When I had my eye exam in April the doctor told me you couldn't get dailies in progressive lens. She put the

Question

distance lens in one eye and close up in the other. I haven't had much luck with adjusting. When I started to reorder I found that you can get the dailies in the progressive. Now she is telling me that I'll have to have another exam. Why would I need another one when I'm just want to swap to the progressive?

Answer 1

I've actually heard from the optometrists I've worked for that patients have a harder time adjusting to progressive lenses than to monovision, which is what you have. It would be a different prescription to prescribe the progressive lenses, as the monovision isn't just your distance and your near vision straight up. It's balanced out and a little weird, so you would need another exam.  I would recommend sticking it out with the monovision until next year and if you're still not used to it, you can ask for a progressive exam and try those, but get a monovision prescription as well in case you want to go back to those.

Another option is to just wear contacts for your distance prescription and wear reading glasses when you need them, over the contacts.

Answer 2

Well, to me it sounds like she put you in mono vision contacts, which can be very hard to adjust to I've heard. She may want to do another exam if yours wasn't written for progressives which would take a full exam, unfortunately.

Answer 3

If you aren't adapting to monovision, you'll likely not adapt to the multifocal lenses either.  They are all a compromise.  Unlike spectacles that sit stationary in front of the eyes allowing you to view the distance of your choice, contacts move when your eye moves so you must look through all the zones simultaneously.  Your brain must learn to filter out the portion it doesn't need at the time.  80% of us are wired this way and can adapt.  20% cannot.  

As for why you need a new fit, all lenses are different in material, optics, etc.  This is particularly true with multifocal contacts....

Answer 4

Every brand and style of contact lens will fit on the eye differently.  If your prescription (the numbers part) is still valid, then it wouldn't be a full exam, just a contact lens fit.  Lenses that don't align with the eye perfectly can not only cause visual problems, but can damage the cornea too.

Answer 5

Tanya is right, more people get on successfully with monovision than progressives in contacts. If you want to try them however you will definately need another test - even with progressives we still often order one eye more focused for close and one more for far, it's not always straight-forward.