Can you wear contact lenses for reading?

As people age, especially for people over the age of 40, vision begins to change. If you’re asking yourself "why do my contacts get blurry?" and it becomes harder to focus on things that are closer to your eyes, causing blurred vision, even while wearing your contacts, you may be starting to develop a condition called presbyopia.

Usually changes in prescription strength are gradual rather than sudden and are a natural part of the process of aging in your eyes. This condition, called presbyopia, occurs when the lens inside the eye becomes less flexible, making it increasingly difficult to focus on things that are close. So, if you are over the age of 40 and notice that you are having difficulty reading, you should make an appointment with your OD because presbyopia is likely to be at the root of the problem.

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Can you wear contact lenses if you only use glasses for reading?

Can you get contacts for reading? Yes! To correct this problem, many people resort to wearing contact lenses, rather than choosing to have a pair of reading glasses on hand wherever they go, keeping a pair of reading glasses in the car, desk, purse or pockets. There are different solutions available when it comes to correcting presbyopia, such as contact lenses with bifocals, a type of multifocal lens, which are designed for people with presbyopia who have trouble focusing on close-up objects.

Multifocal contacts are contact lenses with multiple prescription strengths to correct for conditions like presbyopia, with lens powers that complement vision at near, intermediate and long distances. Because multifocal lenses have multiple power prescriptions, you can wear them even if you only need glasses for reading, since the distance prescription can vary from 0 to gradually increasing power.

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Contacts for reading and distance

Multifocal lenses have greatly improved over the years, thanks to innovation in lens crafting, and are available in a variety of different designs, based on your specific needs. One design type of multifocal lens is the bifocal design that has two distinct lens powers — one for distance vision and the other for near. This type of lens usually concentrates vision correction for distance at the top of the lens and close correction at the bottom. Perhaps the more common type of contacts are progressive multifocal lenses, that have a gradual change in lens power to create a natural visual transition from distance to up close.

Multifocal contacts are excellent for correcting near and distance vision, making them an ideal solution for people with presbyopia who want to ditch their reading glasses. For best results, it’s best to start wearing multifocal lenses in the early stages of presbyopia, since they are easier to adjust to at this phase than it is when you need much stronger correction for reading.

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Best contact lenses for reading

Multifocal lenses are by and large the best contact lenses for reading. These lenses are usually made on hydrogel plastics, which means that they are comfortable to wear and easy to get used to. For people that are prone to dry eyes, they help keep eyes moist while in use. If you’re looking to ditch your readers and think multifocal lenses could be the right solution for you, consult with your OD to see what options are available for you.

If you spend a lot of time reading from a screen, you may also want to consider protecting your eyes from strain with blue light glasses. Extended periods of time in front of computer screens, especially in low lighting can strain your eyes. Blue light glasses, filter out blue light from the white light emitted from the monitor screen to protect your eyes from excessive strain.