If you suffer from presbyopia, then you’ll have difficulty focusing on nearby objects. This is a common problem among older people, which is why many of them use glasses to read.
If you’d prefer to avoid reading glasses, then you may be pleased to learn that there are contact lenses that have been designed to help wearers focus on objects that are near, as well as those that are further away.
Let’s take a closer look at multifocal contact lenses, how they work, and what benefits they can provide.
Understanding Multifocal Contact Lenses
Multifocal lenses come in several different types, but they all work via roughly the same principles. Different parts of the lens provide different kinds of focus. Often, it’s the centre of the lens that corrects for nearsightedness – but there are lenses available which use the centre for distant objects.
Types of Multifocal Contact Lenses
Let’s run through the main types of lenses available.
Simultaneous Vision Lenses
The most popular kinds of multifocal lenses are those that separate the centre of the lens from the edges. The transition between the two can be smooth, in what’s known as an ‘aspheric’ lens. Or, it can consist of a series of discrete rings, in what’s known as a ‘concentric’ design.
Another approach is the so-called ‘monovision’. Lenses of this kind use different focal points in different eyes. So, you might have distance vision in one eye, and close-up vision in the other. In most people, one eye is actually dominant over the other, which means the brain will favour information provided by it. It’s actually possible to favour one eye over the other – which means that wearers of monovision lenses don’t have to squint or close one eye in order to see properly.
Benefits and Considerations
The major advantage of multifocal lenses is that they are convenient. If you’re used to switching between glasses for different tasks, or you find the use of glasses to be generally annoying, then a single set of contacts can be a major lifestyle improvement.
Getting the most from your lenses, however, means getting an appropriate prescription. The lenses will need to correct for your specific vision problem, and make a good fit for the surface of your eyeball. While contacts are convenient in one sense, they can create a little bit of extra work in the morning – and you’ll need to pay good attention to hygiene in order to avoid an infection. Make sure that you use a proper solution to clean them, rather than tap water.
Another option worth considering is laser eye surgery. You’ll correct your visual problem on a semi-permanent basis. Thus, this is an intervention that often makes sense in the long run.
