What's Happening In Your Life?

[Glennsallnighter]

So do I! This wonderful family deserve a lucky break and I really hope they get it.

[Koala]

Thanks for the link and the update, TBF.
Good Luck to Brandon and his family!

[WalshFan88]

Good thoughts going Brandon's way, TBF. Best of luck to him with the trials.

[VAisForEagleLovers]

I've noticed in the past few years that I've needed to wear reading glasses for just about everything. I've worn contacts since 1980 and so wearing glasses so much, having to always carry them around with me, was really getting me down.
I was very leery of the concept of two different contact lenses, where one eyes sees 'far' and the other 'reads'. But I put them in today for the first time and I'm typing without glasses on! I can see things out my living room window without squinting or refocusing. Just like life was ten years ago! Now...if I could only look ten years younger...

[sodascouts]

Glad that works for you!

My contacts have been really bothering me for a long time. I'm thinking of getting that laser surgery, but I'm kind of scared to. Still, at least I wouldn't have to worry about contact lens problems anymore.

[Brooke]

Oh boy, I can vent on this one! I never had to wear glasses till I was about 45. Then it was the battle of the reading glasses or bifocals. What a pain! I've got 10 pairs of reading glasses strung in every room in the house, but they are never where you need them. I have several pairs of bifocals, but can't stand to have them on my face all the time so I take them off and lose them. (But yet, I see people wearing such cute glasses!) I am now in the process of "tweaking" the right prescription for bifocal contacts. Each eye is different. The ones I have now are working pretty good and I'm very happy about not having to search for a pair of glasses every time I turn around.

My husband has worn glasses since he was 15 and considered lasik eye surgery, but the doctor told him he would probably then need reading glasses so he decided against it. Why go from one kind of glasses to the other?!

[VAisForEagleLovers]

A friend of mine had Lasik done with the same concept as my new contacts. Mine aren't bifocal, and for some reason my doctor wouldn't consider those. Just multi-focal and these, where the right eye sees far and the left eye reads. My friend had her laser surgery the same way, one distant and one near. She had it done in her early forties and she turned 50 yesterday and still no reading glasses.
My doctor said the advantage of these contacts over the multi-focal is if I decide in a few months to have the surgery, I'll be ready, with 'my brain already trained' to see this way.
I can't see being able to save much towards Lasik next year with all the 40th anniversary concerts I'll be attending...

[EaglesKiwi]

My doctor said the advantage of these contacts over the multi-focal is if I decide in a few months to have the surgery, I'll be ready, with 'my brain already trained' to see this way.
I can't see being able to save much towards Lasik next year with all the 40th anniversary concerts I'll be attending...

Well here's hoping the contact continue working for you for a couple of years AND you have lots of opportunity to spend that money on Eagles tickets instead

[TimothyBFan]

Ok, VA, explain to me how this works. I've never heard of these kind of lenses before. It sounds like everything would be blurry all the time to me.

I've been a glasses/contacts wearer for most of my life. I am also an avid reader and had considered myself extremely lucky to not have to do bifocals....till now. I started with the reading glasses while wearing my contacts when I started noticing a problem. But then beginning of last spring, my allergies were extremely bad so I had to go back to my glasses and boy did I really notice the difference while reading. I made several eye doc appointments and kept having to change them due to the horrible summer we had. Finally went a few weeks back and might I pat myself on the back when I tell you I have adjusted to my bifocal glasses without even a little problem? I'm so excited and reading up a storm (when time permits) again!!

[VAisForEagleLovers]

TBF, I was in the same boat. Fortunately, I don't need bifocal glasses, if I want to read, I just take off the glasses.

There are several contact options. The most expensive and least recommended is actual bifocal contacts. They are 'weighted' so the part that needs to be at the bottom always is. My doctor didn't even mention those, but I have a friend who has them and likes them.

The other option is multi-focal lenses. You can do a Google search on these but the lenses have different vision strengths built in and your brain adjusts to seeing this way. A friend of mine got these and loves them, but since they require a refitting which is expensive and the contacts themselves are expensive, my doctor sees this as a last resort. He said it's only 30% successful anyway.

The last option sounds crazy and I said I'd never try it. One lens for distance and one lens for near. My contacts were -3.50 for the left and -2.75 for the right. Monday, he gave me -2.50 for the left, told me to go home and wear them for a few hours before driving. He said if I needed to hold on to things to walk, it was a failed test. I had no problems at all. I assumed I'd be dizzy at first, but I walked out, picked up a book and read immediately, without glasses!

I went out last night to a local ice cream place and read a book on my phone. I realized that in the near dark, -2.50 in the left eye isn't a strong enough 'reader', so today, when I get around to putting my contacts in, I'll try -2.25.

If you ever get Lasik to correct your vision problems, this one-eye-near and one-eye-far is what they do.