So today we’re at the supermarket, and as a goof to entertain my kid I put on a pair of the cheap reading glasses that they have in the pharmacy section.
Ha, ha.
I realized that they actually made things clearer. I had no idea that my close-up vision was blurry, but sure enough, with the glasses up-close things look clearer.
I am NOT old enough for this. Am I?
I need to go buy a sports car or something.
I feel your pain, bro.
Even worse, I wear contact lenses to correct my extreme (-13) myopia. I was wearing -10 and thought I was doing OK with them, but my last checkup upped my prescription rather alarmingly. I got the new contacts and lo and behold, I could read street signs again! And then discovered that my arms were too short to read the newspaper.
A friend, who I had previously teased on several occasons about his “little old lady glasses” noticed me struggling to read a menu. He handed his glasses to me as a bit of a joke. Yes, my face turned quite red when the type on the menu snapped into focus. I now own several pairs of “cheaters” and keep a pair in every room of the house… which, because of my old-age forgetfulness, sometimes results in three pair sitting on the computer desk while I stand in the kitchen and pat my pockets.
You can rent a Ferrari for eight hundred dollars a day in Toronto.
I shall keep this in mind, as I have also discovered the need for reading glasses even when I have my contact lenses in. It’s something to do with turning forty.
Just remember folks…
The only way to avoid the age-related need for reading glasses is to die before you need them.
It has everything to do with being over forty. Sorry.
At the vision test for my driver’s licence renewal last month, the nice lady kept saying “try again, dear” until I guessed enough letters correctly to pass without any vision restrictions.
Guess I got lucky - I made it all the way to 45 before I had to don the trifocals. And I’m overdue for another checkup. Better make an appointment pretty soon (she says as she squints just a wee bit.)
We have a free health fair at work every year where you can be checked out by visiting experts. Years ago I went along and had my eyes checked and they seemed pretty bad to me. The optometrist said, “They are alright for someone your age. Look around, everyone in their forties is wearing glasses. You will need them in a few years but everyone does.” Afterwards I checked out what she said and everyone in their forties does wear glasses.
One of the cricket commentators in Australia, Geoff Lawson, is, apart from being a former Australian player, a qualified optometrist. Listening to the cricket one day I heard him mention that one of the other members of the commentary team needed glasses. The other guy was baffled and asked him why he thought that. Lawson replied that the other guy’s handwriting had become larger and that that is usually the first sign of declining “over 40” vision.
And Muffin - good luck with the driving with impaired vision. Hope it all works out.
I started noticing when I had troubles with menus in dim restaurants. I keep a pair pretty close by now. The good news is that you can by a fist full of these things for under $100 and just keep them around. My non-script sunglasses are much, much more expensive.
This particular problem, of course, is called presbyopia–old man vision.
( I have no point. I just wanted to get that out there.)
Thank you. That is what Geoff Lawson said in my cricket commentary story, but I had no idea what the word was. Apparently writing bigger to compensate is a common sign to watch for.
Qwitcherbeefin’. I’ve needed reading glasses since I was 13.
And I’ve had bifocals since I was 20.
Sheesh.
I’ve resisted trifocals so far and insist on carrying two pair of glasses around. One pair is for computer/reading (bifocal) and the other is for driving/distance/reading (bifocal also). The computer glasses have one of those cords so I don’t leave them somewhere, making me instantly look like your grampa. I hate glasses.
Go get it checked out. I’m going blind real fast, but I’m lucky it’s cataracts and fixable. Since this became noticeable to me in October, is is no longer safe for me to drive, sometimes unsafe to walk across the street, and I can’t read normal handwriting. I could only read this thread because I can blow up the text and push up the contrast on the monitor. Since all the surgeons are booked out into April in my area, it’s going to be a crap shoot whether I will retain enough eyesight to contine to function at all in my job until then.
I’m in my late 40’s.
Don’t screww around, get it checked.
You’re right that sudden, abrupt changes in visual acuity should be checked out fast (and everyone should have their vision rechecked annually) but you do realize that your situation is the unfortunate exception, rather than the rule, right? Normal aging is USUALLY the culprit behind the reading-glasses type of vision change.
I do rea;ize my circumstances are unususal, even moreso because I had none of the risk factors typically associated with cataracts. All the more reason that a sudden change (or a sudden realization that aomething has changed) should be checked.
I’ve been wearing bifocals since about age 40, but instead of trifocals for computer work, since I’m on the computer all day long anyway, I just have full-pane computer glasses. It works out much better for me.
And I’m due for another eye exam; I’ve noticed that my arms are starting to get short again. 
I’ve worn reading glasses since age 39. I’ve only been to an optometrist twice. Both times the glasses made from the exam were wrong. I’ve been using “Drug store glasses” ever since, without a problem.
I did speak with an opthamologist who told me using the generic glasses for presbyopia was fine. He did say that having an exam every three years was a good idea to check for other age related problems, like glacoma and macular degeneration.
Heh. I think I offended the Optometrist at my eye exam last summer. See, I’m over fifty and he said I didn’t need bifocals. He found that kinda hard to believe because I’m over fifty and am supposed to need bifocals. Matter of fact he recommended that I not wear glasses when reading or working on the computer because my near vision is really good. I do wear glasses for driving which make a big difference in reading road signs and such.
Boyo Jim here’s hoping you can get those cataracts taken care of. I gather you’ve been told that cataract removal will pretty much restore your vision?