Advice from anyone who uses bifocal contact lenses please!

[PyongyangKipperbang]

I really dont want to wear glasses full time. I find that they irritate my skin and makes my eczema worse at the contact points. I have to wear reading glasses now but its clear that my distance vision is getting a lot worse now and I will need bifocals.

I know that there are contact lens solutions but they are expensive (at least, on my income they are), so I wondered if anyone had any first hand experience they could share with me please? I need to know if they are worth the money.

Thanks

Well worth the money! I love my multifocal contact lenses. Your optician will fit them and let you try them for free.

Thank you.

Which type do you have?

They are not perfect but I absolutely hate wearing glasses so I wear varifocal contact lenses. I pay £55 a month and use a local optician.

I love mine too, I do have to compromise on my distance vision a bit because I have astigmatism as well, so there's a lot of work for the lens to do, but they are absolutely fine for most situations. If I have to drive at night though, I swap to glasses.

When I first started going long sighted my optician started me on the monovision method instead, where you just have normal contact lenses, but with one eye underpowered, and then that one does the close work. That's a bit cheaper?

I swear by mine. They are amazing. The first time the Optician gave me a trial I didn’t bother as they were no better than my previous monovision prescription, but as my eyes aged monovision didnt work so well any more, I was struggling to read, so I upgraded to varifocal lenses and haven’t looked back.

I pay about £45 a month with specsavers.

DP has them, he gets them from Boots, because they're convenient. He says they're like magic. I think he gets daily disposables and wears them some of the time but not every day.

I find the 2 lens method doesn't work any more, I'm shortsighted with astigmatism too & wear RGP lenses - wonder if varifocals would work? I have varifocal glasses

I’m afraid I’m long sighted with no astigmatism and have always worn soft lenses, so can’t help I’m afraid! I’m sure your optician could advise.

I have severe astigmatism and severe short sightedness (it says so on the box!). I use mono vision lenses and works well as monthlies. I use daily lenses without the mono vision for tennis - meant to improve my game 😁

It looks like there is at least one brand that does gas permeable multifocal torics, it's worth a try? I had GP back in the day, but they gave me ulcers, so I have been on soft lenses ever since.

I have the daily Umere range from Specsavers. They are OK. I wear my varifocal glasses Mon to Fri as my eyes get pretty dry and this is felt more with the lenses. They are cheaper than other daily disposables though.

I have monthly varifical lenses from Specsavers. It took quite a few tries to find the best prescription that worked ok for distance, PC and reading but did eventually, although it means they aren’t ideal for tiny font eg in my bible, particularly if not well lit, and if driving long distance at night I wear my glasses. But they are definitely worth trying.

I wear multifocal dailies - I pay £54 a month via an independent optician and this covers lens checks, and I get 50% off glasses. You compromise a bit on both close and distance vision, but I can read and write/use my laptop and phone fine, watch TV etc no problem. I hate wearing my glasses outside the house so am happy with the compromise - the alternative was my regular lenses plus reading glasses. Mine are Clariti brand which has a high water content for dry eyes.

thank you all so much.

I really wasnt sure if it was worth looking into as a google suggested £100+ a month which is more than I can realistically afford, but you are all paying half that. So I will have go and see how I get on!

Thank you again!

I loved my multifocal contact lenses but unfortunately got to the point that for close up work I had to wear reading glasses on top and was getting dry eyes. So now need to wear varifocal glasses more often but still wear contacts especially if it is raining!

I’ve been wearing GP varifocal lenses for years, and found them absolutely fine. They don’t work for really close work (but I can just take them out for that) or night driving, when I use my glasses.

They cost me £30 a month, which includes all my solutions and new lenses every two years. That’s from my local independent optician.

Yes they are worth it to me, although expensive (more like £45 a month not £100 from Specsavers) though as others have said they aren't perfect.

I'm waiting til they come in my prescription - according to AI, which may or may not be reliable!, there should be a new version by CooperVision coming early 2027, which might have expanded astigmatism parameters compared to some of the current offerings. (I need dailies, as I'm mildly allergic to the preservatives in others; I need high spherical power in the -9. or 10 region but also higher cylinder powers than the current offering of about 1 or 1.5D, and crucially, I need oblique angles). The currently available ones have three 'addition' choices for the varifocal part, low/med/high; I doubt that even with expanded prescription parameters, that would likely expand too much more, but that would do me. So I really hope AI is right, and that there will be a new brand available and that it will be in the UK, and that it might cover a greater range of prescriptions than the current dailies! But I've been in glasses for too long now as it's only very recently that they started making dailies with oblique astigmatism angles at all and by that point, I was starting to need varifocals. So I've been waiting for new contact lenses for ages that might cover my prescription and I've just got so used to glasses in the meantime that it would be strange to go back!!

Reading with interest. I’m very short sighted -10 both eyes with astigmatism and needing a reading add of 2 and have tried lots of different contacts and never been able to get on with them since I’ve needed a reading add. (Used to always wear normal soft lenses until that happened).

I've got biweekly multifocals from Boots for about 33 pounds a month, I think they had monthlies for 28 pounds. I wouldn't be able to read anything without them! Yes as a PP points out you do lose a little bit on the distance vision but we've tweaked my prescription to find a balance I am good with.

Interesting, thanks for that!

@TonTonMacoutewhat brand do you have ? I don't need really close work and would love to ditch my glasses..

I am in Ireland and on a delivery direct debit plan for daily contact lenses by acuvue for astigmatism and dry eyes and they are bifocals also and I pay 38 a month. They are fantastic for out and about, the gym, driving etc but I have to put readers on over them to see my laptop or phone.