Varifocals: First impressions + Questions

[IrvineHimself]

I have been wearing my reading glasses on the tip of my nose for years, (which is a type of bifocal,) and was quite used to the idea. I had experienced most environments: working at height, escalators, stairs, hills, forests.... and thought I was well prepared for varifocals. I am finding that the difference between having three areas of focus, as oppose to two, is quite radical. However, I strongly agree that irrespective of what type of multi-focal glasses someone is wearing, training wheels and a couple of lessons should be obligatory.

 

[Deleted member 21371]

I have been wearing my reading glasses on the tip of my nose for years, (which is a type of bifocal,) and was quite used to the idea. I had experienced most environments: working at height, escalators, stairs, hills, forests.... and thought I was well prepared for varifocals. I am finding that the difference between having threa areas of focus, as oppose to two, is quite radical. However, I strongly agree that irrespective of what type of multi-focal glasses someone is wearing, training wheels and a couple of lessons should be obligatory.

I used to have long distance, reading, and bifocals.
The difference in varifocals and bifocals is quite extreme in the way the image changes in the crossover.
It's easy to cope with the step change in bifocals, varifocals have the distortion and varying distance chance that can be dangerous in some circumstances.
I needed the long distance and reading to work at height, sometimes the object was close over my head, impossible to get into any position to use the lower part, and then looking down at long distance couldn't be done either.
As to thinking "I'll just step back a bit......."

 

[IrvineHimself]

As to thinking "I'll just step back a bit......."

Eek!

 

[trophywench]

That's odd - couldn't get on with bifocals at all cos wherever I looked I seemed to be 'on the join' - so I then changed to varifocals and still love em.

 

[Radders]

Really interested to find this thread as I am due to collect a pair of varifocals on Monday. I tried them once before in 2016 and couldn’t get on with them, but since then my distance prescription has become stronger such that I now feel it would be worth wearing glasses all the time, and the optician persuaded me that they have improved a lot over the intervening 6 years, in particular with a wider field of view in the reading section.
Until now I’ve only ever worn prescription glasses in the house and at work, choosing to use cheap ready readers when out and about, but now my prescription in one eye is quite significantly different from the other, and I find I need glasses for arms length activities such as chopping veg and washing up, to the extent that I use about 3 different strengths of ready readers for different tasks! I’m hoping the varifocals will stay on my face all day!
Not looking forward to the period of adjustment, but thank you to everyone for sharing your experiences on this thread!

 

[IrvineHimself]

in particular with a wider field of view in the reading section.

At my opticians, Specsavers, they have several different price ranges. While I went for the "Tailor-mades'" with reaction and super-clean trimmings, (I had a golden ticket plus NHS voucher.) We spent a good ten minutes or so discussing my hobbies and activities in order to get the correct field of view to suit my life-style.

Having said that, after reading the comment by @everydayupsanddowns I think I might have been better off getting the "Super Drives'". Since I got the 'super-clean' treatment anyway, they are more or less the same price as the 'Tailor-mades'".

To anyone thinking about varifocals, and concerned about the cost, the "Standard" bare-boned varifocal on top of an NHS voucher frame is very reasonably priced and well worth considering. Like I say, while I am finding it difficult to get used to, they are making such a difference to my quality of life, I couldn't imagine going back to switching between multiple pairs of glasses for different focal lengths.

 

[Leadinglights]

I think the problem with people wearing glasses not specifically tailored to then for extended periods of time is that it can damage your vision because your eye muscles are having to work harder to compensate.
If you have other things like astigmatism which can be different in each eye, then a correct prescription is vital.
I had some glasses as a teenager that the lenses prescribed were far too strong and I was continually getting headaches. I saw a different optician who looked into the eye and said that the focal length of my eye was nowhere near what would be indicated by the strength of the lenses, that had caused my eye muscles to become lazy. Over a period of time the prescription strength was reduced.

