varifocals.

davsidipp

anybody wear varifocals?been advised to give them a go but not convinced any advice ?

Gloomendoom

I think everybody gets advised to wear them these days.

I had the same advice but after speaking to my father, who wears them, I decided to go for ordinary specs and a pair of cheap reading specs as well.

The readers were a complete waste of money as my eyes have adapted to my new distance prescription and I can now focus down to about 14". If I need to go closer, I just take my specs off or look under or over them.

I'm just glad I didn't waste my money on varifocals that I clearly don't need.

My father, on the other hand, is in his mid 80's and finds the varifocals really useful. Apparently, the only problem with them is that your field of vision is narrowed when looking through the centre of the lenses. Generally, the more you pay for the lenses the less the field of vision is reduced.

davsidipp

thanks for that, i feel im being pushed into them,i would rather have two pairs of specs than varifocals.the only decent pair would be my driving pair,as the same as you no one will see me with the reading ones.

LouE

I got varifocals for work, so i dont have to keep changing them. I like them.

davsidipp

LouE wrote: »

I got varifocals for work, so i dont have to keep changing them. I like them.

did they take you long,to get used too.?

lynnemcf

Varifocals are great if your eyes stay the same prescription for two years to justify the cost, but my reading prescription changed less than a year later so I had to give up on my varifocals.

davsidipp

lynnemcf wrote: »

Varifocals are great if your eyes stay the same prescription for two years to justify the cost, but my reading prescription changed less than a year later so I had to give up on my varifocals.

thats my worry,they are more expensive,and if your eyes change in a year more expense.

ellay864

I'm on my 2nd attempt with varifocals and doing ok but it's taken a few weeks to feel comfy with them. I do now like being able to sit in a meeting at work and be able to read the screen and close notes without having to change over

Crocswearer

davsidipp wrote: »

thanks for that, i feel im being pushed into them,i would rather have two pairs of specs than varifocals.the only decent pair would be my driving pair,as the same as you no one will see me with the reading ones.

When you are driving, can you see the road ahead and still see the speedometer when you look down? If so, you probably don't need the varifocals (not that I'm an optician...)

I have been wearing them for about 12 years. I had been wearing specs for short sightedness for a while, but started making mistakes when paying for things with coins.

I've used Boots, Specsavers, independents, online and now go to ASDA opticians for my £99 varifocals. They are perfect, and fantastic value for money.

elsien

They can take some getting used to though. Mum complained of seasickness and had to really persevere to get used to them, and a friend has given up completely and has gone back to 2 pairs of glasses.
The optician might be pushing the varifocals because a lot of people prefer to just have to worry about one pair of glasses, instead of constantly searching for the other pair.
I'd go back to the optician and ask them to justify why you can't have the two pairs - I wanted varifocals but couldn't have them as they wouldn't have worked for my prescription so it was bifocals or 3 pairs of glasses. So it is possible, depending on your individual prescription obviously.

Edit - you could also take your prescription to a different optician for a second opinion and alternative pricing.

hardpressed

What do people think of bifocals? I have driving glasses but need to get stronger glasses for reading, as the moment wear my reading glasses most of the time, except when driving, but I'm getting to the point were can't read small print. Have got a stronger pair but then can't see across the room in them and certainly couldn't walk about in them. Not sure about varifocals as get bad travel sickness and have heard that they could give the same effect, so wondered about bifocals.