Advice on vision correction, especially reading/close-up

Getting older and my close-up vision has been getting pretty bad for awhile now, which I’ve been mainly dealing with through a combination of squinting and denial. I did break down and buy a cheap pair of 2X reading glasses for really small print and other close-up work awhile back. They work fine, but I don’t feel like carrying them around, so when I need them it always seems like they’re somewhere else, like at home when I need them at work.

My idea is to buy a half-dozen or so cheap ones like I have and leave them wherever I may need them- upstairs home office, downstairs, work, car, etc.

A Facebook friend posted that they got prescription reading glasses though, which makes me wonder-- is there some advantage to those, or would that be overkill for most people?

I’ve always been mildly nearsighted, so I have a pair of prescrip distance-correction glasses that I got years ago that I only wear when driving. I’m thinking it’s time to have my eyes checked again and maybe upgrade those. I tried wearing the glasses I have for distance correction all the time for awhile years ago, but they make close-up vision even worse- looking at a computer screen for any length of time would give me a headache. So those of you who need both distance and close-up correction, what do you do- swap between glasses? Wear bifocals? I believe modern bifocals look more like regular glasses than my Grandma’s did, which had the obvious “reading lens” delineations at the bottom.

And what about contact lenses- are there bifocal contacts?

Dollar store glasses all over our house, every room, some rooms several pairs. Car–2 pairs. Purse, 2 for sure, maybe for in various pockets. Office, at least 3 pair. RK corrected eyes, and later bionic lenses after cataract surgery–vision OK, except for small type. Works for me.

I’m not an optometrist, but you’re ready for multifocals. You’re wearing glasses anyway, at least when you’re driving, so why not get one pair that works in all situations?

They do make bifocals with the line kind of blended in. It’s barely perceptible.

Progressive lenses don’t have the lines like your grandmother’s glasses did. No lines at all, in fact (blended or otherwise), just a progression (hence the name) from distance to closeup correction. Bifocals (or trifocals, like my lenses) do have the line (or lines), and they work better for some people who can’t adjust to progressive lenses. My optometrist told me that a significant number of people (a minority, but still significant) can’t adjust, and are better off with lined multifocals.

Ophthalmology guy here. IANAD, but I’m a lay clinic director and have worked in this business for years. There is no difference between a pair of prescription readers and a quality pair of OTC reading glasses from the drugstore. Possible exceptions:

  • If you have astigmatism, your prescription reading glasses can correct for that at the same time they are helping your near vision, where OTC readers would not. However, if your astigmatism is significant enough that you need that, then you probably needed glasses for distance anyway.
  • Really low quality readers (like they have at the dollar store) can have really poor optic qualities, and even just be flat-out wrong in the prescription they claim. Caveat lector.

I use “monovision” contact lenses - one eye corrected for distance vision, the other eye corrected for reading. It works great.

I’ve asked several optometrists why they can’t make eyeglasses using that same procedure. Most just laugh like it’s a ridiculous question. A few say they’ve done it and it works fine.

I switched from regular glasses to progressives a few months ago. I can read my phone without taking my glasses off! The adjustment period was…lemme think back…non-existent. It was completely, 100% natural. I was amazed. They told me I would have to learn to turn my head at times instead of using my peripheral vision - I haven’t even noticed that. The ONLY change in behavior I’ve found is when I’m wearing my non-progressive sunglasses, I find myself trying to tilt my head up to use the reading section of the lenses…even though it doesn’t exist.

There are bi-focal contacts. My sister is an affirmed contact wearer and hates glasses. This week she was told she needs a multi-focal lens solution. She discussed the contacts with her eye doctor, and was told that almost everyone hates them, and that monovision is the more popular solution. She doesn’t want that either, so she’s just sticking with the distance correction.

I’ve told her that she’s going to end up buying some cheap reading glasses at the store for when she’s at home on the computer, but she doesn’t believe me. :slight_smile: Time will tell.

Thanks for all the great info! Progressive lenses sound interesting, but I’m not sure if I want to commit to wear glasses all the time. My distance vision isn’t all that bad. Monovision sounds freaky- seems like it would mess with your binocular vision. Think I may stick with my original plan and pick up a few pair of decent drugstore reading glasses, at least for now.

I purchased a pair of prescription reading glasses from Zenni and I like them much better than the drugstore variety (I do have some astigmatism, so that may be why). One important difference is that most of the drugstore glasses have small lenses, which really annoy me (I assume it is so you can push them down your nose and look over them for distance). The ones I ordered are full size lenses, just like any other prescription glasses. they also come in a frame size that I know fits me well. They were also cheaper. They cost $12 delivered.

