Long shot I know, but any contact wearers also needing reading glasses.......

[disney4us2002]

My eye doctor suggested that I try one contact for distance and one for reading since I'm at that lovely age (41) where I can not hold things far enough away to really read well. He said it could take several days or up to a week for my eyes to "adjust" to this change but that my mind/eyes would absolutely use the correct eye to focus depending on what I'm doing. So, yesterday my new contacts came in and I have them in today. Currently, I really feel out of sorts. I don't feel like I can see either far or near, lol.

Is anyone in this situation? Will my eyes or mind really "rewire" to see this way? I sooo don't want to go back to glasses and surgery isn't happening anytime soon. Eye doc said laser would also correct one to distance and one to reading anyway so I might as well try this first.

 

[ChristmasElf]

If you are "near sighted" I am surprised that your eye doctor would suggest this.
I wear the Day and Night contacts (which I'm still on the fence about whether I like them better than the Acuvue 2) anyway, when I need to read something and the print is too small, I just pull out a pair of reading glasses that I picked up for $10 at Walgreens.

I'm surprised you aren't getting headaches from the 2 different contacts.

 

[escape]

DH and best friend are doing this. It took DH a good week or two to get adjusted but now he says it's good.

 

[dcgrumpy]

I have the same thing,it did take a little while to become adjusted but now I don't even notice the difference unless I close one eye. it's actually quite common.


http://www.eyetopics.com/articles/47/1/Nearsightedness

If you are nearsighted, over age 40 and you wear contact lenses, ask your eye doctor about adjusting your contact lens prescription for Monovision. This involves changing your contact lens prescription to make (or leave) one eye mildly nearsighted. The eye with your current contact lens prescription will see distant objects clearly, and the eye with the modified contact lens prescription (because it's made mildly nearsighted) will see clearly up close. Thus with both eyes open, monovision contact lenses allow you to see clearly at all distances without reading glasses.

 

[MidgeD79]

My Dr suggested it, but I chose the reading glasses. In fact I have 2 pair. 1 for reaing/computer and 1 pair for playing the piano.

 

[perdidobay]

I wear multi-focal contact lenses...they are gas-perms. I love them and had no problem getting used to them.

 

[Barb D]

I've never heard of such a thing. I wear progressive lens glasses; if I look through the bottom they're set for reading and if I look through the top they're good for distance.

 

[Imzadi]

My vision is so bad, my Dr. gave me the choice of whether to get lenses to see further away & get reading glasses, or whether to be able to see closer, like for all the detailed crafts I do - but not have the sight distance to drive and need glasses for that, or to do the one far & one close.

Since I do want to get lasiks someday & they would probably do that, I went for the one near & one far. It did take a few days to get used to it. However, I'm still kind of seeing fuzzy both near & far. I don't know if I just need to get my prescription adjusted some more, or if my eyes are just too bad to do this. I can't see any of the fine print, like on an asprin bottle, & someone at work recently pointed out I was having a hard time reading a flip chart, about 8 ft. in front of me, aloud while doing a presentation. She said it was obvious I was unsure I was actually seeing the words I was reading.

I think my vision is just too bad that she can't correct the difference between the two extremes any more. I might go back & have my lenses adjusted for far vision so I can drive & do the presentations & get reading glasses.

 

[perdidobay]

I've never heard of such a thing. I wear progressive lens glasses; if I look through the bottom they're set for reading and if I look through the top they're good for distance.

Multi-focal contacts are very similar... they are slightly weighted so the bottom is heavier and stays in the correct position.

 

[skuttle]

My mom wears contacts but also need reading glasses to read.

 

[PrincessKitty1]

I have a distance contact for my left eye and a progressive lens for my right eye. I tried progressive lenses in both eyes but my distance vision suffered due to my astigmatism, so I ended up with a toric (for astigmatism) distance lens in the eye with the worst astigmatism. (Apparently progressive lenses are not made with the toric option for astigmatism.)

I got used to the lenses fairly quickly and absolutely loved them. (I have a dry-eye problem now so can only wear my contacts for special occasions at the moment.) I'm surprised your doctor didn't have you try progressive lenses. They are like progressive lenses on glasses (which I also have) and have close, middle, and distance viewing areas on each lens.

 

[Missy1961]

I have a distance contact for my left eye and a progressive lens for my right eye. I tried progressive lenses in both eyes but my distance vision suffered due to my astigmatism, so I ended up with a toric (for astigmatism) distance lens in the eye with the worst astigmatism. (Apparently progressive lenses are not made with the toric option for astigmatism.)

