Multi-focus not working out

Ready to throw in the towell. Maybe someone here can offer a pathway
through this that I haven't seen, as of yet.

I got my 1st set of B&L SofLens Multi-vision lenses 6 wks. ago. Had
good near and far (not perfect, but good) vision for an hour after
which it deterioriated over the next few hours to mediocre (not
terrible, but can't read license plates, difficult to see computer &
book text). There was no improvement after 2 wks., so had a 2nd set
provided. Same reaction, i.e., good vision for the first hour and
deterioration to mediocre after that. After 2 wks. I had a 3rd.
correction provided and had the exact same experience; after the first
hour the vision fell to mediocre. Interestingly, every morning starts
with better than mediocre vision and then deterioriates over the next 6
hours to just passable, i.e., moderately blurry with medium or greater
lens awareness at the end of this 6 hour period.

All through this process I had light to the occassional extreme burning
in my eyes, which, after 6 irritating weeks my doc finally changed my
solution from an "all-in-one" to Ciba's Clear Care. The stinging is
down to 10% of what it had been. I now have from zero to medium lens
awareness. Changing the solution has increased the comfort, but , after
5 days, has not affected the quality of the vision. Note: I had worn
hard contacts for 40 years, so I'm not new at this.

My doc says my expectations may be too high; I say that I probably
shouldn't be driving - and I'm serious. Reading license plates is out
of the question and reading freeway exit signs is hard until they're
right up there.

I'm losing confidence in my doc for the reasons referred to above
(incorrect solution for 6 wks.; expectations suggestion; no vision
improvement -at all - after 3 sets; doesn't seem to have a coherent
plan; and so on,

I need to take action and would like to hear some serious suggestions
on what to do next. Thanks for reading this very long note.

mick

 

Everyone is different, I can't offer you a "pathway" but I am using the
B&L SofLens Multifocals succesfully for two years. It took some trial
and error to get the right prescription. Several sets of trial lenses.
And you certainly should not have any stinging at all. Never had any
stinging.

If you don't have confidence in your doc switch to another one.

 

If you have doubts about your doc then switch. Some are
better than others some you just get along with better than
others.

I initially went to a doc considering contacts.
He tried accuvue multifocals. I didn't like them
and we kept trying a different script. Vision was
lousy and it seems my brain doesn't do well with
multifocals. I kept suggesting RGPs but he always
responded with "you don't want those". He finally
said, more or less, that we were done and that
90% of contact wearers would be happy with my
vision. I very much got the impression that it was
the $300 in-and-out treatment and I'd used up
the allotted time.

Different doc tried a couple of different soft contact
solutions just for a baseline knowing that I was interested
in RGPs. Then we moved on to the RGPs and more
than a dozen visits and half that many trials later I'm
really thrilled with the translating trifocals I have. What
a difference! The doc really worked with me, listened
to what I had to say, got to know my preferences,
expectations, and worked through fitting solutions
and products he had never tried before.

You may not be in the first situation but you just
might not communicate well with your current doc
or he might not communicate well with you.

For me the very best I achieved with soft multi-focal
CLs was not acceptable for me. You didn't really say
if the first hour of vision you get would be acceptable
for you?

-Quick

 

give monovision a try. My mom didnt like multifocals either but she
does fine with monovision. If you dont like monovision, then youll need
to take reading glasses with you everywhere you go or just give up
contacts and get bifocal glasses and enjoy!

 

Why have you excluded translating bi/trifocal contacts?

-Quick

 

These soft multifocals lenses are a mixed lot; some patients I have in
them do wonderful and are extremely happy while others do not
do so well.

In your case, you've worn rigid cl's for 40 years so it doesn't
surprise me you are not in the "happy camper" group. I'd
put you in a rigid bifocal lens- you'd be much happier.

frank

 

I suspect it isn't just your first set of multi-focals, but your first set
of contact lenses. Correct? I don't think stinging could have anything to do
with the lenses being multi-focal. It could perhaps have something to do
with the lens material, or the solutions, or the base curve and diameter,
etc.

Since the vision is good when you first put on the lenses each day, I
suspect the blurriness has something to do with some substance created by
your eye interacting with the lens, which clouds up the lens.

Now I just noticed where you had worn hard contacts for 40 years. Soft
contacts are normally much more comfortable than hard ones. Did you never
have problems with the hard lenses?

There are also rigid gas permeable ("hard") multifocal lenses. In fact, they
are supposed to often give better vision than the soft ones. If you didn't
have comfort problems with your hard lenses, you might want to look at this.
One contributor to this news group, Dr. Larry Bickford, is an expert on
multifocal hard lenses.

If the problem is some kind of reaction your eyes have to the Soflens
material, you could try a different soft lens material.

If multifocal does not work out for you, another contact lens option for
myopic presbyopics (if you want to avoid or minimize the use of reading
glasses) is monovision. Of course, another choice is to have single-vision
contacts fitted for distance vision in both eyes, and to use reading glasses
for close work.

It does sound like your current eye doc might not be the best. In any case,
it never hurts to get a second opinion. If you don't feel confidence in your
present eye doc, you very well might want to try another one, and see what
he or she has to say. (Of course, there could be increased expenses
associated with that.)

 

I'm not usually one to defend Aceman, Quick, but I don't think his post
excluded anything. He probably is not familiar with translating bi- or
tri-focal contacts. (Not many people are familiar with them.) He just
recommended a solution that works for his mother, monovision. That doesn't
exclude other options.

 

Read his next 2 sentences...

-Quick

 

oops, "read his next sentence". (I thought it was 2 but it
turned out to be a single run-on sentence). He definitely
excludes other options whether he knows about them or
not. Reading that you might think he was speaking with
some authority and there simply weren't any others.

My reply wasn't a question to Ace. It was to point out
to the OP that there were other options. I guess it
wasn't the best way to do it.

-Quick