Product: Acuvue Vita
Manufacturer: Johnson & Johnson
Type: Monthly, Spherical (not for astigmatism)
Available in: 6-pack and 12-pack
There is a new monthly contact lens on the market, and it’s called Acuvue Vita by Johnson & Johnson. This is Johnson & Johnson’s first ever monthly replacement lens, and their first non-daily contact lens since they launched the Acuvue Oasys line in 2005.
If you have astigmatism, check out my review of Acuvue Vita for Astigmatism here.
Why A New Monthly Contact Lens?
Despite the torrent of daily contact lenses in the market in the past decade, monthly contact lenses never lost their popularity.
There was a time when there was concerted effort by optometrists and contact lens companies to convert monthly contact lens wearers over to daily contact lenses. They did this because contact lens researchers were putting out studies that showed that daily contact lenses were safer compared to monthly contact lenses.
What Does The Research Really Show?
It is true that broadly speaking, daily contact lenses are safer that monthly contact lenses. This is because it eliminates the need to clean the contact lenses, a step that many monthly contact lens wearers tend to neglect.
However…
Just because daily contact lenses are safer overall, that doesn’t mean that monthly contact lenses are unsafe. It just means that you have you use them as they were intended to be used, which means you have to properly clean them after every wear, and you have to replace them on time.
What it Boils Down To
Monthly contact lenses are less expensive than daily contact lenses, and for the responsible contact lens wearer, they are just as safe.
No matter how good daily contact lenses become, people will always want to have a lower cost option for their contact lenses, and monthly contacts gives them just that.
The End of the Monthly Contact Lens Drought
For many years (roughly between 2008 and 2014), not a single contact lens manufacturer put out any new monthly contact lenses (because they were busy trying to convert everyone to dailies). When they realized that the demand for monthly contact lenses wasn’t going away, the began investing into monthly contacts once again.
The first of the new generation of monthly contacts lenses was ULTRA by Bausch & Lomb. Alcon tried to follow suit by re-branding their Air Optix Aqua contact lens to Air Opitx Plus HydraGlyde. And now we have the Acuvue Vita by Johnson & Johnson.
Acuvue Vita
If Acuvue Vita becomes anywhere near as popular as its bi-weekly predecessor, Acuvue Oasys, it will take the market by storm. Over the past decade, Acuvue Oasys has arguably been the most popular contact lens brand in North America.
Features and Benefits of Acuvue Vita
Acuvue Vita is Non-Coated
Johnson & Johnson has made a concrete effort to describe this lens as ‘non-coated’. But what does non-coated mean?
Historically, monthly contact lenses have either been coated or non-coated. Contact lens coatings are applied by some manufacturer to help water stick the surface of the contact lenses which keeps them comfortable while they’re on our eyes. This is needed when the material chosen for the contact lens does not inherently hold onto water very well.
If the material of the contact lens naturally attracts water, then a coating is not necessary. This is the case with the Acuvue Vita. Johnson & Johnson appears to be stressing this point because coatings tend to get worn down throughout the month, making the coated contact lenses less and less comfortable as the month goes by.
If the lens is non-coated, then it is more likely to remain comfortable throughout the month.
Acuvue Vita’s HydraMax Technology
Every new contact lens has some sort of proprietary technology. This is what contact lens manufacturers use in order to make their brand unique. In the case of Acuvue Vita, it’s called HydraMax technology.
Contact Lens manufacturers tend to be a little dodgy when it comes to explaining how their proprietary technologies (such as HydraMax) work. Instead of a real explanation, it usually just puts out a short paragraph stuffed full of fluff keywords that sound good. For example:
On the other hand, Johnson & Johnson does offer a very brief explanation that indicates that it has something to do with the lipids in the tear layer.
They also mention this in their promotional video for Acuvue Vita:
Other Benefits of Acuvue Vita
UV Blocking Contact Lens
Like all other Acuvue products, Acuvue Vita has superior UV blocking compared to other brands. In the monthly category, it is the only brand to offer Class 1 UV blocking which means it blocks 93% of UVA and 99.9% of UVB rays.
