Bifocal contact lenses: History, types, characteristics, and actual state and problems

Hiroshi Toshida, Kozo Takahashi, Kazushige Sado, Atsushi Kanai, Akira Murakami

Department of Ophthalmology, Juntendo University School of Medicine, Tokyo, Japan

Abstract: Since people who wear contact lenses (CL) often continue using CL even when they develop presbyopia, there are growing expectations for bifocal CL. To understand actual state and problems, history, types, and their characteristics are summarized in this review. Bifocal CL have a long history over 70 years. Recently, bifocal CL have achieved remarkable progress. However, there still is an impression that prescription of bifocal CL is not easy. It should also be remembered that bifocal CL have limits, including limited addition for near vision, as well as the effects of aging and eye diseases in the aged, such as dry eye, astigmatism, cataract, etc. Analysis of the long-term users of bifocal CL among our patients has revealed the disappearance of bifocal CL that achieved unsatisfactory vision and poor contrast compared with those provided by other types of CL. Changing the prescription up to 3 times for lenses of the same brand may be appropriate. Lenses that provide poor contrast sensitivity, suffer from glare, or give unsatisfactory vision have been weeded out. The repeated replacement of products due to the emergence of improved or new products will be guessed.

Keywords: bifocal contact lens, presbyopia, accommodation