Aproximately 30 years on varifocals and then 11 years on bifocal cataract replacement inserts plus a pair of midrange lenses for computer work. Oh and a pair of +3.50 dioptre lenses for really close work ie a couple of inches away from the eyes. (Takes me back to what was real life in my glasses only period of about 60 years). Only regret that I did not have the natural lenses replaced 10 years earlier with bifocal inserts.
Iāve been using Varifocals for a long time, but also carry a pair of prescription Reading Glasses. This avoids the problem of having to get my head in a particular position to read. Iām wearing my Reading Glasses at the moment, as I usually do when looking at my computer screen.
I use bifocals as the optician has not encouraged me to switch. Last time I had computer screen glasses. Canāt see the reading on the bathroom scales wearing glasses, but can with none!
Much of my problem is astigmatism. Iāve been on ACE inhibitors for blood pressure for a year, and that altered the prescription back to my previous pair.
I feel tempted to ask for varifocals next time.
Phil
Changing to lens inserts will reduce the opticians revenue from you. You will not be buying a new pair glasses every year or even more frequently.
Twenty years in my caseā¦ā¦
ā¦ā¦ā¦ā¦. although I do occasionally consider some reading/computer use glasses.
in my final years of using regular glasses I was having to buy new lenses very frequently as the detoriating cataracts reduced my vision very quickly
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Are those varifocals or diffractive bifocal/multifocal; if the latter how long did it take to get used to the dysphotopsias?
Do you still see the dysphotopsias and are now simply able to ignore them or does it appear to you that theyāve actually disappeared?
Your ability to get on with varifocals does vary to some extent with prescription but is most likely a function of foveation time i.e. the time it takes you to focus and your specific eye movement. If, for a variety of reasons, your time to focus is slow you will likely not get on with varifocals. Similarly if you have latent Nystagmus, even a slight astigmatism or strabismus then they wonāt work for you.
A lot of the time people do report that they canāt do work with them which involves fine detail. Interestingly most opticians report that the issue in the majority of cases is an underlying eye issue such as the above rather than the specific cut of the lenses.
Similarly if there is any issue with your smooth pursuit or saccades then you may well discover that through trying varifocals.
A lot of time trying different types can be saved by just booking in for EMR (eye movement recording) as that provides great feedback Ā±which will instantly highlight whether your eyes will struggle or not.
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Varifocals for me - once you get over the āslightly drunkā phase they work well. In addition, I have two other pairs. One is a pair of reading glasses just for near vision - these are great in bed at night as you can use the whole lens as opposed to the bottom narrow portion of varifocals. My most recent and third pair are genius - āvocationalā varifocals. Posh bifocals essentially. Top half is set to focus on my computer screen and bottom half for reading. So if I am staring at screen and then glance down at paperwork on desk in front of computer, I donāt need to move my head. I used the frames from a previous set of varifocals so not too expensive
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Fascinating, thank you; that makes SO much sense.
Iām about to loose ALL accommodation in both eyes, but (due to a couple of things Iām noticed) I suspect my foveation time is fairly slow. I also suspect that for me the multifocal approach isnāt going to work well either.
I also wonder if either of these is common among dyslexics, since many of us use our visual processing for thought as well as for sight, that presents an additional processing load in the visual systems; does that mean we will have developed additional capacity that can be used for neuroadaption, or does that processing come at a cost to āpureā (external!) vision?
Another vote for varifocals here.
I do also keep a set of normal āfull strengthā glasses too - as for things like cinema and football (upper tier viewing stand) - I prefer single vision.
But for day to day use, I canāt see myself going back to multiple pairs of single vision lenses
Never had bifocals, but I think most cases the ability to have the three vision ranges (in varifocals) would make more sense than the two you get in bifocals. You also donāt get the horizontal line across the lens which is generally a feature of bifocals
Main issue is the eye watering cost of varifocals. So make sure you chose your frames carefully as youāll need them for a few years to justify the cost
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Multifocal (reading what it says on the box). I didnāt/donāt see any dysphotopsias (I had to look that one up). The only issue I had was getting used to taking them in and outā¦ that took me a while.
I found monovision contacts worked better for me than varifocals, though I do sometimes use normal contacts when in the great outdoors.
For specs, which I only use occasionally to give my eyes a rest, I have occupational varifocals for work, which are brilliant, and normal varifocals for the rest.
Plus one for Varifocals here. They are actually a bit like Naim: donāt buy cheap, spend a little more. And once you have them, you do not want to be without them.
Seriously: the price depends on the width of the vision field. The wider it is, the more expensive they become, but the easier to get around with as well. Go find a good local optician. For computer work you may want to consider a 2nd pair with different settings, as you want to focus on the screen and on the keyboard, rather than on anything in long distance.
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I have used varifocals for many years and I experienced a serious problem with them on one occasion when I changed glasses. The lens quality has always been at or towards the top of the price range offered, so the problem was not related to opting for a cheaper alternative.
What I experienced was most disorientating and the problem puzzled several of the āopticiansā in the chain I was using. I was beginning to wonder if something had happened to my eyes in the process. After much return visits and three attempts to provide me with new lenses, one of the opticians finally figured out the problem. The new glasses had a lens design which was slightly less deep/ tall vertically than the previous ones. They both looked very similar in size, but there was a difference. As a final experiment they had a set of lenses made to match the depth of the previous glasses (both were frameless). Hey presto the problem was immediately solved.
What I found very disconcerting was that there did not appear to be a table or set of specific dimensional guidelines to ensure the prescription of the varifocals could be successfully accommodated within the dimensions of the lenses. I rather imagined that there would be a clear relationship between the two but that optician chain seemed oblivious.
And this does make me wonder how many people try out varifocal lenses which may be too shallow to deal with the transition and understandably conclude that varifocals are not suitable.
Apart from that annoying glitch, I have found varifocals to be a god send and have no problem in recommending them.
Peter
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How about the dreaded reglazing fee?
These were titanium frames (
) so not necessary
How does the element used to make the frame bypass the opticianās re-glazing fee?
Or does your optician not charge one?
Iāve been using a really good independent optician for 20 years so I suspect āregularsā donāt get charged for this. He has made a LOT of money out of me though
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Exactly the same here. Though my last set of Varifocals sufered a similar prooblem to @northpole