Get rid of your glasses NOW!

Sweaty activities + glasses is definitely a pain. There are bifocal/multifocal contact lenses though. Never personally tried them but I do wear contacts for nearsightedness and would consider bifocal contacts if I developed the need.

I know 4 people who tried bifocal contacts that were not happy.

I canā€™t understand how a bifocal contact could work. Itā€™s a single lens that sits relatively stationary on your cornea, so how can you have multiple magnifications?

I donā€™t totally get it either and I think it requires some acclimation to get used to it, which is probably why they donā€™t work well for a lot of people. This site has some explanations and diagrams of how the different areas are arranged on the lens.

Thank you muchly, but i would feel naked without my glasses, though they are not as expensive as that stuff.

I accepted the FDA about the COVID vax, but that is about as far as I can go. I got my Pfizeration booosted a week ago, along with a super duty Flu shot, that is enough for me, for a while, I hope.

Narrby, thanks for that link. Interesting stuff, though I donā€™t know that I would go there. Iā€™m still getting by with cheap readers.

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I had lasik 20 years ago. Cataract x2 in 2019. I have some lite weight progressive readers that I wear all the time. I wore coke bottles for 30 years prior to lasik. I know the goggle protection function of glasses saved me a lot of pokes over the years. I especially like them now around open camp fires for example. Perfect protection.
Peace J

It happens that for me, kayaking is probably the #1 activity where drops like this could be useful. It would be great to be able to read a chart without having to stop paddling and put on readers (bifocals exist but Iā€™d rather have a full unobscured distant view too). And my kayaking is done in daylight, so the constriction of pupils wouldnā€™t be a problem.

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I always have sunglasses of some sort on when paddling, so just using sunglass readers - like I do for driving - takes care of any vision issues.

That drug has been around a loooong time. And I wouldnā€™t use it to replace eyeglasses. Thereā€™s a difference between changing focus using the eyeā€™s natural physiology (namely nerves and muscles) and producing the result pharmacologically. I havenā€™t given it to anybody in decades (former ED nurse) but it was one of those drugs where you had to check the patientā€™s pulse before administering; maybe thatā€™s different now. Consult your physician! If it sounds too good to be trueā€¦

From Medscape:
Pilocarpine toxicity is characterized by exaggeration of parasympathomimetic
effects, which may include: headache, visual disturbance, lacrimation, sweating, respiratory distress, gastrointestinal spasm, nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, atrioventricular block, tachycardia,

Wow, nice list of possible side effects. While the concept is interesting, my presbyopia is well beyond the ā€œmildā€ age 40-55 level so these wouldnā€™t do me any good anyway. Iā€™ll continue to take a break to put on my readers when I want to make out the writing on a chart.

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Pilocarpine is one of a large list of medications that are known as parasympathomimetics. These drugs mimic the effect of acetylcholine on the parasympathetic nervous system. Those who know anything about the parasympathetic nervous system know that it has a plethora of far reaching physiological effects.

In this case pilocarpine is being used to induce one effect, namely miosis or constriction of the pupil. But unfortunately, this effect of pilocarpine is not selective. You get a host of undesired and possibly even dangerous effects along with the one desired effect.

When used topically as an eye drop, pilocarpine is much less likely to produce serious adverse systemic side effects such as respiratory distress, gastrointestinal distress, or cardiac dysrhythmias. Nonetheless these more serious side effects have been reported with pilocarpine ophthalmic solution, albeit rarely. Other side effects such as blurred vision, tearing, eye pain, and headache are considerably more common.

Watch drug ads on TV and listen to the side effects of them all.

I had bifocal contacts briefly. They are slightly different thickness in one half of the disc so they are essentially weighted so the reading refraction stays ā€œbelow the horizonā€ on the surface of the eye. As with bifocal glasses you learn to tilt your head to align the depth of field that you need.

Honestly I did not like them much. You lose a lot of the functionality for myopia correction, which I used to need desperately. But one plus of being very myopic when young is that as your eyes and facial muscles age, your myopia begins to correct as your eyeball naturally shortens (myopia is due to having an elongated eyeball, which messes with your depth of field). This natural process of eyeball rounding quickens if you wear contacts for a few decades. I used to have trouble even walking across a familiar room without my glasses on ā€“ was so nearsighted that I could not recognize faces across a table from me. Now I can even drive without glasses and actually read road signs, which used to be a blur.

