I just got my first set of progressive lenses today, thinking they would help me see the computer better. They are awful!
Has anyone else got progressives? I bought a very expensive set of lenses which promised low peripheral distortion. They are Nikon silvers, if it matters. Anyway, all I can see clearly is a small section at the bottom of the computer, and I have to tilt my head way back,to,do that.
On mt ipad, when I have it positioned for maximum clarity tye distortion starts about 2" from center eqch way. It’s so bad that I can actually see a ‘circle’ where the characters are sharper and therefore darker.
I kmowmyou are suppoaed to move your head instead of your eyes to keep the sweet spot in the center, but it’s so bloody small and my reading speed high enough that if I try doing that I look like someone with palsy, and it’s not comfortable at all.
Any hints or suggestions? I paid $900 for these, and feel very disappointed. I thought I coupd use them driving at least, but looking in the side mirrors is blurry, and shoulder-checking is even more blurry.
Maybe it’s the prescription I only have slightly bad distance vision (-1.75), but my near vision is now +2.25.
I use full progressives as my “walking around glasses”, especially for far vision tasks like driving, but I also have a set of bifocals with a very narrowly-fixed focus preference for the main part of the lens, set for “computer working” distance. Because I’m on computer at least 10 hours a day, and hunting around on the progressives for the focus sweet spot was making me crazy (and giving me a tension headache).
I have a set of progressives specially designed for computer work. The comfort zone for screen is much higher than for normal progressives, so I don’t have to tip my head back and get neck strain. My optometrist recommended them.
I have progressive lenses but still need readers for really close up. And I don’t use any glasses at all to look at the computer screen.
Maybe a dedicated pair of computer glasses would be a better option, because yeah, you have to tilt your head up to look out the bottom to read with progressives.
Progressives take a few days to get used to, so don’t give up on them yet. You’ll need to learn to move your head to align your eyes with the various zones.
I knew all about the various zones, and having to look slightly downwards.
I guess maybe I am mad at the salesperson, who sold me these glasses specifically for computer work. She even upsold me on the ‘silver’ lenses because she said they pushed the zones of distortion out past the monitor.
So I was very excited to get these today. When I tried them and found them awful for mid-distance reading, the (different) salesperson says, “yeah, progressives don’t always work well for the computer. We can sell you a special pair of computer glasses though…”
The iPad thing is on me, I guess. I should have realized that an iPad is closer to your face and has a huge relative size compared to a monitor a few feet away, requiring more peripheral vision. The ‘sweet spot’ where things are clear is just in the very center, and I’d have to swing my head around a lot to try to keep the sweet spot on whatever I’m reading, The salesperson actually suggested moving the ipad back and forth like a typewriter carriage. That’s ridiculous.
I got them a few years ago, and like you found them unusable; I never got accustomed to them despite the reassurances of the optician. After 2 weeks I took them back and got two sets of bifocals, which are FAR better for me. One for reading/computer distances, and one for dashboard/driving distances.
In them I felt seasick just walking down the street, I had to keep my head still. When I read a computer screen the monitor warped as my eyes read across the lines of text. And the strip of glass that was the right correction for any given distance was so small, I was constantly swivelling my head up and down to find that tiny 1mm sliver that was right for whatever I was looking at. Just awful, I don’t know how anyone stands them.
Yeah, the focal points are really tiny. I assume that’s what you adjust to over time - naturally finding the right focus for what you are looking at.
I’m pretty pretty sure I’d adjust to the effects like the weird wobbling of the screen as I move my eyes, but there’s no fixing the problem of only about 1/10 of the screen being in focus at any given time. There are lots of reasons why I heed to be able to see the entire screen clearly, as I can with the readers I’m currently wearing. Image editing when you can only see a small part of it clearly at a time is not great.
Yep, that was my experience with them. Unless I moved my head around to find the right amount of correction, I was going to get sick to my stomach. With non-progressive lenses I had grown used to moving my eyes around to look at things, instead of my whole head. I gave them three days, and then went and exchanged them. They sucked, and I wasn’t interested in getting used to them. Lined bifocals are a much better solution for myself.
I love progressives, but for sitting at a computer they are not good. For that I have a single vision prescription for the correct distance, and picked up a couple super cheap glasses from Zenni.
I could use my progressive lenses for computer work, but I see the screen clearly at a distance of about 12-15 inches without glasses, so that’s typically what I do.
Another vote for progressives for everything but desk work. In front of my computer, I have a pair of single vision computer glasses. They are cheapies from Zenni or Clearly, my progressives were $1200ish.
I begged my optician to do that. The first time, she said, “no”, but the next year she said “yes”. I have to let them droop down my nose a little to read distant signs when I’m driving. But they are great for the computer, and generally great.
But …
I could never get used to regular progressives because of the distortion and the tiny spot of clear vision. Both of those drove me nuts. And then i got digital progressives, and i lost the weird edge effects and got a much broader sweet spot. What you are describing
Sounds like the regular progressives, not the fancier ones. Although the price you paid sounds comparable to what i pay.
Does everything sway from side to side when you move your head?
Have any of you tried the basic reading glasses available in Walmart, Dollar General, drugstores… for $10 or so? I think I have a +2.25 and they work fine for me.
That’d make the screen a complete blur for me. I’d be better off with no glasses at all, just have to stick my face about 8" from the screen. My single vision screen prescription is still significantly into the negative diopters.
I have been using computer glasses for well over a decade; they are progressive lenses that at the bottom are reading glasses and for the majority of the lens are designed for middle distance hence good for looking at the computer. They are not at all good for going out and driving (or even walking). They don’t do distance. They are middle distance. With reading glasses only at the bottom.
I recommend this design, even though it means wearing different lenses to work at the computer than the ones you use otherwise.
I use computer glasses at work all day, but have my regular glasses ready for when I get up to do things. Been doing this for about 15 years now, so its fairly normal. I rarely walk more than a few stepsaway from my computer with my computer glasses on.
I too hated my progressives on the computer when I first got them. It was bad enough I went back to the store to complain. Exactly like you, I was extremely upset about the tiny area of text that was in focus. They told me to try it another few days, and if I still didn’t like it I could return them.
It ended up taking me 3 or more days to get used to it, but now I don’t even notice that only a small area on the screen is in focus, and I must be swinging my head all around to look at different things.
My first ones were a pair of regular progressives, and a pair of computer or office progressives, where as described above, they are more focused for middle distance computer work, and the progressive area of the glasses is larger than on the regular ones. My current ones are the “better” progressive layout from Zenni, and I think it is mix of the previous two. I wear them at the computer, and for everything else.
On the other hand, my wife never could get used to progressives, and prefers bifocals.
My advice is to stick with it even though they are terrible right now. The first few days are incredibly frustrating, but after a week you should know if your brain has sorted out the new glasses, or if they really aren’t for you.
I have fancy digital progressives for my regular use and middle distance office progressives. The office progressives let me see as far as the door to my office in the middle area. The very upper part of the lens is for distance. I’m so used to tilting my head to get things to focus that I sometimes forget to switch glasses until I realize I’m dropping my chin to see far away.
One big difference is that I have an extremely mild distance prescription. My close-up prescription keeps climbing, but it isn’t a big jump in the opposite direction.
If I pay close attention, the peripheral vision is blurry, but I think my brain has just adjusted how I move my head and my eyes to look at things.