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.

@BroughttoyoubyBerocca they aren't at ASDA - seriously I couldn't believe it, thought there was a catch but there isn't!

What is the visual field like with their Varifocals? Are they the basic ones?

I really don't know but I had a very expensive pair from elsewhere then Asda and can't tell the difference!

Biggest difference was having an optician that actually got my prescription correct after years of having different ones that didn't quite.

I couldn't justify spending out for varifocals so I have an everyday pair and a reading pair. Before I bought the reading pair I used a cheap pair of +1 glasses on top of my normal pair and that worked well!

Thanks. Sounds like they are worth a try then.

Found this thread while debating what to do about contacts.
I wear glasses every day, have bifocals. I used to wear prescription contacts until I got a corneal ulcer after wearing them too long at work which really put me off.
I still however wear contacts on holiday and any time I might want to wear my really nice sunglasses. However I now stuggle with reading with the contacts in which used to be fine. I was looking at options for varifocal contacts or whether to just wear reading glasses over the contacts I currently wear (-3.5 in both eyes).
im going on a last minute holiday on Thursday, can I get away with reading glasses over my current lenses or will Multifocals of -3.25 and +1.25 (the standard 0.25 under my glasses prescription) do the job ? I want to read on the beach and read menus etc. I haven't got time to go and get a proper appointment or the inclination to spend money on something which I only wear for a few days a year. Plus I've had to buy loads of clothes for the holiday as I literally had nothing suitable for a beach holiday so I can't really spend any more as the only reason we can go at all is we won a holiday voucher in a raffle

Having worn varifocal for a few years, I thought I could save a few quid just getting my sunglasses made with single vision for distance (not a particularly high index)….how wrong I was…I genuinely couldn’t function with single vision after varifocal….expensive mistake as I had to get my lenses replaced with varifocal

@StiffyByngsDogBartholomew OP here - now slightly less baffled by the variofocal/progressive glasses vs contact lenses debate. In fact, I am going back to the store to order my new glasses tomorrow! They are progressive, photochromic, thinned lenses and with the frames as well are costing the equivalent of about £600, but luckily I will get more than half of that refunded by my health insurance policy.

You need a proper appointment to get multifocal lenses, so if you don't have time for that (although I got a Specsavers appointment the same day I called them and walked out wearing a free pair!) you will need to get some reading glasses from Boots, Superdrug or similar. Take a book or a leaflet or something if you like, or just try various strengths using the back of a shampoo bottle etc. until you find one you can read in. If you're just starting to notice you can't read, +1 with your lenses in may well be enough.

My contact lens prescription is very similar to yours OP. I have glasses in that prescription (slightly stronger as the lenses aren't on the eyeballs), a pair with for computer work which are less strong than the general ones and sometimes I use reading glasses with the lenses for small print. I've bought my last two lots of glasses from Glasses Direct and the last ones weren't quite right so I asked them to fix them. An optician rang me and we talked everything through. They're now perfect and much cheaper than I would have paid at the bricks and mortar opticians.

@useitorlose thankyou. I've taken my chances and ordered 1 box of multifocals in the -3.5 I know works fine in my eyes for contacts and +1.25 to give it a try. Pretty much the same as my glasses prescription less 0.5 so I don't overstrain my eyes. It's only for 9 days and I'll be taking my glasses too. I'll see how it goes