Got my first pair of progressive trifocals in my 40’s. I was comfortable and happy with them within minutes.
Me, too. I have progressive trifocals and they feel like natural vision to me, and there was no adjustment period to them at all. I love them!
And I am pretty freaking blind without glasses. Every once in a while, I’ll look at the readers in a drug store. Even the strongest version is like plane, dirty plastic to me.
Which is going to be tough for me, because I got in the habit of looking over my glasses when I was a teacher and talking to a student who needed some nudging.
I collected mine from the optician last week. I was absolutely determined that I was going to hate them - the deal was that if I didn’t get on with them I could go back and swap for normal lenses. I decided to go for the higher-spec lenses which have a more gradual transition, to really make a good effort of it. I’m a bit traumatised by the whole ageing thing, so I was sure I wouldn’t like them anyway!
Well… It must have taken me all of about 10 minutes to get used to them. I have had absolutely no problems whatsoever. I’m still sulking about my age, but honestly I can’t complain about the glasses. I do think that YMMhugelyV, as evidenced here. I also have a suspicion that the higher-spec lenses may have made a big difference. They were really really expensive though.
Bit of a nitpick, but progressive lenses are not trifocals (or bifocals). It’s more accurate to call them multi-focals. The magnification gradually increases the lower in the lens you look. It allows you to fine tune your focus by raising or lowering your head a little.
Not a nitpick; thanks for the info. I have been telling people I am getting what are “basically bifocals” and will stop doing that now. I didn’t really understand the difference.
First, we need to note that progressive lenses are NOT the same as bifocals (nor even trifocals), as OP states.
I got a pair of progressives. I noted the same problem as Icarus here. It felt like my peripheral vision had gone bad, and to see anything clearly to either side, I had to turn my head. Like Icarus says, “no turning the eyeballs”. The optometrist agreed, this is to be expected with progressive lenses.
This made me feel like I had tunnel vision. It was particular bothersome while driving, where it always seemed especially important to have good peripheral vision even while looking straight ahead. It was awkward and uncomfortable while driving, having to turn my whole head all the time to see what was around me.
I never got used to it. After a year, I got a new prescription, going back to regular bifocals (with the granny window).
^^Didja know they make progressive contact lenses? 
That is not to be expected with progressives if they are properly fit. What you are describing sounds like the optical centers were set too high. There is a corridor in the midrange that is fairly narrow, but the distance correction goes the full width of the lens. If the O.C.s are too high it puts the top of the corridors in front of your pupils.
The reading zone is somewhat narrow, but not to the point of tunnel vision - it’s close to the width of a bifocal segment. If the reading seems too narrow, that’s a sign the optical centers are too close or too far apart, or the lenses are too far from your eyes. The latter can be corrected by adjusting the frame properly, but the former requires making new lenses and measuring them right this time. That’s exactly why going to a qualified optician is important.
I’m going to ask my doctor about those too, but I’d like a pair of glasses fitted that way too, if I can tolerate them.
I got progressive lenses last year after wearing regular glasses for several years and it took me no time to adjust, which surprised me given all the warnings I heard and read about, especially with stairs. I love them, especially since I can now read without having to take the glasses off. My close vision has gotten a little worse over the last few years and I started having to take off my previous glasses in order to read most things. I especially like that I can now watch TV and read at the same time without taking my glasses off (though I still can’t actually concentrate on both activities at the same time).
Ditto. It had never occurred to me.
Right - I popped in to say that and realized you already had.
I’ve tried full progressive lenses and have had zero success with them. Instant headache from the eyestrain, as in I couldn’t even wear them for 10 minutes. No amount of “Try them for a few days, they take some getting used to!” worked.
I made do for a while with one single-vision pair for distance, and one for reading. That wasn’t quite cutting it so I wound up trying “room distance” progressives - where you can see 10-15 feet away through the top, and read through the bottom.
The optometrist had suggested that the difference in prescriptions for my eyes (something like -3.5 on one and -1.5 on the other) might have contributed to the problems I had. The room-distance has less of a difference between top and bottom, so for whatever reason was easier to take.
That’s worked well for the last 6 or 7 years but this go-round, it was a complete failure. I just had the glasses remade for the THIRD TIME and haven’t been able to force myself to wear them. Ugh. It has gotten to the point where I’ve seriously considered Lasik, as that supposedly would even things up then I could wear drugstore readers.
Anyway - make sure wherever you get your glasses, they have a money back / remake free policy. I wouldn’t go with a mail-order place like Zenni until you know the progressives will work.
Of course it wouldn’t work. First off, whoever dispenses them needs to be doing the final fitting. That doesn’t mean put them on and ask if they feel o.k. It means they need to put them on you and adjust them first thing. If they’re new glasses they WILL need to be adjusted, even if they preadjusted them when you ordered them. When they bring them out the lenses should still have some lines, dots, and circles marked on them. Those marks are there so they can make sure they are positioned in front of your eyes correctly, and should not be cleaned off until the optician is satisfied that they are positioned properly.
Eyestrain right off the bat with properly fitted progressives is not unheard of, but it’s far from normal. There are a lot of variables that need to be accounted for before giving up. One common fault is the front of the frame is too “flat” and it needs to be adjusted to “wrap” a little, which then requires an adjustment of the temples or they’ll end up too tight. Or it could be the opposite–too much wrap that needs to be flattened a little. The angle of the frame (how close the bottom of the lens is to your face compared to the top) as well as the overall distance of the lenses from your eyes also makes a big difference and may need to be adjusted.
