Although it has probably been close to 15 years since I last tried contact lenses, I decided to give them another try because I’m so sick of wearing glasses every waking minute of my day and I don’t want to pay however many thousands of dollars it costs to have someone shoot destructive laser beams into my eyes (not that there’s anything wrong with that).
So the other day I walked into an optometrist’s office without an appointment, and about one hour later I walked out wearing a trial pair of contacts, which I will wear until my real trial lenses arrive in about a week.
I told the optometrist I didn’t think I was interested in trying any kind of multifocal (i.e., bifocal or progressive) options, but she said “Yes you are, you have to at least try them,” so I’m currently rigged up for ”monovision,” which means my right eye (the dominant one) is corrected for distance and my left eye is corrected for reading. So if I cover my left eye, I can see perfectly into the distance, and if I cover my right eye, I can see perfectly for reading (or at least as perfectly as you can see with just one eye). With both eyes open, however, I can read just about anything, near or far, but the payoff is exactly what you would expect it to be: crisp vision mixed with blurry vision. Amazingly, this condition is far more tolerable than I imagined it could be, but I don’t think I will want to live with it long-term. This would be true even if I didn’t love my HDTV set (which one eye now sees as just a big blurry rectangular thing on the other side of the room).
For reading, my brain is already doing a great job of filtering out the right-eye blurriness, but whenever I’m watching a movie or driving (especially at night), I keep feeling like my left eye is dilated or something — I’m rarely able to forget that it is not helping my right eye at all. Yet I can still make everything out. I can function without glasses. It’s really weird, and it’s actually kind of fun, in an adventurous, experimental kind of way.
The other trial lenses, which should be here next week, are “multifocal toric” lenses, toric because I have astigmatism, and multifocal because they use some kind of difficult-to-understand multi-lense design called “balanced progressive technology.” Supposedly, the “two different, yet complementary, lenses…work together to provide clear vision near, far, and in between.” From what I’ve read in forums, I understand there is still some kind of blurriness that accompanies this clear vision, but at least both eyes will get to do the same thing. The problem with these multifocal toric lenses is the cost: it looks like they would run close to $500 per year. Excessive cost, if you remember, is the main reason I’m not considering Lasik, so I doubt I will want to pay for these lenses even if I like them. Hopefully I won’t like them too much.
That leaves one option: contact lenses that simply correct both eyes for distance, a scenario that will include various configurations/combinations of sunglasses, reading glasses, and maybe computer glasses. It will be wonderful to be able to leave my glasses at the computer whenever I get up from my desk. And when I leave my sunglasses (no longer prescription) in my car, as I normally do before going into a store or whatever, I won’t need to replace them with another pair of glasses. Relative freedom!
Although the number of options is more limited for toric contact lenses (versus non-toric), there are some options that weren’t available to me 15 years ago: There are “daily disposable” toric contact lenses that you replace every day with a new pair, but the cost for that convenience is also high (close to $500/year) and the available prescriptions don’t happen to include mine. A more intriguing option (to me) is the possibility of extended or continuous (overnight) wear. For about $220/year, the “Air Optix for Astigmatism” allows up to 6 nights of extended wear (and my particular prescription should soon be available in this lense). However, for about $152/year, the “PureVision Toric” (already available in my prescription) can supposedly be worn for up to 30 days of continuous wear. With either of these, I doubt I would ever go for more than a few days at a time before removing them and sleeping through the night without lenses, but it sure would be nice not to have to think about removing my contacts just because I want to take a nap. Not that I ever would. Only old people do things like that.
And so my contact lense adventure begins. Again.
May 27, 2008 at 10:51 am
What’s frustrating about getting older, especially if you’re near-sighted, is the lack of options for both near and far corrected vision. You can wear glasses with progressive or bifocal regions for reading, but if you want to go glassless, the options include monovision, bifocal contacts, or LASIK. All three, but especially the first two, are subject to blurriness.
