Question for Spec wearers

Just had the old peepers tested and had confirmed what I already knew. These old eyes are knackered. Anyways I’ve been given 3 diffrent prescriptions for reading, intermediate & distance. I know I need reading glasses but can see computer stuff fine and don’t believe I need glasses to drive etc. Question is will wearing a set of reading glasses mean I can’t see the computer and if so I presume varifocal is only answer. I hate getting old !

I’ve been given 3 diffrent prescriptions for reading, intermediate & distance

don’t believe I need glasses to drive

Your optician would disagree?

In all honesty, when I first got my glasses they were just for PC work. Out of curiosity I put them on when a front seat passenger in a car at night and was amazed/appalled by how much my vision was improved, and how much of the stuff that had been blurry before suddenly wasn’t.

Anyways I’ve been given 3 diffrent prescriptions for reading, intermediate & distance

so you need glasses for pretty much everything then? 🙂

if you’ve been given a prescription for distance glasses then I’d wear them.

the statutory minimum sight you can drive with is scarily bad.

You have reached that time in your life when the focussing ability of the eye packs in, hence needing glasses that do things the eyes would have done themselves once upon a time.

But don’t worry. You have also reached that time in your life when dementia will soon be upon you, and you’ll start forgetting where you put any of them anyway.

Thanx for the answers so far…. I know I need glasses to read but though I have been given a prescription for intermediate & distance I don’t actually need glasses to work. Question was if I get just reading glasses whould I still be able to see the computer screen clearly or will I need to take them off? If so.. then in order to stopp me messing around all day presume varifocal would be best no?

IHN…I would not have expected reading/comp glasses would help with distance vision…but thanx

@ourmaninthenorth they’re either on your forehead or on the little gold chain around your neck

If you need glasses for long distance vision,short sighted ,then get some from the optician.
If you think you may need glasses for close up work go into one of the poundland type stores and try different strengths reading a newspaper.
If its clearer, for probably about £3 you’ve solved the close up problem.
An optician may try and sell you 2 pairs,short and long distance,and dissuade you from buying varifocals.

No experience of using reading glasses so can’t advise on the PC, but judging by the guys at work who squint at the screen or the more savvy who just blow the text up really big, they will help rather than hinder.

On the distance prescription, its worth getting a cheap pair to try out. My eyesight was pretty bad but you don’t know that until its corrected…my first pair of glasses was a real eye opener 🙂

Even if you meet the minimum standard for driving (reading a number plate at 20 ish meters?) this ‘standard’ is still pretty rubbish so you are bound to see an improvement even if you can read the plate.

most glasses wearers in my family use two pairs of glasses, one for pootling around/everyday stuff, the others for reading.
I have one eye shortsighted, one eye long sighted so wear my glasses all the time. I’m pretty used to the reading lens now and it’s spot on for using the computer

And would pointing lasers at my eyes solve all of the above? Out of interest.

I never used to need glasses until about 5 years ago, then in the space of 1 year I went from now’t to wearing them for PC and Document reading and Books. Had them tested again after a year and they’d gotten worse so upped the prescription for PC work, still fine for driving at that point without glasses. Then last year had them tested again as I seemed to need them for anything more than driving and getting pretty annoyed at not being able to read menus and stuff. Just had them done again last weekend and have chosen.. 2 new pairs, one for reading/PC only and one for longer distance and Driving and wait for it… feking varifocals. I kid you not.
Damn it. Damn it big and hard.
There’s no way I’m wearing them for riding or windsurfing/kiting tho, fek that big and propers like.
Though I will wear them there vari’s for general mooching around and stuff when I think I need them.. Oh, and Driving..

Can you tell I’m not too happy about it?
Can you?

Grrr.. getting old suks.

Can you tell I’m not too happy about it?
Can you?

Grrr.. getting old suks.

Am 36. I’ve been wearing specs since I was 10. Am so shortsighted I can’t read anything farther than 6 inches away without them.

Can you imagine how much I;ve spent on glasses and contact lenses over the last quarter of a century. That sucks..!

The eye test requirement for driving is pretty low – I don’t have to wear mine to drive (but choose to do so).

Varifocals are fantastic, absolutely the mutt’s nuts.

Ahhh ha..
You see I have some damn fine looks to keep abreast of, I do think wearing glasses more often will bring sophistication and an air of responsibility I so desperately need..
HAHAHA

Am 36. I’ve been wearing specs since I was 10. Am so shortsighted I can’t read anything farther than 6 inches away without them.

Same here, being wearing glasses/contacts for over 20 years and its cost me a small fortune. Take them off and I can’t read anything on this screen except for the big blurry ‘singletrack’ at the top of the page.

Depending on your age and prescription (Rx) you may get away with one ‘near’ Rx for both reading and computers, depends really on the difference between your reading distance and screen distance, if they’re close together one near Rx may do.

As far as long distance vision goes if you dont meet the legal requirement to drive your optometrist should have informed you, if so distance spex are a must for driving but you could go without them for day to day tasks if you feel your vision is acceptable.

Ready readers may jot be the best choice to go for, if your eyes have a different Rx to each othe or if you have astigmatism they may cause eyestrain, also being an ‘off the peg’ option the centres of the lenses may not match your eyes and potentially cause more strain. They could be fine though, you pay your money you take your chances!!

MrsBouy is very short sighted, often wears contacts and more often than not wears glasses, she looks blooming great in glasses, in fact I prefer them to her wearing contacts.

Me on the other hand think I look better without.

Still I have to face up to it, needing glasses is just a way of God saying ” son I’d like you to keep reading”

Hey..

