To go for varifocals or not? Have you got them? Did you love/hate them?

[DrMadelineMaxwell]

Close vision deteriorating due to age. Distance vision not great, but steady prescription.

Very fed up with everything being blurry! In my job I need to switch between long distance, mid distance and close distance a fair bit.

Pros
Will be able to see!
Won't have to keep removing glasses.
Can try them for 3 months and swap them back for single vision if don't get along with them.

Cons
Won't have a full field of vision in focus as there's peripheral zones that aren't, apparently
Close vision will continue to deteriorate so new lenses will be needed again (and perhaps again) until it settles.
Will have to get used to them.

I'm a teacher too and have had varifocals for many years. I'm on my 4th pair. My reading cisiondid deteriorate and every prescription I've had over 10 years has changed.
I tried varifocal contacts but found I had to take 1 lens out to mark books 😂 But it's probably because I also have astigmatism in both eyes. I do have to slightly prop up my glasses when reading with my head down, but if I hold the book up, or use a writing slope for books I'm marking, I'm ok. I also have prescription sunglasses. I've tried to have just reading glasses but am unable to read with just readers alone.

Took me a week to get used to. After a year had to get stronger ones and again two years down the line i think i need stronger as i am typing this with no glasses and close up as clearer. Varifocals dont show to others like the bifocals did.

Hate them! Tried them for ages, kept going back to opticians, but gave up in the end and now have 2 pairs of single lenses which suit me fine.

Hated the head tilting to get the correct bit of lens, just made me feel ill.

My distance vision is ok - don't really need glasses for that - but my close vision is not good and I need glasses to read anything and I'm on my second pair of varifocals now. It took me 3-4 weeks to get used to the first pair - I hated them! - but I was determined to persevere and now I wouldn't be without them. I wear them all the time, and actually prefer the way I look with them on.

To those of you who went for best varifocal lenses can I assume that you went to an independent dispenser or can you get them in bog standard places like specsavers?

@heachybed what's your opinon on varifocal contact lenses? Any good, any brands to go for?

Love them and have never noticed problems with peripheral vision - your post, OP was the 1st time I'd heard of it. I have frameless, so there is no frame in my vision - they are so light, I don't even know I am wearing them!

I have age related long sightedness and my eyes have been deteriorating for years - but only have to change them every 2 years to read tiny writing on labels!

My first ever glasses were varifocal ones - nothing like being told that both the distance and the close up have gone at the same time to make me feel like I'm getting old!

I've found them easy to get used to but I don't have very strong prescriptions which might make a difference. It is slightly weird the first few days while the eyes adjust.

Mine came from Boots. I'm on my second pair and haven't had any problems with either ones. I did wince a bit at the price but then reminded myself that I wear them every day so at cost per wear they are well worth the money.

shortsighted since childhood, lenses plus readers in the day but specs in evening. varifocals for about a year and they were instant 'wow! I can see close and far!'

specsavers elite grade . not everyone's experience but I am delighted. only thing I dont like is driving with them so I use single vision for that.

Mine are from Boots.

Like Cedar, i wonder whether the 'straight to varifocals with not too bad prescriptions' is, relatively, easier than someone transferring from single prescription glasses.

For me, wearing glasses is annoying and restricting and took getting used to - as a non-glasses wearer, you are used to having the whole field of view, to glancing out of the corner of your eye, and so the whole 'adjusting to a lens of specific size and frames on your face' process is longer than the 'ooh, trippy' few days of getting used to varifocals..

I have been wearing varifocals for about 10 years after needing specs for short sight most of my adult life. I couldn't live without them now.
I do remember feeling slightly dizzy and headachey at first, just for a few days. I think I was told not to wear them for more than a couple of hours at a time till my eyes adjusted. (I've been fine ever since even when the prescription has changed.) I was told I needed to move my head more according to what I was trying to focus on. It's important to get properly measured to make sure the different lens strengths are in the exact right place for your eyes.

Yes my experience sounds similar to yours can'tkeepawayforever - getting used to wearing glasses altogether. In fact, I didn't wear them all the time at first when I was walking about. I'd wear them for reading and at work. But in time I accepted that life was easier if I actually wore them most of the time

If I was the OP I'd definitely give them a try. You can go back to single lenses if they are not working for you so it is worth having a go and seeing what you think.

I am a huge fan, they make my life so easy. If I had separate distance and reading glasses I would be forever losing them, I create enough drama without this!

Having said that, I picked up two new pairs on Monday and while one of them is perfect, I am struggling with the other so I am going back at the weekend to try to work out what is going wrong.

I got some a couple of years ago although I was a bit nervous as I didn't realise how much they had changed over the years. I've got on with them from the start and think they are great. They only took about a day too get used to.

I have had mine about a year now. I used to wear contact lenses .
I had no trouble adjusting to them . I did go for an expensive lens option . I do regret not choosing light reactive lenses though .

I remember getting headaches when I first started wearing mine but it only took 3-4 days to get used to them. Boot optician quoted me about £450, i decided Tom go for the Asda £80 ones in case I didn’t get on with them but they are brilliant, everything is really clear and I have no problems with them at all.

I got some a few months ago, as although very short sighted I was starting to hold things further away to read them .

They felt a bit weird at first, but once you get used to them it is fine. If you have 3 months to take them back, then you have nothing to lose. I do have the top lens option , I couldn't afford it, but they chucked it in for an extra £10 in the end.

The optician said you need to point your nose at what you are looking at and she was right. She adjusted them well before I left the shop so that I was happy with them.

Sometimes I forget I have them and don't look up enough and everything is bluffy but not often

I have taken the plunge and ordered the (fairly expensive) ones that the opticians assured me would be a good lens to get used to wearing varis with.

I hope I do get on with them, although the money back guarantee they offer is worth the try I think.

Love them, never had any problems. I have complicated lenses in that I'm very short sighted in one eye, and very long sighted in the other. My lenses are brilliant - I can instantly look up and down from whatever I'm doing and have perfect vision. Yes, I was a teacher too and needed glasses for all those reasons, I just wouldn't be without them.

69! 😁

Update: finally picked up my first pair of varifocals.

I love them! I can see everything and they were great from the first minute I put them on.

Very pleased with mine

Sorry to open up a zombie thread but I’m really confused about something.

I’m very long sighted (+7 in both eyes) my distance vision is fine, however I am really straining my eyes on the laptop. My eyes were tested 6 months ago so my prescription is okay but I really feel with close up work I’m struggling.

I popped on a pair of cheap reading glasses today (+2) (over the top of my frame so I effectively had two pairs of glasses on). It felt very comfortable.

Will my optician be able to make me a pair of reading glasses which also incorporates my actual distance prescription? So I think the lenses will be +9:00 in total.

Im only 33 but I guess I grew up in the smart phone era and these problems are hitting earlier now.

I hated my first pair but changed opticians, refused varifocal and they were insistent the previous ones were made wrong (they had my previous prescription). They said they'd give me my money back if I didn't like theirs and had 30 days to return. So, I agreed. Love them now!

Hubby bought separate glasses but found them great for driving and awful for the dashboard. So he's picking his varifocals up tomorrow, with a 30 days return, from my optician.

They are good but, as you can tell, there can be some teething problems.