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Are progressive lenses worth it?
- Thread starter noahpictures
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Rhody
I'm a Lumberjack.
Another vote for progressive lenses. Took me a few days to adjust.
I found they worked better for me in Windsor frames, which set the lens closer to the eye.
Do you enjoy moving your head side-to-side just to read a phone screen? Do you only want to focus on 10% of your computer screen? Do you want your entire focus to shift and go sideways when you move your head? If you answered "yes", then get progressives with their absurd "hourglass" grind.
My experience is that I only had those problems for about a week when I first got them. Then I got a feel for them and where I needed to look for any given situation. They do the job they were intended to do.
My first pair were traditional bifocals and I hated them. I was dizzy, and had a heck of time walking and seeing the sidewalk well. Progressive have been great with no adjustment time. I've been wearing them for 10 years now and I'm very happy.
It took some time to get used to and I rejected the first pair I had made, but the following 2 years I went progressive and eventually came around to them. I think they are the way to go.
Steve
Steve
Progressives are basically "trifocals" with no lines. Consider there are different brands and each has different settings as to the area that works at each distance. I have wasted $$$ in 5 different prescription glasses (which were relatively cheap Chinese lenses) and never got used to any and have no issues with old bifocals... but most people get used to them and love them. My friend who is an ophthalmologist told me: do not waste your money in cheap Chinese lenses, get US, German or French.
I've worn glasses since I was 7 and got traditional bifocals in 8th grade to correct nearsightedness, astigmatism, and crossed eyes when I read or do close work. It was a tough adjustment for a couple of days and then I got used to them. I switched to progressives when I was in my 30s and I've never regretted it. The transition took me a few hours and I'll never go back, they're just better in every respect and much lighter than my old lined lenses.
Love my progressive lenses.
Be aware that progressive lenses aren't (at least mine aren't) horizontal linear bifocals, which is to say that the line between the top and bottom isn't straight. There's a conical pattern at the bottom inner-center which focuses closer and the rest of the lens focuses farther away. I don't know if all progressive lenses are like this, but it makes them useless to me except for driving.
For normal everyday use, when I look down, typically it's at things that are closer and when I look up, things are farther away. Normal bifocals (like the ones I wear daily) work perfectly in this scenario. I can look straight down or straight down and to the left or right and still have the close focus. But with the progressive lenses, if I look down and to the right or left, I get the far focus and have to turn my head to where I'm looking directly down. This is annoying for large-format reading/work - desk work or close-up woodworking, for example, because things at the edges of your vision are out of focus and you have to swivel your head to focus things. So, my expensive progressive lenses live in my car's center console where I theoretically could use them - but almost never do, because the regular bifocals work well for driving too... lol.
So, YMMV, but if you find yourself doing a lot of large format close reading, (proofreading, graphic design, woodworking, etc.) take a moment to notice how much you move your head vs. how much you swivel your eyes as this will make a significant difference. Maybe there are purely horizontal progressive lenses -- but I've had this discussion with several people who use progressive lenses and they all have the conical bottom sweet spot (and they all liked them). I didn't. I found them inconvenient and the out of focus near-field sides made me vaguely dizzy when doing desk-work/bench-work. YMMV, but it's something to consider and discuss with your optometrist.
For normal everyday use, when I look down, typically it's at things that are closer and when I look up, things are farther away. Normal bifocals (like the ones I wear daily) work perfectly in this scenario. I can look straight down or straight down and to the left or right and still have the close focus. But with the progressive lenses, if I look down and to the right or left, I get the far focus and have to turn my head to where I'm looking directly down. This is annoying for large-format reading/work - desk work or close-up woodworking, for example, because things at the edges of your vision are out of focus and you have to swivel your head to focus things. So, my expensive progressive lenses live in my car's center console where I theoretically could use them - but almost never do, because the regular bifocals work well for driving too... lol.
