After a half plus century the old eyeballs ain’t what they used to be- a new pair of glasses is on order. Previously I wore lined bifocals; the new ones will be progessive lens. For those who wear glasses, do you have a preference of one type over the other (lined vs progressive)?
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I've got lined trifocals, and never had any trouble with them other than I should have gotten the top line a hair higher. Took me all of ten minutes to "adjust" to them.
Other people have told me that they tried trifocals and couldn't stand them, though.
I've been told that a problem with the progressive lenses is that they are "narrow" in the midrange -- can't see very well off to the sides. Don't know how true this is.
I'm one of the people who have tried a variety of "old-fashioned" lenses (like trifocals) and can't stand them.I have progressive lenses. You've been told correctly; the area of clear vision is sort of "T" shaped. There's a band of clear vision at the top that is focused for distance. It's about 1/4 to 1/3 the height of the lens. As you move down in the lens, the clear focus area narrows. By the time you get down to the lower 1/3 of the lens, the clear band is only about 1/4 the width of the lens. Glance down and to one side, and everything's fuzzy at any distance. Don't know why the designers did this, but it's a real problem. I frequently hit doorknobs with my hand as I pass a door that's slightly open; I can't see them.George Patterson, Patterson Handyman Service
with all that, you still prefer the progressives- i think that narrow focus would drive me crazier than my bifocals_______________________________________________________________
It ain't what you make, it's what you don't spend
They drive me crazy, so do trifocals...I've gone to a smaller bifocular area with a line...I hate getting blindsided<G> & the titanuim frames, wow, I haven't broken a pair of glasses in 7 years...usta happen every couple of months. Outside of the gates the trucks were unloadin',
The weather was hot, a-nearly 90 degrees.
The man standin' next to me, his head was exploding,
Well, I was prayin' the pieces wouldn't fall on me.
That's the kind I got, but now I think I need tri's, a lot of my work is in that middle zone, can't even think about trifocals yet, oh the horror_______________________________________________________________
It ain't what you make, it's what you don't spend
You haven't broken a pair but what about loosing them?
I had Progressive for about two weeks before I lost them...ugh...over $300.
Actually I never got used to them..they drove me crazy/dizzy. Especially walking up and down ladders.
Actually I don't really need glasses other than for reading...my eyes "are" getting a little worse though...I notice it now watching TV.
So for me...I'd rather just keep a few pairs of $1.00 reading glasses all over the place for now. Till I get older'n dirt. Hmmmm...I need my glasses to find my hearing aid...lol.
Wish Lazik worked for me. Works GREAT for Katrina but the doc said it doesn't work for eyes that get F'd cuz of age. You have to be born w/F'd vision.
You know, not to generalize, but the 29% of people who still support President Bush are the ones who love to pronounce themselves more patriotic than the rest of us. But just saying you're patriotic is like saying you have a big one. If you have to say it, chances are it's not true.
http://WWW.CLIFFORDRENOVATIONS.COM
*****Wish Lazik worked for me. Works GREAT for Katrina but the doc said it doesn't work for eyes that get F'd cuz of age. You have to be born w/F'd vision. ****
I got lucky in a very weird way. Couldn't afford Lassik but I had cataracts at 47 ( due to a RX drug I had to take ) & the new lense implants corrected my vision. All covered my insurance :-) Now I just need reading glasses. If you have cataracts & you can, get them fixed as soon as you can & you'll love it
Bobbi
You haven't broken a pair but what about loosing them?Oh yeah, get zonked, wake up, spend 2 hours looking for glasses that I couldn't find cause I couldn't see them cause I lost 'em LOLNow, I'm finally in the habit of only putting them 6 or 7 places<G>Have you had a Lasik screening? The opto guy I see won't do the surgery unless his patient goes to a real screening clinic, not one in the back of Five Min. Lasik For 50 Bucks<G> Duke University runs a free one here. Apparently some concern over some people's eyes explodeing when poked with a sharp instrument...I just gotta get over there...but then I'd still have to always wear these, my safety glasses ha! Outside of the gates the trucks were unloadin',
The weather was hot, a-nearly 90 degrees.
The man standin' next to me, his head was exploding,
Well, I was prayin' the pieces wouldn't fall on me.
I've got the split bifocals with the lower geared to the distance from my eyes to the saw. They upper's tuned in to the distance from eyes to arms extended. This has been a good overall experience.
However, you don't want to keep them on to play golf. And working ladders is a little more challenging.A great place for Information, Comraderie, and a sucker punch.
Remodeling Contractor just outside the Glass City.
http://www.quittintime.com/
They must be tinted too to reflect the glare from that shiny chrome lookin' 315 you're still using ;)
nah, no tint on those, but on the distance only-you bet.
I remember polishing that saw, along with the belt sander. A great place for Information, Comraderie, and a sucker punch.
Remodeling Contractor just outside the Glass City.
http://www.quittintime.com/
That narrow zone has me a little worried- they said you have to turn your head- no looking out the sides and that it will take a couple of weeks to get adjusted to it. We shall see. Getting to the point where my arm isn't long enough to hold the tape so I can read it ;).
