To improve or fine-tune your vision, your eye doctor may recommend options other than using a pair of monofocal contact lenses.
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Bifocal. Bifocal contact lenses have a reading and distance correction on each lens, like bifocal glasses. The reading section of each lens is weighted, so it stays at the bottom of your cornea and is available when you look down. Sometimes when you blink, the lens can momentarily twist around and blur your vision.
Monovision. With monovision contact lenses, you wear a lens with reading correction in one eye and a lens with distance correction in the other eye (usually your dominant eye). Your brain may adjust to this unequal correction, but your vision will be a bit more blurry than normal. Generally you'll have sharper vision with conventional bifocal contact lenses.
Modified monovision. With this option you wear a bifocal contact lens in your nondominant eye and a contact lens for distance correction in your dominant eye. This allows you to use both eyes for distance, but only one for reading.
Where to get your contact lenses
You can get contact lenses from your eye doctor, a vision care center or even a mail-order business that handles contacts. But first you need a prescription. Contact lens prescriptions are more complex than those for eyeglasses because contacts require measurements for power, curvature, diameter, and thickness, as well as a selection of design and material. For that reason many states require you to get the prescription from an eye doctor. Others allow opticians to prescribe contacts. A contact lens prescription is determined after an initial evaluation and a follow-up visit or two.
Mail-order businesses can be the least expensive source for contact lenses because of the discount they receive for buying in bulk from the manufacturer. And they pass some of those savings on to you. Most eye doctors offer competitive prices because they aren't trying to make a profit by selling contact lenses. They make their living by taking care of your eyes, providing eye exams and treating eye disorders.
If you get your contact lenses from someone other than your eye doctor, take a couple of precautions.
- Don't continue buying the same lenses based on an old prescription. Get an eye exam every year so that your doctor can check your eyes and see if they've changed. Contact lens complications, if caught early, are usually reversible.
- Don't let the seller talk you into buying a different kind of lens as an approved substitute for the one your doctor recommended. Check with your doctor first.
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To find out more, you can check out Monovision Contact Lenses.