Riding with ONE contact lens: does it work?

I’m shortsighted and have worn glasses and/or contact lenses for years and years.

My preference for biking is to wear contact lenses, as then I can put whatever sports shades I want to over the top.
But now I’m firmly in middle age, I’m finding it harder to adapt to reading things up close with my glasses/lenses still on/in. Riding is fine, but if I need to check a map or look at my phone, it’s a struggle.

My optician has suggested wearing a contact lens IN JUST ONE EYE, which sounds crazy, but she says it works. One eye will give me the definition for distance, and the other for reading. And my brain will work it all out.

Now this sounds feasible for general stuff, but for mountain biking, I kind of like the idea of having two eyes fulling able to look at the trail in as much detail as I get get hold of.

SO: Anyone tried it? Does it work for biking? I’m going to give it a try, but wondered if anyone had any insights?

I’ve got a prescription of -4.25 in my left and -2 in my right. I often put a -2 in both and that allows me to read (or more importantly on the bike fix punctures). Works ok. You definitely lose a little and initially it takes a bit of getting used to.

Alternative is carrying a cheap pair of readers for any close work you need to do with your full strength contacts in.

Worked fine for me a while back, now wear 2 different prescriptions one eye for distance one for reading.

Been working perfectly for me for a few years now.

Yes. Next question.

Try it.

I do it all the time. Otherwise I can’t read my bike computer. Works a treat.

It’ll cost you nothing to try it- go for quick test ride, if it doesn’t work out stick another lens in.

I was advised this, I thought it was madness, I can’t remember which one comes out, the weakest or strongest?   I might try it tonight….

Sounds awful so I’ve never tried it, maybe I should give it a go!

My situation is similar to the OP except my near vision is fine with or without glasses but variable with contacts, really need to go back to opticians to try some different contacts.

Yes.

I wear a distance lens in my right eye – which is the more distance-orientated eye.

Left eye is good for reading and I wear nothing in that.

Gives me excellent vision over all distances from near to far away.

I tried this too but hated it, maybe because I don’t have a dominant eye. It really works for some people tho!

Well I once lost a contact lens on a ride and had to ride back with only one lens – was horrific!

I’ve lost a lens a couple of times riding and it’s pretty bad. Messes up my depth perception so makes it hard to jump.

Yep, works fine.

-2.0 in left eye, just recently given up on the right one as it was down to -0.5, and it caused more problems than it was worth, so was advised by optician to ditch the right lens.

Which also saves half the cost of my lenses.

I’ve gone for multifocal contacts and they work well for me.

Lens in dominant eye. Did it for a while then just put two in. Carry cheap glasses in case of fiddly repairs. My prescription is -1.25 so not a bit of refocusing does the job.

My eyes are as bad as each other, and I’m not an old man so don’t have trouble with reading yet. One of my lenses came out at a race a couple of years ago and the result was that I had zero depth perception. I couldn’t tell how close features or corners were well enough to ride properly. It was as bad as riding with one eye shut.

I couldn’t do that, I’m -5 in both and couldn’t ride with one lense unless it was slowly back to the house/car

But everyone’s different

*Edit* just like munrobiker says but my reading site is going. Would rather take a wee second to focus on a map or GPS than hurtle down a trail half blind

I used to sea kayak with a friend, sadly passed away now, he was an ophthalmologist/eye surgeon and did just that so he could read the map and enjoy the views at the same time.

Eyes are too different. Tried reading in the weakest eye. Massive fail. Curiously the distance on my weak eye is reading in my good eye. I also have fixed distance computer lenses. Can’t ride in those intermediaries either.

I’ve lost a contact lens a couple of times when riding and it’s horrific. I lost depth perception and was very conscious that my eyes were seeing things differently – one blurred, one OK.

Wasn’t nice at all.

My optician suggested I do this, as I’ve said above, but also suggested not driving for a week or so to allow my brain to sort out the depth perception problem.

Depends I think on the prescription

I couldn’t do that, I’m -5 in both and couldn’t ride with one lense unless it was slowly back to the house/car

I’m similar but instead of being -3.75 and zero, I have -3.75 in the dominant / distance and -2.5 in the reading one, which would be similar I guess to a low power in one eye and none in the other if that’s what you need.

the stereo effect for depth perception only works at short distances not looking ahead down the trail

As others have mentioned if you are going to try this it needs time for your brain to adjust.  Just loosing one lens on the trail does not give the brain time to sort out the processing.

I’ve noticed Oakley will do one lens with corrective vision for near and far vision in their prescription glasses.

