Far Sighted - Corrective Lens or Laser?

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Your shorthand description of your prescription was fine. Assuming it's accurate than I highly suspect you are over prescribed by about .75 diopters. Unless your eye doctor is compensating for cutting back a bit on your full distance rx, I would expect your bifocal Rx to be closer to closer to +1.75 not +2.50



I've been fitting bifocal contact lenses for years, they work quite well and not just for divers. There's a bit of a compromise in the distance and near vision for most patients, but the vast majority are willing to give up a little of the "sharpness" in exchange for not needing reading glasses. Contacts are designed to move on the eye about .5 to 1mm, most bifocal contacts have circular zones of distant and near prescription as compared to eyeglass bifocals which have the distance rx on the top and the reading prescription on the bottom.



I haven't seen Rx dive masks in quite some time. We used to send masks out to have the lenses bonded to the faceplate, but that was many years ago. Nowadays we don't do the work because divers send their masks directly to the companies. So I'm thinking about the older style I guess, thanks for clarifying.



There's a lot more too it then luck.

Among the more relevant contributing factors to a successful bifocal fit:

Skill and experience level of the practitioner, as well as their motivation. In general, a chain store optical employed optometrist will want you in and out of the chair as quickly as possible, they probably don't have the skills or desire to practice the more advanced forms of optometry; a self employed professional optometrist such as myself will go the distance because we value patient satisfaction and referrals and retention.

Bifocal contact lens patients must understand the vision will be a bit of a compromise and have patience to return for several followup visits to adjust the contact lens power and possibly the brand, as needed, it usually takes 2 or 3 trial sets before the Rx is finalized. My success rate with bifocal contact lenses is around 90%.


That's why I said a little luck---ie luck in finding the right O.D......Personally, I've been fitting soft CTLs since 1975(Hydrocurve over the original B&Ls--@ that time, as you probably remember, they were the only 2 manufacturers of hydrophilics in the US).. Can't remember the 1st time on bifocal ones, but it was in the early to mid 80's......Roughly the same on success rate as newer, 'better', lenses have been introduced, Also incorporate (true)monovision fit a lot(always have --always will), my 1st fitting of them was in 1974, then referred to in the literature as the 'LBJ Bifocal', Johnson was the 1st prominent person to wear them...You probably also remember lots of O.D's not buying into that philosophy as "you are breaking down binocularity", lol....

You're very correct, get the right doctor & your chances go WAY up......
 
That's why I said a little luck---ie luck in finding the right O.D......Personally, I've been fitting soft CTLs since 1975(Hydrocurve over the original B&Ls--@ that time, as you probably remember, they were the only 2 manufacturers of hydrophilics in the US).

Right. I forgot you were an OD as well when I quoted you.

I still have many patients on monovision as well, and sometimes I'll incorporate monovision into the bifocal fit..although I'll rarely suggest monovision as a first option, unless the patient is "cost sensitive" aka a cheapo who will spend $50 a month on his cellphone but balk at $30 a month for the better vision correction option.

As I'm sure you have found, "20/happy" monovision contact lens patients typically are poor bifocal contact lens candidates.
 
... and of course, since it is a medical expense I get to write it off my taxes. :)

Yeah, but I could wear my mask to work (on Fridays) and presto!, medical deduction! I doubt I could explain the snorkel so easily.
 
Yeah, but I could wear my mask to work (on Fridays) and presto!, medical deduction! I doubt I could explain the snorkel so easily.

lol. You could claim that you need lung strength/better cardio! I've seen athletes use snorkels to breathe through when working out.
 
OH, this is great, I'm checking posts on this subject and find a couple of eye doctors. I have a prescription mask I ordered through a local dive shop here, but after I picked out a mask, the dive shop owner just shipped it off with my prescription. No one ever marked where my pupils would be and I guess when the company got the mask and prescription they just put the "readers" where they wanted to. I can use it (sort of) by closing one eye and looking sideways but all in all, it was a big mistake so I either wear an uncorrected mask or that. In my every day life, I wear no-line bifocal glasses, I guess they're called progressives and I ALWAYS take them off to read. I can't see distance at all, but my close up vision is pretty good. I can read the fine print on an artificial sweetener pack. My previous dive mask was an off the rack prescription mask that corrected my distance but ruined the close up. What would be a good choice for me, I love the small stuff but don't want to miss the big stuff either. Would those see-under type things work or should I re-order a new bi-focal mask? I would really appreciate your help, I'm leaving on a trip in late May for macro heaven. Thanks, Christy
 
https://www.shearwater.com/products/peregrine/

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