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Multifocal contact lenses offer freedom from reading glasses.
Contact lens wearers who reach “bifocal age” have several options to deal with the normal age-related loss of near vision caused by presbyopia. These include: 1) wearing reading glasses over their contacts; 2) wearing monovision contacts; and 3) wearing multifocal contact lenses.
According to a recent report published in the journal Contact Lens Spectrum, more aging contact lens wearers than ever are choosing option 3: being fitted with multifocal contacts.
In Australia, where good long-term prescribing data is available, the trend is clear: In the 1980s, 27 percent of presbyopic contact lens wearers chose monovision contacts (one eye corrected for distance and the other for near), and only 9 percent chose multifocal lenses. Today, 13 percent are choosing monovision, and 28 percent choose multifocal contact lenses.
Part of this shift is due to the greater availability of multifocal lens designs and greater confidence in the lenses among eye care professionals (ECPs). In Australia, only six soft multifocal lens designs were available in 2000. By 2009, that number grew to 21, giving eye doctors many more prescribing options.
Still, only 37 percent of patients over age 45 are prescribed monovision or multifocal contact lenses for presbyopia correction, according to a 2011 study, suggesting most presbyopic lens wearers are wearing regular (distance vision) contact lenses and putting up with the inconvenience of reading glasses.
According to the report authors, possible reasons for this low adaptation rate include:
- A lack of technical knowledge or multifocal lens fitting skills among eye care professionals;
- A belief among ECPs that monovision and multifocal lenses cause too much compromise in distance visual acuity; and
- The absence of a “perfect” multifocal contact lens that provides clear vision at all distances, combined with exceptional wearing comfort for a broad range of patients.
Resource: The changing face of contact lens wearers over 25 years. Contact Lens Spectrum. February 2011.
