Silly question about glasses

[useitorlose]

I usually wear multifocal contact lenses, but it's time I got some new glasses. I'm not sure I'll wear glasses enough to justify the price of variofocals so I'm thinking of just getting single vision glasses for distance. That means I wouldn't be able to read in them, right? My prescription is -6. So, would cheap reading glasses suffice, or would they not work because my vision isn't corrected enough? I haven't bought glasses for about 9 years and I'm old enough now to have reached the stage where I'd be stretching my arm out to read stuff.

I have reading glasses (cheapo from Primark and Poundland) and proper driving glasses for distance which I tend to wear for night driving and in the cinema/theatre.

With my prescription, I cannot function at all unless I'm wearing either glasses or lenses though.

Op you will need several pairs for different functions. I have varifocals but am fed up with wearing the same glasses day in day out. I'm going to look for different glasses for reading and distance just to ring the changes and look a bit different, if I can get them to work

Hi 👋🏻 cheap reading glasses purchased ‘off the shelf’ wouldn’t work for you I’m afraid. Most opticians will offer a budget frame range so would be better getting a pair made to your reading prescription from this sort of range if you want to keep costs down (am optometrist)

(I mean reading glasses in addition to a pair of distance glasses, your reading will be poor in distance glasses as you correctly stated)

I think you might as well get varifocals. It will take time to adjust to them, but it will be worth it

Op what can you see without your lenses?

I'm about similar prescription, sometimes I find myself taking my glasses off to read on my phone 6"" from my nose (and thread needles) but I never seem to do that at work (and I don't sew at work either)

I am -6.25. I have single vision lenses and use +2 ready readers. It is most important to me to see distance without glasses.

ASDA - varifocals from £40, I splash out and get the £80 frames, 2 pairs for £120.

It's a trek, but a worthwhile trek.

Do you mean contract lens & reading glasses at the same time?

Ohh that might help my cause. My current contact lens make reading menus hard.
When I got them I said I didn't need to be able to read in them (they are used for sports & nights out only) except I really struggle with menus, which I hadn't thought about.

Yes... Contacts for distance and then reading glasses over the top when I am doing close work.

I might try that, thanks 😊

I am -6. I have distance glasses plus intermediates for work, I can read in these just about but tend to read at home or use my tablet commando so to speak.

Another vote for Asda opticians. You can get varifocals there for a really good price, I think mine were 2 pairs for £110. I got one normal pair and one sunglasses pair.

I just use the super cheap readers because I am for ever leaving them about. B&M £1.99 specials. If you don't want to commit ask to borrow someone's when you are next out with your contacts in. Look out for the middle aged person with the glasses propped on their head.

I'm minus 8.
I wear either lenses and reading glasses.
Or single vision glasses which I take off and I can read.

I have contact lenses for general wear (-10) and they are fine for most purposes including driving and computer use. They are slightly under-correcting for my prescription which means I can still read in them for the most part. I'm in my mid 50s.

I also have +1 cheap reading glasses to wear over them which help for close work in but I don't need them for all reading.

Then I have night driving glasses with a slight negative top up prescription and anti-glare coatings, they help me see signs and road markings more clearly at night. The bottoms of the lenses are different to allow me to read the dashboard.

Then I also have two pairs of full strength single vision glasses, an old pair that I wear around the house and can read in but are no longer strong enough for driving and a new full strength pair which I keep in the car in case I lose a contact lens while out. I can only just read in those though, have to push them down my nose.

So for the vast majority of the time I only wear the contacts, I wear the old pair of glasses first thing and last thing and the reading/driving ones maybe a couple of times a week each.

I love varifocals. If I didn’t wear them I would need three pairs of glasses - for reading, computer and distance. I’ve worn them for years and had no trouble getting used to them. I couldn’t be doing with changing glasses all the time and carrying three pairs around with me. I spend a lot of money on them but a friend once told me to cost them per day and when it’s looked at that way it’s not so bad.

Another Asda vote. I get the varifocal sunglasses, so cheap.

@Needanewname42 that's why I have multifocal contact lenses - they are the bees knees!! I get them from Vision Direct at about £20 per pair for monthly extended wear.

I'm not living in the UK at the moment so the ASDA opticians sound great but the nearest one will be about 3500 miles away, and I am not in the UK long enough when I visit to buy anything that isn't available within a day or two. Prices also escalate rapidly when you need the extra thin lenses so that they don't look like the bottom of milk bottles.

@Nonewclothes2024 this is the future I envision - but I know that while I could read a book or kindle without glasses, I couldn't read what's on a laptop screen or PC monitor. Hence I wondered whether my uncorrected vision plus some maybe +2 to +3 reading glasses would do the trick.

Not sure if that would work?
I tried MF lenses , they made me feel sick.

@useitorlose I know you can't get to ASDA but they even include thinning in their prices!!!

@useitorlose just to stop you wasting money…off the shelf reading glasses would only work over the top of distance contact lenses as others have correctly mentioned. They wouldn’t help your uncorrected vision on the computer - they would make things worse (try someone’s on and you’ll see!) You would need a reduced version of your distance correction for computer so for example if you’re -6 at distance, probably approx -4.50 for computer (very appropriate obviously!) +2.00 or +3.00 would be extremely blurred!!

(Am optometrist) As per my earlier comment, if you don’t want varifocals a pair of prescription reading glasses from a budget frame range is your best bet in addition to distance glasses

I just checked, I’m -8, use reading glasses with contact lenses, with normal glasses on I’m better just taking glasses off to read. Using reading glasses on naked eye is worse than naked eye.

Verifocus glasses cost a fortune, the lenses alone are £500 with a high prescription, I have one pair