Well, I am typing this with... bifocals.
It was just too hard for my almost 48 year old eyes to read any more. A couple years ago I broke down and bought a small "business card" magnifier to keep in the truck so I could read the road atlas. If the light wasn't bright I just couldn't make out the towns with light grey ink. When it got so that reading a book was difficult I finally broke down and got the bifocals.
I hate them.
First thing I noticed was it feels like I have smudgy fingerprints on the bottom of my glasses. Ugh! Then I realized I could no longer look clearly at my feet or anything else in about a 3 foot circle around me. If I drop something, I have to step backwards to get it in the "far viewing" portion of the lens. As I move forward to reach for it, it goes out of focus. And I'm having a very hard time navigating stairs - especially going down.
And to read, I can only see a quarter of a page at a time thru the bottom part!! I have to move my head up and down to read a page or view a photograph. I feel like a bobble head doll as I read. And that stupid line cuts right across my normal reading plane leaving me with "double vision" images until I raise my chin to bring it into the near viewing range.
Seriously?? This is how these things are supposed to work??
I have a 60 day "try it" return guarantee... if there isn't some major adjusting of myself to these things, I'll be going back for single vision glasses and a pair of reading glasses! Bifocals were supposed to improve my quality of life -- not decrease it.
We'll see how this goes... (No pun intended!)
You'll get used to the bifocals pretty quickly. In the meantime, be careful going down stairs!
ReplyDeleteAllow me to help (I was an optician in a previous life)
ReplyDeleteIf those are lined bifocals you need to go right back and get no-lines. No passing go - no $200.00.
If they are no-lines then the following will help.
As Kathy said - you will get used to them. First thing is to remember to "point your nose" at what you're reading. The running up and down the graduation from far to near will also quickly become second nature.
As for the computer? Get a pair of prescription "readers" just for your computer distance. Measure the distance from your eyes to your screen and give that to your doctor.
I also have "readers" for when I'm reading in bed or sitting around doing lots of reading.
Both your readers and computer glasses are single vision and they will be inexpensive if you get them somewhere like Costco (the only place I get my glasses)
Number two is - PUT THEM ON AND LEAVE THEM ON! Oooops - sorry for shouting. You will never get used to them if you don't wear them. Simple.
And finally - when I worked with folks who were getting their no-lines for the first time, I could tell with almost perfect certainty who was going to do well and who wasn't. Barring a medical problem causing a problem, the ones who had the best attitude adapted quickly. Those that put on the glasses and started complaining and refused to believe me when I promised them it would be ok - usually did not.
Industry standards say it can take up to six to eight weeks to adapt. That's pretty much hogwash. If you put them on and allow your brain synapses to work their magic, you'll be in great shape in a matter of days - at most a week.
I don't know if that's the way it is supposed to work, but I was hope not because...eek! How unpleasant. Really, contact the eye doctor on that, Teri...if you can't see well, then the remedy is worse than problem!
ReplyDeleteMaybe two pairs of glasses if that's how bifocals really do work (I hope not, my husband is going to need them eventually)...yeah, it would be a pain to switch back and forth, but better that than not seeing well, ever.
I just bought my first magnifying glass today (for reading very fine print). I'm not going to be a happy camper with bifocals I can just tell. ~Lili
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