I have 3 pairs of glasses because I couldn't adjust to progressive lenses either.

I have a pair of bi-focals. A pair strictly for reading and a pair strictly for distance.

I can read and drive fine with the bi-focals, but can't watch TV while in bed if I'm wearing those. The angle of my head makes me look through the reading part. So, I have to wear the distance ones.

My reading glasses are a bit stronger than in the Bi's because I use those for close up tweezing and stuff.

As a result, my purses are a bit bigger to accomodate my glass cases.

You have my sympathy; I have been where you are.

Whew, I thought this was going to be a political thread!

My first pair of prescription glasses were progressives, and I couldn't stand them. Fortunately I only need glasses to read (for now), so I buy the 3 packs at Costco.

I had sunglasses made in the progressive five years ago and when I put them on to leave I thought I'd fall off the sidewalk. They told me to wear them two hours a day for seven days and then add an hour each day. Sure enough by the tenth day all the dizziness was gone and I've worn progressives ever since. The man who ground them told me many people are given glasses that were not properly ground. I guess I've been lucky. Sorry you had to go through such an aggravating costly ordeal.

Ha! Terriks! ROTFLMAO!!! Too funny!!!

we just ordered those for my DH and paid a 120.00 copay for them. I hope they work out but now I'm worried.

Couldn't get used to them either. Had them switched out to distance. I keep readers throughout the house.

I'm glad I'm not alone! lukkiirish, at least you can use this thread, including other folks' experience, to back up your DH if he ends up feeling like he's underwater all the time.

terri, I realized that after I read the Obama thread! But who would have thought I would ever reject anything labeled progressive :)

"Couldn't get used to them either. Had them switched out to distance."
Me too!

"I keep readers throughout the house."
Gettin' there...

Fly - I encouraged my DH to try these. He hates to waste money and is not fond of change so odds are against us from the git go. He has a unique eye problem we are hoping this will help with but now I'm afraid! LOL...

The good news is, the drs office said they'd be happy to change them, and we have secondary eye coverage. Fingers crossed! LOL

Oh my gosh, I could have written that post! I was prescribed "bi-focals" in high school and kept walking into desks and things. lol.

Since then I just use OTC reading glasses and get by without getting something for near sightedness, which isn't all that bad.

But a couple of years ago I decided to get some progressives, one for home, one in sunglasses.

When I was driving, I felt like I was driving a semi, that's how high I felt from the road.

When I was reading, I had to keep turning my head to read a column!

They said I'd get used to it. No way. So now I have about a $1000 in eye glasses just sitting there!

But I see people wearing glasses full time, so how do they do it? They must be both near and far sighted.

I wear progressives and I had a really rough time getting used to them. Now I wouldn't have anything else.

I was quite shocked at first about having to move my head slightly to read a column of newspaper text. That really irked me! As I told my optometrist the time, if I had had a sudden loss of wideangle vision comparable to the peripheral vision reduction by using progressives, I would have been in deep grief over it. She helped me get the lenses properly adjusted (even had to send one round back to be re-made, and then back to CA to be reattached to the frames - very complicated). In the end, because I really wanted to have seamless, near-to-far vision, I stuck it out and I'm very glad I did. (But I sure did complain and whine about them at first. My opticians were quite patient with me. I was stressed out by the change and several times was ready to throw in the towel. At the time the manufacturer of the lens - Swiss company IRRC - had a deal that they would allow you to exchange them for regular vision lenses if you just couldn't adjust and I came near to taking them up on the offer.) I think I wore them for more than month before I felt completely comfortable and secure.

But on my second (new prescription) set of progressives (I have Crizal), I was not so pleased. Unfortunately I had just broken my old glasses in the midst of a family crisis and had no options, or time, to have extra rounds of re-fitting. This year I'm due for a new exam, and I'm going to make a point of getting them perfect, even if they have to go back and forth more than once. (The back and forthing is mostly complicated by the fact that my frames and any lenses can only be assembled in CA and I live in the East. Other brands of frames would simplify matters.)

I think the key is meticulous fitting, as tiny differences in how the lenses are set up create huge differences in how easily you can adjust. What's hard to work out, at first, is what's really wrong (if anything) with the lenses, the prescription, or the fitting, and what's just a matter of not being used to the new way of finding the lens focal point for the distance you want to see. And I think there may be some differences among the qualities of the various brands of progressive lenses.

