Monovision contact lenses are used to correct for distance and near vision. This type of contact fitting works like a bifocal, but one eye wears a contact lens for distance and the other eye for near. It can take time and patience to adapt to this type of vision correction.

1

Understanding Monovision

Movovision means "one vision" and is used for contact lenses that help if you need bifocals. While the term monovision means one vision and bifocal means two, monovision is used to correct one eye with vision in the distance and the other eye for up close. Your dominant eye is usually the distance lens because it is the stronger eye and helps with adjusting to monovision, according to allaboutvision.com.

  • Movovision means "one vision" and is used for contact lenses that help if you need bifocals.
  • While the term monovision means one vision and bifocal means two, monovision is used to correct one eye with vision in the distance and the other eye for up close.

If you are wearing monovision contacts and close your reading lens eye and try to see up close with your distance lens, things will look blurry. The same is true if you close your distance-corrected eye and try to look in the distance with your eye that has the reading prescription contact: Things will also look blurry.

Vision takes place in the brain, and your brain processes information from both eyes together, so you can eventually adjust to looking through monovision lenses together for both corrections.

2

Challenges of Monovision Contacts

The most difficult part of getting used to monovision contact lenses is the adjustment to the loss of depth perception, which is how you perceive things in three dimensions and how far away things seem to be. The sensation of loss of some depth perception can be uncomfortable, especially at first.

3

Getting Used to Monovision Contacts

The best way to get used to monovision contact lenses is to wear them as much as possible, but within the time schedule given by your eye doctor. Many factors affect how contact lenses are worn: Your type of contact lens, prescription and the health of your eye determines how many hours a day you start out wearing your lenses.

  • The best way to get used to monovision contact lenses is to wear them as much as possible, but within the time schedule given by your eye doctor.

Most eye doctors have you start wearing your lenses for three or four hours a day, adding an hour every day until you build up to your full wearing time, which can be 12 to 14 hours a day or even several days or weeks, depending on the lenses.

To get used to your lenses, follow your wearing schedule as prescribed. Overwearing your lenses at first can cause swelling and other problems and make getting used to monovision more difficult.

Another way to get used to monovision is to recognise and appreciate the limitations of this type of contact lens correction. Because there is a slight difference in depth perception, if you can appreciate the compromise of a slightly different kind of vision while attempting to try monovision, you may be able to adapt to the lenses better.

All contact lenses wearers go through an adaptation period and it can take several weeks to get used to a new prescription or type of vision correction. Monovision is one of the most challenging types of adaptation for bifocal contact corrections but is a very economical way to wear bifocal contacts if you can get used to them.