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AcuVue Bifocal Contact
Lenses
Many patients have told me over the years
that they quit wearing contact lenses when they needed bifocals… but now
there are very viable options to allow them to get back into them.
A few years ago, there weren’t many options for patients who needed
bifocals; Option 1: wearing over-the counter reading glasses over their
contact lenses, or Option 2: monovision. But now, with the success of the
AcuVue bifocal contact lens, patients have another option that may allow
patients to get back into contact lenses.
Option 1: Most patients find that having to grab reading
glasses for any and all near vision is a hassle. Most patients have 10+
reading glasses scattered throughout their home and work!
Option 2: Monovision has been the tried-and-true method to
overcome the need for reading glasses when Optometrists prescribe a
contact lens for distance vision commonly for the patient’s dominant eye
(sighting eye) and a near vision contact lens for the non-dominant eye.
This technique has been successful about 80-90% of the time for me.
Wearing monovision contact lenses does not make vision worse over time,
but it can cause eyestrain in the first few days during adjustment. This
technique has been around for over 25 years and has been approved by the
FDA with AcuVue contact lenses as being “safe and effective.” We never saw
President Ronald Regan wear eyeglasses (until his later years) and that's
because he wore monovision contact lenses. I still prescribe a lot of
monovision contact lenses.
Option 3: Now, AcuVue Bifocal Contact Lenses offer another
option for those patients requiring bifocals and are successful about 90%
of the time in my practice experience. They allow both eyes to focus in
the distance and both to focus for reading. Being fit with these lenses
allow much better depth perception than with monovision. These lenses are
designed like a bull’s-eye target, with the center portion for distance,
and then successive rings for near vision, and then distance vision, etc.
There are drawbacks to both monovision and bifocal contact lenses. Night
vision and night glare can be a problem with both options. And with both
options, there is a compromise in the clarity of distance vision, in order
to allow near vision. There are ways of prescribing that do minimize this
problem.
Discuss your options with your eyecare professional during your next eye
examination. There are viable options available if you want to “loose your
eyeglasses” and wear contact lenses again.
~RQ
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