Prescribing contacts for a mildly nearsighted individual around 40 can be a challenge. Most of these patients take their glasses off when they read. It has to be pointed out to the patient that if you prescribe contact lenses for distance, they might have trouble focusing up close. I, as an optometrist, have to discuss this issue with the patient. The remedy may include reading glasses over the contacts, monovision (one eye for reading and one eye for distance) or bifocal contact lenses. This particular patient opted out of contacts completely but was appreciative that I pointed this out first.

I was talking to an individual who is a photographer who wears glasses. I noted that her glasses did not have an antireflective coating. I told her the benefits of it including cosmetic as well as seeing better particularly at night or on a computer. She stated that her husband use to wear them and they smeared. I told her that the coatings now are a lot better and the problems of smearing or the coating coming off have been greatly minimized.

I had a patient about 30 years old come into the office today. He told me his vision was changing. The patient was found to have astigmatism and nearsightedness. The first question out of the patient was whether his vision problem was caused by aging. I told him it was probably due to the type of close-up work he was doing.

Usually, aging problems equate with not being able to see clearly with the same prescription for reading and distance. This usually starts in the late 30's to early 40's.