What do you do if you are long sighted and short sighted?

[OrangeBall]

I know vari focals exist but apparently I'm not a good candidate for them as my eyes really struggle to adjust (I have a major squint).

At the moment I carry around 2 pairs of glasses everywhere but it's a faff!

What do people with this do? I basically have a sweet spot about 2 foot away from me and that's it

I can't get on with varifocals, so for close-up stuff like reading, I just take my glasses off.

You could have contact lenses. Or bifocal glasses. Though it’s hard to say without knowing what your prescription is and how good the vision in each eye is. If you haven’t already done so, go to a good independent optician for your eye test and ask what your options are. They will likely have access to different lenses and products than the larger chains do.

I wear lenses for working at the laptop and driving, but definitely now struggling with close reading. My optician suggested I could get glasses to go over my lenses when I need to read anything very small. Would that be an option?

I had laser eye surgery years ago and ended up with one short sighted eye and one long sighted. The idea being I wouldn’t need reading glasses for quite a while.

Fast forward 20 years and it’s a bloody nightmare. Both eyes have deteriorated and I need reading and distance glasses. My eyes are too dry for contacts and varifocals make me feel seasick!

An independent optician is your friend here. They worked patiently with me to get the best vision possible with the options available.

I'm like this, being both extremely long sighted but needing magnification for reading. I wear contact lenses and have (prescription) reading glasses on top for close activities. After much trial and error, I now have one contact lens set for distance vision (the left so that I can read road signs when driving) and the right for closer focus so I can see the dashboard. This means that my glasses are adjusted to take this into account, though I also use some off the shelf readers which are okay but not as good.

I do have glasses for when I take my lenses out last thing at night/first thing in the morning. They are varifocals and I hate them for longer term wearing (although they do match my prescription precisely). I've had to wear them for driving a few times and really dislike them but they're better than nothing. I also have some close up glasses for reading or keyboard (only), which are fine except if I need to move!

I wear ordinary sunglasses too.

I hope all that makes sense!

I wear one contact lens in my dominant eye (for short-sightedness). It's not perfect but means I don't need glasses.

I wear lenses for distance and buy cheap reading glasses for close work. The optician tells me what strength I need to buy when I have my eye tests.

I have one contact lense for distance in one eye and one for close up in the other. Takes a while to get used to them but love them now. Can see whatever I need to!

What's your vision like in the eye that squints? If it's amblyopic (ie doesn't see very well even with glasses) I can't see why you can't try a varifocal - although they may take getting used to. If the vision is really poor in your squinting eye, you may only need a varifocal lens in your good eye.
If you have an alternating squint (so you squint with both eyes at different times) you may manage with a distance contact lens in one eye and a reading/varifocal in the other.

I have lenses as blueatripeddress does, the dominant eye is corrected for distance and the other for near vision. Then your brain puts the two together. I went through a lot of different options with my optician before we settled on this and although it’s not perfect it’s way better than all the other things we tried

I'm v glad to see others have figured this out! You all give me hope!

I still have a lazy eye and a massive squint (you can see it looking at me).

I will go and find an independent optician - that seems to be a theme. At the moment, I don't do contacts (though I would happily) and I change glasses all the time but it's a pain. I do have a stronger eye for each (one sees better close and the other far) so maybe I should explore the contacts with different prescription in each eye

I am out for a long cycle tomorrow where I wear my glasses so I can see far away but it means I have to keep my distance from everything i want to see properly!

I was both long sighted and short sighted with presbyopia (I'm 54) and astigmatism to boot so the full house!

I used monofocal contact lenses, one eye for near and one for far and four different pairs of glasses which was a massive pain.

I had been thinking about it for years but finally three weeks ago I had lens replacement surgery with multifocal lens implants. I'm very happy with the result. No more glasses or contact lenses, ever.

It's not perfect. I can read small text but it is still slightly blurred. The result may still improve but even if it doesn't I'm happy with how it turned out.

Another big plus is I will never get cataract.

Yes I'm 49 @utterflapdoodle

I do think going through the menopause also changes your sight!

Thank you everyone for sharing your experiences - it really gives me hope. I know it might sound a bit lame but it's really been getting to me and let's face it, my sight is only getting worse and not better!

Are you totally sure you can't have varifocals? My DM has a squint and a lazy eye and has had them for years.

On the other hand DH wasted his money on them as his vision (light only one eye, massive prescription and a prism in the other) simply wasn't good enough for it to be worth it.

He carries glasses around with him. So far we have readers, standard and sunglasses. But we may be heading for computer glasses as well. He used to work with someone who had 4 types and would stack them on her head.

I wear lenses or lense now in my case. Depending on your prescription this works well and is to just wear one lense. My optician said to stop wearing the right lense and the the brain compensates so one eye does long sight and the other does short. It's such a simple solution that works really well. In terms of glasses to give my eyes a break from lenses they were trying to push varifocals but I pushed for mono vision with those too.

Its not menopause, it happens to men too (not much of a consolation i know)

I third the opinion of gping to an independent opticians and I wouldn't write off varifocals completely until you have a second opinion

utterflapdoodle

*I had been thinking about it for years but finally three weeks ago I had lens replacement surgery with multifocal lens implants.
*
That's great. I'm thinking this is where I'll end up so good to know it works. What if your prescription changes in the coming years, though?

I’ve just ordered my first pair of varifocals because I am sick of having glasses on every table in the house but never the right ones to hand!

I always go to an independent- they’re brilliant but you will leave the shop muttering “HOW fucking much?” And wondering whether it’d just be cheaper to get a chauffeur. 😂

I wear contact lenses with one eye a lower strength than the other. I can read and see!

It won't. Your prescription changes with age because the accommodation ability of your natural lenses change. My natural lenses were removed and replaced with stable artificial lenses so that means no more change. Assuming you don't develop any eye disease like macular degeneration.

Have you considered office/occupational glasses? They're not as drastic a change as varifocals, but similar type thing. They're good for using a computer & focusing on something on the other side of the room, like a colleague, or if at home, the television. I got them recently & they're a game-changer. You can't drive in them though, so would need a different pair for that.

You could try occupational lenses for computer work, still the transition issue though.
I didn't get on with my first pair of varifocals, my second are amazing, the lens is bigger and I took ages to choose the frame to make sure they fitted my small face.

I find it quite difficult

Im very very short sighted and now quite long sighted. I tried varifocals and its a miracle I didnt have an accident, they gave me my money back which was good of them

So now Im stuck with my normal glasses and just holding things a long way from me but Im running out of arm length

I do have contact lenses but have awful shaking hands which makes them tricky to put in but its coming to the point where Im going to have to wear those and have 'readers'

I have astigmatism too

I can't wear varifocals, I can't even wear my distance glasses for anything but watching TV and driving. Walking about in them is a sensory nightmare - im autistic and cannot get used to the change in my vision when I look at closer things. It makes me feel off balance. I use 2 separate pairs which is a total pain but the only way I can do it.

I found varifocals a bit odd at first but am now completely used to them . I do have to use single vision mid distance glasses for work though as I stare at a screen all day and my eyes get very tired otherwise if I use the varifocals. If I am reading a lot at night I might use reading glasses but generally my varifocals work well for general use and for reading and the car and if I am using a screen for a quick thing . I need glasses for everything though, distance, middle and reading and I have an astigmatism