I also just purchased some Hydrotac stick on reading lenses for my prescription sunglasses (I use them for driving so I can see the navigation system). Generally, I don’t like bifocals or progressives.

If you haven’t had an eye exam in a while, I’d suggest getting one. It’s a good idea to have a pro look at your eyes–especially as you age.

However, reading glasses aren’t a bad idea. I wear glasses for nearsightedness; my close vision is still fine. (A cataract will need repair but my doc says it’s not bad enough to convince the insurance company yet.)

Years ago I got contacts for the myopia. They were fine until aging made my close vision while wearing them go off. The doc told me to buy readers from the drug store & he told me which power. Since then I’ve decided to go back to glasses & go naked for reading and computer work.

I could have written this exact post. I got progressives in October and love them. So nice to do computer work and write on paper without having to look under my glasses to see what I’m writing or reading on the front edge of the desk while seeing what’s on the monitor on the other side of the desk. I was also having a hard time seeing the tiny print on the sides of injection vials - not good for the work I do!

I also think you should have your eyes checked. Take the glasses you use for driving with you, so the doc can check the Rx on those. What they’ll do is put that Rx into the Rx-checker-thingy to start and then make sure it’s working for you or whether it needs to be changed. I’ve found from talking to other people who think their distance vision isn’t that bad, that it’s often worse than they think and they’re just used to trees looking like green cotton balls. Scary when imagining what they must me missing on the road while driving.

Can guests see user profiles? My profile pic is me with my progressive lenses on.

It sounds as though it would, but the large majority of people who try monovision never notice. Keep in mind that if you have two healthy eyes (as opposed to a lazy eye or one really bad eye), one of them is the dominant eye and is doing most of the heavy lifting when you look at things in the distance. Monovision leaves the non-dominant eye slightly nearsighted, and most people can’t tell a significant difference in their distance vision.

I have monovision, and the only time it bothers me is when I go to a 3D movie, since those depend on tricking your brain with a different image going to each eye. For those occasions, I have a few boxes of one day disposable contacts just for my right (reading) eye which I pop in when I get to the theater.

Any optometrist worth his salt will give you a trial set of monovision contact lenses to wear home from the appointment and use in your real-life situations for a week or two in order to determine whether you like it or not.

Do you still need them ? do they work, or you just didn’t think to check if they work or not. Best to get your eyes checked, thats all, if short sighted you need regular checks. Yes when you into presbyopia, the eyes can change to be less myopic… you may be causing eye strain with the old prescription specs !
Now, if you only wear specs sometimes, then keep doing that… Just use the cheapies for reading, prescription for driving, walking the streets, readers for reading/computer work
For those with higher degrees of myopia, or wishing to wear sunglasses at the same time, there are clip on readers, to add 1,2,3 diopters (which makes them less negative, not as strong…)

I did the lasik route, so my distance vision is fine.

I bought Rx readers for work. On the computer all day. They stay at work.

Otherwise, like people have said, just spread them around. Buy half a dozen or so.

I did go online and get tinted/sunglass readers for reading on vacation.

There are three disadvantages of wearing ready-made, cheap reading glasses:

  • they don’t correct astigmatism
  • they don’t account for individual differences in pupillary distance
  • they don’t account for differences in refractive error between both eyes (for instance if you suffer from anisometropia like I do)

Also keep in mind that, depending on your age (i. e. the stage of your presbyopia) and your computer setup (i. e. the position of your keyboard and your PC monitor), you will need different pairs of glasses for normal reading (printed material) and for looking at your computer screen (unless you pull up the monitor real close).

Interesting

as mentioned computer glasses maybe needed. computer bifocals can be a good thing.

lower close vision area focus at reading distance as usual.

upper far vision area focus at twice the reading distance for the computer screen.

with an early reading correction a pair of monovision readers might work for both uses. though later you may have to move your head uncomfortably closer.

lined bifocals give a large field of vision for the screen. even if you like progressive glasses they might be bad for this because of the smaller focused area will demand lots of head movement.

“Computer glasses” can actually mean 3 different things:

  • single vision lenses
  • lined bifocals
  • dedicated office lenses (progressives)

If your work or your activities entail looking at - and only looking at - a computer screen for hours on end (like working in a call center, surfing the web or playing computer games), single vision lenses are the optimal solution (I’m wearing them right now). They are also the cheapest alternative.

Most office jobs, however, require you to look at written material: reading letters, forms, brochures, files etc. as well as looking at a computer screen. Occasionally, you also might need to look at person standing before your desk. For the aging office worker, dedicated office lenses are the way to go. These are basically a special type of progressive lens (for a thorough explanation, see for instance: → ZEISS office spectacle lenses).

Lined bifocals are (probably) cheaper, but there is always the issue with the image jump (which drives me nuts).