Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
As an optician, i hope the following information helps new progressive wearers.
What are progressive lenses: A progressive is like a lined trifocal lens. There is correction for your distance, intermediate and reading except you dont see any lines. Therefore, people don't know you have reading glasses.
Benefits of a progressive lens
1. Progressive have and intermediate range correction.
2. you wont need 3 pairs of glasses with you at all times. Progressive lenses are like having 3 in 1.
3. People wont know you're wearing reading glasses.
Downsides to Progressive Lenses:
1. Peripheral distortion.
2. Adapting period may last 2 days up to 1 week.
If someone comes into my office claiming they cant adapt to their new progressive lenses, these are the things I consider and troubleshoot for:
1. RX. the stronger it is the harder it is to adapt.
2. Progressive lens corridor: Depending on their lifestyle they may need to upgrade to a wider field of vision aka Advanced View Progressive or Varilux to have more peripheral vision.
3. Size and Shape of the frame: The bigger and wider (rectangular shaped) the frame is, the more distortion you are more likely to have. If customer refuses to restyle into a smaller frame, i always suggest upgrading.
What i advice my customers:
1. I always tell my customers that it takes about 3 days to 1 wk to adapt to a new progressive lens depending on rx strength and change.
2. The easiness of adapting into a new progressive lens depends really on your RX. The weaker it is, the easier it is to adapt.
3. You will ALWAYS have peripheral distortion out of a progressive lens. There are many lenses progressive type of lenses like Advanced View Progressive (AVP) or Varilux Progressive lenses that minimize the distortion (especially when it comes down to your reading and intermediate channels) but there is nothing out there that completely gets rid of it.
4. Always point your nose in the direction of things you want to see clearly, then glide your head up and down until the image comes into focus. For driving & reading you will have to get used to moving your head, due to peripheral distortion.
5. Also, adjustments are very important! Keep up with your adjustments and replace your nose pads every 2-3 months. Over time, your glasses end up at the tip of your nose causing your reading segment to get lower and lower which may end up giving you headaches and neck pains.
6. Until after a wk. DO NOT go back to your old glasses. It will take you longer to adjust to your new rx. if you do so.
7. if after reading and following the above you still cant adapt, then lined bifocal lenses would be your answer or just having to pairs of glasses 1. for dist and 2nd for reading.
Hope my advice helps =)
Last edited by LadyRobyn; 02-18-2010 at 11:37 AM..
Reason: No links with under 10 posts...
Eva, an optician....maybe you can answer my question about monovision.
My progressives live in my car so I can read the gas guage or pull over and read a map etc but for general reading I wear reading glasses.
My problem is that the distance correction in the top makes the midrange useless and faces which are normally in focus become blurry and the computer screen is as well unless I tilt my head [no way] but fine without glasses. ..... I begged for monovision eyeglasses since that was the normal state of my eyes before I got old [one near, one far] and was adapated to it. Just don't want to wear contacts. I did opt for the varilux lenses.
My mother just got her first pair of progressive lenses. Before getting her new glasses she was not able to read clearly with her left eye ( it needed the most prescription), with her new Progressive glasses she can now read clearly with the left eye but everything is blurry with right eye (right eye used to be her good eye). I wonder if the problem is the lense or the eye exam was done incorrectly.
Can this be the case? Thanks for your input
I just got my first pair of progressive lenses about 2 weeks ago and I'm having difficulty reading clearly. The words aren't fuzzy, but I see them as slightly double. I had a "2nd opinion" at LensCrafters and the doc said I have the correct prescription. I was satisfied and discouraged at the same time when I heard this, but I do feel better that I have the correct prescription. From what I've been told, my eyes may take a bit longer to adjust to seeing through progressive lenses. After all, the doc said I'm 40 and it's just the beginning.
I've had mine now since just before the start of this thread in April 2009 (I'm the Original Poster) and still have never fully adapted to the the progressives. At my next eye exam I'll probably go back to bifocals and do without the midrange, or get special "computer glasses" for long stints at the screen.
Oddly, in getting an emergency paid of replacement glasses for my wife recently, we encountered very good service at one of the big brand 1-hour places at the mall. The guy there really knew his stuff, helped her pick the right shaped frame, really took good care of her. She has progressives now and prefers them over contacts, with no problems at all. I'm so jealous.
I've worn progressives for 14 years. Each pair is different, as far as time to get used to them. I've been lucky and had opticians help me pick frames/lenses with enough depth for my prescription. It does make a difference. I noticed I had a more difficult time getting used to the new ones when the lenses were smaller than the older ones OR there was a major shift in my prescription.
That being said, about 7 days was the longest it took me to get completely used to the new ones.
I'm actually waiting for new ones now, so we'll see how this change goes. Every year, my eyes get worse. Since I see fine close up, I usually just take my glasses off to work on the computer or read...
Mrs. Tek had to get them last year and they were terrible. She works on a computer all day and the "in-and-out" at the edges would make her throw up.
She finally had a pair of "office" glasses made that had different amounts of each prescription than the regular progressives. Wearing these really helped her adjust to the others and she is fine now. I think it took her about 3 months to finally get adjusted to them.
The narrow alley for reading was the worst adjustment for her.
My first pair of progressives took a few hours to get used to, my second pair werent so easy as it seemed the reading portion of the lens was too high so i was ending up wearing the glasses on the end of my nose when i wanted to see far. 3 or 4 trips back to the optometrist for adjustments finally got them just right.
So take em back if they arent working right as you are paying the big bucks to have them work right and feelo comfortable..
I just got my first pair of progressive lenses about 2 weeks ago and I'm having difficulty reading clearly. The words aren't fuzzy, but I see them as slightly double. I had a "2nd opinion" at LensCrafters and the doc said I have the correct prescription. I was satisfied and discouraged at the same time when I heard this, but I do feel better that I have the correct prescription. From what I've been told, my eyes may take a bit longer to adjust to seeing through progressive lenses. After all, the doc said I'm 40 and it's just the beginning.
Quote:
Originally Posted by austin-steve
I've had mine now since just before the start of this thread in April 2009 (I'm the Original Poster) and still have never fully adapted to the the progressives. At my next eye exam I'll probably go back to bifocals and do without the midrange, or get special "computer glasses" for long stints at the screen.
Oddly, in getting an emergency paid of replacement glasses for my wife recently, we encountered very good service at one of the big brand 1-hour places at the mall. The guy there really knew his stuff, helped her pick the right shaped frame, really took good care of her. She has progressives now and prefers them over contacts, with no problems at all. I'm so jealous.
Steve
I would still check with a different optometrist. Sometimes even the angle at which they set your lenses can make it slightly blurry. Also, again I mention that if there is not sufficient vertical (depth) of lense, some people have a problem. I have a very strong prescription and have worn them for almost 15 years with not issue...except one time when again, the angle was set funny. My optometrist recognized the problem and corrected it. You can see the size of my glasses in my profile pics if you like. I would have preferred smaller, but was concerned again about having enough "depth."
Well, I'm happy to say that my adjustment to my progressive lenses is beginning to significantly correct the problems I was experiencing when I received my glasses. The slight double-vision is significantly decreasing and I'm beginning to focus better while looking at the computer screen from a normal sitting distance rather than enlarging the font size or enhance the screen display. I would guess that by the end of next week it will be even better.
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
