Symfony multifocal - night and low light vision issues
Posted , 7 users are following.
Hi,
My name is Claude and I am a 47 yrs old male and 2 yrs ago I had the Symfony Multifocals in both eyes. It took some time to get used to them and I see almost perfect during the day when natural light is available. For reading I uses some cheap OTC ( +2). The issue with these lenses is at night (or dusk) when I drive.
My vision becomes unclear ... a traffic light in the distance at night doesn't have straight contour around the lights and is a bit blurry. I don't even know what to call that optical illusion.
Or if a go to Costco and all those ceiling artificial lights give me a headache and dizziness and everything seems weird.
After a few complaints my doctor proposed to change my predominant eye from a Symfony multifocal to a monofocal lens. But he warned me I would lose close and intermediate vision in that eye.... which now I am afraid and confused. So its a trade off ... Question is what to do?
what do you think? what would you choose?
A slight better night vision or a better close/midrange daytime vision?
I guess a 3rd option would be to take both Symfony out and replace them with simple monofocal and use progressive glasses.
thank you all for helping me in this so complicated decision.
2 likes, 21 replies
Sparky21 claude23
Posted
Do traffic lights look sort of like uneven thick X's? That is how i describe them for me if they are in the distance. They arent bad, but kind of weird. I have Symfony lenses in both eyes, but mine are toric lenses because of my astigmatisms in both eyes. I believe that I still have slight astigmatisms in both eyes and this is causing it, but it is slight and my eyes are still adjusting, so it might resolve over time. Reading your other posts makes me think the astigmatism is causing your issues. I wonder if they should have done a toric lens in your eye that had a slight one even though they usually dont use a toric for that slight of astigmatism. If you want to get an idea of how your vision will be with a monofocal lens, there is an app you can download called TECNIS VISION. You can choose myopia with an astigmatism and then choose the lens to see how it changes. for example, there is an example of what you would see at night while driving. With a monofocal, you would not be able to read the dash board speedometer. But the cars and signs at a distance are crisp. Maybe that can give you so,e perspective.
mady301 Sparky21
Posted
I have 1 Symfony lens, most people adapt well to them , but some of us do not. And the glare, halos and starbursts do not go away after almost 6 months. I also have tails and halos on all artificial lights, including house lights, stores, restaurants, sun glare from a windows, etc. which are the most annoying. I could modify my night driving, if that was the only problem, but doesn't seem to be a solution for indoor lighting issues.
If you exchange 1 synonymy lens with a monofocal, you will still have intermediate vision from the one symfony eye. You can still read your dashboard, large font cell phone, and computer, but will definitely need reading glasses for close up work-such as documents or a book, and fine print. Everything is a trade off. For me safe night driving and some relief from the inside lighting problems was worth reading glasses.Something you will need to decide.
claude23 mady301
Posted
Thanks Mady. I think this is the option that I will consider as well.
Keep the multifocal Symfony in the non-dominat eye and get a monofocal for distance on the dominant eye. This will help me with the distance vision and the night driving.
How difficult is to adapt to monovision?
Sue.An2 claude23
Posted
if you have a symfony in one eye - depending on target but i will assume intermediate - there shouldn't be a monovision to get used to given Symfony's range of vision.
Sparky21 claude23
Posted
if you keep one symfony, i wouldnt think that you would lose all of your close up vision. you would lose some because it is amazing how my left doesnt read upclose well but it still helps to read upclose with both eyes rather than just the better eye. i agree with Sue. since the symfony is for all ranges, there wouldnt really be much adaptation needed. i wish there was a poll out there showing what percent of doctors recommend the same lenses as opposed to different ones in each eye. my doctor said the symfony lens works better when in both eyes. maybe that is mainly for reading i dont know for sure, please do keep us updated.
mady301
Posted
Hello All,
Just wanted to update you all on my decision. After much anxious decision making I choose to get a Symfony lens in my 2nd eye. I am thrilled with my decision. My vision with two Symfony lenses is outstanding, I can see 20/20 with each eye, read my computer and most normal size text in good lighting. The starbursts and spiderwebs in my LE are already the same as my RE, so with both eyes they are no worse than I saw with my RE only. There is always a trade off, but for me, with my level of severe nearsightedness, two symfony lenses bring a world of vision I have never previously known. I accept that I will always have starbursts, glare, and spiderweb for headlights and street lights, but they are tolerable for driving in most circumstances. The outstanding vision is worht the trade off for me.
mady301