My dad went to the optometrist yesterday and came home with two eyeglass prescriptions – one for bifocals and one for special reading glasses (he’s worn bifocals for many years). Mom and I were curious why the reading glasses couldn’t be incorporated into the bifocals. Dad said that the optometrist told him that there was some type of prism in the lens of the reading glass that can’t be put into bifocals, so he needs two pairs of glasses: one for long-term reading and one for everyday use.
Mom thinks Dad is being scammed, but neither of us knows much about eyeglasses. Does anyone have any experience with this type of thing? Is it really impossible to put a reading lens in bifocals? It’s one thing if he really needs them, but Mom thinks the place is just trying to sell glasses.
It sounds legit to me, based on my personal experience with an optometrist I’ve trusted for years. I’ve worn bifocals for 20 years and I’ve also worn contacts, and I still need something different for close-up reading.
When you think about the variation in distances in the things we need to see, it kinda makes sense that one corrective prescription won’t work for everything.
Your dad has the prescriptions. He can take them anywhere to have the glasses made. The optometrist isn’t necessarily the one who’ll get any extra business from dad having two scrips.
It’s no scam.
I have a setup like that and the improvement is dramatic.
As you get older your lens gets fatter, adding layers like an onion.
The muscles pull on it but instead of going from round to flat, the lens stays round, so you can no longer adjust to near and far.
The alternative is trifocals, but I had those and it’s hell trying to squint through the tiny third part of the lens.
I have Varilux ™ lenses and they work great. And my eyesight is really messed up. I can’t see across the room without my glasses, and then the print on everything started getting really tiny. Variable focus lenses fixed everything. For me, having to switch glasses all the time would get real old real fast. YMMV of course.
If you are really concerned, go to the optometrist and ask for copies of the full examination record (including the optometrist’s notes) and prescription and take it to another optometrist or an optician that you trust and ask for a second opinion. It’s your father’s right as a patient to get this information if he requests it. Your father must go and ask for this himself (they won’t release his information to you or your mom), and he may have to fill out a release form due to HIPAA.
The hubby, not knowing your father’s specific case, and being an optican and not an optometrist, is hesitant to comment definitively. However, while he says he has never run into a case where it would be impossible to put prism into bifocals, but there is a slim possiblity that it could very difficult or impossible in your father’s case.
Just to avoid confusion: an optometrist is a doctor who can prescribe glasses. An optican fits and dispenses prescription lenses. An opthamologist (just in case anyone is wondering) is a doctor who can prescribe medicines and do surgery on the eye (in addition to prescribing glasses.
Thanks to all for the responses. Mom wasn’t happy with the glasses she bought from this eye center, and she was concerned that the place was just trying to drum up business when the doctor said that Dad needed two pairs. She feels much better about the separate prescriptions now.
I spend most of my time at work reading, and much of my time at home focusing on something in reading-range-- so, despite the fact that I will probably soon need bifocals to be able to drive to the store and read things once I get there, I’ll also have “reading glasses” with JUST the up-close prescription, rather than lose half my field of vision to a level of correction that’s inappropriate for what I’m doing.
If your Dad doesn’t read or do up-close work for 16+ hours a day, then he might not actually need reading glasses. However, if he does, I think it’s nice of the doctor to just give him the prescription rather than make him ask for it (as my doctor does).
I have continuous lenses, with a prism, and they are great. Now with one pair of glasses I can read, see the computer screen clearly, and drive. The only downside is that I cannot read something that comes in to the top half of my vision. For example, my CD player is on a shelf about 30" high and the lettering is gray on gray (what marketing genius thought that up–it is quite common) and I have to get down on my knees to read the buttons.
When I asked my family doctor about my problem bringing the images together, he sent me to an opthalmologist and he sent me to a specialist ophthalmologist, who prescribed these lenses. Rather expensive, but they really work.
Now I’m wondering if I should have reading glasses. I’ve had bi-focals for years but the last year the focal point (?) doesn’t seem to be right for reading or for the computer or the TV. I can read but the left eye isn’t as clear as the right. For the computer I have to lean forward until my back hurts; and for the TV it’s fuzzy in my left eye but clear in the right. I just got a new prescription 10 months ago. Can you ask your husband if there is something wrong with this picture or it’s just age. If he doesn’t want to start answering questions on a forum I understand.
Mom wasn’t happy with the glasses she bought from this eye center, and she was concerned that the place was just trying to drum up business when the doctor said that Dad needed two pairs. She feels much better about the separate prescriptions now.