Varifocals

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Smokin Joe

Legendary Member
I got a new pair of varifocals today. My prescription has changed and these are a bit stronger than previous pairs I've owned. I'm having a bit of trouble adjusting to them as they seem to require a bit more eye movement to go from distance close up. The optician reckons it can take up to a week, has anyone found the same when they've changed and how long before you got used to them and it became automatic?
 

Sharky

Guru
Location
Kent
I tried one pair and never got on with them. Particularly when driving. Have a tendency to lift my head up to see into the distance, but then was looking through the wrong section of the lens.

My brother, though thinks they are marvelous.
 

SGG on a bike

Senior Member
Location
Lowestoft
It usually takes me a few days to get used to new varifocals. These days, I'm careful to get frames with the same lens heights my previous ones though and I find that helps a lot. Going back several pairs of glasses, I had two pairs differing in height and it was virtually impossible to swap between them without a period of "adjustment". I have identical frames now for sunglasses and normal and can swap at leisure without any problem. Are your new glasses a deeper height than your old ones? That can make a noticeable difference in my experience.
 
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Smokin Joe

Smokin Joe

Legendary Member
It usually takes me a few days to get used to new varifocals. These days, I'm careful to get frames with the same lens heights my previous ones though and I find that helps a lot. Going back several pairs of glasses, I had two pairs differing in height and it was virtually impossible to swap between them without a period of "adjustment". I have identical frames now for sunglasses and normal and can swap at leisure without any problem. Are your new glasses a deeper height than your old ones? That can make a noticeable difference in my experience.

They are about the same, if anything a little smaller.
 

SGG on a bike

Senior Member
Location
Lowestoft
It might just be a case of sticking with it a little longer then. My prescription has barely changed in the last ten years, so maybe it's just a bigger jump in the prescription that's making it a bit more difficult to adjust.
 

newfhouse

Resolutely on topic
I got a new pair of varifocals today. My prescription has changed and these are a bit stronger than previous pairs I've owned. I'm having a bit of trouble adjusting to them as they seem to require a bit more eye movement to go from distance close up. The optician reckons it can take up to a week, has anyone found the same when they've changed and how long before you got used to them and it became automatic?

I’ve just had exactly the same experience. It took a few days to retrain my brain to using a slightly different head angle to get the right focus.

My advice is to stick with them for a week and if no better to go back to the optician.
 

quilkin

Active Member
IIRC they offer three different 'grades' at different prices. I'm on my second set now. The first ones I had, I went for the 'medium' quality and found they were difficult to use for some things, particularly computer sceens. They were great for what I bought them for mostly, though, which was being able to look at a map on my handlebars while cycling along.

For my more recent pair I went for the better quality ones and they do make a difference - I can easily use a PC screen with them for quite a while (although if using a screen for hours I will switch back to some older standard lenses).
 

november4

Well-Known Member
I found with the same frame that I couldn't tolerate them when my prescription increased, so (specsavers) got changed for regular distance, and have separate pair for LCD

Actually thinking about getting Bifocal safety glasses for work
 

presta

Guru
I've been wearing spex now for about 20 years and I never have got used to them, at least not in the way intended. Imagine browsing the supermarket aisle, for example. If I look to the shelf for something, before I've finished nodding my head to and fro to find the sweet spot on the lens I've already spotted what I want through the blur, at which point I grab it and move on. Then the same happens again, and again, so that getting used to the spex just ended up meaning that I got used to living life in a perpetually de-focused blur.

Even if I find the best spot on the lens I can't see a damn thing, there's no way I'd be able to do my job if I were still working.
 

postman

Legendary Member
Location
,Leeds
I hate getting used to new specs,funnily enough i have an eye test this afternoon,i am getting too much blurred vision in my one and only good eye.I was told years ago i have a small cataract forming.See what happens this afternoon.
 

PeteXXX

Cake or ice cream? The choice is endless ...
Location
Hamtun
When I first got varifocal, after the initial adjustments, walking down stairs was almost a blood sport!! That was what took me the longest to sort.
I made the mistake, after a couple of new prescriptions, of buying a slightly cheaper pair. The field of view was so narrow that I looked like a tennis umpire when I was reading a book :laugh:
I took them back and payed the extra.

Are yours the mid range model or Premium, may I ask? There's a huge difference in angles of vision between the ranges.
 
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