Varifocals

[Pegs11]

Hi, I’ve just been prescribed varifocals for the first time, I ordered the most expensive lenses thinking they would be the best quality. I picked them up yesterday and this is my second day wearing them. I’m finding them VERY difficult for reading... I can no longer scan a page of text just by moving my eyes, I now have to move my whole head and point my nose directly at the word I’m reading. Is this normal? It feels very unnatural and uncomfortable. It is also impractical, if I read too quickly things seem to move on the page and go blurry, and this is slowing down my reading speed massively. My job involves reading large swathes of text and I need to be able to speed-read.

I don’t know if this is something I just have to get used to now, or if it will get easier with time, but changing the whole mechanic of how I read just seems mad. I’m spending the whole day feeling very irritated by these glasses and like I want to yank them off and hurl them at the wall!

I find my varifocals great for when I'm doing something that means I'm both looking across a room and also at my laptop or notebook or book I'm studying - so looking at a projector and taking notes / singing in a choir where I need to see conductor and my music and constantly flick between them / studying a book / taking notes in a meeting or lecture

but

If I am settling to read a book for an hour, or I am working on my laptop for several hours - data inputting / writing reports / e-mails etc - then I use my reading glasses for that, as they do that job better.
and
If I am just driving, or settling down in the theatre or cinema or at a big sports arena or music venue, then I wear my glasses designed for that job - my distance glasses.

Reading and distance glasses I've had for years - varifocals about a year - 15months now. They are a godsend when I'm doing something that requires me to constantly change the distance of the things I am looking at, so do their job well, but I have better glasses for doing other jobs.

Tried and failed because of dizziness, effect on reading, and just couldnt get on with them. Boots had a deal on where you could try for 28 days and if you weren't happy you could swop them for a pair of reading glasses and a pair of normal distance glasses in the same frames at no extra cost. If I'd bought both of these first I'd have saved about £30 so didn't waste too much money.

I had a pair from Specsavers and was the same as you, most expensive lenses and I felt sick and dizzy and everything felt wrong, kept going back and getting them adjusted. Gave up and tried a pair from Boots who promised and money back guarantee and was able to wear them immediately. All expensive lenses are clearly not equal.

Go back and get want you have suggested here.

Your high intensity near/ screen work means these varifocals will never give you what you need.

The optician should have found out about your job and how you use your sight and suggested a better solution.

One size does not fit all. Go back and have them remade. You can have intermediate varifocals for computer/ reading, with wider areas to scan over for better reading.

And a general pair of varifocals for driving and still seeing the dash etc.

Best of luck.

I am thinking of getting these, at the moment I have normal contacts and then wear reading glasses. Do they really work? They’re so expensive, but if they actually work it would be worth it!

"I can no longer scan a page of text just by moving my eyes, I now have to move my whole head and point my nose directly at the word I’m reading. "

I have both varifocals and occupational lenses (Which are like varifocals lite!) and I can read normally (ie just moving my eyes) with both on them so this doesn't sound right at all.

I'd go back or try another optician. I go to an independent.

Thanks all for the replies. By the end of day two I honestly was on the verge of throwing them at the wall, so I decided they’re not for me. Even if it only takes a week for me to get used to them, I am 100% sure I just can’t hack it. I’m done. I’ll go back to Specsavers to get them adjusted, and in the meantime I’ll order a pair of reading glasses so I can carry on with my work! If the adjustments don’t make any difference, I’ll ask for my money back and get a pair of distance glasses.

Specsavers didn’t properly explain to me how these glasses work when they sold them to me. They said because I’d opted for the most expensive pair, I’d only have a tiny bit of blurring at the sides of my vision for the reading part. But actually, I can only see text clearly through a tiny pinprick. I told them this when I collected them and tried them on, and at that point they said “yeah, you have to point your nose at the word you’re looking at”. I was pretty horrified but said I’d give it a go. Which I have. And they suck!

Specsavers most expensive/ superior lenses are nothing like lenses in other opticians, the difference is like night and day in my experience. Specsavers will swap for long distance and readers of you ask so you won't lose any money. Honestly try Boots if you ever want to give them another go as the lenses are FAR better.

I wouldn't use variofocals for reading swathes of text. I have them for general use and I switch to my 'occupational lenses', which are bifocal (optimised for paper reading and computer use) when I am working.

Having said that, I would go back to the optician and talk it through. Different brands and price points seem to suit different people's eyes, even when the prescription is correct.

I’ve got balance problems and walk with crutches so Specsavers told me for years that I wouldn’t be able to have varifocals. I got utterly fed up of carrying 2 pairs of glasses around so went to Asda for some varifocals because their’s are really cheap. DH had been paying £500 a pair from Specsavers but I wasn’t prepared to pay that on an experiment.

I felt as sick as a pig the first night I put them on and thought they weren’t for me, but the next day they were fine. I’ve had another pair since and had no problems at all. DH has switched to Asda too and thinks they’re better than the Specsavers ones.

I’ve just noticed that if I push the glasses upwards and hold them about 0.5mm above my nose, the range of clear vision improves dramatically for reading. Although it does mean distance becomes blurry as I’m then ending up looking through the reading bit for distance. So in theory, perhaps with some adjustments these might work. I still don’t like how when I’m walking, I can’t see the pavement without looking down at my feet. Not sure I’d get used to that either! So I still think two separate pairs would work better for me. Or I might try contact lenses.

I just remembered my sister’s friend is an optician so maybe I will ask her advice.

They're not fitted correctly in that case. With really good lenses you get much wider fields of vision.

@Pegs11 , what did you do in the end? I am having similar issues and thinking the same, better to have 2 week pairs of glasses doing different things than a 2 in 1 solution. Do you still think that?

@EndlessTreadmill Optometrist here. It probably took me about a month to get used to my own first pair of varifocals. I started off just wearing them in the evening to watch TV (and look at my phone....) and then gradually wore them more. It was really difficult to begin with, but it's so much easier than 2 pairs - it's really worth persevering.
I now wear mine most of the time, except when using a PC.

Having said that though, not all varifocals are equal, usually the more you pay, the better they are. However, having said that I much prefer one of the premium brands to the other.

It's also really important that they fit exactly right, so the first thing I'd do, is to go back to the opticians you got them from and double check that they are sitting correctly on your face.

Thank you so much for your message. Great to have that perspective. I have to say I was starting to think the varifocals are the equivalent of 2in1 shampoo and conditioner.
ie - does neither job as well as a solus solution.

And mine are the best recommended level (think it was called silver) for first time varifocal users from Vision Express