Monovision contacts?

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Kennedy
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Monovision contacts?

Post by Kennedy »

I'm not looking for specific medical advice. I just want to know people's general experience with monovision contacts. As explained to me by my eye doctor, he would give me one contact for distance and the other contact lens for reading.

I had dismissed his suggestion previously, but I had an odd experience today that is making me consider trying it. Because of a strange turn of events, mostly distraction, I ended up inserting a lower-powered contact on top of my regular contact lens. I did not realize right away that I was wearing two contact lenses in one eye, but it occurred to me that I could now read my computer screen without my reading glasses.

Although it was a little "off," I could see distance with the normal contact in one eye and close-up with the other eye that had the layered two contacts. Made me realize that monovision might work for me.

Any experiences with monovision?
mpnret
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Re: Monovision contacts?

Post by mpnret »

Both my wife and I have been doing monovision contacts for over 10 years now. Works great. I previously considered Lasik but most of my friends who have it require reading glasses. I consider monovision better.
sbaywriter
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Re: Monovision contacts?

Post by sbaywriter »

I liked them. I got used to them quickly and found they worked fine in most cases - not perfect but good enough. I used glasses over contacts while working at the computer for long stretches of time. Otherwise I could do without. Until eventually I had to return to glasses because eyes got too dry for contacts.

Some people can't adjust to monovision, others adjust easily. One reason you might want to try out monovision contacts is that most people get cataracts (I think - at least most near sighted people like me do) and one of the choices with cataract lenses is monovision lenses. So if you have earlier been successful with monovision contact lenses, you will know that is an option with cataract lens replacement - you can't "try out" cataract lenses the way you can contacts..
gutterman
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Re: Monovision contacts?

Post by gutterman »

I have been wearing mono vision contacts for about seven years. It is so much better than having to put on reading glasses to read. That said, it took me some time to get accustomed to them. You will be able to read fine print without reading glasses, but you will sacrifice come crystal clear distance vision.
I can see the difference when I take my contacts out and put on my non-bifocal glasses. I see distance crystal clear but cannot read anything
Ping Pong
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Re: Monovision contacts?

Post by Ping Pong »

Does anyone do the same thing with glasses? I guess glass wearers have bifocals as an option but I think I might prefer monovision glasses.
JOEVANDAL
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Re: Monovision contacts?

Post by JOEVANDAL »

I have been doing mono vision for almost 20 years. I am almost to the end of it working as I age, but it has worked well for me.
Some people can do it and others cannot. A neighbor tried it and she (her brain) wouldn't adjust. My eye doc says about 20% of people utilize mono vision successfully.
Give it a shot. Better than readers or bifocals.
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Shackleton
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Re: Monovision contacts?

Post by Shackleton »

I tried it and hated it. Couldn’t adjust. It also messed up my depth perception which is very important to me as I do a lot of technical mountain biking and need to judge distance and height to minimize how often I [tumble -- mod oldcomputerguy].
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CyclingDuo
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Re: Monovision contacts?

Post by CyclingDuo »

Kennedy wrote: Mon Dec 02, 2019 5:21 pm I'm not looking for specific medical advice. I just want to know people's general experience with monovision contacts. As explained to me by my eye doctor, he would give me one contact for distance and the other contact lens for reading.

I had dismissed his suggestion previously, but I had an odd experience today that is making me consider trying it. Because of a strange turn of events, mostly distraction, I ended up inserting a lower-powered contact on top of my regular contact lens. I did not realize right away that I was wearing two contact lenses in one eye, but it occurred to me that I could now read my computer screen without my reading glasses.

Although it was a little "off," I could see distance with the normal contact in one eye and close-up with the other eye that had the layered two contacts. Made me realize that monovision might work for me.

Any experiences with monovision?
Started doing it years ago at the suggestion of my eye doctor. I was always fumbling around looking for my reading glasses to play music at the piano for work, and at home I seemed to always misplace my reading glasses. Switching to monovision got rid of my need for any reading glasses (and the need to figure out where I left them). There is an adjustment period in the beginning, but I'm so many years into it at this point it feels natural.
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JOEVANDAL
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Re: Monovision contacts?

Post by JOEVANDAL »

One caution. Do not try to play baseball with mono vision.
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CULater
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Re: Monovision contacts?

Post by CULater »

I decided on monovision cataract surgery and have been happy with the results. Don't need glasses for closeup at all. You don't want the difference to be too great between the distance eye and the weak eye, and the distance eye should be your dominant eye. I wasn't a contact wearer but did try out monovision contacts briefly prior to deciding on the cataract surgery to see if I could tolerate it.
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milo minderbinder
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Re: Monovision contacts?

Post by milo minderbinder »

I have had natural monovision for about 30 years. Works great. (And I can play baseball.)
mpnret
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Re: Monovision contacts?

Post by mpnret »

JOEVANDAL wrote: Mon Dec 02, 2019 10:42 pm One caution. Do not try to play baseball with mono vision.
I did and never noticed an issue.
theplayer11
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Re: Monovision contacts?

Post by theplayer11 »

why not bifocal contacts?
anoop
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Re: Monovision contacts?

Post by anoop »

Ping Pong wrote: Mon Dec 02, 2019 9:23 pm Does anyone do the same thing with glasses? I guess glass wearers have bifocals as an option but I think I might prefer monovision glasses.
It is harder to implement with glasses because the further away from the eye that the lens is, the bigger the difference in image size and reconciling that tends to cause headaches and in some cases double vision.
suemarkp
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Re: Monovision contacts?

