Thanks guys, I will indeed check out the links you offered. One of the farm service companies here is advertising a Bausch & Lomb 20x for something like 18.00 and from some of the few prices I have seen so far this might be a nice deal. Cathy, I just had a mental vision of myself with those over-the-head lenses on...maybe that's a cheaper cure for my astigmatism?? At least then I could pluck my own eyebrows a bit more efficiently!

os = oculus sinister od = oculus dexter oculus = eye in Latin sinister = left in Latin dexter = right in Latin With rigid gas permeable (RGP) lenses, three things affect whether lenses can be interchanged: correction for each eye, shape of each eye and how well the lenses fit. Over the course of 39 years of wearing contacts, there have been times when the correction and shape were so similar that I couldn't tell if I had reversed the lenses. Other times it was very obvious that I had reversed them because either the correction was "off" or there was physical discomfort because the shape of the eyes was significantly different. I also had one lens that fit so poorly that I kept thinking that I must have reversed the lenses. (I finally had it replaced.) At each exam and fitting, get your eye doctor to explain in non-medical terms what is going on with the eyes. If s/he can't or won't do this, it's time to find someone else.

I have them and love them . It is going on my second year with this pair. I have had contacts since I was 16 ...almost 62 now !! So I have a lot of experience. I tried the ones with long distance in one eye and close in the other..couldn't do it. I can't wear glasses at all so couldn't wear reading glasses with the contacts. I had "borrowed" as much as I could from my distance vision to help the close. My eye dr said last year that the bifocals had come a long way and that he would work with me and he thought we would be able to pull it off. Boy did he. I have all of my distance back again and my reading..I also have all the midrange for computer and piano that I could possibly want. The real kicker is that not only do I have the bifocal but I also have distance in one eye and close in the other ! He was able to combine the best of all and give me the best vision I have had in years. I see 20/10 now. I sure hope you will go to someone that will work with you as well as my dr did. I had to get 3 different left eye lenses as he made some subtle changes ...he sent them back and no charge to me at all. I am very very pleased. c

food on a stump, unfortunately, I don't. What I remember is that the optician seemed to be well informed about what was available and said they had access to every product family and product type from a variety of labs. He told me not to get hung up on brand names because each brand had a handful of different "geometries" to choose from and from even a given company some were better than others. He referred me to a new offering from one of the premium ones (I forget which, Zeiss or Seiko or another) that he said he'd been very impressed with because it had larger than normal uniform viewing area and had a quick transition. He said if I didn't like it, they would redo it with a different one. If you wound up unhappy with what you got, it's possible the optician didn't choose the model of that company what was most suitable for what you wanted or expected. Or didn't measure its placement well. It's possible that a different "model" of the same brand might have been better. I'm picky about these things. I was immediately won over by what he recommended. when I took delivery. As above, the backup pair I got from Costco came out as the optician there described - they're adequate but I wouldn't be happy with them as my everyday glasses. The viewing area is much smaller than with my regular pair.