Monovision contact lenses

[chip*]

Hi,

I am short sighted (-1.75, - 1.5) but when I am wearing my contact lenses, I struggle to read close up which I believe is an age related issue. I can read close up perfect without the need of contact lenses or prescription glasses. With my contact lenses on, I can only read close up with reading glasses. I have a set of reading sunglasses which is bearable, but not perfect (I have to look down to view out the reading lense at the bottom of the lense).

A recent conversation bought up the availability of monovision contact lenses which I never knew before!! Anyone using monovision lenses as I would like to hear your views (good or bad) before I call my optician for an assessment?

[Mr Pointy]

chip* said:

I have a set of reading sunglasses which is bearable, but not perfect (I have to look down to view out the reading lense at the bottom of the lense).

Plain reading glasses are the same power all over so you shouldn't be looking down through the bottom edge. That's more like the effect when you have bifocals.

chip* said:

A recent conversation bought up the availability of monovision contact lenses which I never knew before!! Anyone using monovision lenses as I would like to hear your views (good or bad) before I call my optician for an assessment?

In general monovision isn't a term applied to a lens: it's the situation where you correct the dominant eye for distance vision & then undercorrect (usually) the other eye so you can use that for reading. The brain puts the images together & many people find it a succesful combination.

If you mean bifocal contact lenses then they do exist but they aren't exactly common.

[anonymous-user]

Some people choose to have their contact lenses set for mono vision so that a "normal social life" (including reading menus) doesn't require glasses.

If you want to wear mono lenses all the time you'd be best to get two sets of cheap glasses made to wearing over the top of them when appropriate,
One set for driving
One set for reading

[sociopath]

I tried monovision lenses, they just seemed to mean everything was not quite in focus. Varifocals lenses I seem to get on better with.

[DKL]

You already have the means to try monovision, just wear one lens.
Generally keep the lens in which ever is your dominant eye, the one you use to look through a telescope/microscope.
You will see both distance and near clearly but it can take a bit of getting used to. Your myopic prescription will be ok to read if you are 45-55. If you are older your near vision may still need a little help

[lemansky]

DKL said:

You already have the means to try monovision, just wear one lens.
Generally keep the lens in which ever is your dominant eye, the one you use to look through a telescope/microscope.
You will see both distance and near clearly but it can take a bit of getting used to. Your myopic prescription will be ok to read if you are 45-55. If you are older your near vision may still need a little help

^^^
Wot he said.

How's things in Mu Mu land these days, KLF?

[Johnspex]

DKL said:

You already have the means to try monovision, just wear one lens.
Generally keep the lens in which ever is your dominant eye, the one you use to look through a telescope/microscope.
You will see both distance and near clearly but it can take a bit of getting used to. Your myopic prescription will be ok to read if you are 45-55. If you are older your near vision may still need a little help

In general terms this of course is completely wrong. It's not as simple as that. The power of your lenses has to be considered. My wife is quite short-sighted (-450 & -600), so she is under corrected in the non-dominant eye but certainly couldn't get by with no lens at all. However if you are only mildly to moderately short-sighted you might get away with just the one lens. My wife is 69 and has worn lenses this way for 15 years. Your age will have a big influence on it. Some opticians won't supply lenses to be worn this way.

[DKL]

Johnspex said:

DKL said:

You already have the means to try monovision, just wear one lens.
Generally keep the lens in which ever is your dominant eye, the one you use to look through a telescope/microscope.
You will see both distance and near clearly but it can take a bit of getting used to. Your myopic prescription will be ok to read if you are 45-55. If you are older your near vision may still need a little help

In general terms this of course is completely wrong. It's not as simple as that. The power of your lenses has to be considered. My wife is quite short-sighted (-450 & -600), so she is under corrected in the non-dominant eye but certainly couldn't get by with no lens at all. However if you are only mildly to moderately short-sighted you might get away with just the one lens. My wife is 69 and has worn lenses this way for 15 years. Your age will have a big influence on it. Some opticians won't supply lenses to be worn this way.

In this case what I have put is quite correct, I have lots of patients doing exactly this and very successfully.
Your wife is in a completely different situation reflectively so will need a different set up.
My advice was specifically for the OP and will work as a trial with what he already has.
Don't confuse the poor chap.

Edited by DKL on Sunday 25th April 13:19

[croyde]

I tried vari focal contacts a few years ago. Just couldn't get on with them annoyingly.

It was like watching a 3D film without the special specs.

Was set up for monovision too, again, couldn't get on with them.