UV blocking contact lenses offers protection against many of the harmful effects of UV light on the tissues of the eyes. Among other things, prolonged exposure to UV light can make you susceptible to cataracts, macular degeneration, freckles, abnormal growths, etc.
Contact lenses that block UV are not any more tinted than contact lenses that do not. They are perfectly clear. It is the properties of the material of the contact lens itself that provides the UV protection.
Acuvue Vita’s Infinity Edge Design
When contact lenses irritate the eyes, it is often because of the edges of the contact lenses. That is because the edges is where the most interaction happens between the contact lenses and your eyelids. Every time you blink, your eyelids must travel over the top of the contact lens. If the edge of the contact lens is blunt, your eyelid will feel it as it passes over. If the edge is designed with a gradual taper, your eyelid is much less likely to feel it.
The only information I could find on what makes the Infinity Edge design different than other brands is this graphic.
It doesn’t tell you much, and every company likes to brag that their contact lenses have the best edge design by showing similar graphics to the one above.
Acuvue Vita Price
Acuvue Vita is very reasonably priced for a monthly lens of this quality. For a box of 6 contacts, the price ranges from $45.49 – $58.95 depending on what site you visit.
Compared to its main competitor, Bausch & Lomb ULTRA which is typically $60/box, Acuvue Vita is slightly less expensive.
Compared to Acuvue Oasys, Acuvue Vita is a superior lens, and it’s also less expensive. The reason for this is that Acuvue Vita is a monthly lens, whereas Acuvue Oasys is a 2-week lens. Lenses that are replaced more often always cost more.
Is Acuvue Vita Better Than Other Brands?
For a lot of people, Acuvue Vita will be better than many other brands out there. But is it the best monthly lens on the market? That is impossible to say, as everyone’s experience with contact lenses is different.
Every time a new contact lens is launched, the company that manufactured it will put out results of make-shift clinical studies that ‘prove’ that it’s the best lens on the market.
Here are the results are such ‘studies’:
These results should be taken with a huge grain of salt. They are always conducted by the company that is trying to sell the lenses, never an independent third party, creating a giant conflict of interest.
What’s My Opinion?
In my opinion, Acuvue Vita is a very high quality and highly comfortable monthly contact lens. It has a huge advantage over most of its competitors, including its own predecessor Acuvue Oasys. To date, Acuvue Vita is the result of the latest contact lens technology. Remember that other than Bausch & Lomb ULTRA, all other monthly contact lenses are from 8 years ago or more. A lot has changed in that time.
35 Responses
Shawn
Do you feel that vita is now the best monthly on the market? I’ve always used acuvue oasys but for the first time I’m trying vita. Would you say it’s equal if not better then ultra?
Julie
How are you finding the Acuvue Vita compared to the Acuvue Oasys? I would say that Vita is now in my top 3 monthly contact lenses along with ULTRA by Bausch & Lomb and Biofinity Energys by CooperVision. It’s impossible to say which is the best because different people have different preferences and experience with different lenses.
All that really matters is what brand is the best for you, which only your eye doctor can determine by having you try the different brands that suit your needs.
DISCLAIMER
This information is provided as an information resource only (i.e., this is not medical advice) and is not to be used or relied on for any diagnostic or treatment purposes. This information does not create any patient-doctor relationship, and should not be used as a substitute for professional diagnosis and treatment.
Annie Loacker
I have used acuvue oasis contacts for years and my eye doctor recommended this kind instead after my last eye exam. So they turn out to be twice as expensive… 70$ for tree pairs??? Give me a break. And I’m never getting them again. I take my contacts out every night and I’ve had them for years I know how to handle my contacts but after a day or two wearing each pair my eyes sting and are bloodshot and hurt like hell. I have had to wear my glasses 99% of the time. Of course she told me to get them because they’re more money. Don’t buy into it. I’m going back to acuvue oasis. This. Is. a. Scam.
