How much to try to get on with my new varifocals

[BloodyVarifocals]

I got my first pair of varifocals last week from Boots. The optician said they're not actually varifocals, but they do something similar (I didn't catch the name annoyingly).

I have a relatively mild prescription for both distance and now for reading as well. The new glasses are supposed to give me some kind of boost for reading / near work. I actually said I wanted separate distance and reading glasses, as I knew I'd hate the distortion that I'd heard about from varifocals, but the optician convinced me to give these a try.

Well, I hate them, they distort everything - even looking at the same level and moving my head from side to side distorts things. They do help for reading / near work when I look through the lower part of the glasses. But I've discovered that I don't need them at all when I'm at my workstation using several monitors.

So, how much of a go should I give these before I ask for separates? I'm annoyed that I allowed myself to be convinced to try them, I dislike them for exactly the reason I thought I would. I feel like they just do everything badly, and I'd be willing to take the pain of changing glasses to get around that.

I had varifocals and lasted about two days and took them back. I then had years of separate reading glasses and walking around glasses. I changed opticians, they suggested I try again with varifocals. I did. This time is better but I also got normal glasses to wear when running and if I don't need to read I wear them.

i think a couple of weeks should be enough to know if they work for you.

I gave them a month or two, even though I knew from early on they’d never work for me. The nausea and dizziness never improved. Love my separate pairs!

Thanks both.

I have 30 days to exchange them if needed. I should probably give them a bit more of a go, I haven't worn them much since I got them last week.

Long time varifocal wearer here. I've always got on brilliantly with them from the outset each time I had a new pair.

Then last time I got some from a new optician. I knew immediately they were 'off' - distorting, too magnifying, made me feel like I was reading a large print book all the time. I persisted for a week or two and no change. Went back to the opticians to see another optometrist who explained that the first prescription was absolutely optimum, better than 20/20 vision.....but that I didn't need that, it was too strong. They gave me a replacement pair that were fantastic and obvious right straight away.

If it feels wrong it's probably wrong, but don't give up on varifocals, another pair might be perfect and they are better IMO than swapping glasses back and forth.

Thanks @SweetSixty.

The thing is, I'm not even sure I'd be swapping all that much - my prescription is so mild for both, and I don't need any when I'm working on the computer. So I'll probably just wear distance glasses for driving / walking around (I don't need to legally for driving though), and reading glasses when I'm reading a chapter or two of my book on the sofa.

I'm similar, fairly weak prescriptions, and got varifocals earlier this year.

I hated them at first! So distorted, I thought I would never get used to them. And it did take a good month to get used to them.

But now - they're great! No distortion, I don't even notice that they're varifocals any more, it's just like wearing my old distance glasses except I can also see small print & thread a needle 😁

I also think I'd got into the habit of wearing my distance glasses all the time previously, and then I started to notice that my near vision wasn't great, so I went to the opticians.

But, I was being an idiot, wasn't I? My distance glasses were making my vision worse for my phone / book / computer, and now I'm annoyed by the whole thing, and haven't been wearing any glasses at all for most of the w/e, I've realised that.

I could have saved my money just by stopping wearing my distance glasses.

I mean, I know I'm on the way towards needing reading glasses, but I'm probably not really there yet.

It does take a little time to get used to having to move your head so you're looking out of the right part of your glasses. When I first got mine my I felt like Robocop. The trick is not to try to hard. My prescription isn't strong either but I've now worn them for 10 years.

What worked for me was on the first weekend to go out to several different environments to try and get used to them, like big supermarkets, outside space and so on. Perservere and you'll forget you're wearing them.

Millions of people around the world wear varifocal type glasses, it just take a few days and a few different environment to get used to them.

Thanks @ForPearlViper, I know you're right - I wore them to a show last week, it just feel like I've hardly worn any glasses all weekend.

I'll try a bit more.

I'd like to speak to the optician, ut I suppose it will be the other staff in the shop i speak to if I go in. I feel a bit daft that I was making my near vision worse, and then it was me that made my appointment before I was recalled.

I absolutely loathed mine initially. I felt dizzy and sick, kept tripping over, couldn’t use the stairs. I spent about two weeks crying. But eventually I got used to them and now they’re fine. My dh got used to his within a couple of days but mine probably took almost a month.

I'm no help because I couldn't get on with them at all . I've two separate glasses