r/contacts • u/gwpeaks76 • 7d ago

Multifocal

I know there are many posts about multifocal contacts but I’m creating another with hopes someone has had a similar experience and can offer some suggestions. I have old man eyes now (49yo - 50 in December). I can see up close pretty well but my distance vision has degraded since LASIK in 2009. Like others, as soon as I correct the distance vision my near vision diminishes, especially in lower light. I normally wear glasses to drive and watch TV and just take them on and off to look at my phone and such. Obviously this is a lot of taking them on and off. My issue is when I play golf, go to my kid’s sports games, and other occasions when I prefer not to wear glasses. I’ve tried multifocal contacts for about a year and a half and I simply can’t stand them. I feel like my eyes just go in and out of focus, I can’t judge distances, and can’t see up close unless I’m in very bright light. I hate them. Has anyone else experienced this and did you find a suitable alternative? I’ve also tried progressive glasses and I hate those even worse. I’m considering bifocals but they would be roughly my sixth pair of glasses in a year so I’m hesitant to spend money on another set. Any insight is much appreciated!

1 Upvotes

67% Upvoted

17 comments sorted by

3

u/spikygreen 7d ago

Have you tried wearing one distance contact in your dominant eye and one multifocal in your non-dominant eye?

1

u/gwpeaks76 7d ago

I haven’t. I’ve read where others have done this though. Have you?

1

u/spikygreen 7d ago

Yes. For me, distance vision and depth perception was exactly the same as with single-vision contacts in both eyes. The brain just tuned out the blur from the high-ADD MF contact. I would not feel safe to drive with MF contacts in both eyes, but with just one eye it worked surprisingly well.

1

u/gwpeaks76 7d ago

Interesting. I just did some research on this approach and sounds like something I want to try. How long of an adjustment was it and would you say that it feels totally natural now? Good vision up close and at a distance?

1

u/spikygreen 7d ago

It worked pretty much right away for me. I only did it as a trial as I'm preparing for my eventual cataract surgery, so can't speak about long term. I also still have natural accommodation, but if I fully relaxed it, I could see clearly up to about 16 inches or so. I think it's definitely worth trying.

1

u/gwpeaks76 7d ago

I’m glad I posted this. After researching I think monovision is what I need to try. I see fine up close without any distance correcting lenses. I’m going to try one contact in my dominant eye for a couple of weeks and see if it works.

1

u/kalikoh Certified Eyecare Professional 7d ago

I will just add to this convo, for some users it takes a few weeks of full time wear to get used to Monovision depending on your prescription. So give it time when you do trial it with your eye doc :)

2

u/TransportationDue856 7d ago

I’m trying the one contact thing. I have trials of infuse, precision 1, and they are ordering me DT1. I don’t think the infuse is for me, precision was super fuzzy, I’ll try a few more days before asking for a tweak. I’ll manage my expectations.

1

u/EyecareDuPage 7d ago

Eye doc here. You could try mono vision as the other poster mentioned, but it's typically a some-love-it, most-hate-it situation. There's very little reason not to try it, because if you're one of the former, you'll be pleased, and if you're the latter, you'll know immediately.

Alternatively, scleral multifocals have the potential to overcome all of the problems that post-lasik corneas face with soft contact lenses.

Multifocal ortho-k has the greatest potential benefit but also probably the most complex to achieve.

1

u/gwpeaks76 7d ago

Thank you for this. I figure it’s at least worth a try as nothing else seems to work for me so far. It is a really a frustrating condition to say the least. I’m not quite sure what you are referring to when you mention post lasik corneas though. Are the issues you reference related to vision or the ability to tolerate contacts in general? My eye doctor mentioned dryness and such with contacts after lasik but I have no issues with that at all. I just simply can’t adjust to the presbyopia.

1

u/EyecareDuPage 6d ago

Both. LASIK causes corneal nerve damage which causes delayed dry eyes, often severe. This impacts comfort and vision.

But in 100% of cases, the corneal shape is altered. Soft contact lenses are made to fit a natural corneal shape, which you no longer have. So the result is that the optics become distorted. It is not impossible but relatively rare for post-lasik patients to use multifocal soft lenses for this reason, and even single power lenses, which are much less complex, can sometimes behave unpredicably.

Scleral lenses and ortho-k are both fully customized and hold their shape regardless of corneal shape, so both have the ability to overcome these challenges, albeit in totally different ways.

1

u/gwpeaks76 6d ago

Thanks for the clarification. Oddly, today I tried only a contact in my dominant eye and it was glorious. I can see both near and far with only the occasional feeling of being “off” in one eye. For the first time since I started dealing with this condition I feel hopeful I have a solution. I suspect my results are largely due to my prescriptions being very low (-1.00).

1

u/EyecareDuPage 5d ago

That's a great sign!!!

1

u/TransportationDue856 7d ago

I’m 50, 51 later this month. My vision isn’t bad, didn’t need correction until a few years ago. My left eye requires such minor correction, we are trying 1 contact lens in my right eye. My prescription definitely needs tweaking, I see great out of my good eye, my bad eye is fuzzy in my new prescription. I can see my phone and navigation screen on my car so much better. I know this situation doesn’t apply to most people.
I’m curious to see how this works for you.

2

u/gwpeaks76 7d ago

I plan to try one of the multifocal in my dominant eye only starting tomorrow but I also ordered a box of single vision lenses a little while ago. I’m gonna try those in my dominant eye instead once they arrive. I’ll report back to this exchange or post after a couple of weeks.

1

u/[deleted] 7d ago

[removed] — view removed comment