Vari-bloody-focals?

[glasslightly]

have been a lifelong wearer of glasses for distance, and generally like wearing glasses. Am now at that stage in life where I need them also for close work. Got a pair of varifocals and have really struggled to get on with them ?

are others the same ? Should I try again - or just go for two types of glasses ? Everyone I know seems to get on fine with them….

When i first got varifocals i got two pairs, glasses and sunglasses

dh had tried them before and didn’t get on with him so he told me to get the most expensive lenses in the glasses and I got cheaper lenses for the sunglasses

i did notice a difference, i wear my glasses a lot (obvs) but my sunnies are just for driving and reading on holiday, i don’t generally wear them to walk round with

I've had mixed experiences. They need to fully check the positioning of the transition from near to far focus is correct, so go to a reputable optician. And be prepared to go back if it doesn't feel right and get it altered

I'm in 2 minds whether to get them again, I seem to take them off for near vision anyway as I'm short sighted, so I may just get the long distance ones.

You don’t even notice you are moving your head. It becomes an entirely unconscious action very quickly.

I couldn’t cope with changing glasses all the time. I would be forever losing them.

I paid for the most expensive and never got the queasy experience however for close reading they just aren’t good enough. I have a very good optician and he sent them back once. It improved but I still find prescription glasses for reading better so I have both which is really annoying as still have 2 pairs to carry around. They’re fine for reading labels, signs, short pieces of text etc but not if I want to read a book.

Took me a couple of days but have been wearing them for about 10 years now.

The only thing I struggle with is escalators, particularly going down, with the moving lines from the treads

I wear glasses. Long ago I used to wear contact lenses and tried varifocal contact lenses. I nearly fell down the stairs in Specsavers trying them out. I’ve never even tried them in actual glasses. I just know I’d hate them

Can't stand them. I have two different pairs for reading and distance.

I wear varifocals and after a brief period of adjustment (hours, not days) I’ve had no trouble. Can see fuck all through varifocal contacts.

I tried mine for a month and hated them. But I want to love them because the constant swapping of glasses is such a pain. It seemed to me that you have to keep your head quite still with them, whereas I discovered I must move my head a lot because I'm always looking all over the place. It's hard to describe.

Mine are too loose as well. I discovered that if you insert something into the hinge area, between the arm and the frame, it tightens them up. I experimented with little bits of tissue paper initially , but now have a little bit of glue in there which stops the arms opening as wide. I’m not sure if that makes sense. I can still fold the arms in - there is just a small blob of glue about 1mm thick on the end of the arm at the hinge which prevents the arm from fully opening up.
It works really well - if you can understand what I’m saying!

I have one pair with very expensive lenses (Hoya ID) and there was no 'getting used to them' at all, the vision was just great from the first time I put them on. The cheaper backup pair weren't so good but were fine in a day or so. I think you get what you pay for with these.

The opposite. You need to point your nose at what you want to look at to get the focus right.

I hated them at first and felt like one of those nodding dogs trying to work out which part of the lenses to look through but you do get used to it. Stick with them. I couldn't be poking up with different glasses myself.

Going to resurrect this thread to ask for advice. I’m 47 and have worn glasses full time for distance since my early teens. Now starting to struggle with close up tasks. I used to be able to cope reading by just removing my glasses but recently I am struggling with this (I tried to do some soldering and could not get it into focus with or without glasses).

Trying to figure out my options before going to the opticians as part of their job is to upsell.

I have had to make the font bigger on my work computer so maybe I do need intermittent lenses as well? Which would either be trizone or varifocals - I think?

What are the occupational lenses mentioned above?

I am a teacher so worried that verification will reduce my peripheral vision, would that mean multiple pairs would be better?

@OhBeAFineGuyKissMe
varifocals are a lot easier than multiple pairs of glasses. They work for all distances, although I have separate pair for intensive periods of working at the computer.
trifocal lenses aren’t commercially available at the moment.

occupation lenses are usually computer distance at the top and close at the bottom. So they wouldn’t work as well in a teaching situation.