Yo ho ho.

Getting prescription riding glasses was the single most cost-effective bike-related purchase I’ve ever made.

Heh! I’m quite short sighted, -7.0. Funny shaped eyeballs too. Without a prescription I’m blind. Everything is a blur.

Now I get plenty of piss taken out of my thick glasses but the funny thing is, I have way better vision with my glasses than those taking the mickey. I can be sat right at the back of an office and can read writing on a poster right on the far wall when most others have to get a lot closer it read it.

It’s obvious that most people wander around with really crap eyesight their entire lives because they don’t want the stigma of glasses when in reality, people who get a proper prescription have way better vision than most.

20/20 vision is rubbish by the way. Virtually all prescription wearers will have much better visibility than 20/20.

My prescription is -11. I go to an independent optician and yes, I pay quite a lot for my prescription glasses – but, I get service. I can phone them up and tell them I’ve got a problem and they’ll sort me out. I had a scare a couple of years ago with haggling and phoned them. The owner told me to come straight in, cancelled all appointments that morning and did a full check for me including scan of my retina. Turned out it was ok, but it’s nice to have some one you can rely upone when there’s a problem.
They did get me some RP Maya frames earlier this year which’ve been great – and I get the choice of interesting frames – markusT, theo etc to wear.

My reading glasses aren’t good for the computer (1.5’s I think), they are optimised for shorter distances than the computer screen. If I’m finding it difficult to read a document / website I just increase the font size, eg on Excel I generally run spreadsheets at 150% (zoom, custom, 150). This work best for large screens.

So for example. At the moment I have STW on a 24 inch monitor zoomed so forum fills most of the width. On iPad I ensure I zoom to ensure forum fills screen and adverts are dropped off the side.

3 prescriptions for near, intermediate and distance work would be pretty standars as a single vision lens has a specific focal range, multi focal lenses (bifocals,varifocals and many other types not really relavent here) can correct the vision for two or more of the prescriptions.

As T666DOM above says if the difference between your reading and distance values isn’t great (probably+1.50 or less between the two) you could find that the inter/reading glasses could be used for both purposes, this difference will probably increase as you age (afraid this applies to everyone, not just you) a more specific single vision lense or a decent multifocal lense will be needed, if you intend using a multi focal its worth biting the bullet and doing it sooner rather than later asa your brain has to adjust to the varying prescription in the lens and the lesser progression will be more easily adapted to

Chicks dig specs! 🙂

Now I get plenty of piss taken out of my thick glasses but the funny thing is

I don’t know what my prescription is but I think its half the strength of yours. Have you got the more expensive ‘thin’ lenses?

I used to ask my opticians every years for them (extra cost) and they always said my lenses weren’t think enough, not worth it etc. They started mucking about with a prescription I wasn’t happy with so changed to a different branch of the same company, suddenly they are recommending the thin lenses! I paid for them, they are half the weight, half the thickness on the edges, and to top it off, instead of a sanded matt edge on the lenses that makes them stand out, the edges are polished like the rest of the lens. My glasses now stay on my nose, and my nose doesn’t get red from the pads 🙂 The frames I buy now actually feel like the ones I tried on from the shelf, rather than a version with weights hanging off 🙂

don’t believe I need glasses to drive

Don’t want to be overly dramatic but your eye get worse over time, it creeps up on you, if something/one ever did bounce off your bonnet it would be a bit late to change your mind. Just leave them in the car?

(I know this actually is overly dramatic/won’t somebody think of the kids but…)

I don’t know what my prescription is but I think its half the strength of yours. Have you got the more expensive ‘thin’ lenses?

Aye. I have to get the plastic lenses or spend a fortune on glass from the space shuttle camera or something.

It’s obvious that most people wander around with really crap eyesight their entire lives because they don’t want the stigma of glasses when in reality, people who get a proper prescription have way better vision than most.

See, this is it, isn’t it?
LOTS of people (Blokes especially) are scared of wearing glasses. Thinks it makes them look weak, or uncool or old. Or somesuch rubbish like that. I know becasue I work with them. I know lots of lory drives that should wear glasses but just WON’T. Too vain. I trained a bloke who couldn’t see the screen from a few feet away. He was wearing glasses. I could see it fine from twice the distance with mine. I asked him when he’s last had an eye test – “Never” was the answer (Age – Mid 50s) “I get these from Tesco”
What? Are you mad?
His manager came in and I pointed this out, and told him that he was entitled to free eye tests (Computer workers are) and £55 towards his glasses.
Went back a few months later – Happy face, new specs. Sorted!
People just WON’T do it.

Me? I was getting headaches and kept going to an opticians until they gave me some specs. Sorted. I don’t really need to but I now wear them all the time as it bugs me struggling to read. UI wear contacts at the weekend and for riding too, as I can put a helmet or shades on easier (I get up too early in the week to be bothered with contacts) And I treated myself to some prescription Oakleys which are cooler than a very cool thing. 🙂

IHN…I would not have expected reading/comp glasses would help with distance vision…but thanx

Me neither (although the prescription then was only slight, and the main correction was for astigmatism), but they did.

If you have a prescription for distance, you need/should have glasses for driving.

my one purchase of Oakley prescription glasses was expensive both financially and emotionally. They lasted 3 months before some silly girl grabbed them off my face in a nightclub to try them on. Cue bouncers (who i knew) chucking her out and trying to help me find them. No joy and a week of squinting before i had a new pair of much cheaper glasses and my eyesight back. £400 worth of glasses lasting 3 months was hard to stomach