Julie
Hi Annie, thanks for posting your feedback with Acuvue Vita. I think it’s important for people to post their experiences with new lenses so we get a better understanding of how the lenses really perform.
I can not dispute your experience with Acuvue Vita, however, I’m curious about where you purchased them. The going price for Acuvue Vita online is $40-60 for a 6-pack. For more specific pricing details, see my Contact Lens Price Comparison Chart here. If you were charged $70, then I completely agree that you got scammed :(
Kristin
I have Acuvue Vita contact lenses and they are horrible. They constantly feel dry and dirty. I have to take them out to rinse with solutions multiple times a day…that’s when I choose to wear them. I’ve been wearing my eye glasses a lot more because my eyes cannot stand these contacts. A lot of times there are glares/halos around lights. My eyes are constantly feel scratchy. I’m definitely going back to my old brand.
Julie
Hi Kristin! Thanks for sharing your experience with this brand. Would be able to share what brands you’ve had to most success with for anyone else having the same problem with Acuvue Vita?
Josh
Hi,
For years I had Acuvue advance that I would change every two weeks. These were all fine until my optician recently told me that they would be discontinued (ok he told me two years ago but there still seemed to be inventories out there).
I have now switched to the Oasys ones and I find them very unpleasant. My eyes are red and tired and every evening I can’t wait to take them out. Clearly not a sustainable solution.
Well so far I am not impressed. These lenses bring me back in the old days when I could feel I am wearing lenses. With the Advance, I put them on and completely forget about them. The Oasys led to some discomfort only towards the end of the day. These Vita are the worst of the lot. After wearing them for a couple of hours only I am already experiencing discomfort. These are only a few days old so I don’t want to imagine what it will be like at the end of the month.
I am so disappointed as I really wanted them to work. I don’t know what to do now since the Advance are being discontinued. Is there not another brand that would supply something similar to the Advance?
Josh
Well so far I am not impressed. These lenses bring me back in the old days when I could feel I am wearing lenses. With the Advance, I put them on and completely forget about them. The Oasys led to some discomfort only towards the end of the day. These Vita are the worth of the lot. After wearing them for a couple of hours only I am already experiencing discomfort. These are only a few days old so I don’t want to imagine what it will be like at the end of the month.
I am so disappointed as I really wanted them to work. I don’t know what to do now since the Advance are being discontinued. Is there not another brand that would supply something similar to the Advance?
Julie
Hi Josh, thanks for sharing your experience. It seems like a lot of the feedback on these lenses has been similar to your experience. Like you said, that is rather disappointing since they were supposed to be the most comfortable lenses Johnson & Johnson has ever produced.
I believe that one of the main reasons why people who use to be in Acuvue Advance have trouble adapting to Acuvue Oasys and Acuvue Vita is because Acuvue Advance does not contain silicone in the lenses whereas both Acuvue Oasys and Acuvue Vita do. Silicone is known to make contact lenses less comfortable, but it is used to make them breathable.
Nowadays almost all contact lenses are being made with silicone in them. Some brands that are still available without silicon are the Proclear brand lenses and the Soflens brand lenses. You could ask your doctor about trialling those brands if you’re looking for something more similar to Acuvue Advance.
DISCLAIMER
This information is provided as an information resource only (i.e., this is not medical advice) and is not to be used or relied on for any diagnostic or treatment purposes. This information does not create any patient-doctor relationship, and should not be used as a substitute for professional diagnosis and treatment.
Toi B
Josh,
hi my name is Toi I have been using Acuvue Oasys w/ hydraclear plus for a few years now, its like im not wearing anything at all.
they do not dry out they do not irate my eyes at all.