[chip*]

DKL said:

Johnspex said:

DKL said:

You already have the means to try monovision, just wear one lens.
Generally keep the lens in which ever is your dominant eye, the one you use to look through a telescope/microscope.
You will see both distance and near clearly but it can take a bit of getting used to. Your myopic prescription will be ok to read if you are 45-55. If you are older your near vision may still need a little help

In general terms this of course is completely wrong. It's not as simple as that. The power of your lenses has to be considered. My wife is quite short-sighted (-450 & -600), so she is under corrected in the non-dominant eye but certainly couldn't get by with no lens at all. However if you are only mildly to moderately short-sighted you might get away with just the one lens. My wife is 69 and has worn lenses this way for 15 years. Your age will have a big influence on it. Some opticians won't supply lenses to be worn this way.

In this case what I have put is quite correct, I have lots of patients doing exactly this and very successfully.
Your wife is in a completely different situation reflectively so will need a different set up.
My advice was specifically for the OP and will work as a trial with what he already has.
Don't confuse the poor chap.

Edited by DKL on Sunday 25th April 13:19

Thanks for the comments above.
I will try out the single lense approach as I need to go to the shops later (Good test as I will want to check the package best before date).

BTW, I just did a simple dominate eye test (fingers in triangular shape centred over a distance object/wall clock, but the clock move in equal and opposite direction whenever I switch my eyes!!) Oh well, I have plenty of spare contact lenses, so I will try out with both my left and right eye.

[DKL]

Try it both ways round, one will feel better almost certainly.
You will read slightly more comfortably with the R lens out as you are slightly more shortsighted there. It depends how old you are (which I feel is what JS above is driving at) but as I said if with just one lens you can't read sufficiently close you will need a second lens prescribed at maybe +0.50/+0.75 but it depends on what you want to do. This sort of fine tuning we can't really do over the internet!

You have the opportunity to try it as you are so give it a whirl and see (pun intended).

[Mr Pointy]

OP: do you have a recent prescription with the "near add" & "intermediate add" figures? The Near Add figure is what you would need for reading glasses so you can use it to work out what your reading lens power would be although your prescription is so slight it's possible there isn't a lens that low in power - hence no lens might be the answer.

[Johnspex]

DKL said:

Johnspex said:

DKL said:

You already have the means to try monovision, just wear one lens.
Generally keep the lens in which ever is your dominant eye, the one you use to look through a telescope/microscope.
You will see both distance and near clearly but it can take a bit of getting used to. Your myopic prescription will be ok to read if you are 45-55. If you are older your near vision may still need a little help

In general terms this of course is completely wrong. It's not as simple as that. The power of your lenses has to be considered. My wife is quite short-sighted (-450 & -600), so she is under corrected in the non-dominant eye but certainly couldn't get by with no lens at all. However if you are only mildly to moderately short-sighted you might get away with just the one lens. My wife is 69 and has worn lenses this way for 15 years. Your age will have a big influence on it. Some opticians won't supply lenses to be worn this way.

In this case what I have put is quite correct, I have lots of patients doing exactly this and very successfully.
Your wife is in a completely different situation reflectively so will need a different set up.
My advice was specifically for the OP and will work as a trial with what he already has.
Don't confuse the poor chap.

Edited by DKL on Sunday 25th April 13:19

Apologies .

[DKL]

Johnspex said:

DKL said:

Johnspex said:

DKL said:

You already have the means to try monovision, just wear one lens.
Generally keep the lens in which ever is your dominant eye, the one you use to look through a telescope/microscope.
You will see both distance and near clearly but it can take a bit of getting used to. Your myopic prescription will be ok to read if you are 45-55. If you are older your near vision may still need a little help

In general terms this of course is completely wrong. It's not as simple as that. The power of your lenses has to be considered. My wife is quite short-sighted (-450 & -600), so she is under corrected in the non-dominant eye but certainly couldn't get by with no lens at all. However if you are only mildly to moderately short-sighted you might get away with just the one lens. My wife is 69 and has worn lenses this way for 15 years. Your age will have a big influence on it. Some opticians won't supply lenses to be worn this way.

In this case what I have put is quite correct, I have lots of patients doing exactly this and very successfully.
Your wife is in a completely different situation reflectively so will need a different set up.
My advice was specifically for the OP and will work as a trial with what he already has.
Don't confuse the poor chap.

Edited by DKL on Sunday 25th April 13:19

Apologies .

[craig1912]

Not read the whole thread but I wear a left contact lens only. Left is my dominant eye. I can therefore see distance and read at the same time. Works brilliantly and has sign off by ophthalmic surgeon and optician

Helps that both eyes have same prescription

[lemansky]

craig1912 said:

Not read the whole thread but I wear a left contact lens only. Left is my dominant eye. I can therefore see distance and read at the same time. Works brilliantly and has sign off by ophthalmic surgeon and optician

Helps that both eyes have same prescription

Monovision at its finest

Rough guess, but I'd say I have a > 90% success rate with my patients. Everyone seems to be super-cagey and doubtful before they start, but almost always quickly adapt and enjoy the experience and freedom it gives them.
In the last year, lots of new c/l wearers are getting stuck in, because of the mask-wearing thing.

