Multifocal contac lenses for nearsighted vision with astigmatism.
I'm a 52 year old female with fairly poor vision and an astigmatism. I am wearing monovision contact lenses but am finding they're not adequate to read the music any longer. I am looking for information from anyone who may have tried the new multifocal contact lenses for astimatism. Do they work to read music? Has anyone found any other successes with reading music while aging. I'm just not wanting to resort to the music reading glasses and switching between those and contacts. I have an eye doctor appointment coming up so I just wanted to be able to be proactive in my eye care.
Violinists (and all string players) seem to have greater difficulty with these visual problems than other musicians since we share a stand and can't move it around to suit our vision. I can get the stand so one side of the page is clear, but the other side is blurry. Any suggestions would be great.
Replies (17)
I use a particular type of multi-focal glasses. They are made by Varilux and are considered a premium lens. What I would suggest is that you talk to your eye doctor about exactly what you need. Measure the distances, take some music in with you, maybe even a music stand. Then, go to an optician who really knows his stuff.
Now, I don't know what is available in contacts, because I don't wear them; but I do know that the premium lens market for glasses wearers has exploded in recent years and if you find the right lens, you can get stunningly good results.
Elaine
Kim:
I have been wearing multifocal contacts for 8 years now. Well, let me rephrase "contact" rather than the plural. My left eye is amblyopic (amblyopia/lazy eye) and, therefore, I am blind in that eye. My "good" eye is 20/400 with astigmatism. I just turned 50; however, I began having problems with near vision at about 38 or 39. I tried readers over my standard contact and it just drove me crazy. I tried no-line bifocal glasses, and the loss of vision at the edges also drove me crazy. I found that traditional lined bifocal glasses worked in most situations, *except for playing music* I learned this quickly during a rehearsal when I had my head at a certain level to see the music, but when I looked down (with my eyes, not moving my head) to see my marimba, where the bifocal line occurred, it was like seeing two different marimbas, but on different planes. I very quickly learned this was true on timpani or any other percussion instrument.
I researched the internet, and the articles I read on multifocal lenses were not very encouraging; however, I wanted to give it a shot. My optician at the time was not very experienced in fitting multifocals, but got it right on the first try. I was in heaven!! The lens was like magic; you look at something close - the brain/eye knows you're looking at something close, and voila. You instantly look to the distance - the brain/eye knows you're looking at something in the distance, and voila! Instantly. No hesitation. Just like "good eyes" would do.
Then, after about 3 years, I somehow lost the lens. In the meantime, my optician had moved to New Orleans and then been displaced by Hurricane Katrina. I tried another optician with absolutely no luck. He tried two different lenses on me; one of which was an actual "segmented" lens = you have to look down somewhat to see through the bifocal portion of the lens. This never worked for me, and I still have than lens in a drawer, unused.
I just wore my regular bifocal glasses for a few weeks, but the first time I had to play an actual gig wearing my glasses, I was miserable. I had to place my music stand just as close to my timpani as possible and fight it the entire time.
The next day I tried another optician who has gotten it "right" again. The lens I have now is not 100% as great as my first one (apparently there are many, many different manufacturers and many different types of lenses), but I am very pleased again.
I always make certain I have my contact in during violin lessons and group classes. I have no problems seeing my music on the stand, looking up and seeing the teacher, or looking down the fingerboard of my instrument -- all are clear and in focus. Yay!
Multifocals may not be for everyone, however. I had at least 15 years of wearing a gas permeable lens (hard contact) before this lens. The multifocal lenses are "thicker." At first, you feel it every time you blink, but with time, it feels just as natural as any other lens. I do find that my eyes seem to tire faster with the multifocal lens, and I normally revert to wearing my glasses if I have to drive a long distance at night, since your eyes are usually already tired by that time.
Good luck with your quest for better vision! I hope that I may have helped in some way. If you have any questions, I'll be happy to answer.
Sara
And I am just now seeing that your question was about multifocal *soft* lenses. Everything I related was regarding multifocal *hard* lenses. I have not researched the newer soft types; however, as with regular contact lenses, I would presume that your ability to reach 20/20 in the soft type would depend on your level of myopia (nearsightedness). I was switched to hard lenses in my late 20s when my myopia became such that I was told that soft lenses could no longer improve my vision to 20/20, so the changeover to multifocal hard lenses was not as much of a difference.
Sara
Sara,
Thanks so much for all your information. Are you using the multifocal gas permeable contacts? I hear those are pretty successful. My optometrist said I don't want to go there, but I'm willing to try anything. I used to wear hard lenses--probably 30 years ago--but when they made soft lenses to correct astigmatism, I signed on. Do you happen to know the brand of contact you're having success with now? I really appreciate all your experiences.
Kim
Kim:
Yes, my lens now is a gas perm. I don't know the manufacturer right offhand, but I actually have an eye doctor appointment this week to get ...... <insert "Law & Order" sound here> .... trifocals. Oh, yay. I don't have a problem with the "in between" vision with my contact lens, but the bifocal eyeglasses just ain't cuttin' it anymore. I spend more time yanking them on and off (especially in stores) than I can stand. I will ask my doctor about the manufacturer of my lens and report back.
