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I got sick of having to look through the lower 3rd of my glasses to read text so dedicated computer glasses made more sense.
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I still have distance-only glasses for driving which are much more comfortable and am contemplating having reading glasses made.
One thing which took time for me to notice is the way things seem to bend if you move your head from side to side. I went on a cocktail-making evening with people from work and we were standing around a big table covered with place mats - lots of straight lines. I'd had a drink or two and every time I turned my head right or left I was sure the table was wobbling. I even looked underneath to see if there was a short leg. But it was just the varifocals.
And I do that thing of lifting up my glasses and holding objects 3 inches from my nose to read food labels.
Sorry that should be 75 mm from my nose, don't want to imply I'm pre-decimal.
Roll on digital specs with some magic jello lens material. Or maybe holographic lenses.
Back to the Glasses though. I really have seen massive benefit from Varifocals. Wore single vision lenses for 17 years and never noticed the deterioration. Was astonished when I got my first pair.
- The distance part doesn't make road signs any clearer.
- I can't find the middle bit that is supposed to let me read music on a stand or a computer screen just out of arms length
- The close range reading part is so small that not even one line of Private Eye can be scanned clearly without having to tilt the mag, my head, or both.
The words money of and waste come to mind.Seriously: If you value it, take/fetch it yourself
I think they’re a good compromise. Not the best at at any one thing but saves having separate pairs. Plus, I have a clip-on sunglass bit as well - so mine cover me for everything.
I also got frustrated that I couldn’t read a full line on my kindle without moving my head to focus.
I've been wearing varifocals for many years and I though the vary bit was just up and down.
The thing that still catches me out is when I've been on a dining chair to change a light bulb. When you come to step down, the floor looks closer than it really is and it's a shock that the step down goes on longer than you anticipated.
They are fantastic lenses but you need to get the design which suits your needs best. Freeform technology lets your optician/dispenser order a bespoke lens which is made to you rather than you needing to adapt to an off the shelf design.
The key thing is that you need to learn to move your eyes up and down the lens rather than moving your head.
(Edited for morning after clarity)
I eventually found the intermediate part on mine, but it was always more blurred than without glasses at all.
I went back a year later and got occupational varifocals, with a much larger intermediate section and they're excellent.
The distance area is severely compromised but easy to find and the reading area is similar, but the arm's length bit is spot on, great for work.
Tbh I only really need reading glasses, but I really can't be arsed with carrying them or having them around my neck or on my head like a scatty old housewife, so I just wanted glasses I could wear all the time without looking like a maker of wooden puppets.
The zones all seem too small, and the loss of peripheral vision without a head turn is annoying. So next time it will be back to plain lenses, as I'm still doing exactly what I wanted to avoid, and have simply switched minor annoyances.
One thing they did say was that I couldn't have varifocal lenses as small as my old single-vision ones; maybe they'd work best with really big lenses...
I've had the new pair since October or November now so have given them plenty of time.
@DiscoStu I don't think having to move your eyes rather than your head is right - it's the opposite I was told and have to do if I want to have a chance of seeing anything. If I move my eyes up or down, I'll look through the wrong bit of the lens, and if I move them left or right I get horrible distortion. And my lenses were not cheap, Zeiss driveline or somesuch.
As you are from the profession, can you tell me whether bifocals are still a thing? I think I might get on with a distance bit at the top and a smaller reading bit at the bottom, without any blending between them, if that did away with the distortion. I have computer glasses for the middle distance anyway.
@Philly_Q I did deliberately pick a frame for larger lenses but it doesn't help.
It occurs to me that I don't really need varifocals since I had cataract surgery - that seemed to restore my distance vision - but I'm so used to them, and I like the convenience of just leaving them on, as @p90fool mentioned above.
*edit* In reality, they are a compromise - they're never going to be as good as a full lens for reading, plus a full lens for middle-distance, plus a full lens for long distance. Perhaps we expect too much from them.
Sorry, my comment may have been influenced by lots of rum! Yes you need to move your head rather than your eyes if you're e.g. looking round a room or area so that you are looking through the same part of the lens. The outer edges of the lenses will introduce peripheral distortion although the latest Freeform designs reduce this.
What I was getting at was vertical movement, say moving from distance to near. Some people take time to adapt from moving their head up and down to just moving their eyes.