Going to have to submit to the dreaded reading glasses

[transparentday]

I'm psyching myself up to finally admitting to myself that I'm going to need reading glasses very soon.

I'm already mildly short sighted but never wear glasses to correct as I hate wearing them, and think they've improved with age anyway- I can read subtitles on the TV no problems.

How do you "do" reading glasses? Do you put them on to read and take them off after, so on-off-on-off all the time? Isn't that massively faffy? (I'm sure I would find it so).

Or do most people go for verifocal glasses and just wear them all the time? I think that's what most people I know seem to do. Even the ones that used to wear contacts all the time. It's what my DH has but he's extremely short sighted so has no choice. I hate wearing glasses though.

Oh and I've put this in style and beauty because how I look is one of my most important concerns about this - after being able to see obvs.

What do you recommend, what works for you?

My eyesight was until recently rather odd.

I was very, very short sighted in my left eye from childhood (I'm 57 now.) As a child I had glasses but the right lens was glass. Tbh as a child i didnt wear them as i should. Later I started wearing one contact lens in my left eye, which I did for several years.

About 10 years ago, I started getting longsighted but this was mainly with the lens in....so without the contacts I could read but not see distance, but with them I could see distance well but couldn't read! I managed by a contact lens plus readers.

About a year before the pandemic I was told I had the start of cataracts but told "don't worry about it, it'll be 10 years before they're a problem ". Well not only did I not worry about it, I forgot about it until the pandemic when my eyesight deteriorated to the point I had to go off work sick. Fortunately despite the pandemic I did actually get them treated relatively quickly (well got first one done rapidly which improved my eyesight enough to return to work, the other got delayed because of health emergencies but got done about 9 months after the first). The results were fantastic and I'm delighted. With NHS cataracts treatment, you end up either long or short sighted. I opted for long sighted and my distance eyesight is now better than when I was a kid!

I still need readers, but I'm OK with that as many people my age need them, it's not unusual.

Tbh I just buy multiple pairs from pound shops, Wilkos, Amazon etc and have them all over the house and in my bag. Yes they're not the best quality and break easily but at on average £3-4 a pair I'm not that bothered!!!! Glasses are the sorts of things I lose easily, I'd much rather lose a pair of Wilkos glasses than a designer pair!

Cheap ones bought over the counter certainly do not do the same job as "expensive optician ones". If you have astigmatism this will not be corrected by off the peg ready readers. If you have a different prescription in each eye (many people do), this will also not be corrected by ready readers which have a very limited range of powers.

Thanks! They are really pretty

I’ve worn reading glasses for years now. I just keep them on my head when I don’t need them!

You might not have been wearing your reading glasses - you've asked them to delete my post instead!

Oh God,@NeverDropYourMooncup I'm so sorry. I simply can't be trusted with the simplest of tech issues! How do I fix that?

@Middleagedmeangirls I have not had any luck with varifocals (tried glasses and contacts), so am wondering if this would be suitable for me… but it sounds ideal. can you advise where you had this done?

I have a few pairs - always leave one in the car, one on my desk in the office and one in the house. I find Glasses Direct really good because they will send you up to 4 frames at a time to try on at home for free before you order the glasses, so you can see what they actually look like before they make them up with your prescription. I think there are probably some other companies that have a similar model to that now too.

Is there anywhere good to buy cheap but stylish readers on the high street? I'd hoped Boots would have some but they were all really boring.

I don't need reading glasses, it's just my arms are too short!

Anyway - I didn't get on with Varifocal readers as 8 hours a day I work on a computer, and to have the monitor set so I don't crick my neck means I look out of the middle of my readers lens. Or I could tilt my head back.

I have lots of pairs of readers, luckily I have a fairly basic prescription and both eyes are similar. I have basic 'ready specs' type ones in my handbags so I can read if I get ambushed by a menu. I have 'proper' ones that I get from the opticians near my computer. I have cheap ones made up from my opticians prescription from speccyfoureyes or glasses direct handy for my my crafting in front of the telly.

Just to add to the chaos, I saw that post quoted by you @NeverDropYourMooncup , freaked out, reported myself to MN to get it removed (not least because my son has changed my amazon name to "POOPOO PANTS").

A very helpful Hope from MN came back to me and said it only went to my account because I was logged in, and that for her it just went to the product page.

Why is it that any thread you and I are on descends into madness? Why?

Also how is Slartibarfast?

@Debopo

it was an eye surgeon called Simon Levy. He also performed the same procedure on my aunt. I've attached a link.

https://www.spirehealthcare.com/consultant-profiles/mr-simon-g-levy-c2842673/

He's grand. He's making some godawful slurping noises whilst cleaning his tail at the moment - probably Goosegrass seeds!

Anyhow, all I said in my post was along the lines of -

Just get cheap glasses, whether from Poundland/Boots/the internet if the reading prescription is a + number, somewhere like Glasses Direct if it's a -
because your eyesight is changing relatively rapidly at the moment.

Poundland ones were recommended to me by the optician, so they can't be that bad.