[DKL]

lemansky said:

craig1912 said:

Not read the whole thread but I wear a left contact lens only. Left is my dominant eye. I can therefore see distance and read at the same time. Works brilliantly and has sign off by ophthalmic surgeon and optician

Helps that both eyes have same prescription

Monovision at its finest

Rough guess, but I'd say I have a > 90% success rate with my patients. Everyone seems to be super-cagey and doubtful before they start, but almost always quickly adapt and enjoy the experience and freedom it gives them.
In the last year, lots of new c/l wearers are getting stuck in, because of the mask-wearing thing.

I'd tend to agree. It's easy to try and cheaper to provide for the patients as they are just single vision lenses, or maybe even just one.
Mind you I have lost a few cl patients this year who just can't be arsed putting them in when they sit in front of their PC WHF in their PJs.
All good here LS,you?

[lemansky]

DKL said:

lemansky said:

craig1912 said:

Not read the whole thread but I wear a left contact lens only. Left is my dominant eye. I can therefore see distance and read at the same time. Works brilliantly and has sign off by ophthalmic surgeon and optician

Helps that both eyes have same prescription

Monovision at its finest

Rough guess, but I'd say I have a > 90% success rate with my patients. Everyone seems to be super-cagey and doubtful before they start, but almost always quickly adapt and enjoy the experience and freedom it gives them.
In the last year, lots of new c/l wearers are getting stuck in, because of the mask-wearing thing.

I'd tend to agree. It's easy to try and cheaper to provide for the patients as they are just single vision lenses, or maybe even just one.
Mind you I have lost a few cl patients this year who just can't be arsed putting them in when they sit in front of their PC WHF in their PJs.
All good here LS,you?

All good here, quiet at times and then manic.
Hope all's well at your end

[chip*]

DKL said:

Try it both ways round, one will feel better almost certainly.
You will read slightly more comfortably with the R lens out as you are slightly more shortsighted there. It depends how old you are (which I feel is what JS above is driving at) but as I said if with just one lens you can't read sufficiently close you will need a second lens prescribed at maybe +0.50/+0.75 but it depends on what you want to do. This sort of fine tuning we can't really do over the internet!

You have the opportunity to try it as you are so give it a whirl and see (pun intended).

Thanks DKL, I really appreciate your advice and I have just completed 4 days of testing, 2 days with R lense only, and 2 days with L lense only. To ensure decent coverage, I wore the lense for the bulk of the day across all my daily tasks and activities such as driving, MTB, reading tablet/phone/PC/menu, shopping, etc..

When I fitted the R lense on day 1, I struggled initially to focus and had to regularly blink/shut my eyes for relief. I think my brain was in a sensory overload dealing with the conflicting signals from my eye! After about 30 mins, my vision settled and I was able to view long distance with pretty good clarity mixed with some light haziness. On Day 2, 3 & 4, my eyes and brain clicked into gear instantly once I put the single lense in. As stated earlier, I couldn't determine my dominant eye using the triangular finger test, but I do view with my right eye when I used to shoot (maybe a default right handed bias?). To be honest, I couldn't tell which was my dominant eye based on my short test i. e. I felt my long and short vision was similar for both R and L lense in!

However, the game changer was my reading ability on close objects. Miraculously (OK, maybe an exaggeration.. ), I could actually read the car odometer when driving, read my phone and tablet, see the hands on my wrist watch, read the price label in the supermarket.. etc.. and all without the reading glasses! Admittedly, there's a slight blurring around the number and letter edge, but it was pretty damn good.

There were some negatives too:
- tablet and phone screen appear closer than it seems, so I actually 'miss' the screen and having to extend my finger further to type (we are talking mm).
- On Day 1, I struggled to judge the width of the car driving on narrow country roads, and edged closer to the central white line than normal. I need to retest on narrow country roads again to assess if this was just an once off calibration issue with my eyes/brain on Day 1.

Overall, this monovision test has opened my eyes and the results has exceed my expectations, but I have one big test next week on the golf course to see how I cope with reading the greens. I am almost convinced this is the way forward for me, so I will be paying a visit to my optician to hopefully fine tune my monovision sight.


(Boring bits:
50 years old.
Contact lense prescription: L - 1.75, R - 1.50)

[DKL]

Glad it has worked for you. You should "learn" to ignore the blurred image a little more as time goes by and you may need a slight tweak to the near prescription but that would mean wearing a second lens which you may prefer not to, not that it really matters but it is more expensive obviously!
Golf could be challenging but there is no reason why for some things, like golf or maybe long motorway drives, why you shouldn't wear both distance lenses. Just get yourself a cheap pair of +2.00s to fill your card in.