buildup but also makes the produced contacts naturally biocompatible. This may be good for contact users who have sensitive eyes since the contact’s biocompatibility makes it less likely to cause issues.
This also means that the company can afford to invest their resources into sustainable production since the resulting lenses do not require as much processing to avoid rejection from your eyes.
9. UV Protection
Ultraviolet light comes in two spectrums: UVA and UVB. These light spectrums are emitted from both the sun and the screens of our devices and are incredibly harmful to the eyes.
Aveo contact lenses offer protection with a built-in Class II UV blocker, which is capable of blocking about 87% of UVA and 97% of UVB radiation. This can be beneficial to those who need some type of blue-light filter, though this cannot replace the stronger protection of a pair of certified eyewear.
10. BlissEdge
Contact lenses are an additional layer on your eye. Depending on the design of the lenses, this additional thickness can be very noticeable and uncomfortable, or become practically invisible.
Aveo avoids this with BlissEdge, a design that is frictionless and has a dual-tapered edge. It’s meant to hold your lenses in the correct position, while at the same time creating no drag or resistance when your eyelids glide over them. The company claims that the design also swaps out any water under the lenses for fresh moisture and oxygen outside your contacts each time you blink.
11. Affordable
The company keeps prices low and affordable by producing and shipping the contacts themselves, allowing them to pass on any savings they make from avoiding markups onto customers. This can be beneficial for anyone who wants or needs lenses but struggles to afford them from typical retailers.
12. Flexibility
Unlike other subscription services, customers who sign up for the subscription-based service can choose their own delivery dates. Customers can also change their plans and delivery dates, “snooze” their subscriptions, or cancel it all anytime they wish at no additional cost. This can all be accessed from your Aveo account on the site.
13. EyeSmile Promise
Aveo backs each and every single one of its lenses with its EyeSmile Promise – a guarantee that customers will get fresh lenses every month per their dictated schedule. They also promise a 30-day return on any unopened boxes, and alongside easy customer support.
Aveo Hello is the company’s daily contact lenses. They are meant to be disposed of after a one-time use to avoid the need for a hassling nighttime routine, where you would normally have to clean and store your contacts. The company promises clear, HD vision with these contacts, alongside biocompatibility comfort. This can be beneficial for those with sensitive eyes, due to the lack of artificial agents added to the lenses.
Each contact is packaged separately in a foil-backed, 100% package for maximum hygiene. The packaging is 100% recyclable.
Aveo Joy is the company’s toric lenses. These are meant to correct astigmatism, but otherwise are just as convenient, hygienic, and as hassle-free as their aspheric lenses. Just like the daily lenses, they also provide crystal-clear vision and biocompatibility, which may be of interest to contact-lens users with sensitive eyes.
They are also daily lenses and are all packed individually in a package similar to Aveo Hello contacts. The packaging is also 100% recyclable.
Final thoughts
Aveo is overall a good company for high quality, affordable contact lenses. The company’s vertical integration and specialization in designing and producing lenses make it highly likely that their products will be of top-notch quality. Their free, direct-to-consumer shipping that is according to the customer’s chosen schedule also provides plenty of flexibility while avoiding any additional costs associated with traditional contact lenses.
If you are someone who is a regular contact lens user and desires the convenience Aveo is offering, it may be worth trying out their services to see if it works for you.