So, YMMV, but if you find yourself doing a lot of large format close reading, (proofreading, graphic design, woodworking, etc.) take a moment to notice how much you move your head vs. how much you swivel your eyes as this will make a significant difference. Maybe there are purely horizontal progressive lenses -- but I've had this discussion with several people who use progressive lenses and they all have the conical bottom sweet spot (and they all liked them). I didn't. I found them inconvenient and the out of focus near-field sides made me vaguely dizzy when doing desk-work/bench-work. YMMV, but it's something to consider and discuss with your optometrist.
I could have written this. Me exactly my friend.
Ron R
I survived a lathey foreman
I have tried both Bi focals and Progressive lenses and prefer the Progressive eye lenses glasses. If you walk a lot of stairs you will prefer Progressive lenses for safety IMO. For working on computers buy reading glasses is my preference.
There are strengths and weakness in all eye ware it seems.
There are strengths and weakness in all eye ware it seems.
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My son was Rx'd some yellow lenses with some kinda reading glasses in the bottom because his eyes "danced?" I think they said. We never noticed it.
I like it when you and I agree, as we often do! This growing old stuff is for the birds. It strikes me that I have had progressive lenses for so long now, I cannot even remember what adaption period or efforts there may have been way back when!
Ron R
I survived a lathey foreman
Interesting about yellow lenses, I use yellow lenses for driving in fog or low light conditions and seem to work well. On my reading glasses for my computer I had them make my prescription with the blue light block lenses because older computers can push out so much of it. Blue light is one of the more destructive rays on the spectrum light band rays because its a short ray band intense from my limited research that most folks don't seem to care about or never heard it existed. A lot of newer computers have this option Incorporated for protecting your eyes better for the younger generations who will be exposed the most over time.
Lol! Aging IS the great equalizer!
I fully expected to hate mine. Both my mother and mother-in-love hated theirs.
But I love mine, especially for driving.
I have a terrible astigmatism in my left eye, which is dominant. (I'm right handed, so fun for shooting!) My right eye is "lazy" and I close it while outside, even with sun glasses. I've had glasses since I started skool.
On a kinda related note, which I mention for those who may consider "skipping" an eye exam:
I went to a new, younger eye doc about five years ago. He kept staring inside my right eye, almost had me standing on my head to get a better view. Finally he showed me a pic on his computer of my eye. I had what looked to me like a grey ball about the size of a third of the space inside my eye!
He said come back in six months. If it grows I'd get a test. Probably cut my eye out! Yea me! It was the same. But shook me up I'm ashamed to admit. He said I was probably born with it. Makes me wonder: how MANY kids have had an eyeball cut out for no good reason over the years? I mean, misdiagnosed cancers?
He wouldn't blame my lazy eye and photosensitivity on it.... But I do.
I'm AMAZED by my son's vision. Shoulda been a fighter pilot. I'll bet he sees a baseball as good as Ted Williams!
Ever since he could read he'd be reading road signs that were on the other side of the horizon!
The reason: genetics, and God's grace, ha.
I'm terribly near sighted, the War Department is far sighted.
Thanks for the information about how your progressive lens are constructed. That was educational for me as this sounds exactly like my experience.
Earlier this year I got my first pair of glasses, ones with progressive lens and they were horrible to wear around the house. I went back to the optician and he listened to my complaints/concern and made a second pair of progressive lens glasses and they were a lot better (more balanced/aligned) but the limited focus range made them too restrictive to wear. Laughable trying to wear them to read a big computer monitor or even a five inch smartphone screen.
My expensive progressives are "great" for driving but that is about it. I have since ordered 4 different pairs of cheap Chinese made single vision glasses (Zenni) and they are the ones I use everyday since they allow me to use my full field of vision. One for reading, one for the computer monitor, one for distance, and a pair of sunglasses. Since it is a pain to switch glasses so often I am thinking of ordering a couple pairs of bifocals, one for reading and the other for the computer monitor.
