Single contact lense for both long AND short sightedness.

[King Herald]

I've seen them advertised on tv in the USA, and they supposedly 'automatically' correct your vision, so even if you wear bifocals, or varifocals, you only need the one type of contact lense.

I find this impossible to believe, as you can't look through different areas of a flamin' contact lense, shirley. Any optometricals optomotom, opthalions opticians here?

[Sheaver1]

Varifocal contact lenses have been around for some years, but they're not very good.

You're better off wearing lenses to correct distance and any astigmatism and have a spare pair of sphere only readers for close-up work.

[TheEnd]

Sheaver1 said:

You're better off wearing lenses to correct distance and any astigmatism

unless you mark an up and a down on contact lenses, that ain't gonna happen.
they'll turn themselves, and mess everything up.

[voyds9]

TheEnd said:

Sheaver1 said:

You're better off wearing lenses to correct distance and any astigmatism

unless you mark an up and a down on contact lenses, that ain't gonna happen.
they'll turn themselves, and mess everything up.

Yes it does happen. They self right through a variety of methods and are quite effective. Contact lenses for astigmatism are called toric and are now even available for daily wear.

[edwardsje]

voyds9 said:

TheEnd said:

Sheaver1 said:

You're better off wearing lenses to correct distance and any astigmatism

unless you mark an up and a down on contact lenses, that ain't gonna happen.
they'll turn themselves, and mess everything up.

Yes it does happen. They self right through a variety of methods and are quite effective. Contact lenses for astigmatism are called toric and are now even available for daily wear.

[fathomfive]

edwardsje said:

voyds9 said:

TheEnd said:

Sheaver1 said:

You're better off wearing lenses to correct distance and any astigmatism

unless you mark an up and a down on contact lenses, that ain't gonna happen.
they'll turn themselves, and mess everything up.

Yes it does happen. They self right through a variety of methods and are quite effective. Contact lenses for astigmatism are called toric and are now even available for daily wear.

Indeed they are. I have some myself for when I'm out on the bike.

[OllieWinchester]

If you are both short sighted and long sighted, aren't you then just well, blind?

[voyds9]

OllieWinchester said:

If you are both short sighted and long sighted, aren't you then just well, blind?

Both short and long sighted refer to the position the image falls relative to the retina.

Astigmatism means the eye is shaped like a rugby ball and focuses at different positions.

Presbyopia (often wrongly referred to as long sighted) is where the close vision gets worse with age.

You can be a mixed astigmat where part of the image falls infront of the retina and part of the image falls behind the retina so you could consider this to long sighted and short sighted at the same time.

[elanfan]

I believe the implants you can get (same surgery as cataract which replaces the lens) has a form of varifocal. I think this comprises concentric circles of long and short sighted prescriptions tailored individually and basically the brain edits out the bits it doesn't need so you see in focus whether viewing close up or distant objects. All getting very clever.

[968]

King Herald said:

I've seen them advertised on tv in the USA, and they supposedly 'automatically' correct your vision, so even if you wear bifocals, or varifocals, you only need the one type of contact lense.

I find this impossible to believe, as you can't look through different areas of a flamin' contact lense, shirley. Any optometricals optomotom, opthalions opticians here?

Yeah these have been available for a while. They work on the same principle as multifocal intraocular lenses, ie, they have concentric designs with different powers in different bits of the lens, arranged in concentric circles. The brain learns to work out how to adjust to look at near and distance objects. In theory. In practice, some people do well with them, and some people do badly. It's quite difficult to predict. With a contact lens, I guess you lose nothing, other than a few hundred quid. I think the jury's out though, about how effectively they can manage presbyopia in the long term, but are quite interesting.

[King Herald]

968 said:

King Herald said:

I've seen them advertised on tv in the USA, and they supposedly 'automatically' correct your vision, so even if you wear bifocals, or varifocals, you only need the one type of contact lense.

I find this impossible to believe, as you can't look through different areas of a flamin' contact lense, shirley. Any optometricals optomotom, opthalions opticians here?

Yeah these have been available for a while. They work on the same principle as multifocal intraocular lenses, ie, they have concentric designs with different powers in different bits of the lens, arranged in concentric circles. The brain learns to work out how to adjust to look at near and distance objects. In theory. In practice, some people do well with them, and some people do badly. It's quite difficult to predict. With a contact lens, I guess you lose nothing, other than a few hundred quid. I think the jury's out though, about how effectively they can manage presbyopia in the long term, but are quite interesting.

So, they sound like a bit of a 'maybe' then? I'll give them a miss until they are a well proven commodity.

[JuniorD]

have you already tried using a near-sight lens in one eye and a far-sight lens in the other? Has this been much hassle or ineffective?

Edited by JuniorD on Sunday 22 February 17:31

[voyds9]

JuniorD said:

have you already tried using a near-sight lens in one eye and a far-sight lens in the other? Has this been much hassle or ineffective?

Edited by JuniorD on Sunday 22 February 17:31

This is my preferred choice for patients who don't want to be bothered with spectacles. It is by no means perfect but is often a good compromise.

[King Herald]

voyds9 said:

JuniorD said:

have you already tried using a near-sight lens in one eye and a far-sight lens in the other? Has this been much hassle or ineffective?

This is my preferred choice for patients who don't want to be bothered with spectacles. It is by no means perfect but is often a good compromise.

I've never tried contacts, but if I knew I could get near perfect vision without the hassles of spectacles, I'd have a go. Having two half-focused eyes wouldn't work for me. I'd get too irritated knowing something was amiss.