OKay, it has happened, I got fed up with having to take off my glasses every time I wanted to read. So I hie myself to the optometrist (a certain major chain that sounds like something you make necklaces out of; so I expected to get mugged on the price, that’s not the problem), where they recommended ‘progressive bifocals’.
So for 5 days now I have been trying to manage these things. Now, I have 30 days to get used to it, but…
Is it me, or is the amount of lens area that is actually on-focus pathetically tiny? It looks to me as if only a narrow band near the center of the frame is really at the prescribed diopters, and the rest of the lens near my nose and temples is just “blank”. I mean, I fully understood when they told me I’d have to get used to different lines of sight, but as it is, I must look really stupid twisting and turning my head so i can look thru the proper part of the lens. Specially when driving, I find it very disconcerting that the only thing that is truly in-focus is what is exactly in front, and if I sit up straight that does not include the car immediately in front, 'cause my reading area already intrudes. Just get 10 degrees off-center and you’re fuzzy.
The reading and computer-screen fields seem to be just fine, so… is it a matter of becoming used to a universe that is only sharp at the upper centre of the field-of-vision? Of conditioning yourself to a chin-down, forehead-forward posture?
Or did they screw up my 'script? Am I better off with old-style bifocals, with just two distinct fields of vision?
I got 24 more days to go on the change-your-mind-free-no-we-won’t-refund-the-difference warrranty. How long should I give myself?
I dunno, I have progressive trifocals and didn’t have much trouble adjusting. Took a few days, as I recall. I kept my old pair of monofocals, which I used to switch to occasionally at first, but now I’m completely adjusted.
They are a bit irritating, since I have to tilt my head up to see close things in front of me (and often just take the glasses off) and peer owlishly to see far things through the top. But that just comes with the territory.
I don’t know whether you might do better with trifocals than bifocals.
I also took only about one day to adjust to the variable-focus lenses. Once when I needed a new prescription, I got a brand that cost a little less but was supposedly “just as good” as the name brand (Varilux). I found them to have a smaller area for far viewing, which caused me problems when driving – similar to what you described – and the next time, I went back to Varilux.
YMMV. Some people need a longer time to adjust to things like stairs. You have to be careful not to look down at the stairs through the near-vision part of the lenses. And there are some who never adapt at all.
Another alternative is to have either a separate pair for driving or a separate pair for very close work.
Mine took no adjustment at all; even going down stairs was not an issue. What I will do next time is have the measurements done with the frames sitting about 1/4 inch down my nose where they belong, instead of pressed right into my eyebrows. I find that the problem I do have is that the focus is lower than I want it to be.
If it makes a difference, I’ve worn glasses for near-sightedness for almost 40 years. Last thing off at night, first thing on in the morning.
I’ve got’em, and whenever I order a new pair I’m going to request that the near range focal area be widened, or just get bifocals. They’re very hard for me to work with, but my work involves a lot of visual comparisons. I can actually do that better with the single correction lenses.
I prefer them in the non-work environment, though, as I can just tilt my head a little to read a restaurant menu.
I tried them once before, and went back to the single, distance correction lenses. This last time I just ordered two pairs of glasses, one with and one without.
when i got mine, i was slightly dismayed, i thought they were for “old” people. i totally expected some horrible things like having trouble manouevering (think i spelled that wrong) stairs, but i was pleasently surprised to find i adjusted to them almost automatically, it came very naturally to me as the stronger lens was exactly where i needed it when i was reading. now i love them!
Me too. I got mine probably 8 years ago, and never have had a single problem. Before I got them I was having trouble reading, now it is fine. Once in a while I may have to adjust my head, but it is so automatic I never notice it.
I’m on my third pair of progressives. It took me about a week or so to get comfortable with the first ones - but I did keep taking them off, which was dumb.
Second pair had to be made twice. The first time, the field of correction was very small - I couldn’t read a newspaper column without moving my head side-to-side. I had them regrind with a wider field, and they were fine.
Now that I’m on the third (actually due to be checked again) it’s a piece of cake. The funny thing, tho, is on the rare occasions when I don’t have them on and I need to see something clearer, I lift my head as if to look thru the lower part of the lens. I feel so boneheaded when I do that. But I’m getting old, so I have an excuse!
Anyway, you need to see about getting the corrected area spread over a greater area of the lens. I know it can be done, because I had mine done that way.
I’d keep trying for a while longer, but it shouldn’t take more than 2 weeks or so. There are various ways to configuer the lens, with different relative sizes for the areas for midrange, near and far. Maybe you need a bigger far-range area? Or maybe the Rx is wrong. Try a bit more, then ask the doc.
Mine took about five minutes to get used to them. I wouldn’t ever go back to single-focus glasses (I never had conventional bifocals, so I don’t know how well they work – I would think they would drive me nuts!).
I was advised to go to a supermarket and scan the shelves from top to bottom and back again. Aside from a few odd looks from customers/employees, it worked really well. My eyes adjusted to the glasses within a day.
The idea in the OP is correct. The useful area in progressive bifocals (there really is no such thing as trifocals here, they all have the intermediate steps) is rather narrow. The distortion on the sides of the lenses is greater in cases where the prescription is greater. This is particularly true in cases of strong adds, or the area for close-up viewing. Different brands of progressives have slightly different layouts. You cannot ask the optometrist to grind your vision area to be wider but you can ask to be changed into a different brand. People who start out with traditional bifocals usually have a harder time adjusting to progressive lenses than first time users. People who do large amounts of close work also tend to find them impractical. Some people never get used to progressives.
Additionally, I should mention that measurement errors are quite common with progressive lenses. You may want to go back to the place you got them and make sure they are as they should be.
My father never got the hang of his progressive lenses. His next, and all subsequent lenses, have had standard visible-line transitions between the focal areas.
I am on my second pair of progressive lens glasses. The first pair was a bitch to get used to. Vertical lines looked tilted when I first got them (Tall buildings looked like they were leaning!) It took about 2 weeks to get used to them. The range of focus was also very narrow, both vertically and horizontally. In other words to read there was one very small “sweet spot”. To read a book, I would either have to move my head, or move the book.
My new pair is a different brand. The “sweet spot” is huge. I can look from side to side and have no problem until I get almost the edge of the lens. This second pair was wonderful from the minute I put them on.
YMMV
Yeah, I’m looking forward to that particular perk of advancing age, being able to just carry on with all my quirks and tics.