@StillShaving
That sounds about like my experience. In the end, I had two problems. One was the progressives made it difficult to use my peripheral vision for work (same as you) and the other was that as my eyes age, they become decreasingly able to focus over large differences in fields of distance. Now that's probably the reason people like progressive lenses as at least in theory they give you a gradual gradation between focuses. But there is the additional overarching problem that optometrists almost always seem to give distance correction that is optimized at an infinitely far distance, which is OK if your eyes are young and pliable, but for older folks, it makes mid-distances overly focused and uncomfortable, and then at the end of the day when I take them off, my vision goes completely crazy dimensionally. For instance, if I've been wearing my distance glasses for a long period (driving or etc.) when I take them off, square things (laptop screen, etc.) become trapezoids !?!?... haha. It's unsettling when you take your glasses off and everything looks like something you'd see in a funhouse mirror.
So essentially I solved this by going to the optometrist and saying: "OK, forget distance glasses - what I need is a pair of shop glasses - old bifocal types - that have two fields of focus. I want the top section to be ideal at -- say -- 40 feet away. I want the near vision to be ideal at reading distance, and I want the near vision to be unusually large, about 1/3 of the bottom of the glasses. Then I picked out frames that had a fairly beefy size and gripped the head well so they don't fall off if they are down on the nose a little. They're pretty much ideal. When I want a little more distance view I push them down on my nose, or if I'm reading in bed and want more near vision, I push them up on my nose... haha. It's old-school, but it works because I'm not constantly digging around for reading glasses. The only challenge is finding frames that have some size to them so you can get a decent chunk of near and far lens so the reader portion is of a usable size.... without looking like 1970's 'old-duffer' frames. Oakley makes quite a few good beefy frames that have some style and grip the head well and are adjustable (bendable temples and stiles, and replaceable bridge) so you can adjust them to grip without giving you a headache.
These are the ones I chose: The Oakley Hyperlink
But these also looked good: (though are less adjustable) The Oakley Litebeam
That sounds about like my experience. In the end, I had two problems. One was the progressives made it difficult to use my peripheral vision for work (same as you) and the other was that as my eyes age, they become decreasingly able to focus over large differences in fields of distance. Now that's probably the reason people like progressive lenses as at least in theory they give you a gradual gradation between focuses. But there is the additional overarching problem that optometrists almost always seem to give distance correction that is optimized at an infinitely far distance, which is OK if your eyes are young and pliable, but for older folks, it makes mid-distances overly focused and uncomfortable, and then at the end of the day when I take them off, my vision goes completely crazy dimensionally. For instance, if I've been wearing my distance glasses for a long period (driving or etc.) when I take them off, square things (laptop screen, etc.) become trapezoids !?!?... haha. It's unsettling when you take your glasses off and everything looks like something you'd see in a funhouse mirror.
So essentially I solved this by going to the optometrist and saying: "OK, forget distance glasses - what I need is a pair of shop glasses - old bifocal types - that have two fields of focus. I want the top section to be ideal at -- say -- 40 feet away. I want the near vision to be ideal at reading distance, and I want the near vision to be unusually large, about 1/3 of the bottom of the glasses. Then I picked out frames that had a fairly beefy size and gripped the head well so they don't fall off if they are down on the nose a little. They're pretty much ideal. When I want a little more distance view I push them down on my nose, or if I'm reading in bed and want more near vision, I push them up on my nose... haha. It's old-school, but it works because I'm not constantly digging around for reading glasses. The only challenge is finding frames that have some size to them so you can get a decent chunk of near and far lens so the reader portion is of a usable size.... without looking like 1970's 'old-duffer' frames. Oakley makes quite a few good beefy frames that have some style and grip the head well and are adjustable (bendable temples and stiles, and replaceable bridge) so you can adjust them to grip without giving you a headache.
These are the ones I chose: The Oakley Hyperlink
But these also looked good: (though are less adjustable) The Oakley Litebeam
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