I KNOW your not supposed to wear your lens for more than 3 days at a time. but ima be honest. I wear mine for like a month an half to 2 months at a time with out taken them out. I do how ever use Blink eye drops the new eye drops made for use w/ contact lens. I know your going to think im very crazy lol but sometimes I have a very hard time getting them in an out and once I put them in an they stay in I don’t take them out til my vision gets a little blurry so ill take them out an throw them away wear my glasses for bout 2 weeks maybe 3 give my eyes a break and refresh them, then ill put contacts back in.
Chriss
Acuvue Advance is not made of conventional hydrogel, it is silicone hydrogel.
Julie
Hi Chriss, you’re absolutely right. Thanks for pointing that out. For some reason, I was under the impression it was a conventional hydrogel. It guess it’ll be rather irrelevant soon anyway, as Acuvue Advance is being discontinued by Johnson & Johnson. Thanks for the correction, I appreciate it :)
Julie
CJ
The Acuvue Vita are pretty bad. I feel like I have to replace them twice a month. I don’t feel like they last a full month. They make my eyes dry and itchy. While wearing them sometimes I feel like I either have something in my eye or have torn the lens. I am going back to Biofinity.
Julie
Hi CJ, thanks for sharing your experience. It’s great to be getting feedback from people who’ve tried these lenses.
Angela
My doctor gave the Vitas to me to try for a week. Three days in and I’m back at the eye doctor to get different lenses. These were the worst!! In 2 hours I had to take them out to clean them as they felt gummy/dirty. I would blink and they would go cloudy! My eyes were so itchy and dry. Went back to Air Optix.
Julie
Hi Angela, that’s really interesting. Acuvue Vita was designed and touted by Johnson & Johnson to be much more comfortable than Air Optix. According to a lot of the feedback here, that doesn’t seem to be the case! Thanks for sharing your experience for others to learn from :)
Morgan Z
My doctor gave me these to try today and I was amazed! I was previously using acuvue oasys and told him I was having no problems with them, besides my eyes feeling a little dried out when I took my contacts out at night. So he gave me a pair of these and it feels like my very first pair of contacts all over again. I can see clean, clear, crisp, everything just seems more vivid! I love them so far. I thought I couldn’t feel my oasys contacts but I REALLY can’t feel these! However after reading all of these reviews, I will not reorder after a week like I was going to. I’m going to see how far into the month they actually last me. But so far so good!
Julie
Hi Morgan, thanks for sharing that story! It’s always really nice to get feedback from people in the contact lens community. It helps to build an overall picture of how these brands really perform. I can’t wait to hear about how the rest of the month goes for you.I hope you’ll give us an update :)
Ray
I’ve used Acuvue Advance until it was replaced by Oasys and am on my 3rd day of trying Vita so I haven’t made it to the end of a month yet, but so far the Vita feels amazing. I’m kind of skeptical when doctors try to encourage me to use any new product and I used Acuvue Advance until its final days because I didn’t want to pay more for Oasys. When I first tried Oasys, I was amazed at how invisible the contacts felt, even up to the 2 week mark. The difference between Oasys and Advance was astounding. And now with Vita, the difference between Vita and Oasys is amazing too. I hope that the Vita still feels this way at the end of a month because so far they’re great. They happen to be the same price where I get my contacts so there’s not that much savings (Oasys is actually cheaper by $10) but it’s nice to see that Acuvue is making their lenses better while trying to lower the price.
Julie
Hi Ray, I’m really happy that you’re doing so well in the Acuvue Vita lenses! It would be awesome if you could give us an update at the end of the month to see well they held up :)
As for the price, it can get really messy if you’re not tracking down the best price. I’ve seen many websites that where you would actually be paying more for Acuvue Oasys than Acuvue Vita at it’s lowest price.
For example:
The best place to get Vita is at LensDirect for $39.89/box of 6 (6 month supply).
Compare that to the price of Acuvue Oasys at 1800contacts which is $70.99/box of 12 (6 month supply).
That’s pretty crazy considering Acuvue Oasys is 12 years old and Acuvue Vita is brand new, right?
You can always find up-to-date lowest prices for contact lense on Contacts Advice’s homepage.
