Hello,

I am 45 years old. I recently had my yearly checkup last week, and my
eyeglass prescription is as follows.

OD =  -1.25    Sph.
OS =  -0.50    -0.50 cyl    175 axis
ADD = 2.00

(My right eye has -0.25 more myopia than last year, and my ADD has
increased by +.025 as well).

Also, my naked right eye can see closeup very well, but my left eye
can't see closeup at all.

When I'm at my desk at work or at home, I don't wear any vision
correction.  With my naked eyes, I can see a computer screen
perfectly, and I have good vision several feet in front of me.  I only
wear my glasses for night driving and very closeup work. I wear
monovision contacts on weekends, and occasionally at work (OD -.75 ---
OS -.75). I'm happy with the effect.

Now that I need a stronger distance lens (-1.00) and a stronger
closeup lens (+1.00) for monovision, my optometrist said the gap
between the two prescriptions (a full 2 diopters) might be
problematic, especially in the dark.  She recommended Purevision
multifocal contacts in both eye.

OK, so she sent me home with the following:

OD =  -1.25 LOW
OS = -0.75 HIGH

My right eye had excellent distance vision, fair intermediate vision,
but poor closeup vision (worse than my naked eye).  My left eye had
poor distance vision, fair intermediate vision, and poor closeup
vision (shadowed images).

I went back 3 days later, and she gave me 2 different lenses to try in
my left eye.

-0.75 LOW  and -0.50 HIGH

Unfortunately, neither would give me acceptable vision at any
distance.

I went back again 3 days later, and she had me try a -1.25 HIGH lens
in the right eye, and a single-vision -0.75 lens in the left eye.  She
said my slight astigmatism in my left eye was the cause of shadowing
of images at closeup distance, which I don't believe because my
previous monovision straight +0.75 lens never did this.  But then
again, maybe she's right in that my mild astigmatism, combined with
the way Purevision multifocals are made, was causing the bizarre
shadowing/doubling of images up close. Hmm...  Anyway...

The  -0.75 single-vision lens produced excellent and crisp distance
vision in my left eye (but VERY poor closeup vision, since it wasn't a
multifocal lens).  However, the right eye was poor at a distance (only
slightly better than my naked eye) and only fair closeup. My naked
right eye actually was better than the -1.25 HIGH correction, so I've
been leaving that lens out and only wearing the -0.75 straight lens in
my left eye, which works out like monovision, but in opposite eyes
than I've worn in the past (left for distance, right for closeup)

So, I'm ready for one last attempt at finding a suitable combination.
Can anyone recommend something that might work BETTER than what I've
been through already? Is it my understanding that, with Purevision
multifocals, when you opt for a high add, it comprimises the distance
strength, and vice versa with the low add? I was considering maybe a
-1.00 HIGH in my left eye and a -1.25 HIGH in my right eye.

Thanks,
-Ed