 

[offspin]

Hi , I thought I had written a thread regarding varifocals. So here goes , for what I paid for the lens and frames I am not impressed. I feel that different manufactures grind lens differently and thus my results. I tried Specsavers for some reading glasses and I felt I was at Kwit Fit so I went to the opticians my wife uses to acquire my new glasses.

Legally I don't need glasses to drive my car but I thought any improvement would be a good idea.How wrong I was , the Iens feel are not in the correct position in the frames in relation to my eyes.

Opticians say all is OK. My perifical vision is excellent but I now have to turn my head 90 deg to see is any cars are coming.Trying to find the focal point is nearly impossible !

I understand that that varifocals are popular but all I ask you is to do your research on the suitably of the glasses for your eyes.

 

[IrvineHimself]

I think the problem with people wearing glasses not specifically tailored to then for extended periods of time is that it can damage your vision because your eye muscles are having to work harder to compensate.
If you have other things like astigmatism which can be different in each eye, then a correct prescription is vital.

100% agree with what you say. However, if it's just simple age related difficulty with reading, then a pair of cheap reading glasses are perfectly satisfactory.. I got my first pair of reading glasses over 25 years ago. They were prescribed by an optician and the private eye test in a foreign country represented a fairly large outlay. The Optician himself suggested that, for me, cheap reading glasses from the pharmacy would be a better option.

Since then, over the last 25 years, I have found cheap reading glasses sourced from quality outlets [a pharmacy] to be perfectly satisfactory. As I pointed out when I joined DBUK back at the end of April, one of the many health indicators that forced me to come back on to the grid was that, starting around last Christmas, there has been a significant deterioration in my eyesight.

That last is the key point: If cheap reading glasses are going to work, they will work well. If, on the other hand, the results are less than satisfactory and you are still having vision problems, then you need an eye test and must see an optician.

While left of centre in political outlook, I am actually a libertarian, and firmly believe that, everything else being equal, people are quite capable of deciding whether cheap, off-the shelf reading glasses are solving their vision problems or not.

Completely off subject by the way, but as someone who has identified as being 'Libertarian' since I read Kropttkin in1970, I am deeply offended by the way libertarian ideology has been hijacked by the right.

 

[Leadinglights]

Hi , I thought I had written a thread regarding varifocals. So here goes , for what I paid for the lens and frames I am not impressed. I feel that different manufactures grind lens differently and thus my results. I tried Specsavers for some reading glasses and I felt I was at Kwit Fit so I went to the opticians my wife uses to acquire my new glasses.

Legally I don't need glasses to drive my car but I thought any improvement would be a good idea.How wrong I was , the Iens feel are not in the correct position in the frames in relation to my eyes.

Opticians say all is OK. My perifical vision is excellent but I now have to turn my head 90 deg to see is any cars are coming.Trying to find the focal point is nearly impossible !

I understand that that varifocals are popular but all I ask you is to do your research on the suitably of the glasses for your eyes.

I totally agree that the make of the lenses can be hugely different, I had some glasses from Specsavers and they were a different make from previous ones from an independent optician and they were way different, unwearable as everything looked very small. My optician specifies the same make of lenses each time.

 

[IrvineHimself]

So, its been just over a week and I am starting to get used to them. I no longer get disoriented and I'm starting to discover the little quirks that are difficult to explain and not readily apparent in the blurb.

For me, I think the field of view is probably too narrow and, rather than getting the 'Tailor made', I would have been better off getting the 'Super driving' version. My basic problem is that I am someone with a very high 'situational awareness': I am constantly scanning from the corner of my eyes, and with the 'Tailor made' set up primarily for computing and arts and crafts, I have to physically face the object of attention. Out in the street, this is very difficult to get used to and causing me real problems.


Apart from that, they are great and I could not imagine going back to having multiple pairs of glasses. As a result, I would give anyone considering varifocals a definite thumbs up.

By the way, completely unrelated to the original post, but in preparation for a Doctor's appointment next week, I was down getting bloods yesterday. It's still too early for my HBA1C, but the pinprick test was 4.3, (I've no idea of the standard units?) More importantly, my BP was 116/79😎