The most common vision disorders requiring corrective contact lenses include:

Hyperopia (Far Sightedness)

People with far sightedness have trouble seeing objects up close. Sewing, reading or using the computer may become difficult causing eye strain and headaches.

Hyperopia or far sightedness occurs as a result of an imperfection in the eye.  When light enters  the eye it focuses behind the retina instead of directly on it  resulting in blurring of the image.
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Myopia (Short Sightedness)

People with short sightedness have trouble seeing objects at a distance. Driving a car may be difficult as the road signs can’t be seen clearly and children at the back of the class may have trouble seeing the chalk board at school.

Myopia occurs when the shape of the eyeball is slightly longer than normal. Light entering the eye focuses in front of the retina instead of directly onto it causing a blurred image.
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Presbyopia (Age Related)

Presbyopia occurs in most people as a result of the aging process. The eyes gradually lose their capacity to see things at close range. This is why you may see people holding a book or newspaper at arms length as it becomes easier to read the further away it is.
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Astigmatism

Astigmatism occurs when the cornea of the eye is oval shaped instead of round or when the lens of the eye is an irregular shape. The result is blurred vision as the light entering the eye cannot focus correctly onto the retina.
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Glaucoma is a very serious condition that is actually a bunch of diseases working together that cause damage to the optic nerve.  The problem with this condition is that there may not be any symptoms and damage may be done before it is diagnosed.

Doctors usually start with treatments that are related to medications as well as physical therapy, but if these things are not successful glaucoma surgery is called for.  Most doctors will put off surgery for as long as possible, because though it has become a relatively routine procedure, most doctors are hesitant to perform surgery on the eyes unless all other therapies have failed or there is an emergency that requires the surgery.

There are two types of glaucoma eye surgery, one that uses a laser and one that requires traditional surgery:

1. The laser glaucoma surgery is performed by aiming a laser light at the eye’s trabecular meshwork to open up the blockages in this meshwork to increase the flow of aqueous fluid from the eye.

2. The traditional surgery is commonly called filtering microsurgery.  This requires that a hole be made to allow excess fluids to drain from the eye.  Draining the fluid from the eye will reduce the pressure in the eye, which is the purpose of the surgery.

Laser surgery is becoming more common than the traditional incision type eye surgery

There are actually four types of laser surgeries known as:

• SLT – is the acronym for selective laser tubeculoplasty and is used to reduce the pressure by enhancing drainage of excess fluid.  This type of treatment can be repeated to treat specific cells in the meshwork.
• ALT – is short for argon laser trabeculoplasty and reduces pressure in the eye by opening the drainage canals of the eye.
• LPI – is used for narrow angle glaucoma and relieves pressure by making a hole in the iris of the eye so that the iris can move back from the cornea to allow more aqueous flow.
• Laser cyclophotocoagulation – is a procedure that produces aqueous flow by treating the ciliary body.

Traditional surgery is still used for patients, but laser is preferred as patients typically respond and heal better to it.  Traditional surgeries will be used when medication and laser procedures have failed.

There are risks associated with glaucoma surgery, but they are not greater than the risk of leaving the eye untreated.  Glaucoma affects the optic nerve, eventually causing blindness if treatment is not sought.  Glaucoma surgery has become much easier and more effective over the last several years, making it a viable option for more and more people.

Many believe that presbyopia is a disease, but it is not.  Presbyopia is actually the eyes inability to adjust and accommodate changes in lighting and focus as the body ages.  Many experts believe that presbyopia is caused by a loss of elasticity in the crystalline lens or even changes in the shape of the lens or the loss of power in the ciliary muscles, though the specific cause is not known.  Much has been written on the condition, and for all experts know each case has a different cause, what experts do know is that we will all experience the condition sooner or later.

Presbyopia doesn’t pick and choose its victims, because it literally affects everyone at some point in their life, usually it starts anywhere from age 40-50.

The first symptoms are usually the inability to read fine print, to read in dim lighting, and some patients experience strained eyes when they read for long periods of time.  The condition is usually less noticeable in bright natural light as the iris closes so that the depth of focus is enhanced.  It seems as though the ability to focus is greater, but really it is not.