That’s the biggest problem with mail order. The final fitting requires the patient and optician to be across the table from each other.
In my case, they’ve tried numerous adjustments such as you describe, and it’s never worked out.
The most recent attempt at full-range progressives (ordered by mistake, the junior person who did the paperwork didn’t realize I wanted room-distance) was such a disaster that I had to restrain myself from throwing them on the floor in front of everyone, and jumping up and down on them while shrieking in rage.
I will admit, I’ve never seen the markings left on the lenses as you describe. But they have indeed tried. I concur that mail-order for progressives is a much higher risk thing. I may order cheap distance glasses next time around so I have something to keep in the car (and maybe that have the snap-on magnetic sunglasses).
To** Doug K.**
Some of us have REALLY weird eyeballs, and I don’t think any amount of “adjustment” would make progressives work.
I don’t have normal depth perception. I can’t see Magic Eye pictures. 3D movies are agony to me. And each eyeball has a completely opposite prescription. The prescribers actually circle the numbers in red before sending the form off to the optic lab.
So, I guess I’d give this warning to anyone nearing the “Bifocal Age”:
If you have normal depth perception and are average in every way when it comes to eyesight, go ahead and try the progressives. You’ll probably love them.
If you are a “special needs” child, or if your work/leisure requires you to do detail work or scanning, you’d probably be happiest with standard bifocals, and I’d even suggest you ask about the “Executive” lenses.
~VOW
Well, this is the second day of having mine.
I felt a little bit… off-kilter, for the first hour or so, but it faded quickly. Reading is noticeably easier. The only real problem that I’ve had is on one particular computer game, involving moving around colored blocks on a dark background. I’m having trouble bringing the blocks into focus. I don’t seem to have problems with anything else on the computer - text, other computer games, etc.
For what it’s worth, when I was fitted, the optician did adjust the glasses after observing them on my face, but there were no markings on my glasses at all. I hope that doesn’t mean I got a bum deal. 
Again, there is no way in hell I would buy a pair of progressives over the Internet.
MsWhatsit, you didn’t get a bum deal. Visibly, I don’t think they’re identifiable by others, but only to the wearer. (But, I think you were kidding, and I’m being a little slow…)
I just picked up my new pair today and have a problem with them. I remember now that I had the same type of problem when I picked up my last pair (about 5 years ago). The optician said it’s a problem with something called “segment height”.
The problem is that my vision was blurry when I was driving home. However, holding my hand out at arm’s length, my fingers were clear; but the cars on the road were blurry when I kept my head steady and looked at them instead of the fingers. To see the cars clearly, I had to point my nose downward and then look through the upper part of the lenses.
The monitor at my workstation in the office is adjusted well: the imaginary line from my nose to the middle of the screen is parallel with the floor, if that makes any sense; and the monitor is about an arm’s length away from me. If I hold my head steady the words on the monitor are clear. But if I point my nose down the words are blurred slightly.
Over the phone, the optician said this is something I will not “get used to”, and I need to come in and have this “segment height” thing adjusted - they will have to manufacture replacement lenses.
I now remember that I had the same problem with my last pair from about 5 years ago, and when they fixed it those eyeglasses were perfect. At distances, my vision is 20-15. Those eyeglasses served me well for 5 years.
Hey there, MsWhatsit, let us know how you like your eyeglasses after you’ve worn them a few more days…
Cheers,
echo7tango
The markings on new progressives are extremely obvious. They are usually either bright yellow or red. This Fitting Guide (PDF) shows what the markings look like.
The middle section is a card used for verifying the placement of the lenses in the frame. All of the lines, dots and circles within the bright red circles (not the long lines connecting them) are either marked directly on the lens in a special ink or printed on clear stickers attached to the lenses. There are tiny circles finely engraved on the lenses that correspond with the two tiny circles on the card which can be used to recreate the factory markings if needed for later troubleshooting. The big concentric circles help figure out if the lenses will work in a particular frame. I always had a stack of these cards from different lens manufacturers along with a book to help identify the brand from the engravings.
The plus signs in the middle and the circles above and below are necessary to make sure the lenses line up with the eyes correctly. If more troubleshooting is needed after the glasses have been worn for a while, it may be necessary to recreate the lines and circles using the verification card to double and triple check the alignment.
Large differences between the two eyes can create problems with multifocals that are easier to deal with using lined bis or tris. It’s because the prism effect created as you look away from the center of the lens is different. (With opposite signs, the perceived image can actually go up in one eye and down in the other as you look lower in the lenses.) It causes the eyes to feel pulled apart, or can even cause double vision up close. A common fix for that is grinding a compensating prism in the bottom half of one lens, resulting in a soft line across the width of the lens. A good optician should be able to tell from the prescription if it’s likely to be a problem.
It might be worth noting that unless things have changed a lot in the last six years, nearly every progressive lens manufacturer on the market has a 90 day non adapt warranty, not money back but to replace the lenses with a different type of lens. There is no corresponding manufacturer’s warranty with lined bifocals or trifocals.
There are engraved circles and numbers on my lenses. I can only see them with the glasses off and if I hold them in the light a certain way.
Does the fact that I did not have obvious markings on the lenses mean I got a bum optician? I came in, they took my old glasses, replaced the old lenses with the progressives (took about 25 minutes), had me put them on, examined me visually, took the glassss back for a readjustment, had me put them on again, and called it good. And told me to call them ASAP if I noticed any problems.