Are there any alternatives to bifocal contact lenses?
Yes. There are two alternatives. The first is to simply purchase a pair of reading glasses for over your contact lenses. When you look up from your reading, you will however have to remove the glasses to see far away because reading glasses are only focused for near. Many patients will select a bifocal spectacle lens (either with the line or blended), to allow them to look up from their reading and still be able to see clearly into the distance without removing their glasses. The next option you have is to be fitted into “Monovision” contact lenses. Here, standard contact lenses, many times identical to the lenses you are currently wearing, are fitted to correct one eye for distance vision, and the other eye for near vision. In actuality, as strange as this sounds, there is an 80 to 90% success rate with the adaptation to this system. We do caution our patients that there may be a compromise in their vision, and they should test their acceptance “slowly,” but again, the vast majority o
