Are 'Ready Reader' reading glasses bad for you?

[Teddypops]

I am fairly new to glasses. About a year ago I saw the optician as I was getting quite long sighted and struggling to read close up.

I had a prescription and had some glasses made up. Low prescription +1 in one eye and +0.25 in the other, with a slight astigmatism. I didn't get on with the glasses at all well. They weren't cheap but feel quite heavy and don't stay up on my head when needed out of the way for a bit etc. I also felt a bit dizzy wearing them if looking up from a screen/book etc.

One day I was out and saw some ready reading glasses, picked up a +1 pair. They have transformed my life! I wear them nearly all the time, I can read and walk around with them. I could comfortably wear them all day. They stay on my head well when not required.

I would like a few more pairs as these were £3 from pound land and I would quite like some nicer ones.

However, Are these likely to make my sight worse? Any views?

I do feel my sight has got worse over the past year and I need them more. But I am over 45, so I expect that's natural.

Also, just to add. I think it's because of the different prescriptions in each eye that make me struggle with the proper ones.

I'm in the same boat but I have the opposite problem! All the cheapy reading glasses seem too strong and make everything blurry except for the page I'm reading. I couldn't walk round with them. However, my specsavers glasses which are +0.75 allow me to look away from the thing I'm reading and I can see around ok. But I don't think you're meant to wear reading glasses all the time. That's why lots of people have them on their head or use strings to hang them from their neck. You might be better off with varifocals if you want to wear them all the time.

Personally, I'd go back to the opticians and ask them to adjust the glasses for you, even maybe changing the style. They can check if the prescription is still correct for you. Maybe your good eye has gotten worse and your bad eye improved slightly. Who knows.

Go back to the opticians. It might be they got the prescription slightly wrong and also choose a different style. The cheap ones won't correct astigmatism.

I tried Varifocals and they made me really sick.

I'm quite happy to stick with the ready readers I just didn't know whether it was going to cause me problems that's all.

I'm happy to save £100s on the opticians.

I went to the optician as I was struggling to read and he said some ready made reading glasses would be just as good as the expensive prescription ones. The difference is that prescription ones are made specifically to your eye orientation so you look through the 'best' bit of the lense (there is probably a technical term for this!) and to fit your face and head, and you can get varifocals or bifocals and things like that.

I have a pair of Poundland glasses in each room in the house and some in the car, and they are easy to replace when they invariably get sat or stood on.

If you don't want to pay the opticians, then stick with the Poundland ones. My Mum has used these kind of reading glasses for many years and hasn't seen any deterioration in her vision. I don't think they cause any problems unless you use the wrong strength. But you'll still need regular check ups with the optician for your eye health.

back to the opticians

wrr to fit of the glasses I do the 'bridge test' (lean over looking down) and 'chew test' (move my jaw up and down and dide to side)

new glasses take a little time to get used to. my first pair made me feel see sick for a few days when walking around.

wrt to reading glasses, I have a pair of off the shelf as emergency glasses but they don't fit well and give me a headache after some time.
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I wear contacts for distance -3 and have reading glasses from Poundland. Optician says they're fine