Lir, how often do you wear your glasses. I would only wear them when I was reading, driving or watching TV. So I wonder if my eyes would even get used to them?

Also, does the size of the frames make a difference? I was wondering if I should get larger frames. My sunglasses are larger, but I only used them for driving and it was so weird feeling I was so high off the road. Did that happen to you?

Are you using the new progressives? I had old ones for years and it did take a while to get used to, especially on stairs.

Bought the latest last year and they are totally different. No feeling like you are looking through a bubble at all. Side vision, walking, driving is not a problem. I think you have to ask for them and apologize for not know what the name is.

I'd been wearing trifocals with lines for about 15 or 20 years, got a pair of progressives and loved them! For me, they were the best things in the world. I had no trouble with the trifocals, either, when I got them, but with progressives I didn't have lines for other people to see! The trifocals enabled me to see things that were at arms length without removing my glasses, which I had started doing with my bifocals, so I was back to wearing glasses full time. (I wore contact lenses in my teens and twenties, but they bother me now.)

My vision has improved to the point that I no longer wear glasses at all, which is weird (but delightful!) after wearing them full time from age 18 to about 59. I was always extremly nearsighted in my left eye, farsighted in my right, so maybe having two vastly different vision needs matters when it comes to glasses. Years ago, I did have a pair of trifocals that just didn't fit me right - had to hold my head up to see - and the eye doc fiddled for weeks to get it right.

I've worn progressives for several years now. After some initial adjustment, they have been fine. My vision is so bad without glasses that the lack of peripheral vision doesn't bother me.

I do need to have them put the reading portion very low -- not at the midpoint of the lens. With that change, they have been pretty good. I even have prescription progressive sunglasses.

I wore contacts for a long time, but with the need for near-vision assistance it's just too complicated. Glasses are a lot easier.

harriet, I'm thinking that if my vision gets that bad (my mom had astoundingly bad vision since she was 2), *then* I'll consider progressives. I still remember her heavy trifocals...poor woman...

The brand I tried were called Zeiss Individual lenses, supposedly shaped precisely to your eye. Maybe they'd work for someone else, but the staff at the place I got them tried their very best to fit them to me and it just never became 'transparent' for me, or even useful. I tried for a good long time, too.

And WOW, shermann--did your eyesight just improve on its own? Or did you do some kind of therapy/surgery? What an inspiring turn of events!

HaHa, flyleft, no therapy or surgery, just lucky I guess. My mom's eyes did the same thing.

Two of my kids literally can't see anything without glasses, though, and I hope they inherited Grandma's and my improving eyesight as they age. I was never as bad as they are, though - they needed new prescriptions every 6 or 8 months from about age 5 till they settled around 20; they started wearing contacts around 11. We always bought thin lenses for them, but even still they were thick lenses. When she was about 10 and got her new glasses, one dtr told the dr, "Oh, these are supposed to be thin lenses." He said, "Oh, dear, these ARE thin lenses!"

Oakley,

I wear them all day, from the moment I get up until I fall asleep. I think it's key to do that since a big part is training your eyes where (in the lenses) to look to see most clearly. The way I conceptualize it is that the progressives are sort of like "myriad"-focals with many, many, minute focal zones. Your eyes learn exactly where in the lenses to look through to get the right correction for a particular distance.

What takes getting used to is that you have to move your head slightly to direct your (corrected by the lenses) vision to objects or lines of sight wider than of right in front of you, and to a lesser extent, for things or directions above or below certain angles. What's within the range of the corrected zone however, is crystal clear, seamlessly, from quite near to far away. The first morning I tried out my new glasses I happened to carry out a basket of laundry to my outdoor lines. I glanced over the items I was hanging up on the line to a point on a hedgerow about 1200 feet away and suddenly realized I could see everything from that point all the way back to my clothespins on the line in front of my face in perfect clarity. I was blown away as I hadn't seen that well in decades using either straight distance glasses, or readers, or bifocals.

It was good that I had such a positive early revelation because I had a great deal of frustration getting used to looking where I wanted to see and not using my peripheral vision. Of course you still have your peripheral vision, but the lenses themselves (because of the complex curved geometry that allows for progressive technology) sort of muzzy-it up, making it less useful than it would be if you weren't wearing the lenses. At least that's the way it was for me. Someone since then mentioned to me that people have different widths of useful peripheral vision, and I think that I must have an unusually wide range, so it was worse for me to adjust to.

