Varifocal Contact Lenses
Posted by: Officer DBL on 11 August 2007
Hi,
I am long sighted and use contacts to see distances and a pair of glasses to allow me to read. I want to ditch the need for the glasses so my optician has given me a pair of varifocal contact lenses to try out.
I understand that the idea is that one eye is optimised for distance work and the other for close in and your brain works out the differences and comes to a compromise. I have been trying them on and off for a week and I am finding them awkward to get used to.
Do any other forum members wear varifocal contact lenses and what was your experience?
Cheers
Rob
Posted on: 11 August 2007 by Dave Hartley
Hi Rob,
I don't use contact lenses but I do have a pair of varifocal glasses which I wear all the time. They were new about 2 years ago and the optician said it would take a couple of days to get used to them.
It didn't, it took a good 7 to 10 days. I found the room spinning and generally not easy to see with. I thought these were not for me.
But I did get used to them and those early problems vanished.
You may just need to try them for a little longer.
best of luck.
Dave
Posted on: 11 August 2007 by David McN
I was advised by my optician that varifocals are not a good option if your work / lifestyle involves a considerable amount of time reading - if so stick to bifocals.
Posted on: 11 August 2007 by u5227470736789439
Dear Rob,
Last November I was fitted out with vari-focal glasses, and I still cannot get on with them.
When the prescription is renewed in the Autumn I am going to revert to two pairs. Reading with vari-focal has been a real strain.
As for the contact lense solution I knew a Maths lecturer at Worcester Tech, who wore contacts though he never let on and he did the same as you and had the optimisation different on both eyes.
He aclimatised to it very quickly, but his optician said that not everyone does...
Kindest regards from Fredrik
Posted on: 12 August 2007 by Officer DBL
Thank you all for your replies.
It does seem that when I forget about the lenses, they work, but the moment I think about them, I become aware of one or other of the eyes straining to focus.
With my normal lenses I can see distances well enough, but it becomes more of a challenge reading, particularly in low light. On sunny days I also find that I must now wear sunglasses - or squint.
Whilst is would have been nice to have one set of lenses to do eveything for me, I think the soulution is going to remain lenses and reading glasses. I prefer not to be wearing glasses all the time, but a pair to wear at night to give my eyes a rest from contacts is probably on the cards.
To think that in my youth I had excellent vision, but didn't appreciate it at the time.
Frank,
You will like the Akiva when it finally dials in - mine took far longer than expected!
Kind regards
Rob