I got used to the lenses fairly quickly and absolutely loved them. (I have a dry-eye problem now so can only wear my contacts for special occasions at the moment.) I'm surprised your doctor didn't have you try progressive lenses. They are like progressive lenses on glasses (which I also have) and have close, middle, and distance viewing areas on each lens.

I've been wearing a toric lens in my right eye for years, so when I mentioned to my doctor about the "needing perfect light to read, ha ha", she suggested reading glasses with my contacts. Works fine for me.

 

[PrincessKitty1]

I've been wearing a toric lens in my right eye for years, so when I mentioned to my doctor about the "needing perfect light to read, ha ha", she suggested reading glasses with my contacts. Works fine for me.

Neither DH nor I think reading glasses with single vision contacts works very well for us--there are times when you can't put on reading glasses but need closer vison. For instance, with single-vision contact lenses I couldn't even read the speedometer or see my watch face! And there was no good solution for middle distances, like the computer--I didn't have good middle vision with my reading glasses on OR off, same with DH.

Of course, our distance vision may be a lot worse than yours--the stronger the correction you need for distance, the worse your close & middle vision will be when wearing single vision lenses, according to my eye doctor.

 

[annegal]

I've been doing this for several years now, ever since I neede bifocals. You will adjust , but neither will be perfect sight. My glasses are bifocls, I usually wear my glasses at night to give my eyes a rest.

 

[Talking Hands]

My eye doctor suggested that I try one contact for distance and one for reading since I'm at that lovely age (41) where I can not hold things far enough away to really read well. He said it could take several days or up to a week for my eyes to "adjust" to this change but that my mind/eyes would absolutely use the correct eye to focus depending on what I'm doing. So, yesterday my new contacts came in and I have them in today. Currently, I really feel out of sorts. I don't feel like I can see either far or near, lol.

Is anyone in this situation? Will my eyes or mind really "rewire" to see this way? I sooo don't want to go back to glasses and surgery isn't happening anytime soon. Eye doc said laser would also correct one to distance and one to reading anyway so I might as well try this first.

I just started this Thursday and at first it was awkward but I find I am adjusting pretty well to it. I have always worn glasses not contacts but was knocking them off while interpreting. Today was the first day without them and i felt freer and not afraid to really boogie down with the music I was interpreting for church. Will still use my progressive lenes as backups but I love the contacts!

 

[DebbiC]

I'm just turning 50 (ugh!) and I've been wearing two different contacts for about 4 years now. I'm so nearsighted that about 18" is clear for me without glasses, and now I need the bifocals for close up!

My left eye is for distance and my right eye is for close up.

When I got them, I told myself there was not an option of not getting used to them! It took all of 4 hours.

In the beginning you will find yourself turning your head a bit more, especially when driving to adjust for the vision differences, but really that is all I noticed.

I have a lot more problems with my no line bifocal glasses that I use on occassion then I ever did with the contacts.

Go for it, you'll love them!

Deb

 

[arminnie]

I wear multi-focal contact lenses...they are gas-perms. I love them and had no problem getting used to them.

These are so much better than mono-vision for me.

 

[bballmom56]

I am EXTREMELY nearsighted and started with the 2 different contacts about 2 years ago. Prior to that it was the regular contacts with reading glasses. I had no problem adjusting to the new contacts and it was wonderful to be free of the reading glasses. However, I agree that the distance vision is not quite as sharp as it was with the regular contacts, but I can live with it. The prescription probably needs a little tweaking now anyway. As someone else mentioned, if I wore the regular contacts, I could not see the speedometer or other controls clearly enough and I certainly couldn't put reading glasses on at the times I needed to see those!

 

[disney4us2002]

Wow, this is fantastic. I never thought I'd get this many replies or opinions.

More info.... I've been wearing toric lenses since 2002. My nearsightedness isn't actually that bad (20/100 and 20/80) but astigmatism is apparently a problem with those progressive contact lenses. My doctor thought monovision would be handier for me than on and off with reading glasses because of my specific job. I give a lot of presentations and hold support groups with foster parents and it is a lot of looking down at notes or the manuals and then back up to a roomful of people so I can't be taking glasses on and off. I didn't want to go back to wearing glasses fulltime so this was the best option.

I'm glad so many of you adjusted well. I'm forcing myself not to close one eye to focus better at either the tv or a crossword which is what feels right. Hopefully, I'll be seeing better in a few days.

 

[Andrea]

you will adjust to them, like everything else it takes time. One of the eye doctors i work does this also