Who's got varifocals then?

[Crackle]

So when you say 'look into my eye...' you can't actually see anything!

I should add "......Well are you?"

 

[Globalti]

They're brilliant, I wouldn't be without them. Took me about 24 hours to get used to them and now I don't even notice.

 

[skudupnorth]

I'm going for my test on Tuesday I've been shortsighted since i was 11 but reading has became such an issue that i have finally had to admit me bits are knackared and i am going the bi-focal route.....bugger !

 

[phil_hg_uk]

I'm going for my test on Tuesday I've been shortsighted since i was 11 but reading has became such an issue that i have finally had to admit me bits are knackared and i am going the bi-focal route.....bugger !

When I swapped to varifocals a few years ago it took me about 6 months to get used to them but now I dont even think about them.

Skud are you doing the season of mists audax in a couple of weeks ?

 

[sunnyjim]

I've got varifocals, but mostly prefer to just keep 2 pairs of specs handy. For general living/ shopping/cycling /drinking etc the varifocals are fine- but not so good eg sitting at a desk or table, when I have to move my head around to get the right bit in focus. Computer screens are a problem, as the lens assumes you're reading something on a desk near the lower part of the field of view, and everything else is further away. Maybe I didn't persevere long enough for the brain to adjust.

Some types seem to have better distribution of close/far focus than others.

As basic glasses can be had so cheaply nowadays, I wear my distance ones normally, and have several close up pairs left where they might be needed. For very close up like map reading/ mobile screen I shove them up the forehead or peer over the top in a victorian schoolmasterly sort of way. I'm not quite old enough yet to keep them on a string round my neck..

I wouldn't cycle without glasses of some kind anyway, but for ski-ing/ walking in rain, contacts focussed for distance combined with cheap of-the-shelf reading classes works.

 

[Crackle]

Best advice I was given...


Point the nose!


At first get used to pointing the nose as opposed to the slow movement following the head around. Stops the "sea sickness" problem that some people experience.

Good tip that.

I am largely used to them now. The optician told me to put them on when I got home but of course I wore them straight off. Walked out the optician, turned right instead of left because I was concentrating on how everything looked. Realized I had gone the wrong way and didn't want to walk back past the optician in case they saw me wandering back and forth like a lemon, so took a big circular route back around which involved kerbs. So I was doing those big steps on and off kerbs Like I was doing a space walk and then when I got to the steps back to the car, I didn't trust myself on the escalator, I actually had to stop half way up and take my specs off to make the rest of them. I changed when I got in the car though, don't worry.

 

[Globalti]

I'm absolutely amazed at some of these descriptions of the problems some people have had with varifocals. As I posted above they are a fantastic invention and the best thing about them is that they enable you to wear smart fashionable specs and not walk around looking like an old codger (which I am) with reading glasses on a chain around your neck or half-moon glasses or any other such old-fashioned remedy. If you take the time to choose a quality frame and get good quality lenses of the right type of material with an anti-reflection coating you will be set up for a couple of years or longer depending on how you treat them. A quality pair costs several hundred quid but for me it's money well spent, the vision is superb.

 

[Cubist]

I'm absolutely amazed at some of these descriptions of the problems some people have had with varifocals. As I posted above they are a fantastic invention and the best thing about them is that they enable you to wear smart fashionable specs and not walk around looking like an old codger (which I am) with reading glasses on a chain around your neck or half-moon glasses or any other such old-fashioned remedy. If you take the time to choose a quality frame and get good quality lenses of the right type of material with an anti-reflection coating you will be set up for a couple of years or longer depending on how you treat them. A quality pair costs several hundred quid but for me it's money well spent, the vision is superb.

My thoughts entirely. I got some from Specsaver, extremely light Ti frame and their top grade lenses. Just over £300, but with a pair of varifocal sunglasses for free..... bargain.

 

[yoyo]

I am on my second pair of varifocals and think they are the best thing since sliced bread...

Point the nose is great advice and should remove most of the funny blurred moments. My everyday glasses are varifocals and I have a free pair of prescription sunglasses which are distance only. The sunglasses make life more difficult as I cannot read with them at all and can hardly decipher the dials in the car when I am driving. This has meant purchasing a very expensive pair of clip-on sunglasses for my silhouette varifocals. If I am cycling in unfamiliar territory and dependent on maps, I am wearing hundreds of pounds on my face.

 

[badger5148]

I have worn varifocals for ten years I wouldn't go back to bifocals the only time I had any problems was with Tesco cheap glasses as the alignment was not correct

 

[JtB]

https://www.cyclechat.net/
I nearly gave up when I started wearing them over 2 years ago, but after about 1 month I got the hang of them and I wouldn't be without them now (it was such a pain always having to carry two pairs of glasses). For quite a while I continued to use my reading glasses for computer work, then one day I forgot to take the reading glasses to work and within a day I was able to get rid of the reading glasses all together.

 

[Chromatic]

I needed bifocals at my last test and opted for varifocal lenses. I had no problems with them right from the off. At my optician they offered three standards of varifocal lenses varying in complexity and price. I went for the middle option and have been very pleased with them.

 

[Crackle]

What I can't decide is whether I really like them. You see my eyes aren't so bad and even with varifocals I can still see better close up without them. However I can now read without needing to perch my glasses on my head. What I don't like is the narrowness of the sweet spot for reading and middle distance work. Looking at the computer is so much better though that it makes me think a pair of vdu glasses would be money well spent. The other thing I don't like is the blurry peripheral vision.

I don't know whether they offer me enough benefits to overcome their defeciencies, after all they are a compromise. I need to wrestle with it a bit longer.

 

[JtB]

Stick with them a while longer. In the early days you need to make a conscious effort to make them work but after a while they just seem to work by themselves. I don’t know if it’s the brain compensating or what but I don’t notice the blurry peripheral vision anymore unless I consciously decide to look through the wrong part of the lens. For most of the time I just forget I’m wearing glasses and everything is nicely focused, but I do still remember the early weeks and the sorts of problems you’re experiencing.

 

[Paulus]

I was prescribed varifocals ten years back. The first time I wore them out side of the opticians I nearly fell over and had to go back in the shop. It took a short while to get used to them, and I have not looked back, excuse the pun. I am now on my second pair as my eyesight has changed a point and they needed changing this year. You soon get used to looking up or down through the lenses for distance or reading.