Vari Focals

quote:

Originally posted by Diccus62:
... it's all down hill from here as John Claude Killy once said.

So it only gets easier eh? 45, that's only a few years older then me. Very myopic but otherwise my eyesight is still ok. Waiting..

I guess varicelli would be a kind of purplish spaghetti?

I tried varifocals but just couldn't get used to them so went back to bifocals. Very common problem apparently.

I have been using Varifocals for 22 years- it took a short while to learn how to use them (or get used to them)

I am still amused by the antics of people who use two pairs of glasses one for near and one for distance as they juggle the two pairs, lose them, sit on them etc - where I just keep one pair on my face all day regardless of whether I am driving reading etc.

Types - it is more a function of what strength you need and which manufacturers make lenses that you can use, than choosing any specific make. I leave the selection of the most appropriate lens to the dispenser, who has been dispensing lenes for me for many years and knows my funny little ways re vision.

When I was 45 I needed specs to correct for shortsightedness. At first, ordinary single lens specs were fine.

By the time I was 50 I found the strength of the distance lenses prevented me reading charts,. I found myself lifting my specs to do the reading. So I got bifocals with virtually plain glass in the reading section. This saved me having to lift my specs every time i needed to read a map or a chart.

At about 55, the distance vision started to improve again, but the reading vision got slightly worse. I tried vari-focal lenses and I find them excellent.

I paid a bit more to get a pair with as wide a field of vision as possible. It took a bit of practice getting used to turning my head to see things that would otherwise be out of focus in the periferal vision. It also took a while to get used to moving my head up or down slightly to get the focus right for distance/middle/near vision and all spots in between...... And I am still aware that the field of view (with good focus) is a good bit narrower than signle lenses or bi-focals.

But overall, I find they suit me. Last year I tried bifocals again (cost less!) but took them back and got varifocals.

The optician and the CAA warn that not everybody finds them acceptable.

Cheers

Don

quote:

I tried varifocals but just couldn't get used to them so went back to bifocals. Very common problem apparently.

I had the same problem a kind of "motion sickness" . When using a keyboard it would seem like it was bending,trying to see the stairs and trying to get the speedo of the car in focus. I gave up on them. It was only when I broke my normal specs that I had to revisit my varifocals. I had then adjusted to get the "normal focus point" slightly changed after a few days thy felt so much better. Looking on book shelves/CD racks still presents a small problem as you have to move your head about instead of just your eyes.
I only notice the varifocals now if I think about them.

Howard

Thanks everyone. I think i might try buying a pair of reading glasses and invite Derek over to watch my antics

Diccus

Recently joined the Vari Focal club. Took me all of about half an hour to get used to them. Great vision for both reading and distance.
However, I also wear contact lenses that correct my distance vision. So when I want to read, I use reading glasses over the top. Again great vision.
But then I went on business to Switzerland this week and guess what....forgot the reading glasses. Bit of a nightmare as now I am used to good vision when reading I cannot go without them any more. So had to buy another pair over there. I can just about see the future, dozens of pairs of reading glasses all around the place but never when/where you need them. Still, it is early days yet and I may get used to thinking about taking reading glasses.
So, using both Vari Focal and reading glasses, I am sure you wil get used to whatever you choose.

One of the key issues in getting varifocals to work is to ensure that the optical centre of lens is directly in front of the iris. It is not unknown for the lenses to be mounted incorrectly in the frame.

I also need the the frame to be bent so that the lenses are wrapped around my face slightly instead of being a sraight line in front of the frace - but this might be a function of being relatively short sighted. ie I have to have frames suited for thicker lenses rather than the fashionable thinner "flimsy" frames often displayed in glasses adverts.

Started on varifocals this year, felt a bit seasick to start with but got used to them. Also have distance contacts and as above reading glasses, though this can be a pain in some circs. Usually it's more difficult for the beer glass to find the mouth after a couple of pints.

My optician advised me that it all depends on how much reading you do. If you spend a lot of time reading at work and for pleasure then the advice was bi focals.
David

I've had varifocals for 4 or 5 years now and haven't found them terribly good in reduced light. I tend to do most of my reading of newspapers, magazines, crosswords, sudoku etc late at night with the lights down so this isn't very convenient. Granted there tends to be a large dram involved on most occasions so that's perhaps part of the problem.

Diccus

Vari-focal sounds like a brand name equivalent for what are generically called progressive lenses over here. I presently have progressive lenses that are essentially tri-focals with no obvious lines in the glass. They are difficult to do properly as the lense is tricky to grind. I was told that on a tri-focal such as mine, the middle distance grinding is difficult to do and retain periferal vision. This pinching of the middle distance periferal vision is what causes adjustment problems. For many years now I have used Zeiss cut progressive lenses. Never had a problem. Until recently, very few labs were certified Zeiss grinders. The lenses are superb like all things Zeiss. I've also had success with Vari-lens also available in this country. Check them out.


Clay

My only experience of Varifocals is my father-in-law who kept banging his head when working under low beams.

He went back to bi-focals is very happy.

Jono

I am awaiting my first pair of zeiss varifocals, and am therefore interested in the comments.

I struggle to adapt to different curvature when swapping to prescription sunglasses so was offered reactolite but declined as I have reservations of old, when they never really lost the tint completely or changed tint too slowly, are my reservations valid?

I was also quite shocked when quoted £250 for just the varifocal lenses when the non-VF zeises cost me £120 last year, is th extra due to the "if you dont get on with varifocals we'll change them back" offer?

Bosh
The reactolite type lens comes in different ranges of darkening some go from 0% darkening others from 10 or 20% - I find that I use polaroid clipons on top of the reactolite lenses when driving in very bright conditions especially to minimise the glare from the road. Down side is that one then has difficulty reading the SatNav display.

WE once went thru a bad spell of lenses and fitting to the frame, the dispenser commented that they could replace the lens/frame quite a few times before they were in a real loss situation. If you travel about, take or prescription to Asia and compare prices.

I collected my first varifocals today, and for general use, reading little things they are great, though walking home from the opticians, I did wonder if they were not safer than mind altering drugs at getting a person to feel not quite in contact with his or her surroundings!

But I am certain they make the most perfectly unsatisfactory reading glasses. When I read, which is quite a lot, then I want to look forward, and not down. To deliver a speech perhaps looking down would be good, but otherwise it is uncomfortable.

So I have long set and the varifocals, to which I shall add a pair of plain reading glasses as soon as I can order them! I have terrible long sight, which has shot forward in the last two years to the point where my optician felt that I really should have varifocals just to get by. Really now I wish I had had the long pair with those reactolite lenses and got a third pair of pure reading glasses...

One cannot dem a pair of specs of course!

Fredrik

Frederik I know exactly what you mean. A typical listening session for me is: headphones on, newspaper for crossword or Sudoku, lights down, TV on for headline news. I find myself more often than not taking the specs off as I can read better in low light without them. So what's the point of varifocals? I'll ask the optician at the weekend when I have my eye test.

My father in law has just given back his second pair of varifocals as he was struggling, particularly with driving in them. He is back to bi focals. I think thats the way i'll go

Regards

diccus

I have so many pairs of glasses with different levels of correction for different jobs, that I need a lot of pockets just to carry them around. By hanging on to old pairs as my short and long sightedness worsened over the years, I now have pairs each ideally suited to tasks such as; reading, driving, TV, soldering, painting, car washing etc. Varifocals are a compromise, this is a Naim website.