I, too, just started wearing monovision contacts. As it happens, I can read fine without correction, so I wear only a single lens in my right eye. And I’ve been going through _exactly_ the same experience as Woody. Everything is both in focus and blurry, and night driving takes getting used to. I’ve thought of a small work-around for driving: order a pair of glasses just for the car, with one lens corrected and the other (over the eye with the contact lens already in place) a blank. This way I can have the best vision for driving (and for other situations, as needed), and the rest of the time I can navigate the world without glasses, reading with my left eye and looking at the world with my right.
May 27, 2008 at 6:58 pm
Hmm. That’s an idea that could definitely make monovision more acceptable, but I’m also struggling with my computer monitor. My left eye wants me to lean forward (over my keyboard) and my right eye wants me to lean back in my chair. When at the computer, I find myself constantly alternating between these two positions, like I’m one of those sippy-birds or something.
It’s fun to think up these kinds of work-arounds and solutions, though. Since posting the article above, it occurred to me that, in order to reduce the cost of the expensive multifocal lenses, which are “designed” for monthly replacement, I could actually wear them for closer to two months, especially since they will be removed and cleaned every night. Something tells me this is probably not a new idea.
June 1, 2008 at 4:00 pm
I use one-day-only contacts, but I’ve managed to re-use them for an extra day. I simply remove the lens and drop it into cleaning solution, then pull it back out the next day and wear it again. No rubbing, no fuss. Seems to work perfectly. (I haven’t tried more than one re-use, though.) A friend who uses weekly contacts claims she can stretch them out to two weeks without a problem. Optometrists will throw up their hands, but I think the industry knows we’re gonna try this, so they’ve built them to last longer than they’re warranted for.
June 1, 2008 at 9:31 pm
The more I read about the current crop of multifocal contact lenses, the more intrigued I become. Whereas I previously thought each eye would have the same two corrections (one for distance and one for near), it seems the dominant eye is actually rigged for “center-distance” while the non-dominant eye is corrected for “center-near” (at least with the CooperVision Proclear lenses). So basically, you still have monovision for near and far, but both eyes also receive correction for mid-range (or “center”) vision. And because each eye now has good mid-range vision, the effects of monovision are reduced, especially for near vision. As I have already become somewhat acclimated to the mono-vision arrangement, I’m really looking forward to getting my mid-range vision back (as this is really needed for things like staring at computer screens for hours on end). Hopefully, my multifocal toric trial lenses will arrive soon.
June 8, 2008 at 11:39 am
Curious to hear how the multi-focals work out. My optometrist warned me that the more common lens uses the center spot for near vision, which is fine except on bright days, when the pupil stops down to a very small diameter, whereupon the center of the contact lens dominates with its near-vision. There is another type of lens, however, that reverses the concentric multi-focus sequence, putting distance vision in the middle. Either way, best of luck!
June 8, 2008 at 3:12 pm
OK, I have only had the CooperVision Proclear Multifocal Toric lenses for 2 days, but here are my initial reactions:
1. I don’t know if these lenses use the concentric design, but it does appear that each eye has two different focal points presented to the retina simultaneously. Because of this, and unlike the monovision arrangement, neither eye is ever completely free of blur. (With monovision, you could just close one eye to get blur-free vision, near or far, depending on which eye you closed; on the other hand, with the multifocal lenses, each eye gets two different corrections, and you can’t close half an eye in order to focus exclusively on only one of those two corrections.)
2. The dominant eye (for me, this is the right eye) is simultaneously corrected for both distance and mid-range, while the non-dominant eye is simultaneously corrected for near and mid-range. In addition to point #1 above, this seems to result in: (a) the dominant eye being less blurry, in general, when viewing near objects, presumably because it now has the additional mid-range correction to work with; (b) the non-dominant eye being less blurry, in general, when viewing distant objects, presumably for the same reason; and (c) both eyes being MUCH more able to handle mid-range vision, which I am happily using right now at the computer while wearing the multifocal contact lenses.