Out of curiosity, where do you get your contacts?
Alicia
I used Oasys for years and I’ve also used Acuvue 2. I do have slightly dry eyes, but it hasn’t been too bad of a problem (I mostly notice it when the AC is running in the car). My new eye Dr. told me to try Acuvue Vita because of the newer technology. They felt amazing when I put them in, so I ordered a year’s worth. However, it seems to me that after 2-3 weeks, they are suddenly so painful when I try to put them in in the morning that I have to throw them away and get a new pair. This month, I’ve marked the date on the calendar when I opened the new pair so I can count the days more accurately, but if it happens again and it’s less than a month, I’ll have to return them and get something else. I’m trying to figure out if I’m doing something wrong. I take them out every night and clean them and soak them with Opti-Free Puremoist solution.
Julie
Hi Alicia,
Thanks for sharing that story. I’d be interested (as I’m sure everyone reading this would be too) in knowing how things work out with your story. Hope you can give us an update :)
If you’ve been wearing contact lenses for as long as you say, I’m sure you’re not doing anything wrong. You’re not the first person to report this type of experience with Acuvue Vita.
All the best!
DISCLAIMER
This information is provided as an information resource only (i.e., this is not medical advice) and is not to be used or relied on for any diagnostic or treatment purposes. This information does not create any patient-doctor relationship, and should not be used as a substitute for professional diagnosis and treatment.
Alicia
So I think it may be that these lenses just collect oil and such due to not having the barrier layer. I’ve found that doing an extra rinse of my fingers with contact solution keeps them wearable longer and sometimes you just have to do extra cleanings.
Julie
Hi Alcia, thanks for the helpful tips :)
Alicia
I’ve found that using peroxide contact solution is also helpful
Julie
Hi Alicia,
I agree, peroxide-based contact lens solutions are known for being the best at cleaning contact lenses. If anyone reading this wants to read into these solutions in more detail, you can do so here.
While reading a lot of the comments above I’ve been wondering if some of the problems aren’t related to the contact cleaning solution some people are using. I know that some solutions are not compatible with certain contact lens brands, and they can make the contact lenses really painful to wear.
I suppose the best thing to do would be to check with your eye doctor what the best cleaning solution is for your brand.
DISCLAIMER
This information is provided as an information resource only (i.e., this is not medical advice) and is not to be used or relied on for any diagnostic or treatment purposes. This information does not create any patient-doctor relationship, and should not be used as a substitute for professional diagnosis and treatment.
Jordan
I wore acuvue oasys for astigmatism for several years without ANY problems. I could wear my lenses 10-12 hours a day and of course would take days off where I wouldn’t wear them, just to rest my eyes. I order my lenses usually in a 9 month or yearly supply. Once I got my yearly order in April of this year and wore the same lenses, my eyes were bloodshot for days after the first day. I don’t know what the hell acuvue did to this new batch of contact lenses that I received, but my eyes flat out reject these lenses. They are the same prescription and brand I have always worn. I’ve switched boxes, lens solutions, checked expiry dates, nothing has worked.
Something is different about these new lenses, but I’ve now spent 200 dollars on contacts that I know I wont wear.
Complete waste of money.
My lens fitter recommended Vitas for me to try. I’m having the same issue with them. They are comfortable and feel just as comfy as the Oasys brand, but after the first day, bloodshot eyes again.
Julie
Hi Jordan,
That’s terrible about the waste of money :(
What did your contact fitter offer as an explanation for why this is all happening?
Toi
Wow after reading 11 of these reviews only 2 was positive reviews! Holy crap! This makes me very worried to try them!! I mean at first when I started reading the article describing the difference in oasys and vita I was like heck ya im excited I wanted to try these contacts… but I’m having 2nd thoughts! I don’t think I’m going to risk paying the 35.somen and they are not like my Acuvue Oasys w/ hydraclear plus contacts. These are amazing contacts, I cant even tell I have them in sometimes. I wear them to sleep and some days when I wake up I have to look in mirror and take my finger an move them to make sure they are still there an I have not lost one lol. think I’m going to stick to what I know to be the best (for me anyways).