Unfortunately, presbyopia is not something that can be cured, though experts believe that there may be a cure or preventative treatments in the future.

Luckily, the eyes inability to adjust can be treated with corrective lenses, glasses, and contact lenses.  Many that suffer from this condition find that bifocals, trifocals, or progressive lenses are quite helpful in eliminating or at least reducing the symptoms of presbyopia.  Many patients find that wearing just one lens will help the symptoms so that they will again be able to read without trouble.

By the age of 65 most people report symptoms of full-blown presbyopia, but most find ways to cope with the symptoms.  Some find that reading glasses help them read every day things such as prescription bottles and recipe cards with little or no effort.  Many people don’t like the idea of contact lenses or corrective lenses so they continue to hold things further and further away as they age.  You’ll find as you get older that you just hold things further and further away from your face as you read!  The action that you choose to take to deal with presbyopia is your choice and usually has to do with how severely you are affected.

Is it hard for you to see things that are close up even though your distance vision is as acute as ever? Farsightedness is the result of an abnormality in the structure of your eyes that makes it difficult for them to focus on objects that are close to you. While farsightedness is often present from the time that you’re a child, it’s often not apparent until middle age when your eyes start losing their ability to adjust focus from near to far quickly and easily.

Farsightedness runs in families, although injuries or diseases in the eye may contribute to the condition in rare cases. It is most often diagnosed with a simple eye test, though headaches and eyestrain can signal problems with farsightedness in adults.

There are a number of options for correcting farsightedness, each with distinct advantages and disadvantages.

Eyeglasses

The most common treatment for farsightedness is eyeglasses with corrective lenses. They are the easiest and safest option for improving your vision if you have hyperopia. Glasses are readily available and can be fitted with precision and accuracy. Nearly everyone can wear eyeglasses, which can easily be replaced if the prescription needs changing.

On the other hand, eyeglasses aren’t an option for people in some professions such as fire-fighting. They can be expensive, uncomfortable and fragile.

Contact Lenses

Contact lenses have become more and more popular as the materials and styles available have improved. Today’s soft contact lenses are fitted with nearly as much precision as glasses, and provide better peripheral vision. In many cases the choice to wear contact lenses rather than glasses is a matter of appearance – you may simply  feel you look better without glasses.

On the flip side, contact lenses can be more expensive than glasses. If you’re not suited to wearing disposable or extended wear contact lenses, disinfecting and cleaning your contact lenses daily can be inconvenient.

Eye Surgery

Another option for correcting farsightedness is eye surgery. A surgeon skilled with a laser scalpel can reshape the cornea of the eye so that light focuses directly on the retina as it’s supposed to do rather than behind the retina, which distorts the vision. The results of surgery are variable, but when it is most successful, laser eye surgery can completely eliminate the need for glasses or contact lenses.

In the early days of contact lenses, anyone with astigmatism was deemed unsuitable to wear them.  Now – technology has advanced and unless your prescription is particularly complicated, your astigmatism may be corrected with multifocus contact lenses.

Hang on – you’ve lost me…what is astigmatism?

Astigmatism is a condition of the cornea of the eye.  The cornea is the clear ‘layer’ of the eye that covers the iris (the colored part) and the pupil (the black dot in the middle).  The function of the cornea is to let light into the eye, which allows you to see.

A ‘normal’ cornea is shaped like a tennis ball.  Light enters it and is focused on a single point of the retina. The retina is a membrane lining the eye. It gets images via the lens of the eye which are changed into signals and sent to the brain via the optic nerve.

If you have astigmatism, your cornea is shaped more like an egg. This means that the light is focused on more than one point on the retina and this gives you blurry vision. It can also cause you to see shadows on letters when you’re reading, make you squint and cause double vision.
Toric Contact Lenses May Be The Answer…

A toric contact lens has two different strengths of prescription. These are at right angles to each other which corrects the astigmatism.  Torics are available in soft lenses, rigid gas permeable ones and also multifocals.