It sounds like it should be fine imo. But it might take a little while to get used to it. Personally, I use multi focal contact lenses. And if I need better, really close vision, I use a cheap set of cheaters from the local chemist shop.

Specsavers Verifocals for me. Absolute game changers. In the deal there is a buy one get one free, I now have a normal pair and a pair of photocromatic. Honestly they are blooming awesome, I can once again follow routes on my wahoo and see in the distance!

I didn’t get on with the multifocal lenses. Dont really know why, but didn’t seem quite as natural feeling as the glasses are.

My optician reduced my left eye from -3.00 to -1.50 and my right from -3.25 to -3.00 and now I have great vision for reading and distance.  It takes a day or two to adjust to it but now I can’t even bear to wear my glasses so the lens go straight in.

I would definitely try it but like others have said you need a day or two to get used to it.

As others have mentioned if you are going to try this it needs time for your brain to adjust.  Just loosing one lens on the trail does not give the brain time to sort out the processing.

TJ is right. Monovision – https://www.allaboutvision.com/contacts/monovision.htm.

My optician, who also rides, prescribed me different strength contacts quite a few years ago so that I could see things close up when out. (I think I may have had a problem fixing a snapped chain for a fellow aged rider because neither of us could see enough detail, close-up, to fit a split-link!) It works for me but I wear my contacts most days for a couple of hours so my brain is used to it. If I haven’t worn them for a while then my vision is odd for a few minutes but it really doesn’t take long to sort itself out. I wouldn’t want to just remove one lens.

If you have a minor prescription it should work.

For bats like me (-8), no chance. But I have two solutions. I have monthly disposables that are bifocal lenses. Works great.

For multi day trips I use daily disposable lenses but these are not bifocal so one lens’s prescription is tweaked slightly for near vision. Again works a treat.

I wear contacts when riding and have a pair of cheap reading glasses in my bag for bike repairs etc.. Works well for me

I wear mono vision lenses, and I also wear normal and varifocal glasses, both eyes the same)My specifications are +1.5 and +3 (distance and reading, same both eyes) so not massively different.  I ride with the lenses in.

In bright sunlight I can do without my distance one.  In typical British light if I just wear the reading one the bigger difference can be disconcerting.

Having dodgy eyes helps you to realise that the way your brain processes the stuff coming through your eyes, together with the use of stored “library images” to generate the perception of what’s in front of you is not as simple as it seems.  No wonder eye witnesses get flustered in court cases.

Experiment and Strava will tell you what works best.  When I went for distance in both eyes it made a significant improvement to my segment times at Llandegla.  You just need to keep a set of those tiny nose clip glasses in your pack or pocket for any close up stuff.

I had my natural lenses replaced (cataract surgery), and was deliberately set for monovision, so my left eye is about 1.25 dioptres short sighted; right eye is good for distance. I have some residual astigmatism, but ignoring that, I find that riding on the road is totally fine, can read my Garmin no problem, and see clearly at distance, depth perception just fine. I do carry readers for spotting holes in tubes etc.

For mountain biking, I find it slightly preferable to tweak my left eye (with a contact) so that it’s only about 0.25 or 0.5 dioptres short-sighted relative to full distance setting. That way I can just about read my watch / phone, see the dashboard whilst driving etc, but can see detail on the trail better than without.

i have a selection of single use contacts for different scenarios including driving at night!

Isn’t this why bifocals/varifocals were invented?

One big advantage for me is that I can wear whatever sunglasses I like on top, or none.

I tried varifocal glasses for a bit, and didn’t really get on with them. Too much weird wiggly jiggliness. I could probably have got used to them if I persevered, but since in normal life I can see just fine with nothing over my eyes, I had no motivation to – glasses are annoying.

8 also tried multifocal contacts. My optician predicted that I wouldn’t like them, and he was right – things just aren’t as clear so for me it was a case of “with contacts: bit fuzzy but not terrible at all distances, with nothing at all: clearer at distance, fine for phone use”. Essentially I’m spoiled by (post surgery) having really pretty good vision in each eye at their intended distance. I really recommend trying the monovision approach to anyone curious. Might not get on with, but might find it really pretty good…

Not for me. I either squint to see the Garmin or occasionally wear some bifocal safety glasses. But realistically Garmin use is rarely essential unless navigating. I carry, at times, some 99p reading glasses in case I need to mend something fiddly but I doubt I have used them more than 2 or 3 times this century. As for the phone. WTF take it out and use it?