If You Need Corrective Lenses, What’s the Best Fit?
Some people who aren’t lucky enough to enjoy 20/20 vision are either nearsighted, meaning they struggle to see things far away clearly; or farsighted, meaning up-close vision is often blurry.
However, many other people actually have both, which gets more and more common, especially as we get older. The solution in this case is bifocals or progressive lenses, but what is ultimately the difference between the two? Read on to learn more now.
What Are Bifocals?
Bifocals are lenses that have two different prescriptions, with the top half of the lens correcting nearsightedness and the bottom half correcting farsightedness. They are highly effective but have two big problems. One is that some people have trouble seeing clearly at middle distances, as often happens to people over 65 who suffer from a reduced elasticity of the lenses called presbyopia. Bifocals do not help with this, unless you add a further lens in the middle and make a trifocal.
The other problem is the line that demarcates the top lens from the bottom lens, which is distracting both to look at and to look through.
What Are Progressive Lenses?
Progressive lenses tend to be the answer to the problems associated with bifocals. They help resolve both farsightedness and nearsightedness (as well as middle-distance issues), without the distracting lines. They do this by creating gradual changes along a “corridor of power.” The top of the lens improves long distance vision, and then moves to improving close vision as you go down the lens.
The only real drawback of the progressive lens is that things may appear blurry at the bottom corners of the lens. This can take some getting used to, but people who have progressive lenses for a while usually do not notice this at all over time.
How to Adjust to Progressive Lenses
If you’ve been using bifocals or trifocals all your life, getting used to progressive lenses may take longer than you expect it to, and you may get frustrated. But don’t give up! You will get used to them eventually. Here are some tips to help you adjust faster.
- Turn your head – instead of just moving your eyes when you want to see something above, below or to the side, try turning your whole head to keep your eyes in the corridor of power.
- Make sure you have the proper fit – If it feels like it is taking too long to adjust to the progressive lenses, visit your eye doctor and have them adjust the fit if necessary. Again, it’s all about making sure that the corridor of power is in the right place.
- Don’t go back to your bifocals – if you switch and put your bifocals on every time you have a vision problem, you’ll never get used to the progressive lenses. Just hang in there and power through.
- Try looking at objects at different distances at once – for example, looking at your laptop screen and a painting on the wall at the same time.
Is It Time for Your Annual Comprehensive Eye Exam?
At Beaumont Vision, we want to match you up with the perfect corrective lenses for your eyes. If you are near Portland, come to us for a comprehensive eye exam from one of our courteous and highly knowledgeable eye care professionals. We’ll figure out just the lenses you need and help you pick out some beautiful frames to go with them. Call us at 503-331-3937 to schedule an appointment now!