I found the loss of so much perihperal capacity to be most disconcerting while driving. I don't think it makes you less safe, but you do need to turn your head and look directly towards sideways objects a bit more. Also, particularly at night you need to make sure you're looking through the correct portion for distance to avoid light glares. When I'm particularly tired, I need to pay attention to this.

If you feel like you are sitting too high up in your car perhaps your zones aren't correctly set up, or perhaps you need to try looking through slightly different places in your lenses. Try sitting in the car and experimenting with the head position necessary to see clearly at various distances. (Use a big parking lot). You may find that you are tilting your head in the wrong direction. On my lenses (and I think for most, if not all progressives) looking through the lower portions is for closer things, looking through the upper portions is for farther away. I find I actually have to tip my face very slightly downward (but look through the upper portions of the lenses) to see most comfortably at the farthest distances, especially for driving.

My lenses are quite small, only above 1 1/8" from top to bottom. They are Varilux Crizal lenses in Eyephoric 2.5g frames. These frames are a small frameless style. Mine are one of the simple ones shown in the link below with the multi-colored frame pieces (not the larger etched ones on the blonde!) They are extremely light weight and I have mine made with a "cable temple" (curved like around the back of the ear like old metal Ray-Bans) so they stay put with no fuss, making constant wearing easy. The fun part of these frames is that each component (bridge, side connectors and temple pieces) can be chosen in a different color. My first pair was a collection of smoky greys and browns. Now that I'm getting more grey hair I chose pale smoky blues and grey-greens. The not so fun part is that the frames can be attached to the lenses only in the Italee labs in CA which entails extra time to get the work done.

If anyone has tried and set aside your progressives, I'd suggest giving them another try as it is so convenient to have one set of glasses for all purposes. When I had multiple sets I was always scrabbling around to find the other ones, or losing them, or breaking them when they were off my face. I was a complete, wailing idiot/brat, and kicked up such a fuss, getting over my adjustment pains, but I'm really glad I did. (Plus it's so annoying to have expensive eyeglasses you don't wear just sitting in a drawer. It's not like these are the two pairs for $39.00 special!)

Here is a link that might be useful: Eyephoric 2.5 g frames

I wear progressives because I was getting more dizzy switching my glasses, one for distance one for reading. When I first tried I was so disoriented especially if you are in front of a computer everyday, you have to train your eyes to go down without moving your head, after a week I was hooked. The only negative part is I dont want to take them off because I'm so comfortable and dependent upon them. But then I could see. I started wearing them when I reached 47 and now I'm referred to as the lady with the glasses.

I'm an optician and I also wear progressives. I've worn them for about 10 years and never had a problem with them, I was completely used to them within a day. It's easier to get used to progressives when you start wearing them in your early to mid 40's when the add power isn't too high.

I've worn many different brands over the years and while I can wear all of them I definitely prefer some to others. Some are more swimmy and I am just more aware that I am wearing progressives. Some I forget that they aren't single vision 95% of the time, they are that comfortable.

Proper fit is really important with progressives. It's normal to have some adjustment period. If you aren't used to them within a couple of weeks go back and have them checked. The lenses have laser marks on them so the optician can remark them and make sure they are sitting correctly in front of your eyes.

A couple of things, all progressive makers guarantee their lenses and if you can't wear them (about 5% or so won't adjust even if correctly fitted) they should remake into something else at no additional charge.

Crizal is the brand name of an Anti reflective (AR) coating not a progressive. Crizal Avance with Scotchguard is the best AR I have ever sold or worn. It is expensive but worth every penny. Regular Crizal is just okay.

I got my first pair of progressives two years ago when I decided to go back to school. Had worn distance glasses for years for driving, movies, etc. but had reached "the age" for needing reading glasses. Had a terrible experience with the first pair prescribed by my former ophthalmologist - he had an attached stop with a fantastic array of frames but I couldn't adjust to them and the optician there kept insisting it was me. He retested me on the high-tech machine and insisted the prescription was correct.

School was about to start, so I went to an optometrist who still uses the manual lenses for tested. He thought the distance was off, so I ordered new progressives from his shop and they were PERFECT right out of the box. Having either the distance or reading off, even slightly, can prevent you from adjusting at all.

I love them for driving, shopping and classes (constantly looking up and down), but still wear reading glasses for studying because I don't find progressives work for intense hours of reading.

