Progressive Glasses?

[Testarossa]

Been using progressives for years, and as noted earlier getting them fit properly is the key. Also have a pair of progressive sunglasses for riding/skiing/cycling etc. When I was flying I needed to focus at the horizon, at the panel and at charts held close. In a complex commercial cockpit you might also want a mid-range at the top for the overhead circuit breakers. 

My local Costco has been very good on fitting, and the prices are very good. For me it's important to buy a small, narrow frame that fits easily inside ski goggles and thus inside a full-face helmet. To get the glasses into a close-fitting helmet, the temple pieces have to be stiff, not too sharply curved, well-blunted at the ends and comfortably thin.

[EldoMike]

The progressives were far from progress to me. No peripheral and I need it to see to work. The neck twisting was not acceptable. The thing that I thought odd was that it wasn't just the reading section of the lens that was narrow, it was the whole thing! There was no peripheral anywhere. Can't see out of mirrors while driving without turning and looking right at it, that is bad. Explains why some folks don't see you on the road though.
I got the W-I-D-E bifocal. Luxury.
Hunter

Yeah it drove me crazy having to turn my head to read a newspaper!

[boatdetective]

Bri-
It took me a long time to get comfortable with progressives- like several months. However,  I really like them now. The GF at the time convinced me to get trendy glasses that are not that "deep", so there isn't much real estate for the transition , so give that a considerstion.

[bpreynolds]

Bri-
It took me a long time to get comfortable with progressives- like several months. However,  I really like them now. The GF at the time convinced me to get trendy glasses that are not that "deep", so there isn't much real estate for the transition , so give that a considerstion.

Much appreciated.  I'm looking forward to giving the progressives one more try albeit with different frames.

[Dave Bell]

My old business partner told me when I had to get bifocals just get "thumbprint" bifocals and get used to them.  So I did.

[Arizona Wayne]

I'm legally blind w/o lenses. With hard contacts I can see 20/20.  With glasses I can see 20/30.   My 1st glasses @ age 10 were bifocals.   Wore hard contacts for years before soft contacts even existed.  Didn't need a new prescription 'till I turned 50.  But w/o glasses I have built in magnifyers, so for anything close up I just take off my current glass lense glasses.     Plastic lenses scratch too easily for me tho they're a lot lighter.

[krglorioso]

Perhaps a monacle to give you a rakish appearance.  Use the other eye for distant objects.


Ralph

[boatdetective]

Perhaps a monacle to give you a rakish appearance.  Use the other eye for distant objects.

Absolutely!  When combined with trendy facial hair and hipster garb, you would be the toast of your local cafe as you swagger in and order a half caff no foam soy machiatto.

[bpreynolds]

Absolutely!  When combined with trendy facial hair and hipster garb, you would be the toast of your local cafe as you swagger in and order a half caff no foam soy machiatto.

 
Won't I need some aerostitch gear and a giant beemer to climb off though?

[tris]

The better the maker of the varifocal lens (Zeiss for example) the bigger the area of vision I believe

That being  said I don't wear Zeiss and once you used to them there're fine.

However, I do find that as I get older my prescription tends to move more so with close work (I'm short sighted) they often get pushed up on to the top of my head

[charlie b]

It may be because I do not have a lot of distance correction, but, my progressives have good peripheral vision.  The earlier ones I tried did not.  they were like looking though a tunnel.

[Lannis]

Won't I need some aerostitch gear and a giant beemer to climb off though?

Never Aerostich gear for a Hipster.   Gasolina boots, though, for sure.

Lannis

[Gary]

I started wearing glasses for nearsightedness when I was in the ninth grade. Over the years I tried both bifocals and progressive lenses. I took to each after a time. I started playing soccer in my thirties and continued until I turned 50. Not liking a ball in the face with glasses, I began wearing contacts. Of course distance correction means reading glasses. After a while I tried mono vision which had one eye corrected for distance and one for close up, or since I could still see fairly well to read without glasses, nothing in the other eye. It worked fine for me.

