Need advice trying to wear contacts

**swopedl** · 04-22-2003, 05:25 PM

I am 45 years old and have never wore contacts. My prescription reads D.V. O.D. -0.75 +0.75 AXIS 90
O.S. plano +0.25 AXIS 75

N.V. O.D. +1.50
O.S. +1.50

I have been to the lens office 3 times and it went as follows: gave me a trial pair of Focus Progressives and watched me put them in, take them out and put them back in. I told them that I could not see out of them and it had been about 15 minutes that they had been in. Vison much worse than with nothing. Told me to give it a few days and call. Waited two days and called, was told to come in next afternoon they would have different contacts for me. I went in and they just handed me two trials of Focus Progressives that say 2.00 on them. I asked if I needed to try them on there and was told no, give them a couple of days and if not better call us. I went back this past Monday and told them" My distant vison is terrible and my close up is bad". She told me to try taking the right lens out and to just wear the left lens! Told to call back if after a few days I was not seeing better. I tried it all day yesterday and today. I now have a headache and still do not see well. Is there a contact lens that would possibly work for me. I want crisp clear vison . My vison is obviously not terrible but I work on a computer a lot and my favorite hobby is reading....both which are hard to do now. If not in extremly bright light it is very hard for me to see and due to strain am having daily headaches.I obviously will be going to a different office to be fitted. I just lack any knowledge in this area and would like some suggestions on lenses and to be told what I should expect from someone that is fitting me. Sorry so long but tired of not seeing and at end of my rope.
Thank you in advance for any help,
Debbie
swopedl@earthlink.net

**Adam Simmonds** · 04-22-2003, 05:49 PM

Don't drive yourself nuts with contact lenses. According to your prescription, your general eyesight should be perfect, so you only need a correction for closework. Glasses would be a far better solution for you.

Get a decent pair of shallow frames that you can easily look over the top of. (To have the same functionality as half-eyes but without looking ageing).

**chip anderson** · 04-22-2003, 06:52 PM

Strange as it may seem people with very little precription for distance as you have almost always fail to be happy with any type of contact. People wih your situation are probably in the 99.5% failure rate. The more you need correction for distance the more likely you are to be pleased with contacts.

Also most people that have reached the age where they need a bifocal before trying contact lenses at all, usually find them to me be more trouble than they are going to put up with. Patient's who are wearing contacts from an early age and then develop a need for bifocals will probably succeed with contacts, but those who didn't bother with them before age 40 wiith few exceptions will fail. The person who sold them to you if he was honest should have told you this up front before you started.

Chip

**Stopper** · 04-22-2003, 08:27 PM

I agree. You are not a great candidate for multifocal contact lenses. I fit them alot and have good success but I am very selective about who I will fit. I would have discouraged you from trying but if you were really motivated and truly understood your chances for success, I would have attemped it. All that said, some of my happiest patients are the ones I told were not good candidates. I guess they wanted to prove me wrong. I don't mind being wrong. Motivation is the key. How badly do you not want to wear reading glasses and what are you willing to give up. Everything from this point is going to be a little bit of a compromise.

Doesn't sound like your doc as much experience withthese lenses.
Recently I have had great success with B&L's soflens multifocal.

I would start with fitting both lenses with the understanding that the best option may be one lens in the right eye. That may be a multifocal or a spherical lenses. (both are a compromise) It is a process and you have to go through it in a logical progression and this different for each patient. I actually spend more time talking to these patients that anything.
Good luck and let us know how this turns out or if you have more questions.

**Dannyboy** · 04-27-2003, 08:03 AM

Monovision could be your answer as long as you understand that you will see blurry out of one eye for distance and the other blurry at near. But both eyes working together should give you good vision.You may want to try modified monovision in which your non dominant eye is fitted with a multifocal lens and the other eye would be left alone. If you do, your distance vision wont be as blurry and you may actually see better at intermediate range. May work but in general in such low prescription there is always a compromise. If you manage to try this also let the fitter give you an Rx for eyeglasses that will compensate for night driving. The lifestyle company makes some lenses called MV2 that could work for you. The one lens is a bifocal with distance vision and the bifocal set for intermediate. The other lens is set for near vision and the bifocal set for intermediate. This way you will see at all ranges of vision. Sorry if your now more confused.

Anyway you sliced it it will be a compromise with glasses.

good luck

Dannyboy

**chip anderson** · 04-27-2003, 10:50 PM

Danny:

Don't you see it. The patiend doesn't see because she has cylinder and little else at distance. She is doomed in soft bifocal lenses and no amount of asphericity or Rx juggling or monovision or Voodoo is goint help an early presybyope with this distance situation. She just sees too well with nothing or spectacles.

Chip

**Dannyboy** · 04-28-2003, 08:26 PM

As you pointed out she does not need distance correction but certainly the near vision could get some improvement. Monovision although not perfect would provide her some near vision. The disociation(big word to spell ) is not that much and she should easily tolerate it. I am not sure if she is unhappy with her distance vision. Monovision would have been a better option in the very beginning dont you think so? The focus progressives in such low distance Rxs most likely would fail. Also another problem she may have is that darn computer use maybe not giving her the full 1.5 but a +1 would allow her to see the monitor better and the key board. She may have to read a little further but is manageable.

Another problem is her blinking rate while at the computer..

Now if she is an accountant then it changes all this in BS. Would then suggest readers.