The tape is the least of my problems. How about splinters? I find myself looking for the best angle in the best light, I then use a shotgun approach, or scorched earth, or rather scorched flesh, the other day I realized I was working on the wrong hand_______________________________________________________________
It ain't what you make, it's what you don't spend
Any of you have Lasik? I'm getting the mono-vision where they undercorrect the nearsightedness in one eye so you don't need reading glasses. They tried doing one eye and leaving the other untouched but it's not working. It left me woth one really bad eye. I have to get 8 inches from the computer screen to read it. Now I have to go get the other eye slightly corrected. The eye they did is dead on, 20/20 though. Amazing technology.
I was 20:70 in my left eye, 20:200 in my right, left eye dominant. After correcting just the right eye to 20:20, i still had the left eye for close work. My brain had to adjust to the better-focusing right eye being the new dominant eye, however, which took about two weeks, in my case. Most people take longer.
That was ~10 years ago. Occasionally, i still can 'feel' the hemispheres are confused, so i momentarily close the eye i don't need in order to focus my brain on the eye whose skills i require. When i re-open the eye, the brain then gives me depth perception as well as clarity of the preferred eye. Maybe this exercise would help discipline your brain.
If there is a lot of "cross-talk" over one's corpus callosum, the structure that divides the hemispheres of your brain, one's brain is better able to adjust to monovision. I've read that testosterone inhibits this cross-talk. If you can't adjust to monovision, it could be you are just too manly!
I'm a testosterone charged cyclopse, with an undisciplined brain. Is that what you're telling me?
Yes, but things could be worse.
I've been told that a problem with the progressive lenses is that they are "narrow" in the midrange -- can't see very well off to the sides. Don't know how true this is.
That is way true!!!!!Semper Fi
"To be young and a conservative, you have no heart"
"To be old and a liberal, you have no mind"
Winston Churchill
"Some people spend an entire lifetime wondering if they made a difference. The Marines don't have that problem."PRESIDENT RONALD REAGAN, 1985
I went straight to the progressives & never had any problems. Make sure you keep them adjusted well since it's important for the positioning to be correct. If you bend the legs or little eye pieces stop by the eyeglasss store & get them tuned up. When you first get them if you are having trouble adjusting go back & make sure they are sitting properly.
Whatever you get, make sure that the top 1/4" or so of the lens will focus at arms length.
I have to break my neck in two every time I have to work over head.
It's a real pain having to inject the crazy glue to put it back together.
SamT
Anyone who doesn't take truth seriously in small matters cannot be trusted in large ones either. [Einstein] Tks, BossHogg.
Well, I just read a tip somewhere about working over your head with progressives. This guy said to buy a cheap pair of reading glasses and put them one over your regular glasses. That will turn the upper (distance) section into a magnifying lens that's in focus for several feet away. I picked up some 1.5 diopter glasses, and it works like a charm!George Patterson
You need painter's glasses, with the close lens on the top. Or, I believe you can get them with close/distant/close.
So convenient a thing it is to be a reasonable Creature, since it enables one to find or make a Reason for everything one has a mind to do. --Benjamin Franklin
and if you loose your glasses a lot you may want to consider..
http://www.bmezine.com/news/pubring/20041214.html
You know, not to generalize, but the 29% of people who still support President Bush are the ones who love to pronounce themselves more patriotic than the rest of us. But just saying you're patriotic is like saying you have a big one. If you have to say it, chances are it's not true.
http://WWW.CLIFFORDRENOVATIONS.COM
EWWWWW! Am I the only one to be grossed out by a "bridge piercing"?Bill
YEh...that REALLY is sick!!! LOL
You know, not to generalize, but the 29% of people who still support President Bush are the ones who love to pronounce themselves more patriotic than the rest of us. But just saying you're patriotic is like saying you have a big one. If you have to say it, chances are it's not true.
http://WWW.CLIFFORDRENOVATIONS.COM
Yes, close-distant-close is the way to go imo.
I wish I'd thought of that before springing for my progressives. Like a few here, the adjustment to progressives took a matter of minutes. Within a couple weeks, it was as if I'd been born with them.
Edit: dealing with a reputable optician or optometrist rather than the Wally-world eyeglass dept. is a wise way to go. Eyeglasses are precision tools...their efficacy depends on being properly measured for fit, not just for prescription.
Edited 4/1/2007 11:38 pm ET by Pierre1
I'll add to that last part. Had to go to Mayo to get eyes checked for a possible problem (checked out OK). Had them do the "refraction" while they were at it, then got glasses from their kiosk vs the converted gas station where I usually go. Best (sharpest vision) pair of glasses I've ever had, by far. (P*sses me off that I scratched one lens awhile back -- not enough to need replacement, but enough to bother me.)
