Varifocals

[Bramble]

I need new glasses and will no doubt soon be under pressure from the opticians to buy varifocals. Until recently I could get away with just cheap reading glasses and computer glasses but now have increasing trouble with distance vision so maybe progressive lenses would be useful. I did once try varifocals (Boots Gold) but they were so awful I didn't even take them out of the shop. Reading with them was like peering down a narrow tube and only one word at a time came into focus. I often wonder whether things would have been different if I'd splashed out on top end specs. Then there's bifocals and trifocals to consider. Or maybe just keep a selection of different glasses with me at all times to cover all eventualities. How I hate ageing.

I'd be interested in any useful tips or experiences for managing the glasses problem. I know some of the folk here are over 40 so I'm sure a few of you have been through the options and might have good advice. In particular, how have you found varifocals? Pros and cons. Is it worth paying for the best?

I spend a lot of time walking out of doors and wonder whether varifocals or bifocals would make it difficult to see where I'm putting my feet as I'd be looking through the reading part. Any thoughts?

[Roses]

I don't like varifocals, I insisted on having separate distance and reading specs, which suit me much better.

[Nearly Sane]

Had them for about 10 years, never had any problem with them, but definitely worth paying the money for good quality. I use Vision Express. Not sure when they will be open to do a proper eye test.

[Enki]

Hi Bramble.

I use bifocals and have done for a number of years. I don't find them any problem at all, and as I use the computer to write out dissertations, read information etc. as well as using my eyesight and binoculars for birding(bird watching) I would happily recommend them. On the other hand, I know acquaintances who use varifocals with no problems. I think it's simply what you can get used to and feel most comfortable with. You can ask the close reading part of the bifocals to be either higher or lower according to your wishes by the way.

Unfortunately I have the beginnings of a cataract in one eye but I'll have to wait till it gets worse before getting it sorted.

[ProfessorDavey]

I need new glasses and will no doubt soon be under pressure from the opticians to buy varifocals. Until recently I could get away with just cheap reading glasses and computer glasses but now have increasing trouble with distance vision so maybe progressive lenses would be useful. I did once try varifocals (Boots Gold) but they were so awful I didn't even take them out of the shop. Reading with them was like peering down a narrow tube and only one word at a time came into focus. I often wonder whether things would have been different if I'd splashed out on top end specs. Then there's bifocals and trifocals to consider. Or maybe just keep a selection of different glasses with me at all times to cover all eventualities. How I hate ageing.

I'd be interested in any useful tips or experiences for managing the glasses problem. I know some of the folk here are over 40 so I'm sure a few of you have been through the options and might have good advice. In particular, how have you found varifocals? Pros and cons. Is it worth paying for the best?

I spend a lot of time walking out of doors and wonder whether varifocals or bifocals would make it difficult to see where I'm putting my feet as I'd be looking through the reading part. Any thoughts?

I've had varifocals for a few years now and was a bit scared to move to them having heard loads of people claim they couldn't get on with them.

I had no problem at all - adjusted to them in hours and can't image using anything else.

NS is correct - go for good quality lenses - they are more expensive but give a much greater area of the lens in focus at any level which avoids the weird distorting periphery effect some people complain about. Also, as not all people get on with varifocals and they are expensive, many shops have a try and return guarantee - this means if you simply cannot get on with them after a few weeks you get your money back (or rather can use it towards something else).

[Roses]

My husband and eldest girl have varifocals and reading specs, which I find hard to understand!

[Owlswing]

I've worn glasses since I was 9 - a total of 64 years, I started with ordinary single visions, moved to bifocals and then, about ten years ago to varifocals.

The cheaper variety are harder to use as the focus area is quite small, but to get top of the range wear them all the time without problems lenses are very expensive and the frames can almost double the price.

My last specs cost £270 which taught me one lesson, get good strong frames that are not going to break or pop the lenses if you drop them. 

[Roses]

I have had problems with my eyes since I had eye surgery at the age of 13 to correct a lazy eye. The eye 'surgeon' was merely an optician who had no qualifications in eye surgery. This was only discovered many years later after his death. Goodness know how many eyes he damaged over the years!

I had reading specs to start with, but have been wearing distance specs too since I was 30.

[Anchorman]

I've a spare eye in my bedroom  cabinet.
It might not be your colour, but, hey, the offer's there.....

[Roses]

I've a spare eye in my bedroom  cabinet.
It might not be your colour, but, hey, the offer's there.....

How kind of you. 

[Bramble]

Lots of great advice. Thanks all.

How much would you think I might need to spend to get sufficiently good varifocal lenses? My optician seems to like Essilor lenses and I think they're pretty dear - over £300 before coatings.

[Nearly Sane]

Lots of great advice. Thanks all.

How much would you think I might need to spend to get sufficiently good varifocal lenses? My optician seems to like Essilor lenses and I think they're pretty dear - over £300 before coatings.

The last pair I got last year were about £250 from Zeiss

[Harrowby Hall]

My husband and eldest girl have varifocals and reading specs, which I find hard to understand!

I have varifocals. When I next have an eye examination I shall use the prescription  to obtain some low-cost reading glasses. In my case, I find the position in which I have to hold the book (or whatever) to be uncomfortable  because I am forced to look through the appropriate part of the lens. I already have a pair of distance glasses which I use when driving.

Opticians (ie the businesses in which optometrists work), I suspect, like selling varifocals because because they can male about 1000% profit on the cost of producing a pair of spectacles. There are places on line which will make them for considerably less than High Street places charge. Why should anyone feel obliged to pay large sums of money for something which costs pence to make just because they are branded?

[jeremyp]

Had them for about 10 years, never had any problem with them, but definitely worth paying the money for good quality. I use Vision Express. Not sure when they will be open to do a proper eye test.

I got varifocals for the first time about two years ago. I cannot recommend them too highly.

I have been short sighted since I was about fourteen but, in recent years, my ability to read close to particularly in poor lighting conditions has been severely compromised. I could do it by taking my specs off, but that's a bit of a pain in the arse. Varifocals were a revelation almost as good as when I got my first ever pair of specs and found that the World wasn't fuzzy in the distance.

I will endorse NS's point about good quality. Basically, the more expensive the lens, the more of it is usable. Varifocal lenses have an area at the top which is your distance viewing prescription and an area at the bottom which are reading lenses. You can't see clearly out of the bits in between where the one lens merges into the other. In particular, on cheap lenses, the bits on either side of the fairly small reading lens part are completely wasted. This diagram shows what I mean more or less, except it's more charitable about the unusable areas than I would be. Anything in it labelled "soft focus" or "intermediate vision" I would describe as "blurry".