Mrs B Posted August 11, 2009 Report Share Posted August 11, 2009 Anyone have any experience of varifocal contact lenses? If so, any hints or tips on the "getting used to" bit would be much appreciated! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Spins4me Posted August 11, 2009 Report Share Posted August 11, 2009 Anyone have any experience of varifocal contact lenses? If so, any hints or tips on the "getting used to" bit would be much appreciated! OH has tried them. I'll ask him when he's back from work this evening if no-one else can help out. PS could you PM me, please? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mrs B Posted August 11, 2009 Author Report Share Posted August 11, 2009 OH has tried them. I'll ask him when he's back from work this evening if no-one else can help out. Thank you very much. PS could you PM me, please? I did do last week ............... guess I'm still messing up the new PM system - will send another in a bit. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Spins4me Posted August 11, 2009 Report Share Posted August 11, 2009 I did do last week ............... guess I'm still messing up the new PM system - will send another in a bit. Think you're still having probs - your last PM was 3rd August. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ranirottie Posted August 11, 2009 Report Share Posted August 11, 2009 I have varifocals and didn't have to get used to them like I did the bifocals. The reading it is at the bottom and you usually look down to read or close work,the normal bit is straight ahead for walking/computer etc and the distance bit is at the top where you normally look if you are looking way ahead. here is no direct division as in bifocals it sort of merges. They are wondeful as far as I am concerned. I hated bi focals and just couldn't get used to the definate division. x Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Spins4me Posted August 11, 2009 Report Share Posted August 11, 2009 I've asked OH about the lenses. He says that they are much better in full light than indoors but even so he struggled with them for quite some time. It's worth persevering with them though as he eventually got used to them. His optician told him that contacts are a compromise between reading glasses and distance glasses so they will never be as good as specs. He suggests that if you don't get used to them after a few days to go back to your optician and tell him/her. He also said that you have to be careful to get them in "round the right way". Not sure that was a lot of help really! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ruthi (borrowadog) Posted August 11, 2009 Report Share Posted August 11, 2009 I took part in the original trials about 12 years ago. Never got very far, I hated having them in my eyes having never worn normal lenses! However I did see the results of the trial and 98% of people failed to get on with them! They are much, much worse than normal lenses to get used to, and much worse than varifocal glasses (which I have worn happily all that time). With varifocal glasses it can take up to 3 weeks to adjust and stop feeling nauseous. With lenses it can take 3 months - hence most people giving up. Ex hubby wears lenses to correct his short-sightedness (which is very severe) and then varifocals as well to deal with the effects of old age. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mrs B Posted August 11, 2009 Author Report Share Posted August 11, 2009 Thanks guys - there's always something helpful. I was wondering tonight whether my general vision was "better than last night" - but I have struggled completely with my PC screen at work today (just as well I have an understanding boss!) Having worn lenses for 31 years, I have that part cracked. And having been with the same optician for 23 years, I have quite some confidence in him. Think there must be different types of lenses (tried looking it up, but am really not up to reading too much on the screen at the mo') as I wasn't told there was a "right way up" (maybe I have concentric ones?) nor to look top, middle and bottom. (Which I've tried, just in case) (Someone did suggest I slid them down my nose last night ....... it didn't help. ) I'm planning on persevering until Friday, and if I don't feel my vision for screen work is improving, I'm going to go visit my optician again. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jacobean Posted August 12, 2009 Report Share Posted August 12, 2009 Know what you mean because you worry you're damaging your eyes if you're not looking correctly. I'm still struggling to focus properly when I'm writing cheques and it really affects both your size and style of writing. Weird really. Cause when you're in work you haven't the time to faff around and if you look up and then down again of course you've lost it! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Katiebob Posted August 14, 2009 Report Share Posted August 14, 2009 (edited) I've got varifocal lenses (and have now had them for 18 months). I HATED them for the first three months at least. My eyes used to water all the time and the lenses used to collect protein deposits so that my vision was cloudy as a result. My optician told me to use the protein tablets on the lenses and, to be honest, after a few more weeks using the protein tablets too, things improved substantially. I now wear them all the time I then managed to lose one and as neither the Optician or I were sure which one I'd lost, my latest prescription is the 'old' prescription so the reading bit isn't that great presently but I'm sure if I went back and got my prescription changed, I'd be able to read perfectly well. It's true that they are a sort of hybrid solution to the problem and will never be efficient as distance lenses and glasses for reading, but I prefer them 99% of the time. NB - you don't have to look through the top or anywhere in particular for them to work, Edited August 14, 2009 by Katiebob Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mrs B Posted August 15, 2009 Author Report Share Posted August 15, 2009 Well, I have a bit of an update. I am not struggling quite as much as I thought ........... tis the lenses that are wrong. On my fourth day of being pretty useless in the office, I went back to my opticians, who tested me with my new lenses ......... and it appears the "reading" prescription is not all that it should be ......... so can be improved. I was asked if I had any problems with my distance vision ........ and I had to say that to be honest, I was struggling so much with reading that I had no idea! Anyway, the unfortunate news is that it could take two weeks for my new lenses to come. And meantime, I need to keep wearing the new multifocals to keep up what I have achieved in using them so far, and swap to my old single focus when I need to do reading work - as in all day at work. And the make up of my lenses is something like alternate rising curves, fading out towards the edges. So no having to focus on a particular part of the lens. I know that anything I use will be a compromise, but I have realised this week when I haven't been able to read properly, just how much of my job entails "unexpected" reading - going into the factory for a chat, and suddenly being given some wordings to look at, going to a "discussion" meeting and paperwork being produced ......... the chances of me always remembering to carry an extra pair of specs around would certainly challenge me! Know what you mean about protein build ups Katiebob - I have a tendency to those, and use the tablets as and when I need them - although this time I've been given a newer version of my solution, which you use for soaking and cleaning - and is supposed to do away with the need for protein tablets. We'll see! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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