How Do Multifocal Contact Lenses Work?
You recently turned 43, and you have been a contact lens wearer since you were 20. However, reading has been a struggle lately, and you need it fixed. What are your options? Thankfully, contact lens technology can help you see not only far away, but also up close with the use of multifocal contact lenses. Let’s look at a few different ways these lenses work:
Concentric Circle Design:
Here, you’re reading prescriptions in the center of the lens, followed by your intermediate distance prescription, and then the distance prescription in the outer circle. Because pupil size becomes smaller when reading and expands when looking at an object far away, this desing generally works well. Some lenses are designed with the distance in the center, then intermediate, and finally near in the outer circle. This design is useful for those who have a greater distance vision demand.
Aspheric Design:
In an aspheric lens, the prescription changes as a result of the change in the curvature of the lens. This design works more like a no-line, progressive lens you find in glasses, and is a common gas-permeable multifocal contact lens design.
Monovision:
Depending on your prescription, you may need to try something else. Monovision is a term used to describe using a single vision contact lens with your distance prescription on one eye and using another single vision lens with your near prescription on the other eye. When the two eyes work together, you are able to appreciate both far away and up-close objects.
There are a number of options a contact lens wearer can try in order to help correct distance, intermediate, and near vision. Let your eye care speialist help you determine which method will work best for you.