Presbyopia is the loss of clear close-up vision that happens naturally as people get older. Around the age of 40, the lenses of your eyes start to lose elasticity and flexibility. With less elasticity, the eye may be unable to focus sharply on close objects. You may need to hold things farther away from your eyes to see them clearly.
Often presbyopia is corrected with bifocal glasses. Bifocals have the distance prescription on the top and the reading prescription on the bottom. People who wear contact lenses can wear contacts to see at a distance and a pair of reading glasses to see close objects. It is also possible to correct presbyopia with contacts and not wear glasses at all.
With monovision, you wear one contact lens for seeing distances in one eye and a lens with your reading prescription in the other eye. If you are nearsighted (you can see objects that are close to your eyes but not objects at a distance), you may not even need a contact lens in the eye you use for reading. Monovision takes time to get used to. Your brain must learn to "see" with one eye at a time, and you won't have normal depth perception. Monovision does not work for everyone.
Bifocal contact lenses have both your reading and distance prescription in each lens. Bifocal contacts are available as gas permeable ("rigid") and soft lenses. They also come in both daily wear and extended wear lenses.
Even though bifocal contact lenses are convenient, they don't work for everyone. You may need to try different bifocal lenses to find the ones that are right for you. Follow your eye care provider's advice about which types of bifocal contacts to try. Try them for a reasonable time before you decide if they will work.
