Multifocal Contact Lenses???

[Mike]

Is there anyone here with experiences with multifocal contact lenses? At 53, I've been fortunate to have staved off presbyopia beyond the age when most folks are carrying around readers, but reality is now upon me. My eye doc recently tried monovision with me, but it drove me completely batty . . . my feeble brain was not able to process the disparity in near vs. far vision very well.

 

[Matts_12GS]

Mike,

I have had similar issues with monovision.

I did some clinical testing with a lens manufacturer for a multifocal lens (actually 3 different manufacturers) over the course of a couple months.

 

I love them and will go to them with my next checkup.

[SSchuckman]

I tried the concentric bifocal type several years ago but I wasn't satisfied. I believe my brain couldn't decide which concentric rings to use and the image was blurry. Possibly my expectations were too high. I received a full refund on the lenses and a partial refund for the doctor services. I had previously worn regular distance contacts for years.

[Dave McReynolds]

I wore monovision contact lenses for many years, and liked them well enough that when I needed cataract surgery I had monovision lenses implanted. I like the monovision implanted lenses better than the contact lenses because there is no fiddling with them, and they work all the time with my astigmatism, where the contacts shifted in and out of focus.

 

After having the cataract surgery, I did ask to try the multifocal contact lens in my short-focus eye, since there are times, like driving and shooting, when I like to have long-focus in both eyes, but would still like to read. The multifocal lens didn't work for me; to my eyes, it was no different from putting a long-focus lens in. I couldn't read well with the multifocal lens.

 

They explained to me that there are two types of multifocal lenses: one is biased toward closeup and the other is biased toward distance. They gave me the one biased toward distance, as that would be the primary use when I would wear it. I've thought about asking to try the one biased for closeup, just to see if it would work for me.

 

Over the years, my optometrist has been very good about giving me samples of whatever kind of lenses I would like to try. I'm surprised that one of the respondents above had to pay for a lens before he knew if it would work out for him or not.

[Kdub]

Mike,

I switched to multifocal lenses about a year ago and for me it was/is a worthwhile compromise. I have been wearing contacts for 37 years, and the best vision for me was hard lenses but they certainly had their limitations. When I switched to soft lenses I had to get used to less sharpness in exchange for more comfort in a wider range of conditions. With that being said, I have grown accustomed to less than perfect vision. The change to multifocal has been great for me because I really hated carrying reading glasses around all of the time. I no longer need readers and my distance vision allows me to safely ride.

 

I agree with Dave's comments in that your optometrist should supply you with samples to try before you commit, mine did.

 

One last comment. If I rode more at night than I typically do I might not endorse them as much. The night vision, in my case, has suffered a bit. Mostly starbursts around lights.