Sara
I am a professional violinist and have used multifocal soft contacts for years with much success, but it took many trips to the eye doctor to figure out exactly what prescription would work for reading music at a distance while sharing a stand and being able to see the conductor. So be patient and try many options.
I'm long-sighted and use varifocal lenses, which work for everything, from close-up to long distance. At one time I used bifocals, but the division between the upper and lower halves often either removed one of the lines from the stave or duplicated one - so I could be seeing either 4 or 6 lines, not a particularly good idea when sight reading :-) The varifocals are fine now for orchestral work, and although I prefer my own music stand it's no problem sharing when playing in the violin section. When I played cello, sharing was getting to be a serious difficulty because cellists have to sit wider apart and so one or both are looking at the music from an oblique angle. This was one of several reasons why I was ready to move from orchestral cello to violin at the start of this year.
I haven't had success with the astigmatism part because, if the lens rotated even a couple of degrees, it would blur up my vision. This was years ago though. I'm having a hard time even using trifocal glasses and will be getting glasses just for the purpose of playing the violin and reading music.
Hi,
Would love to hear other people's experiences on monovision (wearing one contact for distance and leaving the other eye for close up vision). I just had lasik and need just a touch up for seeing far away.
I think I had more success with that option than the soft bifocal contacts I currently have ...and do not wear. It took 6 months of fitting trial and error and I ended up with lenses that pinched and that I can't see close with despite all that effort.
Next week I am going in to try yet another round of glasses to see if I can find a solution to most of my vision-related issues. I think will stay with progressives for daily activities and either straight bifocals or half glasses for music and reading.
I had to smile at the '50+ ladies' theme in this thread. Put me there too, and colour me in!. Such a pain. If I wear the mono lense, I can read the music if i keep my head still, cant see my stand partner or the conductor. If I wear the progressives, I get a bit motion sick and the distance wasn't worked out for music stands so that is blurry unless I tilt my head just ..... so but I can see the conductor. It is going to be trial and error, and a stand for me and a stand for my no-longer-stand-partner I think.
I'm 22 and also very short sighted with astigmatism, luckily I'm just about able to use normal contact lenses. I haven't had any problems reading music or sharing a stand... can't imagine doing the 'mono' lens thing, that'd give me a right headache! Slightly confused though... why leave 1 lens out, when you can still see close up perfectly clearly with contacts in, unless I'm using a different kind of lens?!
I have a decent amount of success with one lens for distance, and one for close-up. It's not ideal, and it limits me in some ways, but it's the best solution I've had so far. Bifocals were a pain, and I'm not willing to wear readers.
I had my optometrist create single focus glasses focused at the distance of my music stand. They have the same frames as my regular bifocals. They correct for astigmatism and farsightedness. This arrangement seems to work well. I keep the music stand glasses in my fiddle case, so I always have them. I have tried reading music with bifocals, but that was no solution.
My eyesight isn't TOO bad, but a lot of the time I wear my reading glasses (I have a slight astigmatism). If we're using sheet music which has been copied by hand or has bad print quality (or has been written all over and copied) or has been messed up by the publisher (ie the notes aren't spaced in the bar according to where the beat falls) I will sometimes find another copy or re-do it on my computer. I also make sure that I point my chair towards the centre of the music and that the stand tilts upwards just enough to read the bottom easily.
A note about stands and desk partners: I have a fairly long neck and torso and am a reasonable height for a female (5 foot 8) and most of the girls in my section are fairly short (they are all petite Asian ladies). As such, we have organised that my desk partner is the tall bloke as he and I prefer our stand to be a bit higher to suit us. I was next to one of the ladies for a season and I was trying to accommodate her and I ended up with a stiff neck and sore back after EVERY rehearsal and concert. Now that I have a taller desk partner we put the stand up and we're both a lot more comfortable.
I have had gas perm monovision lenses for decades. When I hit my 50's, they began popping out of my eyes if I laughed or sneezed. All of the years of wearing gas perm lenses flattened the corneas of my eyes. So I switched to soft contact multi-focus but with monovision.
Reading music was a terrible struggle. Don't get me wrong. I could do it. But I strained to do it. Like the other poster, I got the Varilux glasses, and suddenly overnight, I became a better musician. I didn't have to struggle or squint to see if it was an E or a D or a B or whatever it was I was looking at.
---Ann Marie
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May 8, 2010 at 06:41 PM ·
This is a huge problem for the 50+ crowd. I had one stand partner who had a special contact for reading music and had her regular distance correction in the other one. Many have just gone with the special pair of glasses. The angle of the stand is a problem, especially if you sit on the outside sometimes, inside others. I've seen violinists and violists just flat-out refuse to share music. Others regularly go to the copy place and enlarge everything.
My optometrist has told me to just bring in my instrument and stand so he can refract me at the appropriate distance. Haven't had to do it yet, but I know plenty of people who have. I gave up on monovision contacts for a few reasons, but music reading was among them.