In order to correct the astigmatism, the contact lens must stay in one position in the eye.  There are two ways to achieve this.

1.  The lenses have a ‘ballast’ – the bottom edge of the lens is thicker than the top edge, which prevents it moving around or

2.  The middle of the lens is thicker than the top and bottom edges.

What Sort Of Torics Are Available?

* Daily disposable
* Monthly Disposable
* Frequent replacement
* Silicone hydrogel for 30 day wear
* Eye color changers
* Eye color enhancers

What Other Multifocal Contact Lenses Are There?

Aspheric contacts have different prescriptions blended across them.  They are known as ‘simultaneous vision’ or ‘progressive’ lenses as your eyes have to learn how to choose to see through the appropriate prescription for what you are doing.

This sounds very complicated but aspherics are the most popular type of multifocal contact lens so it can’t be that difficult!

Many people can and do. There may be a period of trial and error while you work with your eye care professional to find what’s best.

Most multi-focal contact lens manufacturers are aware that not everyone will be able to wear them.  For this reason, they offer a warranty on their lenses so that if you’re unlucky and can’t get on with them, you can get a different pair of lenses or a pair of spectacles.  However, part of the money that you pay to have contact lenses fitted is for the professional time taken during that fitting and subsequent follow-ups.  So you may not get back the whole amount that you paid to try the multi-focals. However, you should leave the eye doctor with some form of eyewear that corrects your vision.

One of the almost inevitable effects of aging is a condition called presbyopia. If you find that you can only read the newspaper if you hold it at arm’s length or have trouble reading the labels on medicine bottles, then you’re probably suffering from the gradual decline in the ability to focus on objects that are closer than arm’s length. If you thought that your only option was bifocal glasses, think again!  Advances in the contact lens industry have made it possible for you to wear bifocal contact lenses – and no one has to know.

The traditional eye correction treatment for presbyopia is bifocal glasses – glasses that combine both a prescription for nearsightedness and one for farsightedness in one lens. Bifocal contact lenses are made the same way. They are soft contact lenses designed to float on the surface of your cornea and correct both vision problems in one of several ways. Your eye care provider can help you decide on the best option for your particular eye care needs.

Translating bifocal contact lenses
Translating lenses are the closest to traditional bifocals, with the near and far prescriptions in distinctly separate areas. Usually the prescription for near vision is at the bottom of the lens and the one for far at the top, but occasionally the doctor may reverse the prescription for special needs.

In addition, some people need a third correction, and all three lens strengths will be combined in one lens. These lenses work well for most people who need correction for nearsightedness, but the lens needs to be able to move easily on the surface of the cornea. This can be a problem for people with large pupils or drooping eyelids.

Annular bifocal contact lenses
For those with small pupils, or those whose vision needs very little correction, there are annular bifocal contact lenses. Rather than separating the prescriptions into two distinct areas, annular lenses have the prescriptions arranged in concentric rings around the center of the lens. Your doctor will help decide the exact placement of the rings. As with translating lenses, you’ll learn to focus through the part of the lens most appropriate for the needs of a task.

Aspherical bifocal contact lenses
In these lenses, the prescription areas of the contact lens are placed near the center of the eye. It’s the most like natural vision, where your eyes ignore far objects when doing near work, and reverse that when focusing on objects in the distance.

Monovision fitted contact lenses
Technically speaking, these aren’t bifocal lenses. Instead, one eye wears a prescription for nearsightedness and the other for farsightedness. While it may take a bit of practice, your eyes will get used to focusing on the tasks you’re doing with the appropriate eye.

Hybrid bifocal contact lenses
With hybrid bifocals, your doctor fits one eye with a bifocal lens and the other with a prescription for a stronger need. Like monovision lenses, your eyes will use the right eye for the right task.

All of these types of lenses are increasingly available as both disposable and extended wear lenses, or as rigid gas permeable lenses. If you find that you just aren’t seeing as well as you used to, have a chat with your eye care professional to find out if bifocal contact lenses are right for you.