3. The lenses seem to be slightly thicker, and also seem to cling to my fingers a LOT more during the insertion ritual. After two weeks with the monovision lenses, I thought I was finally getting used to the insertion process, but now it’s like I’m starting all over again with the insertion frustration. The extra thickness, which still isn’t enough to keep a lense from folding in half at just the wrong time, definitely makes it harder to insert the lense, as that first careful blink of the upper lid — once your finger finally comes away from your eye without the lense still stuck to it — is just as likely to fold the lense in half and push it out as it is to slide over it. Also, once successfully inserted, I am more aware of the lenses; there is slightly more eyelid interaction.
So in conclusion: Harder to insert and slightly less comfortable (things that I can probably overcome with patience and persistence), and a different kind of blurriness to deal with, but a much greater RANGE of acceptable vision that greatly improves my ability to work with keyboards, monitors, desk junk, dashboards, etc.
Although I am still somewhat excited about having the option to go through some days without a metal/glass contraption hanging onto my ears and sitting on the bridge of my nose, I have also gained a new appreciation for the progressive lenses in my glasses, which allow me to have perfect binocular (i.e., blur-free) vision wherever I look. Once you start developing presbyopia, you’re apparently just going to have to accept some kind of compromise in order to work around it.
June 12, 2008 at 12:55 pm
Your experience with inserting contacts sounds very familiar! I’m new to the contact world, so I’ve dropped lenses, had to try five times to get a lens inserted, etc etc. Friends who use contacts seem to have learned how to manage their lenses efficiently, so it’s probably just a matter of time before a newbie gets good at it, too … It’s probably true that regular eyeglasses give clearer vision for those of us cruising through middle age, but contacts have some wonderful advantages: they’re always clean (no fingerprints, dust, etc), there’s no edge to them (i.e., no frame), they can’t get knocked off your face, they don’t slide down your nose … Interesting to hear that the multi-focus lenses always have some element of blurring … As before, good luck with your lenses!
June 25, 2008 at 1:47 pm
Hi
I wore contact lenses for 20 years but for the past 10 yrs I’ve just worn glasses because my eyes kept getting dry.
Anyway,I’ve just got toric monovision contacts. Will I ever be able to see past the blur!!The optition said that daily disposible ones are too expensive so I have got monthly ones and I have to clean them. I hate all that solution performance. I realy don’t think I can compromise my distance vision either. I’m so disappointed but will try them for a few more days until the trial is over.
I hate the varifocal glasses that I have just had made and again cannot see clearly. The optitian says they will try me with bigger glasses for the varifocal – yuk. I already pay extra for thin lenses and just want to see clearly again.
Sorry, I feel so down about this age thing and my eyes getting worse. I can’t even see to pick up the glasses in the first place.
June 27, 2008 at 10:36 pm
I think I’m back to wearing glasses for the most part. The experimenting with contact lenses was very interesting and enlightening, but I agree with you, Jane, that the blur and fuss may all be just a bit too disappointing.
I did request an adjustment to my monovision prescription (with my non-dominant eye now corrected for mid-range instead of near), and since the “non-multifocal” lenses seem so much more comfortable to me, and much less expensive, I’ll probably keep some around just to have the option of going without glasses from time to time. The blur (at distance) is definitely reduced by the change to my left lense. When I’m wearing the contacts, since I no longer have the near correction, I occasionally use a pair of weak half-frame reading glasses, but I can also hold things out a little farther to read them.
Regarding your glasses, Jane, I hope you’re trying different optometrists and/or opticians. I have had several pair of glasses that just weren’t made correctly, for whatever reason, and you just have to keep going back until they get them right. I’m assuming you already know this, though.
Of course, I don’t know your history, but have you considered any possibilities such as Lasik for distance, plus inexpensive reading glasses only when you need them? That’s just one possibility, but a solution like that might at least minimize the need to pay extra for thin lenses, or to get lenses you don’t like due to the size. You could also wear any pair of cheap, fun sunglasses for driving!
It certainly doesn’t sound like you would be happy with monovision Lasik. I don’t think I would be either, since there wouldn’t be any easy way to take a break from the monovision.