Need new glasses. What's your experience with progressives

[Brian Ashton]

Was wanting to get feed back from those that wear progressive lenses. I know all about bifocals but was wanting to know about progressives. I've been told that they can have a fair bit of side distortion. And in this country extremely expensive. I have a prescription that is +7 so I would suspect the distortion and any other effects would be quite magnified (literally and figuratively). My other alternatives are to go with a bifocal lens or have two pairs of glasses (but considering my prescription and the focal lengths each pair would have it's way too impractical) What's been you experience with progressives? More interested in those with prescription is the higher numbers such as +5 or more.

[Ken Fitzgerald]

Brian,

The only problem that I have seen wearing progressive was an initial adjustment when going down stairs or steps. After a while that has not been a problem either.

[Joe Pelonio]

Same here, took maybe 2-3 weeks to adjust and have been fine with them for about 4 years now. It's great to be able to read the road signs way ahead and yet still read the little green displays on the dash at night. Mine are slight
distance correction on top, then computer slight close enlargement in the middle, and reading on the bottom.

[Roger Feeley]

I have them and I have mixed feelings.
-- the near focus is critical. You won't have the side to side vision you would have with a pair of bifocals. Read the literature on your progressives carefully and you will find that there is this sort of peanut pattern of the area in focus. You don't get the full width of the lens. What does this mean? If you don't get it right, when you read a book, your head will be going back and forth because you can't just swivel your eyes and see a whole page of text. there is a wide variation in the width of that near vision part of the peanut.
-- They can make some folks nauseous. Didn't happen to me. My eyeglass place offered a 90 day trade in for bifocals if I didn't like them. For me, it didn't take long to get used to them.
-- You will find yourself nodding up and down a bit more as you find the sweet spot.

[Eduard Nemirovsky]

it is took me a week or two to accommodate. But after that - perfect. Mine only +3 and distortion not so visible on the edges. Yes about moving head more then eyes, as above little bit difficult going down the stairs. Did not fill nauseous a bit.
Ed.

[Belinda Barfield]

I love mine, Brian. No problems adjusting whatsoever. I'm in a little different boat than you though, as I'm a -5.25 for distance. There is loss of peripheral clarity, which I don't like, and I have to take care walking down stairs.

[Jerome Stanek]

I like mine I also had them lower the line a little

[Sean Troy]

Took me a very short time to get used to them and I've never noticed any distortion.

[Russ Filtz]

Same here. Like mine. My Ophthalmologist was not thrilled with them, but I went ahead as the newer tech is supposed to be much better. Took a bit longer to get over the fish bowl/dizziness effect you get from most new glasses, but after that, I notice no difference from plain glasses now. Mine are in the 6's I believe. Definitely over 5.

[Myk Rian]

All I've ever worn are progressives.
I am seriously thinking of getting try-focal progressives next time, with the closeup lens on the top also. Would make a lot of things easier.

Like Belinda mentioned, stairs are something else, but I suppose that's true with any glasses.

[Brian Kent]

I had one pair very well made, without noticeable side distortion. The next lair was not nearly as good. Lots of side distortion in the bottom part and both parts made my computer screen distance unusable. Right now I have none, and really hope the optometrist will know what I need.

I accidentally sold the second pair with my car. I was about to call the new owner to retrieve them when I got a police notice in the mail that the car was used in a felony. I thought maybe I would just let that pair go!

[Steve Baumgartner]

I've been wearing them for about 10 years and love them (prescription 5.7 in one eye, 5.0 in the other plus astigmatism, varilux lenses). I could never get used to the sharp divide line in regular bifocals. Most of the time the clear focus is simply natural, as if I didn't have bifocals. I suppose I've gotten used to pointing my head, but by now it is completely unconscious. I can't see close things above eye level, but that would also be true with traditional bifocals!

The early versions (and maybe cheaper current versions) had fairly serious parallelogram distortion at the outer parts of the bottoms of the lenses. The newer ones are much better for distortion, though the focus is still not as crisp as straight on. The good ones are expensive, but in my experience are noticeably better.

I've found that the setup by your optometrist is crucial for progressives, and some of them do it sloppily. Unlike ordinary spherical lenses, where all that matters is to put the optical centers the right distance apart for your eyes (and even that isn't super crucial), these have a "lane" down the middle where your view is supposed to track as you change from distance to close. This lane has to be carefully aligned with your pupils. If it is miscentered, crooked, or doesn't match how your eyes converge, you will get fierce headaches and dizziness as your eyes strain to follow the track. There are faint marks laser etched near the edge of each lens that the optometrist is supposed to use for this alignment, yet on one pair (that made me almost sick I was so dizzy) I found them to be at different heights and crooked! I took those back and had them remade, and the replacements were fine.

[Steve Jenkins]

Love mine too. As for the initial nodding to find the right place to look through, when I mentioned that to Margie she said "just keep saying yes dear,yes dear".

[David G Baker]

I have been wearing them for years and the thoughts of wearing anything else won't happen. The thing I don't like about them is the extra cost. Before I had my cataracts removed and lens implants installed I wore tri-focal lenses and my only problem with them was with using them for working on my computer, I would get a sore neck from leaning back so I could focus on the screen. I had a set of glasses made that matched close-up lens to eliminate that problem. If you have worn bi-focal glasses you will love progressive lenses.

[Belinda Barfield]

I should have mentioned one thing regarding the peripheral distortion. Lenses for nearsighted folks in my range get really thick at the outer edges. I have my lenses ground to what would be a "normal" thickness so this causes the distortion. I have a narrow channel of clear vision centrally so I have to turn my head to get that good peripheral vision. I can see car's etc., when driving (as I don't have to see them that clearly) but when reading I have to move my head slightly to track across the page of things like large format magazines. I wear my contacts and readers most of the time, but we are in pollen season and the contacts are just irritating.