Clinical experience with the SimulVue soft bifocal contact lens

We fit the SimulVue bifocal contact lens, a soft lens with a simultaneous vision design, in 30 presbyopic patients. The lens has a central near correction surrounded by a concentric peripheral distance correction. Patients were evaluated prior to inclusion in the study and followed for a period of 1 year. The evaluation included visual acuity and contrast sensitivity at both distance and near with and without lenses. In addition, patients completed a questionnaire at the end of the study. At the end of 1 year, 16 of 30 (53%) patients were successfully wearing the contact lenses. Of these, 13 of 16 patients (81%) achieved J2 or better near vision, and 10 of 16 (63%) achieved 20/25 or better distance vision in both eyes. Greater reduction of contrast sensitivity occurred at near, with only 38% of patients (6/16) retaining their normal contrast sensitivity; whereas at distance, 81% of patients (16/16) retained normal contrast sensitivity. Fourteen patients failed to complete the study. The most common reasons cited were poor vision at distance (6/14, 43%), poor vision at near (6/14, 43%), and ghosting of images (4/14, 29%). We believe that the SimulVue contact lens is a viable option for the correction of many presbyopic patients.