Kenster
Any further or more folks trying out Acuvue Vita? I too was excited about the newer technology and hyped marketing but it seems the jury is still out on them.
On other sites reviewing these lenses – I’m also hearing a lot of mixed reviews. B&L Ultra and Biofinity have predominately a high number of very positive reviews whereas Acuvue Vita still has a more mixed good/bad reviews.
I am starting to get eyestrain from digital devices and computer screens and I am interested in trying out the Biofinity Energys just because of the optics for heavy digital users. I have used a trial of the prior Biofinity lenses in the past and they were great too – moist and very comfortable with excellent clear, crisp vision.
We’ll see – I’m willing to give Acuvue Vita a try too to compare.
Julie
Hi Kenster,
You’re absolutely right about one thing. Whenever any manufacturer releases a new brand, they hype it up like crazy!
It good to hear unbiased feedback by regular contact lens wearers such as yourself.
Thanks for your input!
Anonnie Miss
I know these are older reviews, but I came to see if anyone using the Vita regularly were having them tear often. I bought two extra boxes beyond a year’s supply, because these were the clearest and most comfortable (after a few days) of others I have tried, but with 2 months left before my next official eye exam, I have blown through all those boxes. I have switched out a left lens last week and pulled it out due to a lash in my eye last night and just kept it out and let it swim in tons of solution, and went to put it in this morning and – torn again! I’m down to my last lens and am have trouble getting new ones due to this virus stuff.
Sandi
I have a trial pack of acuvue vita for astigmatism now. They are what feels like my millionth pair of trials because I am new to contacts and am having an incredibly difficult time finding the right ones. I HATE THESE CONTACTS, and I thought it was just me but apparently it’s not. They feel like suction cups on your eyes, you can feel them ALL the time, my vision is almost never clear, and I can always feel them moving. I’ve yet to make it longer than two hours in them and now my doctor wants me to try air optix next. Within an hour of getting these I wanted to rip them out and throw them in the trash.
OTC
Hi Julie, just discovered this blog through this post and I have to say I love your writing style. You take everything with a healthy degree of skepticism but still try to find meaningful differences between products to figure out which is best.
I am a long time Acuvue user starting with Oasys in 2009 and finally switched to Vita in 2018. Vita is miles better than Oasys, feels like nothing for the first 2 weeks of daily use with BioTrue solution and only starts to get slightly uncomfortable at week 3. Oasys was more of a 1-1.5 week lens, so Vita is not only better but cheaper for a year’s supply.
I haven’t tried any other monthlies yet but I recently started trialing some dailies and find that Vita feels much better than both Oasys 1-day and MyDay rewearing on the 2nd day. Vita comfort in the first 3 weeks is comparable to first day comfort on the 2 daily disposables. Yes, I know you’re not supposed to reuse daily disposable contacts but 25% of people are doing it anyway and there aren’t any real studies showing that it’s unsafe to do so other than that one super rigged study where they had patients put the lenses back into the opened, contaminated foil packs instead of multi-purpose solution in a clean contact lens case. (I wonder why nobody wants to publish a study evaluating the safety of reusing daily disposable lenses in multi-purpose solution…$$$)
I’m still in the process of deciding if Vita is the best lens for me and I’m looking to try Alcon Dailies 30 next which you should also review. It only came out a few months ago around September 2021. Supposedly it’s the monthly version of Dailies Total 1 which everyone describes as the Cadillac of contact lenses.
Julie
Hi, thanks so much for taking the time share your experience with different contact lens brands. I’ve received a lot similar feedback about the Oasys 1-day. It seems it wasn’t the home run that Johnson & Johnson was hoping it would be. It certainly hasn’t de-throned Dailies TOTAL1 in popularity. And I agree with you that unfortunately, profits do influence studies and popularization of certain results over others…