Contact Lenses For Presbyopia

The term, “presbyopia“ literally means “old eye”. It gets its name from the fact that it is a fairly common problem amongst people over the age of 45.

As presbyopia is a natural part of the aging process it is not classed as an eye disease. Instead it is caused by loss of elasticity in the eye’s lens which makes it difficult to focus on objects close to one’s face.

There are two main types of contact lenses designed to treat presbyopia. These are varifocal contact lenses and monovision.

In this article we shall discuss how contact lenses for presbyopia work.

Presbyopia can be easily diagnosed by an optometrist during a routine eye exam. If presbyopia is detected during an examination, your optometrist can prescribe specially designed contact lenses to help correct it.

Bifocal contact lenses incorporate two powers; one corrects long vision and the other corrects short sightedness. Sometimes these powers are blended together or alternatively they can be separated.

Varifocal contact lenses for presbyopia are available as soft lenses or gas permeable lenses. You can also buy daily wear and extended wear varifocal lenses.

Varifocal contact lenses might be a good way for you to correct your presbyopia if you have naturally moist eyes. They might also be suitable if you have visual acuity in both eyes, are able to focus both eyes simultaneously and no disease in your eyelids.

Monovision is an alternative to using varifocal contact lenses for presbyopia. With monovision you wear one contact lens in one eye to correct long vision and another contact lens in the other eye to correct short vision. The lens that corrects long vision tends to be worn in your dominant eye.

Although this might sound odd, most people adapt quickly to monovision contact lenses. After a while they forget that each eye helps them see in a different way.

The disadvantage of using monovision contact lenses to correct your presbyopia is that you cannot use your two eyes together. As a result, you might find that you have to move your head around more to see. You can also lose some depth perception.

On the other hand, monovision is a less expensive option than using varifocal contact lenses for presbyopia.

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