Interesting, goldgirl & others who say the fit might be the issue. It's definitely possible--although I was just told that the swimming-feeling off to the sides is a basic characteristic of any progressives. Loss of peripheral vision while driving made me extremely uncomfortable and showed me how much I depend on very slight eye movements without moving my head. I'm prone to migraines, though, so maybe the constant moving of head necessary wouldn't give other people the same effects it did me.

Maybe in a few years I'll try them again...unless I age backwards like shermann/merlin and regain my former 20/10 vision with perfect elasticity so as to be able to use my eyes like magnifying glasses up close. Someday medical science may be able to make that happen...?

"But I see people wearing glasses full time, so how do they do it? They must be both near and far sighted."

I'm only nearsighted (quite clear to maybe 6 feet, and then I gotta squint, and about 30 feet forget it) and so there's only correction for distance vision on my lenses. Since there's no correction for close-up vision, my eyes just ignore it as plain clear glass (well, plastic). Ditto for DH, although he has wicked astigmatism so he can't ever go without his glasses.

I want these d@mn puny little frames to go back out of style, though. I hate the ones I have now (hated the ones I had previous to these too, which were also scrawny little fashionable frames) because I have to push my chin down to see anything that's below straight-ahead, or else I'm looking UNDER the glasses and there's the ole double vision back again especially if I'm tired. Makes my neck ache something fierce.

Johnmari, I get several optical magazines and I've noticed that the ads are showing larger and deeper frames. I think they are starting to come back.

Happyladi,

Which kinds or brands of progressives do you prefer? I like mine well enough, but considering how expensive they are, I want to make sure I'm getting the best possible kind since I am kind of a one pair of glasses at a time kind of gal. (My optician despairs of converting me to "wardrobe of glasses".) Does it depend on what type of correction or prescription you need?

I like my opticians, a lot, they seem very skilled at guiding frame style choices, something I am quite clueless about. I have watched them offer suggestions to others that I thought would be dead losers, only to hit on the perfect frame right off the bat.

But they are pretty wedded in lens choices to what most of their customers have: group vision insurance coverage, which I don't have. I can choose from any type of lenses - all at my own expense, of course. They are, I think the only ones around here with a relationship with Italee, though.

But I would be grateful if you could offer any suggestions or commentary about the relative merits of different types of progressives. It's amazing how little info we get as consumers when purchasing all kinds of of often pricey health-related services. No wonder things are so expensive!

It was very useful to know that Crizal is an AR coating, I thought it was a grade/type of lens. Now I'll know to ask about other AR coatings.

Thanks!

happiladi, I KNEW it! DH and I were laughing that huge frames were going to come back into style when we saw Sean Combs and other people wearing huge, completely bizarre unnecessary almost Urkel-like glasses at the Oscars. It was definitely a trend.

Have to tell my DH. I can always predict these things. And they look a *lot* better in the link below than they did when he was being interviewed.

Here is a link that might be useful: they have *huge* nose protectors...

Liriodendron, What progressive is best is very subjective and does depend somewhat on the correction and personal preference. You mentioned that you have Varilux lenses, they are considered to be very good lenses.

There are many different Varilux progressives (just like Ford makes many models, Varilux makes many models). One of my favorite for small frames is the Physio Short.

Other progressive makers that are well regarded are Zeiss, Hoya, and Shamir. There are many others, too.

If you are having to tip your head down slightly to see the distance it is possible that your lenses are too high. This would also make the side vision poorer. If your glasses have nosepads it would be simple to adjust them so the lenses fit a little lower.

Remember, it is easy for your optician to remark the lenses and make sure they are fitting correctly in front of your eyes. Also, progessives work best if they sit close to the face with some curve to the front. It the front is very straight across you will notice the less clear areas on the sides of the lenses more.

It also helps if the bottom of the lenses fit closer then the top, they should tilt in at the bottom. Fit can be very important.

If you have any questions I will be glad to try and help.

Ah, happyladi, I wish you lived near me :) Maybe I could have had my progressive cake and eaten it too. Oh well. This is supposedly a pretty high-end optometrist I went to...maybe I'm just not meant for them (yet).

