So, finally succumbed to my deteriorating eyesight and picked up my new prescription vari-focals yesterday.

I know they’re meant to take a bit of getting used to, but it just doesn’t feel right, especially for driving. My eyes have quite different prescriptions to each other, and the glasses are certainly an improvement on before, but it still feels blurry in my weaker eye …

How long do I give it? Is it just a case of adjusting, or might the prescription be slightly wrong?

Id say go back to the opticians sooner rather than later. A colleagues husband had trouble first time using them but soldiered on for a while. When he finally went to the opticians they said he should have been back much earlier. He ended up with new lenses. IIRC I think he had lenses with 3 prescriptions in the end for near, middle & distance sight.

People vary. I’m the same, have 6 different prescriptions with both eyes different in my progressives and I got used to them fairly quickly. You have to train yourself. For me, it was a real ‘wow’ moment when I put them on.

If it’s blurry and you’re sure you are looking through the right part of the lens go back.

I’ve had many different lenses made up to get to these. More tweaking the position of the prescriptions in the lens for me.

https://www.webmd.com/eye-health/about-progressive-lenses#1

Is it blurry at the upper, distance part of the lens or all the way down to the close work part of the lens. Where the transition takes place can affect ones perception of the glasses so if it is that which is the problem then it would be worth going back and having a discussion. Did you wear any glasses before, and does the prescription include any axis variation(astigmatism)? Again, in my experience where my astigmatism axis changed it was tricky for a few days as my eyes ‘balanced’ to the new prescription. I get much less eye strain since the new glasses.

I’m on my second pair, it took a while to adjust to the first and I’ve had to adjust to these again with the bottom reading mag being quite a change with the other (long and ‘computer range’) remaining pretty similar. But when I say a while, I mean a few hours, if it was more than that I might be tempted to go back

I thought mine were dodgy. Took a week or so of use until I got used to them. Now I really couldn’t do without them. Honestly didn’t think that would be the case in early days.

Go back to the optician.  I had mine changed because they weren’t comfortable after a couple of weeks. They are expensive and the optician usually wants you to be comfortable

For driving I often use single focus lens as I find that much easier.

Is it blurry at the upper, distance part of the lens or all the way down to the close work part of the lens

It’s at distance in my weaker eye particularly, so although I can see better with just that eye, it’s still blurry. Close up seems to be fine.

Did you wear any glasses before,

Only off the shelf reading glasses which were a compromise strength for both eyes.

I also feel the middle distance bit of the prescription is quite narrow, despite going for the third-from-basic lenses (which theoretically widens the mid-distance view before the distortion at the sides of the lenses).

For me, it was a real ‘wow’ moment when I put them on.

No. Not at all for me. It is better, overall, but definitely not right … Just feels like I’ve got something in my eye that’s making it water …

The other thing is I ordered two pairs (different frames) … One is better than the other, partly (maybe?) as it has an anti-glare coating.

Will give it another couple of days and then go back and see if there’s been no improvement

I feel your pain, bro.
Stick with it, it takes a few weeks but it soon feels normal

https://singletrackworld.com/forum/topic/varifocals-weirding-me-out/

bottom reading mag

That’s a very special interest publication!

For me, it was a real ‘wow’ moment when I put them on.

No. Not at all for me.

My original optician seemed very experienced, he had a number of customers with the same issue as me. Basically my left eye is so weak the brain was starting to ignore its input, so I was losing my binocular vision. My first pair of progressives were spot on. I was amazed by how well they worked in all situations.

He then retired, and I struggled to get replacements that were as good as my prescription changed, even though they had the original specs to work from. It wasn’t the prescription, but where they were in the lens. For example, I’d look out the car windscreen and the bottom bit was blurred. Or I’d look in a wing mirror and couldn’t see. Really struggled for a while.

Then a mate in the army recommended an optician who did all the stuff for pilots etc. He immediately made a pair up as good as my original ones.

So IME the quality of opticians does vary too.

I took to my first pair instantly and happily drove 20 miles home.

2nd pair, current, I had to go back for a slight frame adjustment to lower the lens, and they are now perfect.

My wife picked up her first pair of glasses recently. Went for high spec (see what I did there) varifocals. Has spent the last 2 months trotting back and forth to the opticians as she just cant get on with them. She’s given up and we now have a £400 ornament!

You need to keep going back, but giving them time. The opticians, I’ve found, want you to be 100% happy.

Been using varis for a few years now and I love them.

Your brain should adjust to them within a few minutes. If it hasn’t take them back. If the optician didn’t spend at least ten minutes measuring your zones and calculating the setup, you bought them from the wrong optician. Was it a high street bucket shop or a good independent?

There are varying levels of sophistication in varifocal lenses; basic just have two levels, close and distant, but there are multipoint varifocals, which are a lot more expensive and take a fair bit of setting up. I had a pair made up for a pair of Rayban frames I picked up cheap from eBay – the frames cost me $50, the lenses cost me £280, but that also included DriveWear photoreactive tint, which worked in the car, and multilayer A/R coating. They were excellent but the eye examination was quite involved in order to determine all the difference points of focus.

I was ready to send mine back for about a week after getting them. They were doing my head in. You’ve spent your life just pointing your eyes in the direction of where to look but now you have to learn a combination of eye movement and “nose pointing”. It’s quite disconcerting at first but once I got used to them, they were fine. But it did take probably 2 weeks-ish before I took it all back and admitted they were fine. I’d stick with them for another week. There’s normally a fair time – 4 weeks or so? – I’m which you can return them.

