Progressive Lenses - a mistake?

[Dave Moeller]

I've been wearing progressives for about 10 years. I wore regular bifocals for one year before I switched to the progressives. When I first put on the progressives, I thought I was going to hurl because of the way the world distorted when I moved my head. Within a few minutes my brain had adjusted, and everything was fine.

My first progressive lenses had one small spot in which my close-up vision was corrected for reading, but the newest generation have a much wider "sweet spot". I actually had to adjust again when I got my latest glasses, but once again it only took a few minutes.

I know plenty of people who were never able to adjust to progressives. I know of no good explanation for the differences in how different people handle the lenses (beyond the obvious: "Everybody's different"). If you put on progressives and don't adjust within a day or two, I doubt that you will ever adjust to those lenses. Standard bifocals have worked fine for millions of people over a couple of hundred years. If they work for you, enjoy your corrected vision.

If you wear glasses, and if there's a certain distance you want to have between your eyes and the ground glass when you're focusing, an optometrist can get you a pair of glasses that will correct your vision at that distance. "Computer glasses" are the most common example of such lenses. I know people who have such glasses, both for computer work and for other uses, and they're all happy with the results. One friend had a pair of bifocals made with the close-up area of the lens taking up a much greater portion of the lens than is usual, for working on pottery. The larger magnified area makes it easier for her to work with her hands, and she still has the small area for distance vision at the top if she has to look up at something.

I have no problem using progressives under the dark cloth. When I'm composing I just look through whatever part of the lens makes the image clear, and when I focus I look through the lenses and through my loupe. I tried a pair of drug store reading glasses to see if they would make focusing easier (magic-bullet chasing, as was trying to fix a non-existant problem), but for me there was no difference in ease of use (except that it was annoying to switch glasses).

I admit freely that I originally bought progressives out of vanity. I quickly learned, however, that the transitional area of the lenses (between the standard prescription at the top and the reading prescription at the bottom) can be used to correct vision at distances between close-up and far away. I've become somewhat reliant on that correction. For example, when I'm under the dark cloth of my 8x10, I can get close to the glass and look through the reading part of my lenses, or I can back up as far as possible, tilt my head a tiny bit, and get a corrected view of the entire image. I find this very handy.

[eddie]

oh man! i have been wearing glasses since 5th grade.....now it looks like i will be heading to a whole new arena of bad eyesight and glasses...damn!

but thanks for the heads up. now when i get there i know what to expect!

[Tri Tran]

To make it short.
Bifocal , Trifocal and Progressive lenses are totally different.
Bifocal comes with Ft 28, 35 and Executive for reading lower part ( the bigger number the wider bifocal ). They are designed to use for 2 distances and often have no peripheral distortion. You can request your optometrist for RX to your need.
Progressive lenses convenience for most people . They give you clear uninterrupted vision at distance, intermediate and near. Wearing them you would be able to see clearly for driving for computer an reading.Progressive come in different brand depending on the vision demand. difficulty adjusting progressive usually come from wearing incorrect type so in our office Physio or Physio 360 is nice an smooths usually best for general use and photographers . AR is also recommended , a good brand is Crizal Alize Clear Guard. Hope this helps and if you have any questions you can call me direct at my office for further assistance.

Best,
TT
www.blinkoptometry.com

[darr]

Thanks Tran for the explanation. I have been wearing Crizal Progressives for many years with no problems. I only wish my contact lens which are multi-focal would be near as good. At least the Progressives are working well.

[David Karp]

I am on my third or fourth pair of progressives. I absolutely hated the first ones. Now, unless I am trying to read in bed, I rarely have an issue with them. (Using the reading portion while lying down is a pain because you have to tip your head back. I am nearsighted, so I just take them off to read in bed since the book is close to my eyes.)

I think Tri Tran's point is right on. After the first pair I used a different type of lens. They are lighter, and there is far less distortion at the edges than with the first pair. Next time, I purchased a smaller frame, one requiring smaller lenses. Together with the improved lenses, the distortion problem is not an issue any more.

For photography, I brought my Walker and a tripod to the doctor's office and had the optometrist watch me work with the camera. She saw where I liked to look at the gg without a loupe while framing and doing rough focus. We decided to have the optician grind the lens so that the close up portion is higher, close, but not quite reaching, to the middle of the lens. As a result, I hardly have to tip my head back while working under the darkcloth, and I can use my loupe with my glasses, using the bottom of the eyeglass lens. When walking around, I just have to tip my head forward a bit and look through the upper 1/2 of the lens. I have used these glasses while hiking with the camera on my back, no problem with tripping so far.

Interestingly, for the photo glasses, I used the frames from my first pair of progressives. There is far less distortion with the newer improved lens types, even though the lenses are bigger, and the original lenses in these frames had lots of distortion.

This seems to work just fine for me. Might be worth a try.

[John Bowen]

Man Gettin' Old Suks! .... He said as he read this thread through his progressive lenses

[Sal Santamaura]

...Gettin' Old Suks!...

Doesn't suck as much as the alternative does.

[David Karp]

Man Gettin' Old Suks!

For photography, I brought my Walker . . . .

I should have said that I brought my Walker Titan SF 4x5, just to make sure that it's clear I was not talking about an assistive device to aid my perambulation!