Bifocal Contact Lenses

For years, people have been seen (so to speak) wearing bifocal eyeglasses.  Bifocal glasses have been very helpful to people who have some rather significant vision problems.  In recent years, bifocal contact lenses have become commonly used by peopel with certain types of vision problems.

Through this article you will be provided with some basic information about bifocal contact lenses.  If after reading this article you believe that bifocal contact lenses are right for you, you should consult with your eye care professional to determine whether or not you should be fitted with bifocal contact lenses.

Who Should Get Bifocal Contact Lenses

Bifocal contact lenses are designed for people who have a condition called presbyopia. The key to realizing that you have this condition is that sign that you need to hold reading material, like a menu or newspaper or book, farther from your eyes to see it clearly than you did previously.  Bifocal contact lenses are available in both soft and rigid gas permeable materials.  Some can be long lasting lenses and others can be worn on a disposable basis. This means you throw the lenses out at specified intervals, sometimes daily and replace them with new lenses. 

Bifocal Contact Lenses Versus More Traditional Contact Lenses

Bifocal contacts lenses are different from regular lenses because they have two prescriptions in the same lens.  They actually have a range of powers in each lens. There are two different types. 

Translating Contact Lenses

One of these is translating lenses. Your pupil alternates between the two powers, as your gaze shifts upward or downward. The other type is called simultaneous vision lenses, which require your eye to be looking through both distance and near powers at the same time.  This does not seem like it would work but it does because your eyes learn to select the correct power choice depending on how far or how close you are trying to see.

Translating bifocals are very much like bifocal glasses. They have an obvious line of separation between the distance correction on top and the near correction below. Your pupil looks through either one or the other, depending on whether you're looking far or near. This works because the lenses stay in place even as your eye moves.  Most translating bifocals are gas permeable lenses but are smaller in diameter than and they ride on your eye above your lower eyelid.  With translating bifocal lenses, when you look downward, the lens stays in place so that you actually see through the lower area of the lens.

Simultaneous Contact Lenses

Simultaneous lenses are concentric lenses.  They usually have the distance power in the center especially with soft bifocal contact lenses. The concentric rings around the outside will have a different prescription.  Although some multi-focal designs are center-near on your dominant eye but center-distance on your non-dominant eye, your eye care specialist will advise you as to what best suits your particular situation.

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