#%$& Glasses

[Paul O]

Great .... I've now realised I've got THIS to look forward to!

[dazedgonebye]

Yup... 48 is about when it happens. I remember that day well. I've worn glasses for a long time but always had great near-vision accomodation. About that time I visited the opthomologist and he exressed surprise that I could still see close. That afternoon (and, no, I'm not exaggerating... at least not too much) that changed. I went back and now wear bi-focals. Welcome to the middle-ages, Frank!

Middle? Have you seen life expectancy info for men? If you're near 50, you're more than 2/3rds done. It's getting pretty late.

[Alan Curtis]

Frank, you are correct. This forum is stocked with old farts and I'm one of them. A couple of years ago my ophthalmologist made glasses for me that focused and magnified at 10-12 inches. It's like switching to HD TV. You still have to use the neck thing. It also works for seeing the lens settings. You will quickly learn to take them off when you need to see farther than a couple of feet.

[Brian Ellis]

You'll get no sympathy from me Frank. I started wearing glasses for distance vision when I was about 5 years old and have used every conceivable variation of distance glasses, reading glasses, monovision (one contact lens), duo-vision (two contact lenses). The only saving grace is that I haven't needed bi-focals (yet).

FWIW, monovision has worked best for me over the years. That's a contact lens system where you have a contact lens in one eye for closeup and a different lens in the other eye for distance. The result is you don't see either perfectly but you see both very adequately and it eliminates the need for reading glasses, distance glasses, etc. etc.

The other thing that worked well was meeting an opthamologist and dating her for a long time. It doesn't help your vision but it cuts way down on the cost of exams, equipment, and any necessary operations (I injured an eye in a skiing accident and she handled the surgery). Of course if you're married that would present a problem.

[BrianShaw]

Middle? Have you seen life expectancy info for men? If you're near 50, you're more than 2/3rds done. It's getting pretty late.

Wow... aren't you a breath of fresh air this morning!

[dazedgonebye]

Wow... aren't you a breath of fresh air this morning!

They call me MR. Sunshine!

Hey, at least it serves as a reminder to go out and live those years. We're most of us here past an age where we can say "Plenty of time for that after ________."
Now is the time.

(I think I need a hot blonde and a fast car...or a fast blonde and a hot car....or something like that.)

[Marko]

Yup... 48 is about when it happens. I remember that day well. I've worn glasses for a long time but always had great near-vision accomodation. About that time I visited the opthomologist and he exressed surprise that I could still see close. That afternoon (and, no, I'm not exaggerating... at least not too much) that changed. I went back and now wear bi-focals. Welcome to the middle-ages, Frank!

Yeah, that's why they make the print on med bottles so tiny - it's meant to serve as an indicator. Once the arm becomes too short, you've become too old.

Bi-focals are the way to go, Frank. If you can't stand the frames in your field of vision, go for one of those rimless titanium wire deals. You may want to have one pair made for long distance and arm-length distance and the other for computer distance and reading distance.

[Dennis]

I now have to put on two pairs of reading glasses to spot prints. Under a dark cloth now I have to fight steamed up glasses and forget reading in the bath. I guess reading in the bath was only for the peculiar anyway.
Dennis

[dazedgonebye]

Did someone in this thread mention using strong readers to focus without a loupe?
I wear 2.5x readers for normal close work. I wonder if a pair of 4 or 5s would allow me to focus?

[Leonard Evens]

Compared to the really serious things that can happen to vision, your presbyopia is not a big deal. You will get used to pretty quickly. It happens to everyone with age, and you are lucky to have gotten to 48 without needing reading glasses.

I have a couple of suggestions.

It is inconvenient having to put glasses on to read and then take them off for distant vision. This can be particularly inconvenient when using a view camera. The standard solution is to use bifocals or progressive vision glasses (in which there is a transition zone rather than a hard boundary between the near and far parts). You adapt quickly to using them and don't have to think about it. Although I was nearsighted for most of my adult life, I ended up with near perfect distance vision after my cataract surgery, but I had no useful near vision. I wear my bifocals most of the time anyway since I got tired of always being putting glasses on and taking them off. Since I was used to wearing glasses, I didn't look upon them as a sign of weakness, which I think many people who never needed glasses do.

You can find store bought bifocals where the top has no correction, or you can get some progressive lenses made by an optician.

Since your presbyopia is bound to get worse over time, You might get a optician to make some near vision `reading glasses' which allow you to get your eye within about 6 inches from the ground glass (for 4 x 5--- 12 inches would suffice for 8 x 10). That is close enough to see the entire scene and for many purposes can be used for focusing without the need of a loupe. It would be equivalent to using a 2 X loupe. These can either be bifocals or narrow glasses which you can peer over without removing them from you nose.