Posts Tagged ‘reading prescription’

The Middle Way

Friday, March 26th, 2010

If you struggle with clear sight for a particular job or hobby, then it may interest you to know that we can calculate the perfect prescription to give you perfect vision. For far distance, that is driving, walking around, TV etc, the strength of your glasses is a set power. For close work it’s a different matter, as the amount of magnification you get is in proportion to your working distance.

If you have a hobby where you work at a set distance, we can alter your spec strength to give you the correct magnification. These are called middle distance lenses. If you do fine embroidery or tie flies in your spare time then you need high magnification but at a close distance. If you make curtains or spend all day at a computer then you need a little less power at a further distance. We’ve made specs for reading music, applying false nails, and quilling – whatever that is!!

So how do you acquire these magical, tailor made specs? All you need to do is measure your working distance – you just need a willing friend and a tape measure! Then ask your optician or online optical store to calculate the power you need, based on your reading prescription. Use the specs only at the working distance you have requested, and make sure you work in good clear light to get the most out of them.

If you’re going stronger than usual you may need a smaller frame, as your lenses will be thicker and heavier than in your normal reading glasses. If you wear them for long periods of time it may be worth investing in flatter, lightweight lenses. If you want them for the computer then add an anti-reflection coating, it will help to reduce the glare from the screen and make your vision more comfortable. Tell us what you want the glasses for and we might be able to make suggestions like these to make life easier.

If these super specs are for work, ask your employer if they are willing to contribute towards the cost. If glasses are for the VDU then your employer is legally obliged to help you, and pay for your eye exam.

So here’s our challenge – tell us what you need specs for and we’ll work out the power and help you with other ideas. Can you come up with anything we haven’t heard before?!!

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Reading Made Easy!

Wednesday, August 26th, 2009

There has been lots written about presbyopia, and what your options are at this stage. We do however gets lots of queries, so here is a quick re-cap on what your choices are.

Around age forty you’ll find your arms get too short! You can still thread a needle or see small print, but you have to hold it further away. Your eyes have become presbyopic and you need help for reading. To decide on the solution to this problem you need to think about whether you need correction for reading, middle, and/or far distances.

A)  If you only have a reading prescription – buy single vision reading glasses. This gives you a wide field of view, they are cheap, easy to wear, and you can keep several pairs by the phone, at work etc. Choose small shallow frames, and then you can look over the top of them to see in the distance.

B)   If you have a reading and middle distance prescription – you can have separate pairs for middle distance and reading. This will work if you only do one thing at a time, like read small print (reading specs) or use a computer (middle distance specs) If however you need to multi-task, then you could go for varifocals – see close, middle distance and far away – good if you don’t use a computer all day long. If you do lots of VDU work, you could have a bifocal, with middle distance power in the main part of the lens, and reading in the segment at the bottom.

C)   If you have a reading, middle distance and distance prescription – then you need varifocals, which have all three powers in one lens. This will let you do everything without swapping glasses around. If you do lots of VDU work or lots of close work, then you could have a separate single vision pair for specific tasks.

Mail the IGC if you need advice, remember that buying from an online optician is cheap enough to let you have separate pairs for your individual needs. Our qualified opticians and dispensing opticians can give you professional help at bargain cost.

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Get Three-for-One

Monday, May 18th, 2009

We often mention varifocals, blithely throwing them into the conversation as if you’re all as geeky and glasses obsessed as us. We do realise though that some of have more of a life than us, and may not spend your time getting excited over new lenses and coatings. So – back to basics – what is a varifocal? What does it do? Do you need one?

You may already know that even if you don’t wear glasses when you’re young, everybody needs them for reading at some stage, usually when they reach their mid-forties.  (See our notes on presbyopia) A varifocal lens – also called a multifocal, or PAL, or progressive lens, gives you back the sight you had when you were younger.

The lens looks like any single vision lens – get some Grecian 2000 on your hair too and swear blind you’re only thirty – so nobody need know that you’re wearing them. Within the lens however there are different powers, to help you see close too, at arm’s length, and for far distance. The lens has the three prescriptions you need all in one, blended together to make things easy and comfortable

It’s better for you to get into varifocals as soon as you need help for reading, they are easier to adapt to when your reading prescription is lower. As so many of us are chained to our computer nowadays and all you baby boomers have such busy, active lives, varifocals are really the only solution if you want to everything without having to carry endless pairs of specs around – three-into-one will go!

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Could you be Fabulous At 50?

Sunday, May 3rd, 2009

Whether or not you are a specs wearer you may have heard of a lens called a Varifocal. It goes by many names – progressive lenses, multifocals, PALS  (progressive addition lenses) or the world famous brand name of Varilux. They all refer to the same thing, a lens which blends together your distance, intermediate and reading prescription to give you back the sight of your youth.

This year marks the fiftieth anniversary of a lens which many customers think is some new fangled idea that will be difficult to wear and is expensive. History speaks for itself though, this is a tried and tested product which has made millions of lives easier, using technology which has constantly evolved.

The varifocal lens was launched in 1959, the first true innovation in optics for many years. These early lenses were hard to adapt to, but in 1972 the product made great leaps forward and the usable areas of the lens increased. As time went on the lenses were improved further by adapting the lens design for different prescriptions, and reducing the distortion on the edges of the lens that made it difficult to wear.

These lenses are now available for most prescriptions, in different materials to make them thinner and lighter, go dark in the sun, or for tinted sunglasses. They fit in most fashionable frames, and there are different lenses for specific jobs, hobbies and professions. If you need help for reading and distance, then varifocals are the state of the art solution. They’ve grown up at the age of fifty, along with the Baby Boomers who now use them to make the most of their busy lives.

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