Specialty services

Night Lenses for Rugby

Rugby is the clearest case there is. Glasses are not permitted in contact, and would be dangerous if they were. Daytime contact lenses sit in the eye during exactly the activity most likely to dislodge them — a lens folds in a tackle, shifts in a ruck, and finding a clear soft lens on wet grass on a July afternoon in the Waikato is not realistic. Players learn to play half-blind, or to carry spares and hope.

What night lenses are

Night lenses — also called orthokeratology, ortho-k or overnight contact lenses — are rigid lenses worn only while you sleep. They gently reshape the front surface of the cornea overnight. You take them out in the morning and see clearly through the day with nothing in your eyes and nothing on your face. Nothing is cut and nothing is permanent: stop wearing them and the cornea returns to its own shape over days to a couple of weeks. Full detail, including cost and the safety rules, is on our orthokeratology page.

Why they suit rugby

With night lenses, there is simply nothing in your eye when the whistle goes. You wear the lenses in bed, take them out with your boots still in the bag, and play the whole match with your own clear vision.

Nothing to lose in contact. No searching the grass at a lineout.
Nothing to dry out in wind, or to fill with mud.
Full peripheral vision, which in rugby is most of the game — seeing the man outside you is not something a frame edge should be interfering with.
Nothing in your eye if you take a knock. A lens in an eye that has just been struck is a complication nobody wants at the side of a field.
You still wear a mouthguard, headgear and everything else exactly as normal.

What to expect

The fitting starts with corneal topography — a map of the surface of your eye — because the lens is designed from that map rather than from a guess. You wear trial lenses overnight and come in the next morning, ideally with the lenses still in, so we can see exactly how they sat. Vision usually improves over the first few nights and settles within one to two weeks, which is why we suggest starting in the off-season or well before a tournament rather than the week of it.

One rugby-specific point. If you take a knock to the eye or the orbit, get it checked the same day even if vision seems fine. Blunt trauma can cause bleeding inside the eye and retinal damage that is painless at first, and the fact that you wear night lenses is something we would want to know about before you put them back in. Skip a night rather than wearing a lens on an eye that is red or sore — that is true whatever the reason.

Cost

Two parts: the fitting and care programme ($1,100 for both eyes as a standard fit, $1,350 where a custom design is needed, $1,000 for a single eye) and the lenses themselves, currently $450 per lens and rising to $600. A standard both-eyes fit today is therefore $2,000. Lenses carry a six-month breakage warranty, extendable to twelve months with loss cover for $50 per lens — which most sporting families take. Lenses are usually replaced about once a year. The full breakdown, including the price rise, is on the orthokeratology page.

Junior and school rugby. This is the group where night lenses most often make sense twice over, because a schoolboy or schoolgirl whose prescription has climbed each season is also a candidate for myopia management. The lens does both jobs. We measure axial length at every review, so you can see whether the progression is actually being slowed rather than taking it on trust — see myopia control. There is also a free 15-minute myopia chat for parents who want to talk it through before committing to anything.

The water rule, which we do not bend. Night lenses are never rinsed or stored in tap water, tank water, bottled water, pool water or river water — only in the solution we prescribe — and they are out of the eyes before swimming, showering and spa pools. Acanthamoeba, the organism behind the most feared contact lens infection, lives in all of those. Our partner optometrist Jagrut Lallu is a co-author on a published case report of orthokeratology-related Acanthamoeba keratitis in a 13-year-old, so we would rather tell you about it plainly at the start than not at all. Nearly all of that risk is preventable with habits we can teach in a single appointment.

Is it right for you?

Night lenses work well for short-sightedness with up to a moderate amount of astigmatism. They are not for everyone: high prescriptions can sit outside the fitting range, significant irregular astigmatism is usually better served by a different specialty lens, active dry eye or lid disease needs treating first, and the nightly hygiene routine is not optional. We tell you which group you are in after the topography, not before it — and if a different option would serve you better, we will say so.

Optometrists for night lenses for rugby at Rose Optometry

You will be seen by one of seven therapeutically qualified optometrists — all University of Auckland graduates, all able to prescribe eye medication where it is needed, and all of whom examine patients from six weeks of age. Night lenses for rugby is part of their clinical practice.

Jagrut Lallu — Partner Optometrist · BOptom (Hons), MSc Specialty Lenses (Hons), FIAOMC
Jacqueline Rowe — Partner Optometrist · BSc, BOptom
Emilie Lawson — BOptom (Hons) · Accredited Glaucoma Prescriber · ACO Certificate in Advanced Contact Lenses
Jason Shen — BOptom (Hons)
Jessica Wood — BOptom (Hons) · Clinical Research Optometrist, New Zealand Eye Research Centre
Stella Wong — BOptom (Hons)
Anjali Hira — BOptom (Hons)

Book a free night lens chat

The quickest way to find out whether night lenses suit your eyes and your sport is a free 15-minute chat. No cost, no obligation.

New patient — book a comprehensive eye examination (45 minutes, includes imaging and full pretest), $129 for adults, $79 for children and school students.
Already a Rose patient — book your eye examination here.
Want to talk about night lenses first? — book a free 15-minute Ortho-K chat, no cost and no obligation.
Ready to be fitted — new ortho-k / night lens fit (30 minutes).

Or call 07 847 3195, or get in touch. Rose Optometry, 38 Lake Road, Frankton, Hamilton. 07 847 3195

Reviewed by Jagrut Lallu — BOptom (Hons), MSc Specialty Lenses (Hons), FIAOMC, Therapeutic Optometrist & Contact Lens Specialist, Partner, Rose Optometry. Last reviewed 19 September 2026.