I have been wearing Varilux progressives I expect for 20+ yrs. atleast and it didn't take me more than a day or so to learn to point my nose at what I wanted to look at....meaning where to move your eyes. I never did the bi-focal thing, straight to the Varilux and I couldn't be any happier than I am. I have had cataract surgery in the last five yrs. and that didn't chg. anything, I have pretty good vision now and really only need glasses for the mid-range and close vision. When you have cataract surgery that pretty much takes care of your distance vision, I can see forever really. I do know you can't have real narrow frames as your lenses have to have room for all three visual channels, meaning up and down. Some of those darling granny looking frames just won't work as they don't have enough heighth. I have been looking for 6 mo. for the perfect frame as I do wear them a couple of yrs. but only when I go out. (home I just wear my cheap readers)

Susan209, The progressive lens makers have been working very hard to make progressives work in narrower frames and they have been successful.

My newest lenses are Varilux Physio Short and I couldn't be happier with them. My frames are 26 mm deep from top to bottom which is one inch. I can see distance well, read comfortably and also use them well on the computer. They are also very comfortable to wear, not swimmy at all.

I'm not trying to just push Varilux, there are many other great progressives.And of course, what works for me might not work for someone else.

Some people do prefer deeper frames and there are many great designs for them.

One thing I noticed after I got the progressives was that when I tried to wear single-vision prescription sunglasses -- while driving, for example -- I really couldn't see well enough without having the reading portion of the lenses. I could see the road clearly but not the dashboard or a map. So that's why I decided to get the progressive sunglasses. It makes a big difference.

Those of you who need reading glasses and distance glasses: is this a problem when you're driving?

Happyladi,

Thank you so much for your info about progressive lens technicalities. It is so helpful! I'll call my optician and find out which Varilux lenses I have. I really like using progressive lenses, but want to make sure I get the best fit and function to balance out the by-now pretty accommodated-to "costs" in reduced peripheral width and need to point your nose where you want to see.

I'm sure my opticians don't want to complicate to the task of initially getting people used to progressives by offering TMI and I can understand that as a good initial strategy. But now I'm ready for Progressive Lens Wearer 2.0, so I really, really, appreciate another source of info re precise fitting. I'm sure that there are things that I notice, but either don't recall when I'm sitting at their office, or don't report precisely enough, that may help me get the best fit possible.

On their recommendation, I did have a pair of straight readers made for reading in bed (the geometry is wrong for progressives and reading while lying on your back or side). And I had to have an odd kind of single-vision short-medium distance (about 3 feet) pair made to use when operating our wood splitter. For that particular job good peripheral vision is critical to keep an eye on the approaching ram while steadying a log on the bar and watching to keep your fingers clear of the anvil. I have to take them off to fuel or oil the machine and most things beyond a couple of yards aren't clear with this pair, but it's right on the money in the action zone!

I was also thinking of getting a special pair with higher magnification for very close-in hand sewing. Do you think I should just try to get a general higher magnification (good enough for very fine work) in my "regular" progressive prescription, or is it better to rely on a special purpose single-vision set? I actually broke my single vision readers about 6 months ago and find that I have accommodated OK without them just using my prog. lenses for reading, but sewing (threading needles and working tiny embroidery stitches) are a stretch with the progressives. Even when I had my readers, they were not quite strong enough (or may be just not close-in enough focus) for easy hand sewing.

I hope it's not too much of a bore to be asked "shop" questions in your free time. Thanks, again, for any suggestions you have time to make.

L

happyladi, when I mentioned Sean Combs it was only to point out the HUGE, over-the-topness of the larger-frame fad in celeb world (I saw someone else wearing exactly the same things the same night, with the same highly-therapeutic-looking nose pads); what we reg'lar folks wear won't be that exaggerated. I had my chichi ones made deeper, after all, and decided to keep the depth even when I went back to single vision. No slamming intended :) -- I just wish I could monetize one of my trend-intuiting-moments for once!

Liriodendron, it sounds like you have a good optician that is recommending glasses for the tasks you need. That's really great.

Should you just get a stronger progressive pair or stronger readers? You said you are having problems seeing very fine things. Is it possible that your correction has changed and you need stronger reading in your progressives?

It's normal to need stronger reading help every couple of years through out your 40's and into your early 50's. Most people start out with an add of +1.00 or +1.25 and end up with an add of +2.50 when they get into their mid 50's.

Also, very good light is important for tasks like sewing. A 100 watt light bulb isn't going to do the job.

But yes, some people do need extra strong reading correction for very fine close work. Putting extra into a progressive might work, but it will make the reading area narrower and mess with the intermediate area of the lens.

A separate reading lens will give you a larger area but will blur the distance if you look up.

Ask the doctor or optician to trial you with a stronger the normal reading lens and see how you like it. With a stronger correction you will need to bring the sewing closer.