Took moments for me. I have a +3 difference in my eyes, so am used to blurriness on one side. But adaptation was instant. The side to side wobble of verticals through the bottom may take a little longer.

If you’re not happy go back. The vision in the top should be the same as your original glasses of your prescription has not changed. Test that first

Btw £280 sounds cheap. Mine were £260 a side.

I’ve had v’focals for nearly two years. Couldn’t / wouldn’t change back, it is worth checking and persevering.

Give it a week, if it’s still bad go back and let the Optician know. If it’s improving give it another week.
Try not to over analyse it, if you can, forget about them.

Good luck getting them right, but next time go to Asda where they don’t do all this varying levels of quality rip off for varifocals…

£170 for two pairs with full varifocals…

As has been said, see the optician.
I only use my varifocals for driving. Straight ahead for the road then slightly down to look at the GPS etc. No issues from day 1.
I did simulate what I’d use them for when testing at the opticians. Then again when I picked them up.

So, these are my first ever prescription glasses, not just first Vari’s, but I have been ignoring (or just my good eye compensating for) the imbalance between my eyes for probably 10 years or more, only using reading glasses for close up stuff in the last 3 years or so (which haven’t been prescription, so again, the same imbalance issue).

So is part of it likely to be just my eyes/brain adjusting?

It’s not so much the distortion issue arising from looking through the wrong part of the lense for the wrong distance (eg coming down stairs, reversing the car and looking over my shoulder, as others have mentioned), although that is also taking some getting used to. It’s the long distance stuff that just doesn’t seem right. If I close my good eye, the top part of the lense in front of my weaker eye is clear up to about 2-4m. Beyond that, even at just 6-8m, and certainly looking down the road when driving, it’s just a bit blurry. I can see/read things at distance in that eye with the glasses better than without, but it’s just not clear around the edges.

It’s been nearly 48 hours now, and is still the same, will give it a few more days and go back if there is no improvement.

Specsavers FWIW. They did seem to take a lot of time and attention at the eye test and in measuring my eyes with the frames I’d chosen … Don’t know if they have a worse reputation than anywhere else?

Specsavers FWIW. They did seem to take a lot of time at the eye test and in measuring my eyes with the frames I’d chosen … Don’t know if they have a worse reputation than anywhere else?

The purists will always suggest that the indies are better than the multiples, in the same way that you might get a better service from the lbs vs Halfords. I’m not saying you’ll get the saturday boy at specsavers though, they are all qualified and capable!!

One thing I did ask at my recent appt at my branch of an ‘in between’ (Leightons) was why they had loads of fancy tech for retinal scans and the like but they still use the frames and lenses and ‘better, or not so good’ with each lens being added. Which we did 3 times for far, computer and near for my new vari’s. And she said that these goggles that measure your eye are very good but not everyone wants the same answer as in these goggles, perception is also important and how you see rather than how a computer thinks you should see in the end allows her to give the prescription you’ll be happiest to wear long term.

The tech is great as well though – picking up that I am now at risk of glaucoma and will have my optical nerve measured annually to monitor, and I have a cataract in one eye which explains why I think I can’t see so well in low light!

It does take a little time, from my experience. Even now I have to think coming down flights of stairs. Probably more frustrating is talking to people at the back of a room /lecture theatre – to see them I have to use the top of my glasses which, I think, may give me a stern looking down my nose at them look!
This said, I’d expect to be pretty much on top of it within a week or go back.

I got used to them within a few hours. From almost falling over walking out of opticians to feeling totally normal. I think the brain must also accommodate after a while as even on the bottom edges they don’t even seem blurred now (even though they should be)

I’ve been wearing varifocals for almost a year – my first glasses. I went to an independent optician who gave me a detailed assessment – turned out I was slightly short sighted. I opted for the top of the range lens they offered to maximise the zone with clear focus (about £350 for the pair, Zeiss). I wish I’d gone earlier – on leaving the shop I was immediately impressed by the improvement in my long distance vision and it only took a couple of hours to be really comfortable with them. From what you’ve said I think you need to go back to your optician and have them checked over.

Just a bit of am update …

Gave it two weeks, and the long distance / driving thing didn’t improve.

Went back to Specsavers, who re-did the eye test and the measurements. Seems like the original prescription was slighly out. They also played round with the transition between reading/intermediate/distance to smooth things out and lessen the distortion at the sides.

Collected the replacement glasses today, and much, much better!

Great news (hopefully).

When I got my first pair and couldn’t cope the opticians asked me to persevere. I did and they still weren’t right so they remade the prescription and they were spot on.

Good to hear. Labs make mistakes when making up prescriptions. But when they are right, like a good fitting pair of shoes, you’ll know. Even the lateral wobble goes away eventually they really are excellent.

Took me a while but now I can’t go back to singke vision.

Did my head in. Persisted and yeah I could get used to which bit to look through but they’re annoyingly impractical unless I don’t need to read anything that isn’t in the distance. In particular if I want to read something small text at face level, I have to hold my head up high and peer down my nose. Causes eye strain. Fixing the prescription is just a compromise, adjusting to improve one thing at the sacrifice of another.

Now I just use my regular glasses and shift them about my nose or take them off to read close. Except when wearing contacts, then I’ve got the reading glasses, and I don’t have to peer down my nose with head held high.