Post by suemarkp »

I have been doing monovision for a long time, probably 15 years. Works great although depth perception is harder. You can work at it though. The only issue I have now is the dead zone. That is the distance that is too far for the near eye to focus and too close for the far eye to focus. This gets worse with age or as your eyes get worse. If you are lucky, you won't have a dead zone and both eyes will focus at that distance. For me that dead zone is around 24 to 30 inches -- just where you want to focus when looking over someone's shoulder at a screen. I just avoid that. But if I was a teacher or needed to do that often I would need a different solution. It can also be moved but you give up near focus. I need to look at my watch very often for time and date so real close needs to be sharp for me.
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Artful Dodger
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Re: Monovision contacts?

Post by Artful Dodger »

I'm 65 now, have been wearing contacts for 40 years.

Around age 45, reading vision was suffering, so went to monovision. I had no problems, and was fine for 10-12 years, then reading vision declined again. I kept monovision, and added bifocal. This worked well for 5-8 years.

I now will use low power readers mostly when in front of a computer or book/magazine reading. I'm still fine for short term reading if the print isn't too small or in darker light (restaurant menus).

So, for me, it's worked fine, but there was still a slow degradation in reading vision over time.
Last edited by Artful Dodger on Tue Dec 03, 2019 3:30 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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climber2020
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Re: Monovision contacts?

Post by climber2020 »

Ping Pong wrote: Mon Dec 02, 2019 9:23 pm Does anyone do the same thing with glasses? I guess glass wearers have bifocals as an option but I think I might prefer monovision glasses.
Doesn't work for most people. Since the glasses sit over a centimeter away from the surface of your eyeball (in contrast to contacts which sit directly on the cornea), having lenses of two significantly different powers causes aniseikonia.
theplayer11 wrote: Tue Dec 03, 2019 1:01 pm why not bifocal contacts?
Some people's brains don't adapt to these well.
Last edited by climber2020 on Wed Dec 04, 2019 6:17 am, edited 1 time in total.
EvanRude
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Re: Monovision contacts?

Post by EvanRude »

Had monovision contacts for years which really worked well for me. When replacing cataracts in both eyes over a couple of years the Doctor "installed" monovision lenses - as it so happened distance first, then close. Nice not having to mess with contacts every day. Don't use reading glasses.

The only problem I ever had was on a plane at the gate. I turned to look out the window. My distance eye was looking at the inside plane wall and my close eye was looking out the window. My vision was extremely blurry, which was very disconcerting until I leaned 1-2 inches forward to have the distance eye look out the window as well!
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Jazztonight
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Re: Monovision contacts?

Post by Jazztonight »

Quick answers re Monovision questions. (Disclosure: I was an optometrist for 37 years; I'm now retired.)

Monovision works for those for whom it works! You won't know if it will work for you unless and until you try it. It generally works for those who have worn contacts before, but my experience is that when fit by a good practitioner, you can be successful.

Monovision generally does not work with glasses. This is because the glasses sit a certain distance from the corneal plane, and this causes optical issues with your brain, whereas contacts sit right on the cornea. It's an optical thing. That said, some people can wear glasses and get away with anything because of their tolerance to blur and/or aberrations, pupil size, etc. You never know. I've seen some bizarre situations.

Bifocal contacts work for some people. I didn't like fitting them because the percentage of successful fits was relatively low and the cost of the contacts was higher. I fit many patients with monovision contacts, and wore contacts myself in this manner.

Final piece of advice: When it's time for us seniors to undergo our cataract procedures, often the practitioner will offer a monovision option. My wife has done this successfully, and is very happy. Not everyone will be. Often you'll have an eyeglass prescription that will help in situations where you want to use both eyes for either distance or reading ("to even things up").

Trust your practitioner--they generally know more than you do.

Good luck!
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peetsperk
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Re: Monovision contacts?

Post by peetsperk »

So glad my eye doctor recommended I try monovision approximately 10 years ago. I adjusted to it almost immediately. I wear one contact in my left eye for driving and nothing in my right eye for reading. Never think about it. A perfect solution for me. Best of luck to you.
investingdad
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Re: Monovision contacts?

Post by investingdad »

Is this akin to leaving one contact out?

I'm horribly near sighted, but to see up close my contacts must be out. Up close as in 4 or 5 inches or less.

I discovered with just one lens in, preferably my right eye, I could function really well. Not perfect, but pretty good.
scifilover
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Re: Monovision contacts?

Post by scifilover »

Have been wearing mono vision contacts for 30 years. I hate glasses. During last exam, lenses were changed to deal with astigmatism, but still mono. There is an adaptation period during which you wear the lenses for increasing periods to get used to how they feel. Vision with the lenses isn't perfect. But anytime you are doing something where you need to switch frequently between reading and distance, you notice how much easier it is to see up close.....
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oldcomputerguy
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Re: Monovision contacts?

Post by oldcomputerguy »

Some of the replies in this topic are tending toward medical advice. Please keep the topic focused on your personal experiences with the product.
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JOEVANDAL
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Re: Monovision contacts?

Post by JOEVANDAL »

mpnret wrote: Tue Dec 03, 2019 12:53 pm
JOEVANDAL wrote: Mon Dec 02, 2019 10:42 pm One caution. Do not try to play baseball with mono vision.
I did and never noticed an issue.
Maybe the difference of my distance vs close vision contacts is greater than yours. When playing catch with my mono vision contacts in, I have to look the ball all the way into my glove. If I don't, I will literally miss the ball and it won't even make contact with the glove. Same thing happens when trying to put the bat on the ball. In fact with mono vision, I have trouble making any contact whatsoever. I was a decent H.S. baseball player and for me, I consider it dangerous to play catch with mono vision. If I do, I am jeopardizing my already not so good looking face. :)
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