Bifocal Contact Lenses
In the past, people who were farsighted were limited to bifocal prescription glasses. Today, bifocal contact lenses are available in both soft and rigid materials and many patients who are farsighted can now enjoy the added convenience of disposable bifocal contact lenses. Here’s some information about bifocal contact lenses to help you decide if they are something you’d like to try.
How Bifocal Contacts Work
Bifocal contact lenses work much like eyeglass prescriptions for the same condition. Typically, a single lens includes two separate prescriptions; the top of the lens works to correct distance vision and the bottom of the lens corrects near vision.
Some bifocal contacts work by blending different prescription powers onto various parts of the lens. The patient’s eye slowly adjusts to distinguish the appropriate power needed to correct vision when viewing objects near them or at a distance.
Are Bifocal Contacts For You?
Unfortunately, not everyone is a good candidate for bifocal contacts. It usually takes the eye some time to adjust the varying prescriptive powers of bifocal contacts. Some patients will find that it takes too long to adjust to the lenses and still others will have needs that exceed the ability of bifocal lenses.
Monovision Contact Lenses
For people who can’t wear bifocal contacts, there are alternatives. For example, your eye doctor may prescribe monovision contact lenses. In this case, the patient wears a single lens to correct distance vision in one eye and another lens to correct near vision in the other eye. Everyone has a dominant eye and the corrective lens for distance is placed in the dominant eye to help promote better overall vision.
Many people easily adjust to wearing two different prescription lenses and don’t even notice that each eye is accomplishing a different purpose. The disadvantage is that some people find they have to adjust the position of their head frequently in order to see something clearly. Still others are aware of a slight decrease in depth perception.
Try Before You Buy
If you are a candidate for bifocal contacts and are interested in trying one of the options mentioned, most eye doctors have a trial program that will allow you to try out bifocal or monovision contact lenses so you can decide if they will, indeed, work for you. You and your eye doctor can explore all of the options to best suit your eyes and your personal preferences.
Bifocal Eyeglasses
If you are one of those people who find contacts uncomfortable for one reason or another or your eyes simply can’t tolerate contact lenses, modern technology has afforded eyeglass wearers with many new and fashionable looks. Some eyeglass lenses can even be made fully bifocal without a visible line running through the middle of the glasses.
