Bifocal And Toric Contact Lenses Offer More Options For All Eyes

Two of the most common contact lens prescriptions prescribed for
people today are for the eye conditions of presbyopia and
astigmatism Modern technology has made bifocal and toric
contact lens designs available in both the rigid gas permeable
(RGP) lenses and the soft lenses, offering more options and wear
schedules then ever before
Only a small percentage of people prefer the rigid gas permeable
lenses to the soft contacts The reason being that the RGP
lenses retain their shape over the cornea more successfully than
do the soft lenses, and are said to provide crisper vision to
people with the eye condition astigmatism However the majority
of people prefer the soft lenses as they come in more choices
and take less time to adjust
Presbyopia is a condition that occurs as the eye’s lens
grows older and starts to lose some of its elasticity, which is
needed to switch focus between viewing near and far objects
About one hundred million Americans experience this common eye
condition Presbyopia affects most people between the ages of
forty and fifty, and is a natural part of the aging
process Once presbyopia begins, your vision will continue
to change, so that regular eye exams by your eyecare
practitioner will be a part of life As your eye’s lens looses
more elasticity, the eye will take longer to adjust between
objects, an example being between the road and the speedometer
Bifocal eyeglasses used to be the only option for people with
the condition, but today there are many bifocal contact lenses
in a variety of convenient and comfortable designs
The most obvious sign that you’re developing presbyopia is the
need to hold any reading material, like the newspaper or a book,
further away from you eyes in order focus and see clearly
The way bifocal contact lenses work is very similar to bifocal
eyeglasses The contacts have two separate powers on one lens;
one to correct distance vision and the other to correct near
vision if this is the prescription that is needed There are a
couple of different design options for the bifocal lenses One
of the designs works similar to how the bifocal eyeglasses work
with two obvious prescriptions separated with a line (the
distance vision on the top and the near vision at the bottom)
The other design works somewhat like a progressive eyeglass
lens, having the two different prescriptive powers blended on
different parts of the lens, forcing your eyes to learn to
differentiate the correct power for the correct distance
The wonderful thing about bifocal contact lenses is the
convenience they offer Contact lenses are so thinly
designed that the wearer doesn’t even know they are there
Contact lenses eliminate the barriers that eyeglasses provide
with the line of vision from below, above and the sides of the
eyes, allowing for great peripheral vision with the hassle and
image distortion sometimes cause by bifocal eyeglasses
There are three different designs for the bifocal contact
lenses, concentric, simultaneous and alternating vision The
concentric designed lenses have one power centered in the lens
and the other surrounding it, for example the distance power may
be in the center of the lens with the near power surrounding it,
or the other way around The simultaneous vision lenses contain
both the near and distance prescriptions centered on the pupil,
your eyes learn to adjust to the proper power depending on what
your looking and focusing on Lastly the alternating vision
works similar to the bifocal lenses separated by a line with one
power at the top of the lens and the other power at the bottom
There are people who have difficulty adjusting to the bifocal
contact lenses and for this reason they may not be the lenses
for some people It does take time for the eye to adjust to the
two different powers within the lenses, with exactly how much
time to adjust varying from person to person It’s important not
to give up right away and give the lenses a chance, as some
people take longer than others to get used to the lenses
If however you are unable to see clearly with the lenses, your
eyecare practitioner may recommend the monovision lenses With
these particular lenses, one contact is worn with one power to
correct the distance vision with the other lens correcting the
near vision Some people adapt to these lenses immediately If
having to wear bifocal lenses for the first time and your
concerned about what will work best, your eyecare practitioner
may have some free-trial programs in place allowing you to try
out different lenses before deciding on a particular pair
Astigmatism is the most common of vision problems, and
may be accompanied by nearsightedness (hyperopia) or
farsightedness (myopia) The cause of astigmatism is an
irregularly shaped cornea, which can be corrected with toric
contact lenses Until recently soft contact lenses were not
available for astigmatism correction, but fortunately toric
contact lenses are now made in disposable, frequent replacement,
multifocal and colored lenses (there may be some complex
prescriptions that are not available in the soft lenses) Toric
contact lenses come in both soft and rigid gas permeable (RGP)
designs
Toric lenses are created with two powers in them, one for
astigmatism and the other for myopia or hyperopia Toric lenses
contain a ballast system (bottom of lens is thicker), which
keeps the contact in one position The cost of toric contact
lenses is more expensive than regular contact lenses, as the
fitting procedure for torics is more extensive; the lenses are
also more expensive than regular lenses
Toric contact lenses come in many options, your eyecare
practitioner will help you select the lenses with the best
compatibility for your specific eyes Multifocal toric contacts
offer correction for presbyopia and astigmatism; these lenses
are available in soft and RGP varieties, the rigid gas permeable
lenses being the recommended of the two
Contact lenses are a convenient and healthy way to treat your
eye vision problems Both presbyopia and astigmatism
correction can be easily achieved with a small adjustment
period, without the inconvenience of eyeglasses A visit to
your eyecare practitioner can assist you with the lens choice
and replacement schedule best suited for you

Tags | astigmatism, condition, conditions, distance, elasticity, eyeglasses, gas, lens, lenses, material, objects, permeable, reading, result, speedometer