The Bottom Line: I think you have to try various brands. The Acuvue seems to have the most advantages overall but the Baush and Lomb were the best fit for me.

This was my first experience with buying bifocal which are also called "progressive" contacts. I will discuss my experience buying contact lenses through an HMO vs buying at the local mall. I will also discuss my experience with various brands including Coopervision Frequency 55, Acuvue, Bausch and Lomb and Ciba.

I had told myself for years that I could never wear contacts since it would involve touching the eyeball and I could just never imagine myself being able to do that. I had a conversation with a relative that was afraid of flying and I encouraged them not to let their irrational imagination get in the way of traveling. Then, I realized that I was letting my irrational imagination get in the way of wearing contacts- something that millions of people do successfully everyday. Don't let your fears and irrational imagination get in your way!

I have an HMO and when I made the decision to buy contacts, I assumed it would be least expensive to go through my HMO. Be careful you don't make this mistake too. First, I had to wait for an appointment with my HMO but when I visited the mall, appointments were immediately available. My HMO gave me an eye exam first of all and the Dr. gave me a prescription for eyeglasses even though I had been clear that I was coming for contact lenses. I was not able to use his prescription outside of the HMO.

Then I came for a "fitting" with a contact lense fitter. She explained that a lot of people are not happy with progressive contact lenses and told me that I would have to sign a document which obligated me to buy six months of the contacts that SHE chose for me. I was already in the chair and I was eager to get going on contacts and I had never bought contacts before and assumed they would give satisfactory service and so I signed the document.

During that first visit with the fitter, I was taught how to put the contacts in and how to take them out. The fitter had a problem getting one of the contacts out of my eye but she sprayed some liquid in that eye and then seemed to get it out pretty easily. I am not sure what the liquid was. I had some trouble relaxing my eyelid and had to physically hold them apart. I just seem to have a blinking reflex that is hard to overcome. But I did get them in and out and went home with a pair.

That first pair of contacts I tried were the Coopervision Frequency 55 contacts. I told the fitter immediately that everything on the other side of the small exam room was blurry. She kept repeating and emphasizing how bifocal contacts are a "compromise." I would hear this repeatedly, from everyone I dealt with. I went home with what she gave me and they were not too bad in the bright sun on the freeway on the way home. It took me a while to get them in and out initially but I caught on and it got easier.

Soon after getting this pair of contacts, I decided to drive into San Francisco one evening after dark. I had barely gone ten miles when I had to turn around and come home. I couldn't see the lines that demarcate the lanes and I could barely make out the edge of the road. Eveything was blurred. My depth perception was impaired. It was very scary and I crawled back home going about 40 miles an hour on a freeway with traffic zipping around me and honking their horns. They were probably shaking their fists at me but I couldn't see anything anyway. I learned how important light conditions are when wearing progressive contact lenses.

I was able to wear this first pair of contacts to my job in which I stare at a computer screen for about eight hours as long as I left work before dark. I could do my job but my eyes felt very strained at the end of the eight hours and I had to use re-wetting drops a few times since the contacts became very dry which I was told to expect.

When I went back to the fitter for a second visit, I told her about my experience driving at night and she made an adjustment to my prescription which improved distance but made reading small print more problematic. This was the best she could do, she said, "with what we carry" and again emphasized that progressive contacts had to be a "compromise." I asked if it was possible to try Acuvue, Ciba or Baush and Lomb progressive contacts to see if they were more comfortable and would work better. I even offered to pay more money to try those other brands. The HMO optical technician told me that the HMO did not carry progressives in any of those brands! (My suspicion was that they carry those brands on which they get the best profit margin but I don't know if this is really true). I eventually wound up paying for six months worth of the Coopervision Frequency 55 contacts which I was not happy with.

By this time I had collected coupons off the internet for free trial contacts from Acuvue, Bausch and Lomb, and Ciba. Although these coupons provided free contacts, they did require an eye exam and fitting. I was willing to pay for another exam and fitting since I was not satisfied with what the HMO had provided.

