Does anyone here have bifocal contact lenses? Please share your experience.

[samba]

I had better than 20/20 vision most of my life until 3-4 years ago. My eyesight started declining pretty quickly. I started with Walmart readers, then on to progressive bifocal glasses. I never adjusted to the progressives. I hated them. Last year I moved to separate glasses for reading and distance.  I've done well with them but glasses on and off all day long is a hassle. Now I'm considering bifocal contacts. Please share the pros and cons you've experienced.

 

Thanks!

Edited December 28, 2017 by samba

[spaceman]

I recently started and I hate them. I’m going back to regular contacts and just use reading glasses as needed.

 

What I don’t like about them?

•they tear *really* easily. So many times I’ve had them tear in my eye and then I could find one side easily, but not the other. And the tear was jagged.

•if you forget and sleep in them, you will wake up with your eyes gooped shut

 

I had such high hopes for them. Maybe other brands work better.

[Lanny]

To take you a little off topic...  Before you consider Bifocal Contact Lenses, I would like you to consider REGULAR Bifocals.  You wrote that you had tried Progressive Bifocals and that wasn't a win-win situation for you. Now, you are using separate eyeglasses, for near and far.  I wore Bifocals before my LASIK surgeries.  They take a little getting used to, but I think it would be much more difficult to look in the proper area, with a Bifocal Contact Lens, than with Bifocal eyeglasses.  I am guessing about that, because I never had Bifocal Contact lenses. One other thing about Bifocal eyeglasses:  My wife needs to get a new Prescription and then she will order from Zenni Optical.  The next Frame she orders will have a larger area for the lenses.  I forget what they call that. The Frame she has now has a smaller vertical height (not the correct phrase) and she finds that makes it more difficult. With a Frame with a smaller vertical height, one may find  that they are looking thru the frame at the bottom of the lens.  I haven't explained this properly, but I hope you get the idea.  A larger vertical height is very desirable for the lens.

[KatieJ]

I wear ,

Mono vision contacts. Right eye is corrected for distance and left eye for reading. It really took no time to get used to and I much prefer it to wearing glasses. I do have a strong correction so it is not perfect . Because I sew a lot, at some point I might have to go regular vision contacts and reading glasses.

[Sunshine State Sue]

I also wear monovision contacts.  I've worn contacts since I was 16, so I am not sure how well you would get used to them.  Mine are gas permeable, so no tearing at all.  My optometrist tells me that she had to try contacts when she was in optometry school and it felt like there was a block of wood in her eyes.  She also tells me, and it has been true of all I've asked, that men cannot wear monovision contacts, but women can.  Men cannot handle it.  My right eye is for distance and my left eye (which is VERY nearsighted) is for reading.  I say that means I don't see well either way.  But, I can't bear the thought of doing anything else.  I have progressive bifocals I wear in the early morning and later evening, and surprisingly, my eyes don't seem to have any trouble switching between the monovision contacts and the progressive bifocal glasses.  However, I find that if I want to read the paper or a book in the early morning or later evening, that it's easier without glasses or contacts.  Go figure!

[PeterPan]

My dd wore them for a couple years and liked them very much! You have to be able to tolerate contacts (I never would) and they will give you trial boxes to see if you like them. Just go slowly and don't buy a lot till you're sure you're happy.

 

My dd went back to glasses because she likes the astigmatism correction better with lenses than contacts. She never had both corrections in the contacts, not sure if they can do that. But just for do they work, are they easy for the average person, yeah. But roll with your optometrist. Ours had put her own child in them so she was pretty confident. There are better variants each year.

Edited December 29, 2017 by PeterPan

[iamonlyone]

Bifocal contacts work fine for me. I am 50 and only need reading glasses when I am wearing normal contacts, so the reading strength is very light, and my distance prescription is not very strong either. I do not have astigmatism. I don't have to find a certain area of the contact to see near or far; it's seamless. I do think my gas perm contacts that are not bifocal are a bit sharper for distance. Oh, and I get the 30-day bifocal contacts and have not had any that have torn. I have worn bifocal contacts for a year.

[dirty ethel rackham]

I've tried them several times, but could not get them to work for me.  I just wasn't getting good enough close vision to make them workable (like I couldn't read labels in the grocery store.)  Part of my problem is that, as I've gotten older, my eyes are drier and I don't get the proper lens movement when I blink.  So, the contacts seem fine when I put them in, but after an hour, I just don't see well enough.  I miss wearing contacts, but I ended up getting progressive lenses and am doing well with them ... much better than I did with contacts and readers, which made me sea sick.  Go figure. 

[Liz CA]

I have bifocal contacts. Love them. Could never remember where reading glasses were and it drove me batty not to be able to read something without fiddling with glasses. Optometrist predicted I would not like them but I do.

The center is for reading and the "rim" parts are for long distance vision. It was virtually no adjustment for me.

Edited December 29, 2017 by Liz CA

[MerryAtHope]

I had better than 20/20 vision most of my life until 3-4 years ago. My eyesight started declining pretty quickly. I started with Walmart readers, then on to progressive bifocal glasses. I never adjusted to the progressives. I hated them. Last year I moved to separate glasses for reading and distance.  I've done well with them but glasses on and off all day long is a hassle. Now I'm considering bifocal contacts. Please share the pros and cons you've experienced.

 

Thanks!

 

You may want to consider getting a better quality set of progressive glasses. Ask a lot of questions about the vision areas for each type of vision and what it looks like (it's shaped kind of like a capital "I"). Walmart has 2 types (or did last time I bought from them), and the cheaper the type, the smaller each vision area is. However, even their largest "I" shape was still a smaller viewing area in all 3 areas than the best one from Shopko. I haven't compared other stores and what they offer--but I tried saving money by going with the Walmart type last time I got glasses, and it really makes a big difference. The smaller the viewing area, the more "exact" the eye movement has to be to look through just the right part at something--and it is a lot more annoying. So, I saved up to get the more expensive type this time (my appointment is next week, and I'm looking forward to going back to the better lenses!). Consult with a few different stores and see what you can learn about it--but there may well be some better glasses options for you.

 

I do use single-vision glasses for the computer because I'm on it so much, it really is easier than progressives (I have to tilt my head back to see the computer through my progressives!) But for other reading throughout the day (books, tablet, phone, labels etc...), I use the progressives. Holding a book in a normal position is just right for progressives.

 

Anyway, I hope you will either find a switch to contacts helpful or that a different manufacturer of progressive lenses might work better for you.

[Reefgazer]

I use this system and have found it is the best for me. My doctor told me that bifocal contacts are not quite "there" yet in terms of effectiveness, and I have found that to be true; I see better out of my monovision glasses than my bifocal contacts. Because I do not want to wear bifocals or progressive glasses, the bifocal contacts are a compromise. The eye doctor also told me that fitting hard contact lens was a science but fitting soft contact lens (especially bifocal ones) was an art, and I have found this to be true; some doctors just seem to have a talent for fitting bifocal contacts. All in all, my bifocal contacts do not have the sharp vision that my monovision glasses for distance or readers do. On the other hand, they allow me to wear contacts with reasonably good vision.

I wear ,

Mono vision contacts. Right eye is corrected for distance and left eye for reading. It really took no time to get used to and I much prefer it to wearing glasses. I do have a strong correction so it is not perfect . Because I sew a lot, at some point I might have to go regular vision contacts and reading glasses.

[samba]

Thank you, everyone. The decision was kind of made for me. My benefits were getting ready to expire and the eye place could not schedule the contact appointment and the training before the end of the year so I decided to stay with separate glasses for now.  I will continue to research. I appreciate all of your input!