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I’ve got my first pair of specs and I hate them

19 replies

VenusClapTrap · 17/10/2019 21:07

After a lifetime of enjoying pin sharp vision, I’ve noticed over the past year that things have been getting a little fuzzy. So I took myself off to an opticians and got my eyes tested. Sure enough, I now need glasses for distance and reading. It’s only a mild prescription, I don’t need to wear them all the time or for driving, but the optician said I will notice it is much easier to focus on text and things with them, especially at night, and I will probably end up wanting to wear them more often than not.

Well it’s all a bit depressing isn’t it, getting old and decrepit. But I figured I just had to accept it and get on with it. So I collected my bloody expensive specs today, and they are awful!

I don’t mean in an appearance way (though I do hate the way I look in them!). I mean that everything looks weird. The sides of my field of vision swim. Everything looks wonky. Some things look unnervingly hyper-magnified, elsewhere is blurred. Walking around in them is disorientating. They make me feel dizzy.

The optician told me I just need to get used to them. She said to try them out, at home, for a week, and then talk to them about how I feel then.

Is this normal?! The wearing of glasses is completely new to me, I thought I’d just put them on and it would be like “Ah! Fuzziness gone!”. I don’t know if this is just how it is, and I need to suck it up, like so many other things about ageing, or if they are just crap glasses/wrong prescription.

Can anyone offer an insight (bad pun)?

OP posts:
Morgenrot · 17/10/2019 21:11

Are they varifocals? They can be as you describe and take a while to get used to. If they are not, then it sounds as though something is not quite right.

VenusClapTrap · 17/10/2019 21:14

Not varifocals, no. They are distance glasses but ok for reading too apparently.

OP posts:
Windydaysuponus · 17/10/2019 21:15

When I get new specs (usually prescription slightly different) I find putting them on while looking down before looking up wearing them helps!!
Feels a bit like motion sickness if I just shove them on!

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milienhaus · 17/10/2019 21:18

I find with new glasses they feel a bit weird for a day or so and then feel perfectly normal - but I’ve had glasses since 8 so had a lot of new ones and definitely need them!

If they still feel weird after 2-3 days they’re too strong and you should go back to your optician.

Doyouthinktheysaurus · 17/10/2019 21:18

That sounds like varifocals. My limited knowledge of glasses is that single lenses are either for distance or reading, not both. Varifocals are more like what you describe. My husband had them and couldn't get on with them, all fuzzy and weird.

I've got reading glasses and they are great, put them on and everything looks bigger and easier to see.

Petalbird · 17/10/2019 21:19

Always worn glasses and that doesn't sound right unless it's a big jump in prescription or the shape is wrong (some glasses just never feel right). Try putting them on the second you wake up I find this much easier when adjusting to new ones

ShiningTor · 17/10/2019 21:20

I've just changed from single lenses to varifocals after thirty years, it took two days to get used to them, they made me feel weird and dizzy for that time.

Worth persevering though.

SallyLovesCheese · 17/10/2019 21:21

Definitely normal for a new prescription to look a bit weird until your eyes adjust. Don't panic!

thespellhasbeenbroken123 · 17/10/2019 21:21

Yeah my most recent pair felt so weird I was nearly tripping up
It wasn't even a big change in prescription
I was sure they were wrong
But sure enough after a day or so they were fine!!!!

But I hate wearing glasses
I have to wear them all the time otherwise it feels like I'm in a weird world of fuzziness
And I hate them and the way they look and I bloody wish I had perfect vision
Ahwell

lemonjam · 17/10/2019 21:22

The first time I got glasses they made me feel sick for the first day or two.

GeePipe · 17/10/2019 21:23

You get used to them 😂 i got mine aged 16 and hated them so much they felt awful on my nose, i hated seeing the bloody frames in my vision. Now my eyes are really bad and i need to go back the opticians and get a much stronger prescription. Im 28 now and used to them.

Mishfit0819 · 17/10/2019 21:24

I had the same when I first got my glasses, like I was on a ship in a storm when moving my head and trying to work out distance going down stairs etc was totally off. I was same as you, distance glasses for cinema/driving etc.

I went back after a few days and they ended up lowering my prescription and telling me to wear them all the time, rather than higher prescription when needed. Much better after.

Also had the same drama with picking specs, very expensive mistake lol try plastic glasses without the little rubber bits on the nose, as those gave me headaches I later realised from the pressure I think as I wasn't used to it.

VenusClapTrap · 17/10/2019 21:24

Thanks. I’ll persevere. They’re definitely not varifocals. Just distance glasses. She said they would also be ok for reading because it’s such a mild prescription, but that as my eyes deteriorate I would end up needing two pairs - or varifocals.

OP posts:
VenusClapTrap · 17/10/2019 21:27

Sounds like quite a few pps felt like this! That’s reassuring I suppose. I’m going to try reading a book now instead of my phone and see how that is.

OP posts:
Ostanovka · 17/10/2019 21:29

Yes, mine made me feel sick to start with.

Chloemol · 17/10/2019 21:37

I have to wear glasses and have done for years. I have separate pairs die distance, so driving and tv and another for reading. My understanding is they are totally different things and unless you have varifocals you need separate glasses for each, although happy to be corrected

From the way you say you feel that is what happens with people using varificals for the same time. I would go back to the opticians

kikibo · 17/10/2019 21:47

My first glasses were -4 and -5 or so (I'm now much worse due to a genetic eye condition that wasn't spotted, though it couldn't really be helped anyway).

The day I collected them, I decided to take them off and get used to them later. So I returned to my world of major fuzziness willingly.
It was pretty disconcerting, only being able to see reliably at the centre of your field of vision. I thought I would either walk into people or hit a wall or something.

After a few days, that was all gone though.

So keep at it, but take it easy and take them off if you feel it's more dangerous to wear them than not.

msmith501 · 17/10/2019 21:50

Distance glasses have lens in to help your eyes relax and to see the objects further away. Reading glasses have lens to help your eyes focus on things close to and have stronger lens to bend the light to hit the retina. It's unusual to have one pair that does both things unless they are varifocals or bi-focals. 'd also wonder if you're not hurting your eyes using a prescription for seeing a long way away to then read a book? Doesn't sound right but I'm not expert apart from wearing glasses for years. With varifocals it is very usual to take a few weeks for your vision to stop swimming around but when it does, it's brilliant. Until then... small steps seem like stepping off a mountain and the cars in the road keep bouncing around!

Stickyuptail · 17/10/2019 22:56

When I first got glasses the prescription was so mild I could read in them too as well as wear them for distance/tv which is what they were for. As my eyes have gradually got worse with age I found while the distance was fine i had to take them off to see things close to me. At this point I got two separate pairs. So I agree a mild distance prescription can be used to read close things too with no problem.

I’d give it a few days as you’ve never worn glasses before but if you still feel dizzy and weird I’d go back. They might be made up incorrectly or be too strong for you. It’s quite a shock seeing yourself in glasses and it took me years to not mind wearing them. Even after 30 years I prefer how I look without them but it’s not an option and neither are contacts.

Bear with it but not for long before you go back to the optician.

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