Life before Acuvue – Do you hate wearing glasses? I do. I have an eye condition called Presbyopia, which just means that I can not see well up close. I wear glasses with an all distance lens, which, to say the least, can be a challenge. If I am lying in the recliner watching TV, I have to move my glasses down my nose so I can see what is happening on the screen.
Every time I have gone to the eye doctor for glasses I have brought up the subject of my no-line bifocals not being a good fit for me. I just don’t like glasses period. Every time I bring up the subjects of bifocal or multifocal contact lenses and the doctor tries to talk me out of it. I always use the Wal-Mart Vision Center, and last year the doctor talked me into a pair of toric lenses that were each specific to up close and distance. The left lens was for up close and the right lens was for distance. Let me tell you, you are either going to love them or hate them. It took a bit of getting used to but I learned to wear them. When I was reading I could read the fine print and when I looked my eyes adjusted. However I could not drive at night. The first time I was out at night driving I was scared out of my mind. When cars came at me with their headlights, I was blinded. All I saw was huge yellow and green halos. I tried blinking to clear my eyes, but it didn’t help. I had to pull over and take them out and put on my glasses in order to see well enough to get home.
Life after Acuvue – The next time I went to get my eyes checked was 6 weeks ago. I insisted the doctor order me what I wanted all the time. I asked for a bifocal lens. I told him I saw a lot of good things written about the Acuvue lens. I told him if he didn’t want to give me what I am asking for I can go to another doctor. Well, he examined me with the machine and took all the measurements of my eyes and fit me with the prescription. He said it may be tricky to get used to them, and I may have the same problem as with the other lenses I had.
When the lenses arrived I was called back to the eye doctor. I put them in and I was amazed that I could see the smallest letters on the eye chart. Prior to putting them in the doctor showed me how to always check that the lens is right side out. When you hold the lens on the tip of your finger and look at it from the side you will see a “1 2 3”, if the lenses are inside out you will see the letters in reverse. Contacts come in tinted colors, mine are blue. The tint is mainly so that you can see your lens in the contact case and when it is on your finger. If they were totally clear, they would be much harder to see, especially when you drop one. I have dropped contacts before and never found them again.
It took me just about a week to totally get used to the Acuvue bifocal contacts. These are the best contact lenses I have ever worn. Not only can I see up close, but I can see far away also just as clearly. There are different kinds of bifocal lenses and multifocal lenses. My contact lenses are Translating bifocal contact lenses. They are divided into two power segments, and the top is for distance and the bottom is for near. It is really neat how they work. They don’t spin on your eyes when you blink like other contacts do, because they are designed with a flat edge on the bottom. They are round except flat at the bottom.
It is awesome how they work. My eyes automatically adjust to the correct segment. When I am reading I can read, and when I look away, my eyes adjust. The pupils of my eyes know what to do. I cannot explain how it works exactly; I just know I can see. I can now drive at night and do not see the great big halos that I did before. I can see better than I ever could with glasses.
My lenses have UV protection. Acuvue has been adding UV protection since 1997, and they block approximately 82 percent of UV-A and 97 percent to UV-B. Even though all their lenses have UV protection, you still must wear protective eye wear when you go out into the sun. I am a bit photophobic, and I am just comfortable with sunglasses on when I go out into the bright sun.
You can have your lenses sent to your home or to your eye doctor’s office. The full price for the disposable contacts is about $160 for a 6 month supply, and about $320 for a year’s supply. You can get Acuvue contact lenses in daily, weekly, or monthly disposables, or you can get them in toric (rigid) gas permeable form. You can order them yourself or let the professionals do it for you.
Acuvue makes all different kinds of lenses. There are different types of lenses for Presbyopia, astigmatism, and other problems of the eye. See your eye care professional and ask which lens would be good for you. I strongly recommend the Acuvue contact lens, and if you haven’t tried them, I suggest you do. If you have another brand of lens, and you are not satisfied, I recommend you try this lens.
Sources:
http://www.acuvue.com/acuvue_bifocal.htm
http://www.allaboutvision.com/contacts/bifocals.htm