All that benefit and with only one contact lens. Half the price !! Would fool some dates wondering why she does not need readers!

I am sure she is in her early forties and full of life, torn apart with disgraceful eye aging and interest in keeping her youth just a little bit more, so I am sure she would concede to the minor inconvenience of monovision.

Now it is entirely possible that I did not fully read the post and I am just blabing away in the wrong direction in that case sorry and promise to keep my keys to myself!

Dannyboy

:hammer:

**chip anderson** · 04-28-2003, 10:13 PM

How do you measure success in your contact lens fittings?

If your criteria is was the fee paid, you could have succes with this patient.

If your criteria is: Did the patient wear the lenses for years on end, in good eye health, with vision that kept her happy, then this patiient is doomed to failure.

Chip:hammer:

**mullo** · 04-29-2003, 08:42 AM

I would stay away from contact lenses. May get the O.D. to improve, wearing one toric lens......but the distance v/a is probably fine without anything.......I have a similar distance Rx in both eyes and nothing helps me really.......I see where Dannyboy is going with it....O.D. toric distance Rx and O.S. sph near Rx......as long as O.D. is dominant eye......but agree with Chip that high probability that C/L are a waste of time for this Rx.......just my 2 cents......Mullo

**Zeli** · 05-15-2003, 06:05 AM

My eyeglass prescription is:

Plano +1.75 axis 50
Plano +1.75 axis 90

I want to get soft contacts, but I have been told by two different eye doctors, both considered reputable, that plano toric lenses just don't work well.

As one doctor stated concerning a similar prescription: "Your prescription is basically all astigmatism which means with soft toric lenses, everytime you blink, move your eyes side to side, or react with quick eye movements, your vision will fluctuate intermittently, blurring in and out.. It's like taking your glasses and rotating them up/down and side/side and trying to function. Gas permeable contacts don't have that problem because the lens can rotate and your vision will stay stable. The big downside to gas permeable lenses is they are not comfortable initially, but if you want to have clear, stable vision, they are your only true choice."

On the other hand, A large volume dispenser claimed that he sells many, many soft toric lens that are Plano.

Who is right?

**chip anderson** · 05-15-2003, 06:52 AM

Both: But 90%+ of Plano/whatever cylinder Rx's won't put up with HGP lenses no matter how well they see. Percentage of successfull (full time wear for years+) of success with Plano soft is low too.

Chip

**Stopper** · 05-16-2003, 09:18 PM

The fit can be done with soft lenses. It may take some time and effort but it can be done. sounds like the doc doesn't want to put the effort in. find another doc. You may not be an ideal candidate but if your motivation is high I don't see why you shouldn't be given a chance. You may not be happy with the results or think that it improves your vision a hole lot to make it worth the effort but you just might think it is the greatest thing you ever did. Gotta try it to find out the answer. If you are motivated and don't mind paying for the exam, I don't see what the hold up is.

**Stopper** · 05-16-2003, 09:23 PM

Also if you convert your rx to minus cyl form your rx is
OD +1.75-1.75x140 and OS + 1.75-1.75x 180.

So you are not really needing a plano toric lenses.
What is your age?

**Zeli** · 05-20-2003, 11:39 AM

37 year old. Oops, made a mistake on the prescription.
Correct prescription is Plano -1.75 in both eyes.

**abbysax** · 07-20-2003, 08:34 PM

Helllllo Professionals!

I see you've given great attention to a couple of posters. Could you please recommend contact lenses that you've had success with for someone like me?!

45 years old
high myopia, -10 in each eye (don't know other specifics)
have worn contacts for 20 years
have presbyopia
love daily disposables for convenience

ALAS, this year my disposables became unwearable for more than a few hours at the time because they are SO DRY and uncomfortable. Also, my eyesight with them is poor in terms of reading anything such as a menu. Until I found this forum, I assumed age had gotten the best of me. I've been wearing my THICK glasses for months and feeling pitiful - okay, ugly.

Just moved to Reston VA and need to find an eyecare professional who specializes in custom contacts or whatever I need and don't know how to begin to evaluate the 40 who are in the phone book. At the least, it would be GREAT to walk in somewhere with a suggestion or two about possible lenses.

Thanks y'all -- Abby

**Susan Henault** · 07-22-2003, 08:25 AM

swopedl & abbysax:

Once we get to the point of needing help at near, there are many options (as demonstrated by the responses in this thread), but none of them -- NONE of them will actually give us back the vision we once enjoyed at all distances (obtained with or without correction for distance vision, as in abby's case).

It sounds like you both could benefit from a pair of glasses that are just for near and midrange (computer, room distance etc.). There are various brands out there (one of which is made my my employer) that work very well. "Near, variable focus lenses" are better than "reading" glasses because they provide a generous reading area, excellent clarity at midrange (such as computer distance) and depending on the brand, may very well allow you to see across the room too. This means you would NOT have to wear them down on your nose (like half-eye readers)!

Some specific brand names include the Shamir Office, Zeiss Gradal RD and the Sola Access. There are other brands available, but these three are quite popular among offices that successfully fit this type of lens. Abby, you'd probably need to wear a lens like this over your contacts (assuming you get back into them in the future), as most lenses of this type are not available in your full prescription.

These spectacle lenses are not designed or recommended for full time wear, but are very functional in a close working environment, such as an office. They are a WONDERFUL alternative to readers, bifocals and even progressive lenses -- especially if you spend a lot of time using a computer.