Are you over 40? If so, you may want to consider wearing multifocal contact lenses. You're probably much more active than your parents were at your age. Biking, jogging, exercising and playing sports are just a few of the activities that today's 40-somethings routinely enjoy. So it's no surprise that many people 40 and older prefer contact lenses over glasses for their active lifestyles. Once we reach our mid-40s, presbyopia makes it difficult to focus on near objects. Reading glasses used to be the only option available to contact lens wearers who wanted to read a menu or do other everyday tasks that require good near vision.
But today, a number of multifocal contact lens options are available for you to consider. Multifocal contact lenses offer the best of both worlds: no glasses, along with good near and distance vision. Some multifocal contact lenses have a bifocal design with two distinct lens powers — one for your distance vision and one for near. Others have a multifocal design somewhat like progressive eyeglass lenses, with a gradual change in lens power for a natural visual transition from distance to close-up.

Multifocal Designs

A commonly used contact lens design for people with presbyopia is the concentric bifocal pattern. In this type of contact lens, the near correction is in a small circle at the center of the lens, surrounded by a much larger circle containing the distance correction. The distance correction could be placed in the center instead, with the near prescription in the outer ring. Beyond this familiar configuration, the two basic multifocal contact lens designs are alternating and simultaneous image.