Progressive lenses?

[bunsen_h]

I had an eye examination a couple of days ago.  It seems that I should now consider getting progressive lenses (or separate glasses for reading, etc.).  The gradation shown on the prescription isn't large, but the optometrist said that it's best to start with progressive lenses early, so as to "train the brain" to handle the effects while they're mild.

I'm not keen on the idea, frankly.  Part of my reluctance is that I don't think I fully understand what this "training" involves.  Am I correct in thinking that if I were wearing progressive lenses and tilted my head up and down while focusing on an object, I'd see the image distorting as my line of sight with the object passed through the gradation?  I think I'd find that very distracting, at best.

Comments

[auriaephiala.livejournal.com]

Wikipedia's explanation (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Progressive_lens) includes the immortal lines:

"manufacturers have been able to minimize unwanted aberrations by:
1. Improvements in mathematical modeling of surfaces, allowing greater design control.
2. Extensive wearer trials.
3. Improved manufacturing and lens metrology technology."

#1 and #3 are impressive in a bizarre way.

According to this and to http://www.allaboutvision.com/lenses/progressives.htm , there isn't any obvious line of distortion, but there are possible blurring areas ("aberrations").

My optometrist has never even suggested these for me: probably because my eyesight is so poor ...

[o-bunny.livejournal.com]

Yes, you'll see the image distort as you move your head up and down -- you are changing the curvature of the lens, after all. That said, it's not a problem in practice. One tends not to nod one's head vigorously while reading (at least, most people don't).

Personal experience -- I've been wearing progressive lenses for around a decade, and I really like them. It pays to have a really good dispensing optometrist, though.

We've been dealing with Pflug Optical (Merivale and Meadowlands, quite near to you) for years, and have been very happy indeed with the service we've got. They measure carefully, deal honestly, and work hard to make the experience as painless as possible.

A couple of things:

1. For my first lenses they suggested a specific brand/type of lenses, partly because of my work in writing, partly because of my peculiar astigmatism. The initial experience was very strange; I had the feeling of being both 'way up in the air and 'way down at the bottom of a bowl or something. That went away almost immediately, and I was well able to function normally in less than a day.
2. I tried to cheap out on a later set of lenses. They recommended against it, but they also allowed me a two-week trial of the less expensive lenses. I went back near the end of the two weeks, and went for the more expensive lenses; I wasn't able to adjust to the cheaper ones, but the others were, again, no problem in under a day.

Heidi comments that I don't look like someone who wears bifocals. There's none of the "head tilted back" sort of thing that is kind of a cliche.

We both have difficult prescriptions (I got laughed at, in a sympathetic way, by the guy at one of the "Glasses in an Hour" places in a major US city). Heidi is very sensitive to misalignment of her glasses. Pflug has been very accommodating to us both.

One caveat -- going down stairs will be tricky. You have to learn to nod your head down to watch where you're going; at least I did.

[bunsen-h.livejournal.com]

I was already inclined towards going to Pflug -- thanks for the recommendation. They're the only optician I've found yet who has frames in the style I like (large lenses, essentially filling my field of view) in a plain-metal colour, supported on the nose by separate flexible pads instead of a single solid support. The version of those frames that they have has extra-sturdy hinges which can be opened up and repaired, instead of replacing the entire ear piece. And though I've never been a customer at Pflug, I can vouch for their service -- once or twice I've gone in there when I've managed to lose a screw in my glasses, and they've been kind enough to replace it without charge even though I wasn't a customer.

I'm going to have to think about the progressive lenses; I probably ought to discuss that matter with the optician at Pflug. Several times, it's been important to me that I noticed a slight motion or change or other anomaly out of the corner of my eye.

[con-girl.livejournal.com]

I have observed that some people adapt easily and others never seem to do so - my Mom hates hers (but not quite enough to go back to two glasses).

[bunsen-h.livejournal.com]

I went over to Pflug, and the optician let me try out some sample progressive lenses that fit over my regular glasses. Good grief, that was disconcerting! -- the room was swimming in my vision as I moved my head. Utterly intolerable. I went with single-prescription lenses, and if I need to read tiny print close-up, I will do the remarkably novel thing and take my glasses off.

[kattale.livejournal.com]

I was warned at my last eye appointment that the time for progressives was coming for me - next appointment probably.
They assure me it will relieve my new-found "old age" tendency to hold up a medication bottle to read the fine print, and find myself tromboning the text away from me until I can focus on it... sigh...