Fast forward to my sixties. I had read about the Bates Method for improving sight several years before. I didn't really put much faith in the possibility at the time. Then a friend told me his father had been practicing the method for years and saw perfectly in his nineties. I picked up a book by Margaret Darst Corbett a Bates disciple titled "Help Yourself to Better Sight". I did some research and found another good book on the subject which title escapes me now. I began doing the visualization and relaxation techniques suggested and when I was 65 and took my required eye exam for license renewal, I did it without glasses and only occasionally wear corrective lenses to this day.

Part of my success I attribute to the natural progression of nearsightedness to farsightedness with age in some individuals as well as my now natural inclination to mono vision. But I believe the techniques I used have also had a significant effect on my vision. I am now functionally 20/20. I still have a slight astigmatism that corrective lenses will sharpen barely perceptibly. Reading the fine print on labels is a challenge but if I breath and relax and open my eyes wide everything comes into focus. I never squint. I never need glasses for computer work, watching TV or driving. My eyes are not perfect but they are the best they have been in 55 years.

[guzzibob]

Another vote for standard bifocals over progressives. Tries progressives a couple times, several years apart, couldn't stand them either time. Standard lined bifocals work just fine for me. Also had the lasix some years ago. Before that without glasses I could see no better than the big E on the eye chart, though 20/20 correctable with glasses. Initially Lasix got me to 20/20 without lenses, sometimes needed reading glasses esp if light was poor. As the years have rolled by, fallen off to about 20/40 without correction, so now wearing bifocals-but still worth it to me cause if I were to break (like in a bike crash, say) or lose my glasses I at least can still get by, whereas before Lasix without glasses I was helpless. Can read if light is good, need near correction if not. Couldn't tolerate contacts. Like a lot of things, its an individual thing.   

[lorazepam]

Perhaps a monacle to give you a rakish appearance.  Use the other eye for distant objects.


Ralph

[Arizona Wayne]

Having good eyes is like having a good helmet that fits your noggin or long distance riding back support/comfort......it varies from 1 person to another. 

[Scott of the Sahara]

I started using reading glasses about 15 years ago. I decided to go to wearing glasses all the time rather than parking reading glasses in my pocket. So I got fitted for a pair of Bifocals. Reading on the bottom and nothing on the top. I could not wear them and walk. They made me sea sick. I could put them on to read but I couldn't stand the jump. I then tried progressives. The first 5 minutes I put them on they were perfect for me. I have been wearing them for 10 years now.

[bpreynolds]

I must admit, so many guys on here who prefer a bifocal to the progressives, very interesting.  In ways, it does seem to make sense to me personally as one of the aspects I didn't like about the progressives is that it always seemed like my eyes were in constant focus mode to whatever I was looking at per se.  With the bifocal there would just be the distant and the reading portion.  Seemingly, anyhow. 

[charlie b]

You are correct.  But, you have to choose your close distance.  These days it is about 2ft for computer work.  That means holding a book out further than you might be used to.  If you read books more than work on a computer then you might choose a closer distance.

Progressives are good for any distance.  1ft, 1.5ft, 4ft, etc.

Yes, tilting the head is weird at first, but, like lined bifocals, you will get used to it.

Progressives or bifocals (or trifocals) are difficult to use on stairs or when hiking on rough terrain.  I have to basically 'ignore' my need to focus on the steps.

[steven c]

 I have been wearing progressives for years. At first it took a couple of weeks to get used to but after that no problem. A couple years back I had some sunglasses made up as bifocals and just hated them, had my next pair as progressive. Also the more expensive lens do a better job with the focus issue, I have Nikon lens now.

[prof_stack]

It took me 15 minutes to get used to progressive lenses.  That was 18 years ago. 

I will keep using them until eye laser surgery gives me 20/20, correction for astigmatism, and no need to have reading glasses, which I currently would need after surgery.  AFAIK, that's not available yet.