Some people adapt really quickly to them (even the cheaper ones). Basically, you point your nose at the thing you want to look at, moving your head rather than your eyes.

i didn’t (and I’m an optometrist), it probably took me a month of persevering, plus a change of lens to get used to them.

Thank you that is really useful. How big a difference does it make going for the more expensive options - I’m wearing them every day for 2 years (before replacing) so want to get it right as it is a significant investment.

Well done Brian! 😆

Following with interest because I tried varifocals a couple of years ago and could not get on with them. The lenses were the second from the best option that Specsavers offered (I have to go to Specsavers, because I'm poor. By the way folks, it's perfectly OK- and in fact helpful- to name the actual optician you've been using- you don't have to say "a well known high Street chain 🙄"). I took them back and got a refund after a couple of weeks.

But now my eyes have deteriorated a lot. I have the kind of job that involves both doing close up work and standing back to check the bigger picture, and I must have switched glasses about 25,000 times yesterday 😬. So, I'm going to have to give them another try.

Vision express have a range of four types and allowed to change if the type you try don't work.

Only problem with mine is DIY above eye height as close focus is bottom part of the lens

@crackofdoom what kind of close work do you do?

My varifocals are set for distance and reading.

I do intense Excel and multi document work so I have a separate pair of VDU glasses. I could have had the varifocals done for VDU and distance instead as I can read with my VDU glasses I just have to hold my phone a bit further away.

Seriously get your prescription checked and get yourself to ASDA options £80 for varifocals! I travel half an hour and would go further for the savings. They have a decent selection of petite frames which a lot of places fail to have.

I have to have my vf adjusted a lot lower than they normally make them in both well known high street chains....who tried telling me they are fine to be blurred at the sides etc. I've had vf for 20 years it's not fine you shouldn't find it hard to cope go back and insist they retest and make adjustments. ...my last pair were altered 4 times really annoying

My preference is bifocals, with transitions lenses so that they are also my prescription sunglasses as needed. They are my normal day to day pair that I wear for the majority of the time. The top half of the lens is for my distance vision, the lower for reading and close up stuff.

I also have a pair of reading/computer glasses that I change to occasionally if using my tablet or laptop for any length of time. These contain just my reading and close up prescription and are not transitions lenses.

I looked at varifocals but didn't take the plunge in the end because it seems like a lot of money to try them out when I felt sure I would be happy with bifocals (which I was).

Have you tried bifocals?

Painting and drawing.
That's interesting about ASDA opticians, particularly the petite frames, because I do have a very small face and 90% of frames at Specsavers are too big for me.

@OhBeAFineGuyKissMe I started needing varifocals at about the same age as you. I am very short sighted and found varofocals a game changer.

Specsavers are really good at readjusting them for you until they get it right, and they give you a month to get used to them. If you really can't they will swap them for something that works for you.

TBH I never see anyone in bi-focals any more @Topseyt123
See my point above about Specsavers if you do want to give varifocals a try. DH ended up going back three times, and now they are great.

This is why I would never recommend buying them online as the lens has to be situated perfectly, and this can only be done well by a human being.

the higher up the level of technology you go with varifocals, the smaller the area of peripheral vision is effected. There is always some peripheral blurring, but in the top of the range, it isn’t noticeable. I can confirm that because I have them and, although I struggled a bit with the main part of the lens for a couple of weeks, the difference at the periphery didn’t register with me at all. I suggest going to Boots Optician if you find others upsell. I have been using my local branch for many years and there has never been a whiff of that. The staff’s focus has always been entirely on what is best for me. I had to use a different branch a few years ago and I found the service the same. Also, if you are not happy with your glasses within a reasonable time period (not sure why it is), you can change them. I did that this year with a pair Transition Lenses because I really didn’t like the frame!

Went from bifocals to varifocals

initally found them on my face all the time annoying,

by a couple of weeks realised I could finally see everything - near and far - totally in love with them.

first thing I put on in the morning and last thing I take off at night.

can’t imagine how I ever managed without them!