I'm having a hard time getting used to my new bifocals.

Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share
1

I got my first pair of transition lenses on Saturday and I’m not sure if it’s just me, or it’s the glasses that are giving me fits. Or if I’m just expecting too much. The eye doctor told me that wearing them would seem awkward for a week or so, but I would adjust to them.

What made me go to the eye doctor in the first place was that I was having some serious trouble seeing my computer screen at work. The words looked blurry and I was starting to notice a lot of mistakes when I proofread things that I’d typed. Problem solved now that I have my glasses. But, the eye doctor told me that the bottom part of the lenses would assist me with seeing the screen, but I can actually see the computer screen much better thru the top part of the lenses.

The part that is annoying me is that my vision seems to be a bit distorted. After I got the glasses, I went out to a restaurant with a group of friends. While I was looking at the menu, I made a comment about how I thought the menus were kind of cool, and then went on to say that they were a bit askew, kind of like a trapezoid instead of straight angles like a normal menu. Everyone looked at me as if I were crazy. Sure enough, I took off the glasses and discovered that the menus were perfect rectangles. Is this something that is normal with bifocals? I also notice that magazines and newspapers also look a bit trapezoid-ish while I’m wearing my new glasses.

I’m having a really difficult time finding the “sweet” spot that everyone has told me that I’d find…i.e. the perfect tilt of the head to see things perfectly.

I do plan on going back to the opticians office to see if something can be done, but I’m wondering if this is normal? Do I need to allow more time to get used to wearing them? I’ve also noticed that some things seem to be blurry when I don’t think they should. For example, there’s a lady who sits across from me at work and I always glance over at her work area. I can see her computer screen and it looks very blurry/fuzzy. I don’t expect to be able to read what’s on her screen, but it should look sharp/clear, right? I’ve never really worn glasses before, so I’m not sure what to expect. Back when I was young (I’m 44), I could see perfectly, and I seem to remember that I could see a computer screen vividly (although not being able to necessarily read it) from 10 feet away. Now, it’s just a blur. A co-worker told me that I just need to have them adjusted, but I’m wondering if my prescription is messed up.

Another thing I noticed while out shopping on Sunday…I could see things at a distance really good, but something that was 20 feet away seemed blurry. Do I need to accept the fact that I need to tilt my head constantly to find that “sweet” spot? I fear everyone will start to think I suffer from shellshock if I keep tilting my head a lot.

I do plan on going to the place where I got the glasses on Saturday, just wanted to know about other peoples experiences with transition lenses.

Eric

2

I’m turning 44 this month, and I’m getting my first pair of bifocals in a week or so. I’ve worn glasses for decades, and my eyes have always adjusted to new prescriptions easily, so I’m hoping my experience won’t be like yours. :slight_smile:

That said, I tried to get polycarbonate lenses last time, and they were simply awful. I ended up back in plastic lenses after major headaches and eye strain. If you think things aren’t adjusting, don’t hesitate to go back to talk to someone.

3

I got my first pair of bi-fo … uh, progressive lenses last year. It took me months to get used to them. Everything seemed to sway on me as I was walking down a hall or something.

I don’t have any advice beyond … give it time, you’ll get used to them. I did.

That “perfect tilt of the head” thing only drives me crazy now when I’m looking peripherally. You have to turn your whole head around to look at something you noticed from the corner of your eye. It doesn’t really make checking out that cute chick from Collections very easy anymore.

4

Are you new to glasses with your progressive lenses, or is this a progressive lens artefact? I haven’t used my peripheral vision in decades with regular glasses. :slight_smile:

5

Are talking about progressive lenses? I have some but I hate them, mainly because of the peripheral vision thing, although the head tilting can be a pain too. However, I can see why people who can live with that may like them for general use. (My distance vision is pretty good, so I can get by perfectly well without glasses for walking about and driving).

However, progressive lenses are a dreadful idea for prolonged computer use. You will wind up with a horrible stiff neck from constantly tilting your head back to find the sweet spot. What you need for the computer* are a pair of old-fashioned line bifocals, with the lower segment set to a close focus, as reading glasses, and the upper portion set to an intermediate distance focus, for the screen. You won’t notice the line after a bit, and you will be able to hold your head at a comfortable angle when looking at the screen (and move it without losing focus).

Impress it very clearly on your optometrist, however, that they are for computer use (and, ideally, tell him just how far away the screen usually is). I have found that a lot of them seem to want to set the focus further away than is actually optimal.

*Bifocals for a desktop computer anyway. For a laptop or an iPad, you may be better off with plain reading glasses.

6

It took me a solid month to get used to progressive lenses. Once I finally did, I really liked them. I have no problem wearing them when using a computer for a full day. They’re great when driving as you look up for distance and down to see the dashboard. I do find there is a fairly wide range of angles which keeps things sharp, so I’m not tilting my head much. YMMV.

7

I’d always worn glasses for near-sightedness, but I was far from blind. In fact, for the last 2 or 3 years before I got the progressives, I’d gone without glasses altogether because I’d broken mine and I was too lazy to get them replaced. When it got to the point where I couldn’t read anymore, I broke down and got the bi’s …

But it’s like not even full peripheral I’m talking about – just looking slightly to the side, you may as well not have eye muscles. You have to turn your whole head to focus anything, otherwise you’re peeking through the bottom-side part of the reading glasses part of the things.

Side view mirrors in the car. My neck muscles are the most toned muscles in my body right now.

8

It does take some getting used to. I’ve got progressives and at first, I tried ones that covered everything from distance to reading.

Insta-headache. I literally couldn’t wear them for more than 5 minutes.

So I got a separate pair for reading, and one for distance. Yeah, it was a pain to swap glasses but it worked.

Tried the progressives again. Same problem.

Third time: the optician suggest I try “room distance progressives”. With these, I have one pair of dedicated distance glasses (that I use for driving and maybe movies), and another pair that does for reading, computer, and (just barely) watching TV. This turned out to be the charm.

My most recent pair was a mess to get arranged however. First they accidentally made full-on progressives (reading to far distance) and that was obviously a mistake. I couldn’t wear them for 30 seconds without feeling headachey / nauseous. Then they remade them with my updated reading prescription at the bottom, and my room-distance at the top, and that was still a problem. There was NO single spot I could look at a computer screen through and not get conflicting info in my two eyes. And any lateral motion - such as reading a line of text - caused nauseating warping of what I saw. I have NEVER wanted to throw glasses on the concrete floor and jump on them screaming… until these.

They finally changed them for a pair with my current reading prescription, and a less-strong room-distance, and these work. They were a bit distorting at first - I felt like I had vertigo - but after almost a week they seem to be OK.

I’ve heard of people getting Lasik where one eye is distance, and the other is reading, and this sounds like my personal version of hell. Bad glasses… that you can’t fix. UGH.

9

I was once persuaded by my optician to buy progressive lenses (or rather lens as I’m one-eyed), but I never learned to use it as I kept on doing what I had done since childhood (and still do) when reading: take the glasses off.

10

I’ve had progressives for about 5 years now – just turned 48 – and had no problem at all getting used to them. I don’t read a lot of print anymore, as most of what I read is online; that may have helped a bit with my adaptation.

11

I just got progressive lenses last year, and made the mistake of picking them up one evening and then wearing them to teach in all day the next day. I ended up with a killer headache. I also did the chicken head bob for about a week, trying to adjust to all the different ranges. It really does take quite a while to use them without thinking about it.