BS: Bifocal Contact Lenses?

Subject: BS: Bifocal Contact Lenses?
From: Little Hawk
Date: 18 Sep 05 - 03:30 PM

Has anyone had experience with these? I am quite myopic, but have good long distance vision with my contacts, still have to use reading glasses over top of them for any close up stuff. It's annoying. I would love to replace the reading glasses with bifocal lenses. There are a couple of different kinds I've seen on the Net. I'm wondering what advice other people can offer about the "segmented" type and the "concentric rings" approach? The latter sounds better to me. Does anyone know about this?

Thanks!

Subject: RE: BS: Bifocal Contact Lenses?
From: JudyB
Date: 18 Sep 05 - 03:43 PM

I've used the concentric circles and also the "different lens in each eye" approach (so one eye sees far and the other near). The concentric circles worked fine for quite a while - but you can't also correct for astigmatism, and eventually that became an issue.

I currently have a prescription for one far/one near, but mostly use them if I'm doing something like going on vacation with plans for beaching and snorkeling - I can read OK without glasses but things start getting fuzzy after that. The far/near lenses work OK for me, but any contacts make things a little darker and I'm creeping into cataracts - and the combination is not good for night vision.

And I found some glasses that are light enough to not be painful to wear - especially as I hardly ever wear them around the house. So contacts weren't that big a deal anymore (though I may try again after the eventual cataract surgery).

Hope this helps.

JudyB

Subject: RE: BS: Bifocal Contact Lenses?
From: John MacKenzie
Date: 18 Sep 05 - 07:07 PM

You can get astigmatic contact lenses, they're prism ballasted. That means they have a thicker part at the bottom in the correct position for your prescription to work, and when you put them in they rotate until the heavier part is at the bottom, eureka. I am jealous of people who can wear contacts, I have dry eyes and can't use them.
Giok

Subject: RE: BS: Bifocal Contact Lenses?
From: The Fooles Troupe
Date: 18 Sep 05 - 07:54 PM

Carry some peeled onions in your breast pocket...

:-)

Robin
(a contact lens wearer)

Subject: RE: BS: Bifocal Contact Lenses?
From: Little Hawk
Date: 18 Sep 05 - 10:20 PM

I got some useful info about this in a PM. Thanks! I figure I'll go for the concentric circle ones. I don't have astigmatism, so no problem there.

Subject: RE: BS: Bifocal Contact Lenses?
From: JudyB
Date: 18 Sep 05 - 10:24 PM

Giok -

You can get concentric bifocal contact lenses, and you can get astigmatic contact lenses (which is what my one eye near/one eye far lenses are) - but last I knew, you cannot get bifocal astigmatic contact lenses - if you've found some, I'd love to get the details as that would be better for me!

Thanks,
JudyB

Subject: RE: BS: Bifocal Contact Lenses?
From: The Fooles Troupe
Date: 19 Sep 05 - 12:31 AM

I used to have trouble losing my contact lenses, but now I have drilled a small hole in each, tied each one to the ends of a length of fishing line and carry them around my neck.

Subject: RE: BS: Bifocal Contact Lenses?
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 19 Sep 05 - 12:43 AM

When I made the switch from regular one-distance lenses to bifocals, I tried those no-line bifocals. They seemed like a good idea, and they ended up with a smallish mid-range zone that was good. But I seemed to always be bobbing my head around trying to find the right part of the glasses to look through, and they were horrible when trying to use the viewfinder on a camera. This year I canned the no-lines and got regular bifocals, and after a brief period of adjustment, I like them much better. The top half I can see out of much better (no lines are weird--they only grind a small part of the lens right in front of the pupil in the middle of the lens, so you have to turn your whole head to see, not just move your eyes in that direction). I have a pair of computer or office glasses that are no-line and have only the mid-range and closeup lenses and are perfect for computer work. I don't crane my neck trying to look at the screen.

SRS

Subject: RE: BS: Bifocal Contact Lenses?
From: John MacKenzie
Date: 19 Sep 05 - 04:53 AM

Varifocals are the best answer where there are no lines to distract your sight, and the progression is gentle, once you get used to them they feel more 'natural' than bifocals.
Robin in the early days of 'hard' contact lenses it was common to drill holes in them to drain excess fluid. This was of course called fenestration [what else!]
Giok
Varifocals

Subject: RE: BS: Bifocal Contact Lenses?
From: Little Hawk
Date: 19 Sep 05 - 05:21 AM

Ah, yes...very good. Well, I begin to have hope that even the old dachshund can be fitted for contact lenses now...

Subject: RE: BS: Bifocal Contact Lenses?
From: GUEST,Snoozer at Work
Date: 19 Sep 05 - 10:06 AM

I just got my first pair of concentric circle bifocal contacts last Wednesday. They are driving me nuts!! They need some major readjustment (vision-wise), I can just barely read books and the computer monitor, but I have to really concentrate to do it because the vision is not quite clear. I can't just glance at something. Very annoying here at work. Distance vision is messed up too.

I'm going back today for a checkup. I still have hope that it will work out....

Subject: RE: BS: Bifocal Contact Lenses?
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 19 Sep 05 - 10:49 AM

My comments, of course, were to do with regular old spectacles, not contact lenses. When you get tired of the contacts, then you can come back and read my observations regarding types of lenses. We've had that debate here in our household, and the party (who shall remain unnamed) who simply had to have contacts finally conceded that she was doing better with glasses and started believing us when we told her thay they looked great on her (they do! she's beautiful anyway, but these really highlight her eyes!). We suffered through the expense of contacts for a couple of years before reaching that conclusion.

SRS

Subject: RE: BS: Bifocal Contact Lenses?
From: akenaton
Date: 19 Sep 05 - 11:00 AM

I read somewhere lately about a device which looks like a contact lens, and is slipped into your eye at night.
Apparently the device moulds the lens of the eye while you sleep, and when you remove it in the morning you have perfect vision.

This improved vision lasts all day and you start the process over again at bedtime.

Anybody know anything about this?...Ake

Subject: RE: BS: Bifocal Contact Lenses?
From: John MacKenzie
Date: 19 Sep 05 - 11:53 AM

This is about the best site I've found that gives you a list of different lenses with their pros and cons.
Giok

Subject: RE: BS: Bifocal Contact Lenses?
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 19 Sep 05 - 12:30 PM

If I'm careful I can move a finger along the lower lid of my eye and exert a little pressure to momentarily reshape the eye and the vision is perfectly clear. I suspect that lens that shapes the eye is trying to do the same thing. I've heard of them, but I haven't heard anything that said they were a reasonable long-term way to correct your vision.

SRS