Please talk to me about monovision contact lenses

[AgentPidge]

I normally wear glasses at home but wear ordinary contacts when out, with reading glasses on top if necessary. The optician gave me a trial pair where one eye is for close up and one for distance and was really enthusiastic about them, but I'm finding they are clear in parts but with a sort of haze all over. I've given up after four days of this and gone back to my usual ones. Should I persevere? How long did it take you to get used to them? Do you love them? TIA

I have varifocal contact lenses as didn’t think I’d cope with the mono vision idea and, to be honest they make little difference. I STILL have to use reading glasses. They are incredibly comfortable though.
Watching with interest, as would rather not have specs perched on my head, or have to carry them around on a night out! I may be middle aged but am allowed some vanity!

I wear them, and never had the haze you mention. Are you sure they aren't just a dodgy set of lenses? It may be worth asking to trial a different make.

Was it Specsavers that recommend this approach? I experienced exactly the same. Hated them.

I'm confused about what the haze could be.

I use a different power in each eye, to deal with long and short sightedness. It works really well, your brain just adapts. They're normal lenses, so no special coating.

What brand / type are the lenses? Could there be something wrong with them?

I have these lenses, one for reading,one for distance. Never had any issues, I wear One day Acuvue from Specsavers. The base thing sounds like faulty lenses or the wrong prescription. I love mine

You should try a different brand trial pair.
I have mono vision as well. It is as said, regular daily contact lenses where one eye is undercorrected so you can see close up.
A haze isn’t normal and indicates the trial lenses aren’t fitting very well. This is often down to the brand.

I've been wearing these for years - also get mine from SpecSavers (monthly lenses). I've never had the problem you've mentioned, (unless you've got something dirty/greasy on them when you put them in?)

No, it was Boots. I find them to be pretty good, better than Specsavers. But it was a new guy, someone I hadn't seen before. Perhaps he used to work at Specsavers!

Thanks. That's helpful.

I absolutely love mine. Found it straightforward to adjust to. I'll be 50 this year and I'm nervous that they will eventually stop working (the ability to focus reduces with age, up to 65 , apparently).
If anyone has experience of them over 50 it would be great to hear.

Yes, I wore them for years. Only stopped when I had cataract surgery and don't need glasses or lenses now.

Edited to add

I had cataract surgery at age 65 so wore them up to the day of surgery.

There's a problem with those lenses, try another pair.

I used monovision from about 48 to 55 and then switched to varifocal lenses as I was having trouble reading again.

I do this. The optician tried to change the brand for more comfort but didn’t work for me visionwise. Went back to
old brand and work well. I’m 59

I’m 56 and mono vision didn’t work for me as one eye is apparently very dominant. I wear varifocals but now still have to have glasses for use on close up especially at night and computer work.
My lenses are good enough for most uses and I wouldn’t take my glasses with me for a night out.
I have tried a few strength combinations to get to what works for me, and Boots in my experience will do this.

I’m in my mid sixties @Shwingbada. Forty years of contact lens wearing. I’ve been using monthly mono vision lenses for about fifteen years, because the idea of requiring extra reading glasses on top of lenses seemed ridiculous to me. No real problems with them - though if I’m at home it’s much easier to read books or my phone screen without lenses. And once or twice in very dark restaurants it’s been effortful to read the menu. But in general they make life easy.

I’m just about to switch to daily lenses - I’m hoping there won’t be any diminution in ease of use.

@AgentPidge- I’ve never experienced any ‘haze’ in four decades of contact lenses - that’s something wrong with your lenses.

I've decided not to carry on with them for now. Thanks your advice. I didn't feel I could ask for a different brand as he said they were fitting correctly. Anyway maybe I'll try again in future.

That's good to hear. I use the daily disposable ones and find them brilliant (although I definitely wear them much longer than recommended and have recently been using drops for dry eyes). Hope you get along with them too.

@Shwingbada like @PadamPadamPDoom I'm in my late 60s and have been wearing contact lenses for 40 years or so. For most of that time, monthly disposables - and in the last decade or so (possibly more) the monovision ones.

No issues, and my optician said no reason why I couldn't continue to wear them as long as I wanted.