UKC

If you don’t already know what diplopia is, I’d suggest moving on, but if there are any experts on here I’d be grateful for your comments.

Couple of years ago  discovered I’d developed diplopia, probably caused by using contact lenses with one for reading and one for distance. I had a series of hospital appointments where it was discovered that it was mild and was treatable with prisms, and I was given a pair of plain glass specs with prisms to wear when driving with lenses in place. I keep these next to me while driving because I find that mostly the diplopia doesn’t happen when driving in good light and when I’m not tired.

Recently I decided to get a pair of reactor specs which I would use for cycling to keep flies out. I had fitted a -ve lens in one side to convert the reading eye (with contact in place) into a distance eye. The idea was I would be able to slip the specs off to read the map if necessary, or read the menu at the cafe, but would have the benefit of sunglasses and good distance vision while riding. This works well. 

I was told that there isn’t really a cure for diplopia. However, I decided to try my new “overspecs” for watching TV, which has always been the most likely scenario for the diplopia to click in. It seems that I can now watch TV for an hour without the diplopia happening. I am wondering if using the new specs over the lenses for certain activities is going to keep the diplopia at bay, or even cause an improvement in the condition. I really love my contacts for everyday general use, and do want to scrap them. 

I'd be interested in any responses to this question. I'm slowly getting double vision when tired or in poor light.

In my case it's probably due to having one eye weaker than the other, and apparently when I was a kid the weaker eye effectively 'switched off'. This wasn't picked up by the opticians at the time (I was short sighted), so despite having prescription lenses in both eyes only the left eye image was processed.

Now I'm pushing 60 I've started getting a double image as the right eye image has started to appear and isn't aligned to the left.

Quite disconcerting.

Well I didn't know what 'diplopia" was before, although I guessed correctly. I suffered a short period of what I called 'double vision' some 2 years ago although in my case it just appeared without warning, lasted a couple of weeks & then went away. Despite lots of tests, including an NRM scan, the various medics never had a convincing explanation other than tired eye muscles. I had several sessions with an orthoptist & still do the exercises (staring at some charts) she gave me most days 'just in case'.

Thankfully I've not had any real problems since although if tired I do occassionally get images becoming double, but it stops if I concentrate for a second (maybe less). Hopefully, what I now know was diplopia won't come back but would recomend seeing an orthoptist

Cretaceous period. Ate lots of leaves. Long neck

Is there any reason why you cannot try multifocal contact lenses, and get rid of the reading lens, as in good part the multifocal ones will allow you to focus at a closer distance, than the usual lenses for myopia? You could add in some cheap, less strong reading glasses if the multifocals do not do enough.

It seems to me that by continuing to use different focusing lenses, that you are continuing to create or extend the problem.

I had a major climbing head injury 17 years ago, and had a fracture of my lateral orbit, and with it I got damage to the VIth nerve, which supplies the lateral rectus muscle. So initially I had diplopia, but eventually it went away: However when I am really tired when driving long distance it comes back.

I also find that I get a strange variation when cycling for a period of time. It is something to do with looking ahead, not completely horizontally, maybe with the confusion of the moving tarmac/ground too, beneath me.

I have to confess that I use daily disposables and I imagine, perhaps incorrectly, they don’t do those for multifocals. I use disposables having twice (over many years) suffered conjunctivitis and this is the best way to avoid that.

You can get multifocal daily disposables, that's what I use. It's worth trying a range of different brands, I had to try quite a few before I found some that worked well for me.

I've got Acuvue multifocal daily disposables, they work for me.

I used Acuvue for a while, then they gradually stopped working for me. I'm currently using Alcon Total 1 which I find much better. I don't know what changed, my prescription stayed the same. It's a very personal thing, so you really need to try a few.

How wrong you can be! I might follow this up.

I was diagnosed with diplopia and I wasn’t wearing glasses or contacts at the time. It kicks in when my eyes get really tired, normally my brain keeps it under control. I too was prescribed prismatic lenses, which did help. I ended up breaking my glasses shortly before COVID, and due to everything I’ve ended up not replacing them even now, over time it got easier to keep a single image, but it is tiring.

Try the Acuvue and the Alcon as a minimum. They're both top of the range ones. They're not the cheapest, but I don't wear them very often.

Have you tried extended wear? You can get those in multifocal too. Supposedly you can keep them in for up to two weeks, although I've only gone two days myself. They're great for stuff like bivvies where you don't want to be fiddling with lenses, even disposables.

That's interesting. When I'm cycling (and only then) I get a weird thing that I think is one eye losing focus, rather than double vision, but I'll have to pay closer attention to exactly what it is. I wonder what it is about cycling...