Your eyes change as you age.
When you reach your 40s, don't be surprised if it becomes difficult to adjust your focus between a book, a website on a computer screen and the conference room whiteboard.
Progressive lenses are growing in popularity among people who need help seeing near, far and in-between.
What is a progressive lens?
These glasses have a seamless increase in magnification from the top to the bottom of the lens, helping you see clearly at all distances with just one pair of glasses. You look through the top portion of the lens to see far-away objects, the middle to focus on intermediate objects and the bottom to see things close-up. The prescription changes gradually across the lens surface.
Progressive lenses are especially useful to people who wear single-vision eyeglasses for distance (due to nearsightedness, farsightedness or astigmatism) and then need to swap to reading glasses for near work (due to presbyopia).
Shopping from an ingredient list becomes easy, and driving and keeping your eyes on the road and the dash display works better with progressive lenses.
Are progressives the same as bifocals and trifocals?
No.
Bifocal and trifocal lenses have two or three different magnification levels in the lens and they are separated by a visible line. Progressives don’t have transition lines, they are created to your specific needs and deliver the closest vision to ‘natural’vision – so you’ll be able to see as well as you did at 20, when your eyes adjusted quickly to different focus lengths and you were able to see clearly.
Many people prefer progressives because they do away with the old-fashioned lines found on bi- and trifocals.
The seamless lens transition between close-up and far-away viewing is important, as it avoids the “image jump” that many people experience with bifocals and trifocals. Wearing these type of glasses the viewer often see objects abruptly change in clarity and apparent position as your eyes move across the different lens prescriptions.
What are computer glasses?
There are a type of progressives, known as computer glasses that can really help those who spend a lot of time in front of computers.
These lenses have more space on the lens for intermediate distance viewing, and take into account how far away the computer monitor is – these glasses can help reduce eye strain.
What should I know before choosing progressive lenses?
These glasses have a learning curve.
Without a visible line you'll have to train yourself to look out of the correct portion of the lens for the task you’re performing. You’ll need to train your eyes to look through the top (distance) portion of the lens while walking. If you look down through the lower portion of the lens, your feet may appear larger than they are.
What to expect while wearing progressive lenses?
It might take anywhere between a week to a couple of months to adapt and learn the correct way to look through the lens. To reduce the adjustment time, make sure to have your lenses customised and fitted by your optometrist and wear them as often as possible. If you experience eye strain or a headache, take a break, remove your glasses and try again later.