So convenient a thing it is to be a reasonable Creature, since it enables one to find or make a Reason for everything one has a mind to do. --Benjamin Franklin
I bought a pair of glasses about a year ago made of real glass instead of plastic and they never scratched verses plastic which would be rough in a couple of months,just don't run a grinder without a face shield or the metal will melt into the glass. :^(
ANDYSZ2WHY DO I HAVE TO EXPLAIN TO FRIENDS AND FAMILY THAT BEING A SOLE PROPRIETOR IS A REAL JOB?
REMODELER/PUNCHOUT SPECIALIST
I have to break my neck in two every time I have to work over head.
For some reason, I have a memory of Tommy Silva 'splaining that he keeps reading glasses on him, that he balances over the top of his 'focals, for seeing close up over his head.
Could not tell you if that's a TOH, an AskTOH, or some other show (and not Tommy at all).Occupational hazard of my occupation not being around (sorry Bubba)
I know an HVAC guy the has the bifocal part at the top of his lenses. Outside of the gates the trucks were unloadin',
The weather was hot, a-nearly 90 degrees.
The man standin' next to me, his head was exploding,
Well, I was prayin' the pieces wouldn't fall on me.
My eyes are typical but maybe not like yours. My near vision started to get fuzzy around the age of forty. After ten years of changing, my near vision has stabilized at about +2.50, both eyes, for reading. I've kept several pairs of +2.00 which help my eyes focus nicely at full arm's length, the distance which I need for most working situations and for viewing this screen. Having a pair of +2.00 safety glasses hanging around my neck is the best solution for most working situations.
Depending on the amount of adjustment you need, there are varying amounts of area used for the "near" focus. I tried the old style progressives about two years ago, and unlike the others here, I never adjusted. The amount of area for the far focus was just not sufficient, side vision was non-existent, and scanning from near to far made me sea sick.
So I went back to single (far) vision lenses. Right now, I just slide them down my nose a bit if I have to focus on something small and close.
But there are these new lenses with a smaller near focus area. I'll probably give them a try this summer, once they become available at my index level. My wife got them and says they are much better. I think it is only the lower inside parts of the lense for near focus, and everything else for far focus. That improves the side vision, and gives more area for far vision.
The first time I got some of those "progressive lenses" I hated 'em so bad I did a thread about them:http://forums.taunton.com/n/mb/message.asp?webtag=tp-breaktime&msg=56939.1Fortunately the place I dealt with had a liberal return policy. I took 'em back and got something else. What I have now the doc called "desktop readers". They're kinda like the others, but have a wider field of clear vision. And they don't make the lines on the computer screen wavy like the first set did.
T-shirt: Things Were Going OK Until You Showed Up
Thanks to everyone for sharing the progressive lense stories, you've confirmed my decision to just keep peeking under my old lenses.
Just last week I had a checkup as DW keeps chiding me for not getting bifocals as she watches me struggle with close work. My eye doc of 15+ years showed me the T pattern of progressives and basically said "it's up to you as some people never adjust to floors, etc. being out of focus until they tip their heads." He gave me the 'lower' prescription to hold in front of my existing glasses as a test and wow, no way was I going to like that. I passed on the bifocals.
Find a good eye doc as I have heard horror stories of "mall hacks" out there who will not take the required time to fine tune your prescription.
Generally speaking a perfect prescription for distance will make close in vision worse and vice versa. Bifocals are always a compromise. I chose to keep my distance vision as sharp as possible even at the expense of my close in sight.
My doc also told me that he's starting to see more people actually need bifocals for using computers (ie. distant + intermediate prescriptions) rather than traditional bifocals that cover distant + close in for reading. That'll probably be my next dilemma.
I'd suggest that you give the regular lined bifocals a fair chance. Relatively few people have trouble with them, even if they have trouble with trifocals.
So convenient a thing it is to be a reasonable Creature, since it enables one to find or make a Reason for everything one has a mind to do. --Benjamin Franklin
"I'd suggest that you give the regular lined bifocals a fair chance. Relatively few people have trouble with them, even if they have trouble with trifocals."
That was the reason my doc gave me the prescription to hold in front of my existing glasses. I should have been more clear in my post.
My doc basically said that the lined bifocals give a wider field of vision in both prescriptions as opposed to the progressives because they do not need to vary the grinding in the lense and avoid the distortions. Nonetheless, I was still unwilling to make the leap.
Perhaps when my eyes get even worse in a year or two...
Yeah, that's what I figured, but I don't think it was a fair test.I will admit, though, that once you're "bi", your eyes lose flexibility pretty fast, so it's hard to go back.
So convenient a thing it is to be a reasonable Creature, since it enables one to find or make a Reason for everything one has a mind to do. --Benjamin Franklin
For those who wear glasses, do you have a preference of one type over the other (lined vs progressive)?
Most people seem to have trouble adjusting to progressives, and they are often not fitted properly.
Progressives basically have a pupil sized "spot" that will be in the correct focus. If that spot is not in exactly the right place, they will be very annoying to use. It can be very difficult to have them fitted properly.
If you go with progressives, find a shop that can fit them properly. This is not the place to save money.
Personally, I prefer the lined bifocals, primarily because they have a large field of view rather than a spot.