Varfocal glasses

[Dan757]

Hello all , I'm new to glasses, currently on bifocal. I find them ok but not brilliant. I have gone to my local opticians, after specsavers tried to charge me £385! I'm giving my bifocal back and getting verifocal glasses, hope I've made the correct choice , I understand give them time. I work in busy hospital ,so scared I'm not going to see everything around me ! I also wanting for car,tv,reading my phone . I always thought you got a pair of glasses and that was it ! Christ all the add ons etc, anyway the verifocal have cost me £180 with a antiglare. Don't know if these are just standard (does it really matter) as im new just want to get my head round it all . What's concerns me is the blur at the sides ... once I get them i will come back after few weeks of using them and reply to post .Thankyou all any advice would be appreciated.

Hello all , I'm new to glasses, currently on bifocal. I find them ok but not brilliant. I have gone to my local opticians, after specsavers tried to charge me £385! I'm giving my bifocal back and getting verifocal glasses, hope I've made the correct choice , I understand give them time. I work in busy hospital ,so scared I'm not going to see everything around me ! I also wanting for car,tv,reading my phone . I always thought you got a pair of glasses and that was it ! Christ all the add ons etc, anyway the verifocal have cost me £180 with a antiglare. Don't know if these are just standard (does it really matter) as im new just want to get my head round it all . What's concerns me is the blur at the sides ... once I get them i will come back after few weeks of using them and reply to post .Thankyou all any advice would be appreciated.

you should be fine with the varifocals after 24-48 hours. I went for the ‘widest’ cover to reduce side blur - hope you have too?

No dont think so just the basic ,as cost is an issue, ah bit worried now.

I found you need to tough it out at first. On as soon as you get up and not off until bedtime. You do have to turn your head a bit more which made me feel like Robocop at first but soon became natural. I went to a big supermarket when I was first getting used to them because you are getting a good mix of close, far, sideways, etc. Within about 48 hours they were fine.

Varifocals last year after stretching my phone out to arms length to read text. If your prescription is fairly simple (mine's just short sighted + low near addition) then I'd buy online. I've four pairs of varifocals (with anti glare) for roughly what you've paid for one from Zenni Optical and haven't had any problems. Meanwhile, Vision Express wanted over £100 just to reglaze lenses. Since my prescription generally changes every two - three years I could do without spending high street prices.

I've heard good things about Asda opticians if you want in person options but absent any complex numbers on your prescription I'd be looking at Glasses Direct, Firmoo, Select Specs etc.

Ive already ordered at my local opticians (not high street) on bi focals at min , there ok but not brilliant, I want brilliant, I understand I've got standard varfocal glasses, but I'm new to glasses so didn't want to bang ££££ s on just want to get around it all , and if there good I will upgrade year or two.

After 35 years in specs I've just tried Asda opticians and I'm stunned - frames and varifocals lenses for £80. Or more if you want fancy frames.

Specsavers were dreadful last time round, plus really expensive. Won't be going anywhere else from now on!

I have varifocals. Didn't take long to get used to them, couple of hours.

It took me at least a couple of months to get used to my varifocals.
I don’t like the blurry bit at the side. I don’t notice it most of the time, but when I do, I do!

It’s much easier than swapping glasses every 5 mins.

If you have not been used to wearing glasses, I very much doubt you will get used to them in a day or two.

I'd worn glasses for over 40 years when I had my first varifocals - they took a LOT of getting used to.
In truth, any but the mildest change of prescription tends to take some adjusting to.

I've been really impressed with Asda opticians too so worth considering them next time maybe? I wear varifocals and Asda do the full angle as standard so no side blur whereas Specsavers have about 3 options for width vision so it's even more ££ to avoid the blur.

A little tip the assistant gave me when I got my first varifocals; keep your head at your natural angle and just lower your eyes only to read. It was awkward at first but soon became second nature.

Asda can be good, they certainly offer value for money, but it's always going to be down to the dispensing optician rather than which chain. You can get crap opticians in Asda and you can get brilliant ones in Specsavers. In general independents are often better than chains - you certainly won't get the relentless upselling.

In terms of getting used to varifocals again the individual experience can vary so much. I have a high prescription but I didn't have any problem getting used to varifocals at all. BTW I'm surprised that bifocals are so much more expensive than varifocals, I thought it was the other way around.