Q: I used to wear contacts, and loved being free of glasses, but about age 40 I couldn’t do my digital work comfortably….and left my contacts. Any chance I could again be free of my glasses?
A: You are experiencing a very common effect of “TMB syndrome”……Too Many Birthdays! Virtually everyone develops near-focusing problems in their 40’s. It’s called “presbyopia”…an unusual name for a very usual problem.
I do have very good news for you, in that, today almost all vision prescriptions are available in multifocal contacts! Unlike progressive glasses, where you look straight out for distance vision, and downward for reading vision, these contacts do not require you to aim your eyes in different directions.
Multifocal contacts have 3 separate prescriptions in them: one for close up ( your phone ), one for intermediate distance ( your computer ), and the third for distance ( driving your car ). These different Rx powers are made in rings, like a bulls-eye, in each lens. So your eyes, and your brain, actually get all three images all the time. And thank heavens our brains are very good at learning, so we can “attend” to whichever distance / image we want to see best. And surprising to many people, this learning process usually only takes about 5 days.
For example, when we prescribe these lenses to our presbyopic patients, we routinely advise they wear them in their normal life for a full week. We ask them to report how their vision feels then, as fairly commonly we will make a small adjustment in the Rx in one or both lenses. Prescribing these is more advanced than regular contacts, and less predictable than glasses. The majority of our patients find their new vision very good, and again are free of their glasses.
I have some patients who may have a hobby or need for extra close vision, and they might need some “readers” for those specific visual tasks. But over 80% of our patients in multifocal contacts love them and seldom, if ever, resort to their glasses. So not everyone succeeds in mutifocals, but not everyone loves their progressive glasses either. These are a more complicated lens design and requires more skill and time for success. This is not something you would order online.
Ask your eye doctor if they prescribe multifocal soft contacts. You should receive a diagnostic or sample pair to wear for a week or so before you buy a full year’s supply. And best of all for many, these advanced lenses are now available in dailies too….meaning you get a fresh perfect lens each morning, and no more cleaning or rubbing lenses every night.