I visited several outlets with coupons in hand and was told at Lenscrafters and Costco that the brand of contact probably would not make much difference and again heard progressive contacts are always a "compromise." So it was not just my HMO saying this. I kept repeating that I understood bifocal/progressives were a compromise but I wanted to get the very BEST compromise for MY vision. I went to the mall and visited Pearle Vision and another Lenscrafters and then finally settled on a Site For Sore Eyes. I told them that I had not been satisfied with the one choice that the HMO had given me and that I had three coupons and wanted to get trial lenses from these three other brands: Ciba, Baush and Lomb and Acuvue. The doctor at Site for Sore Eyes said "no problem."

I left Site for Sore Eyes that day with a pair of Bausch and Lomb. The doctor there also changed my prescription from that which the HMO had given me. It made an amazing difference! Vision was so much clearer from across the room. I would find out later that I could even watch T.V. with the Bausch and Lomb contacts. As soon as I took them out of their package, I noticed how much thinner they seemed than the Coopervision. They were so much more comfortable! It turned out I could wear them all day with little problem. I used much less re-wetting drops and my eyes were much less fatigued after eight hours than with the Coopervision AND I could actually drive home after dark on the freeway-SAFELY!

A few days later, Site for Sore Eyes called me and told me that my Acuvue trial lenses had come in and I went to pick them up. These were even thinner than the Bausch and Lomb! In fact this thinness turned out to be a little bit of a disadvantage. They were harder to handle and seemed to almost collapse on themelves on my eyeball. They seemed to dry out easier too. My vision was pretty good- maybe even slightly better than with the Bausch and Lomb. They had an inside-out indicater that was very helpful and they claimed "UV" protection and the literature on the interenet seemed to say that it might be possible to actually sleep in them and wear them for up to seven days. I would love for the Acuvue to have worked out but they were just so flimsy and one got torn fairly quickly and they never felt as comfortable to me as the Bausch and Lomb but you should really try this brand for yourself since they seem to have the most advantages if they do fit you well.

My next trial pair that I received was the pair from CIBA. I had been eager to try their product since they also make a contact that one can leave in for up to 30 days although I knew the progressive had to be taken out every night. The CIBA lenses were almost as thin as the Acuvue but seemed to fit my eyeballs better. They were more comfortable than the Acuvue but were also difficult to handle because of their flimsiness. They did not have the inside-out indicator like the Acuvue but did have a blue tint that made them easy to see in the container. I was concerned that this blue tint might affect vision at night but it never seemed to be much of a problem.

In the end, I decided on the Bausch and Lomb contacts. They were the most comfortable contacts and the vision they provided was the best "compromise" for me. Yes, progressive contacts ARE a compromise but I think you have to try the various brands to find the best compromise for you. I encourage you to question your choices before starting the process and making sure that your provider will let you try several brands before you make your decision. If your provider says they are all the same, go elsewhere. There are significant differences between the various brands of contacts and you should have the opportunity to try different ones. Do not sign anything obligating you to buy several months worth of contacts that the provider chooses. Make sure that YOU are the one that is given the opportunity to make the final decision based on YOUR comfort and YOUR vision rather than the provider making the decision based on their profit margin or their convenience.

My HMO charged me well over two hundred dollars and I ended up with a drawer full of contacts I will never wear. Site for Sore Eyes at the mall charged me sixty dollars and I was able to try out three different brands from which I chose the Bausch and Lomb progressives. If you want choices, go to the mall. Be prepared to insist on those choices though and be prepared to be told over and over that bifocal/progressive contact lenses are a "compromise." Hopefully you will be able to find the best compromise for you.

UPDATE: I wore the Bausch and Lomb contacts for about a year and always felt like they were a pretty good compromise but I still had some problems working on a computer for any length of time. I decided this year to try "monovision" this year. With monovision, one eye is prescribed a lens for distance and the other is for closeup. It takes a few days to get adjusted to it but eventually your brain works it all out. After getting my monovision prescription, I was able to get the Ciba Night and Day contacts that can be worn up to 30 days. You can even sleep in them. This is the next best thing to lasik surgery I think although I am not able to wear mine more than about a week without my eyes getting irritated. I take them out for a couple days and then can go another week. These are really the best option yet that I have found.