I would be very hesitant to use a drug that purports to replace the simple use of a $5 pair of readers. But then I have never had presbyopia except while wearing contacts for myopia. So I can imagine it would be a relief to be able to see closeup work without having sweaty glasses sliding down oneā€™s nose or fogging up.

Like most myopics, I used to need to wear reading glasses while wearing contacts, though (my closeup vision without artificial correction has always been excellent, which was why I was a shy and bookish kid until they figured out in 6th grade that I was nearly blind for distance vision ā€“ you would think the fact that all my teachers found I had to be put in the front row to see the blackboard would have tipped somebody off that I needed an eye exam earlier than that. Or that I could not even play kickball because I could not see the ball coming at me and frequently got beaned.) Got my first glasses at 11 and was shocked to discover that the world more than 6ā€™ beyond me did not look like an Impressionist painting. My dad took me to pick them up just before Christmas and I recall being dismayed as we walked to the streetcar stop to see how much trash and dirty snow was on the sidewalk and how scowling and scruffy the passersby were. Dad spotted me crying and asked what was going on ā€“ when I answered he told me to just take the glasses off, and my soft-edged view of the world was restored. Eventually got used to the rough details of reality.

I loved having soft disposable contacts for many years, but they donā€™t work as well with older eyes which tend to get dry at the end of a long day of wear. Contacts are also an issue now that I have accumulated some corneal scars due to poorly fitted contacts when I was younger and some autoimmune inflammations due to environmental allergies that caused erosions. I kept sets of disposable contacts (which included astingmatism correction for one eye) for many years to use short term while paddling, also especially handy for scuba diving and rolling practice. But had to suspend regular daily use due to the dry eye issues and problems during allergy season when they trapped pollen and became irritants.

In retrospect, my favorite contacts were costly flexible non-disposables (that had to be heat sterilized in a little cooker every night) ā€“ super thin and incredibly comfortable. The company stopped making them when the thicker and cheaper disposables took over the market. Even though they cost $300 a year they gave me the best eyesight I ever had.

I have a couple of friends who had Lasix surgery when they were younger to correct myopia. I have not been in touch with them since we have all become geezerized so I donā€™t know how that surgery has affected their aging vision.

Past due for an eye exam and new glasses or whatever but my excellent optometrist retired 3 years ago and I have yet to find anyone I trust as much ā€“ over the years he even caught eye problems I was having that a whole ophthalmologist practice was unable to diagnose. Hoping I can find one who can enlighten me on the most recent options. I know I am looking at cataract surgery eventually ā€“ been told for 30 years to expect that but itā€™s a minor outpatient thing by now ā€“ I have had kin in their late 80ā€™s who had it with no problems.

Although everyone else has contributed good and scientifically reputable knowledge, Iā€™m quite bewildered with all of paddledogs responses

Anyways, good medical lesson!

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You expect logic on the internet?

Feel free to ask any question you like. Hate to leave you paddling bewildered. They seem simple enough to me.

The drug sponsor formally asks FDA to approve a drug for marketing in the United States by submitting an NDA. An NDA includes all animal and human data and analyses of the data, as well as information about how the drug behaves in the body and how it is manufactured.

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https://www.fda.gov ā€ŗ download

Drug Approval Process

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What is FDA panel?

Advisory committees provide independent advice and recommendations to the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) on scientific and technical matters related to the development and evaluation of products regulated by the Agency. ā€¦ FDA understands the term panels of experts to mean advisory committees.

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https://www.fda.gov ā€ŗ download

Guidance for Industry: Advisory Committees - US Food and Drug ā€¦

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Who regulates the drug approval process?

Who makes up the FDA advisory panel?

If you have questions chime in also if something seems illogical in my posts.

Well, you said that readers donā€™t work when you sweat then a few posts later said you never wear glasses. I suspect not contacts either.

Your comments here at the least lack any experiential basis or personal medical credentials.