Updated September 13, 2026 By Justin Bazan

Reviewed for accuracy by Justin Bazan, OD on September 14, 2026.

If you've been told that you're “hard to fit” for contact lenses, it usually does not mean that contact lenses are impossible. It means a standard soft lens may not be giving you the combination of vision, comfort, stability, or eye health that you need.

The next step is not simply trying random brands. We first figure out why the current lens is failing. Prescription, astigmatism, presbyopia, corneal shape, dry eye, lens movement, deposits, allergies, prior surgery, wearing habits, and lens design can all change what works best.

Why Having More Trial Options Can Matter

Park Slope Eye keeps thousands of individual contact-lens trial lenses in the office, including broad and full fitting sets across major lens families. Because so many powers and designs are physically available, we can often try even high or complicated prescriptions the same day rather than ordering every trial lens one at a time.

When the exact trial we need is not already here, we can usually order it quickly. One reason we keep so many trial options available is simple: when one lens is not working, we want to have another thoughtful option to try.

We work across manufacturers and lens designs; the goal is not to fit a preferred brand, but to find the lens that works best for your eyes and your life.

If you've been told contacts are not for you, or you stopped wearing them because they were blurry, dry, unstable, or uncomfortable, we are happy to take another look.

What Makes Someone Harder to Fit for Contact Lenses?

Common reasons include:

moderate or high astigmatism;
presbyopia or difficulty balancing distance and near vision;
dry eye, eyelid-gland dysfunction, or allergy symptoms;
an irregular corneal shape;
high or unusual prescriptions;
prior corneal surgery or corneal disease;
a lens that rotates, decentrates, or moves unpredictably;
poor comfort late in the day; or
good comfort but vision that is never consistently sharp.

Park Slope Eye fits toric, multifocal, monovision, scleral, corneal GP/RGP, Ortho-K, and soft myopia-control lenses. The goal is not to put every difficult case into a specialty lens. It is to choose the simplest lens that safely solves the actual problem.

Problem 1: My Contacts Are Blurry or the Vision Comes and Goes

Blur does not automatically mean that the prescription is wrong. A contact lens has to sit and move appropriately on the eye, so vision can fluctuate when:

a lens moves too much or too little;
a toric lens rotates away from its intended axis;
the tear film breaks up across the lens;
deposits build up;
a multifocal design needs adjustment; or
the underlying prescription has changed.

For astigmatism in particular, the written power is only part of the answer. See Contact Lenses for Astigmatism: Toric and Other Options.

Problem 2: My Contacts Get Dry or Uncomfortable

Contact lenses interact with the tear film. A person with dry eye, eyelid-gland dysfunction, allergies, or an unstable tear film may notice burning, fluctuating vision, awareness of the lens, or shorter comfortable wearing time.

A lens does not simply “pull moisture out of the eye.” Comfort can be affected by material, fit, replacement schedule, deposits, environment, blinking, medications, allergies, and the health of the ocular surface.

Sometimes the best solution is a different soft lens. Sometimes the ocular surface needs treatment first. In selected patients, a scleral lens may be useful because it vaults the cornea and holds a fluid reservoir beneath the lens.

See Contact Lenses for Dry Eye and Allergy Sufferers and dry-eye care at Park Slope Eye.

Problem 3: I Need Distance and Near Vision

Presbyopia makes near focusing harder with age, so a contact-lens prescription may need to solve more than one visual distance.

Options can include multifocal contact lenses, monovision, modified monovision, or using reading glasses over distance contact lenses. The best choice depends on your prescription, visual priorities, work, driving, screen use, and how your brain adapts to the optical design.

A contact lens can be “technically correct” and still not be the best real-world solution if it does not match what you need to see throughout the day.

Problem 4: Standard Soft Lenses Just Do Not Sit Well on My Eyes

Some corneas need a different lens geometry. This can happen with irregular corneal shape, certain corneal conditions, prior surgery, high prescriptions, or a soft lens that simply cannot remain stable enough to provide reliable vision.

Scleral Lenses

Scleral lenses are larger rigid gas-permeable lenses that vault over the cornea and rest on the white part of the eye, called the sclera. They can be useful for certain irregular corneas, ocular-surface problems, or difficult prescriptions.

Learn more in What Are Scleral Lenses?

Corneal GP/RGP Lenses

Corneal gas-permeable lenses are smaller rigid lenses that rest on the cornea. Because the front optical surface remains regular, they can sometimes provide very crisp vision when corneal shape or prescription makes a soft lens less predictable.

They have a different adaptation and handling experience than soft lenses, so the benefits and trade-offs should be considered together.

Ortho-K

Ortho-K is different from an ordinary daytime contact lens. It uses specially fitted rigid lenses worn overnight to temporarily reshape the corneal surface. The lenses are removed in the morning, allowing many patients to see during the day without ordinary glasses or daytime contacts.

Ortho-K is also one of Park Slope Eye's myopia-management options for appropriate children. Learn more at Myopia Management & Ortho-K.

What Happens During a Hard-to-Fit Contact Lens Evaluation?

We start by identifying what is not working about the current lens. Depending on the situation, the evaluation may include:

reviewing your current lenses, prescription, and wearing schedule;
checking visual acuity and refining lens power;
evaluating how the lens centers, moves, and rotates on the eye;
examining the cornea, eyelids, and ocular surface;
assessing tear-film or dry-eye issues when relevant;
discussing your distance, near, computer, sports, and lifestyle priorities; and
trying a different material, geometry, modality, or specialty lens when appropriate.

The right contact-lens prescription is not just a power. It also depends on the specific lens design and how that lens performs on your eyes.

Do I Need a New Comprehensive Eye Exam Too?

A contact-lens evaluation is separate from a comprehensive eye exam. If you had a comprehensive eye exam elsewhere within the last 3 months, Park Slope Eye can generally use that exam as long as we receive a copy of the complete exam record. An eyeglass prescription by itself is not enough. If we do not have documentation of the recent comprehensive exam, we will need to perform a comprehensive eye exam before proceeding with the contact lens fitting.

For the distinction between the two visits, see Eye Exam vs. Contact Lens Exam: What's the Difference?

When Is Contact-Lens Discomfort Urgent?

Persistent pain, marked redness, light sensitivity, unusual discharge, or sudden/worsening blur are not symptoms to push through. Remove the lens and seek prompt eye care. Corneal infection and inflammation can progress quickly in a contact-lens wearer.

Never expose contact lenses to tap water, swimming-pool water, hot-tub water, or saliva. Do not sleep in ordinary lenses unless the specific lens has been prescribed for overnight wear.

What If I've Already Tried Several Contact Lenses?

Bring the names or boxes of lenses you have tried if you still have them, and tell us specifically what failed: comfort, vision, handling, near vision, dryness, stability, or wearing time. That history can be just as useful as knowing which lens you liked.

Learn more about contact-lens exams and fittings at Park Slope Eye.

Originally published August 8, 2016. Substantially updated September 13, 2026.

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