New glasses - varifocals

[Winky]

Got new glasses yesterday, decided to give varifocals a try. Are they weird or what! Distance viewing is fine, but middle and close - it's like being in a bubble with soft focus round the edges!! I went for some retail therapy when I first got them, and started to get motion sickness walking around M&S Using a computer is really bizzare, have to move my head to look at things on either side of the screen, and the whole screen does a sort of wobble as I look across to the other side

Did anyone else out there with varifocals have similar experience when they first got theirs? I'd be interested to hear how long it took to get used to them - I have 30 days to decide if I can get on with them or not, at the moment it's erring towards not, but it is early days yet.

[Snadger]

I just get normal distance specs and buy cheap reading specs (I'm always sitting on them and breaking them anyway!)

I've toyed with the idea of varifocals but was put off by the price and worried about the same problem you seem to have. I also think that varifocals make your eyes look 'strange' if someone is looking you in the eye!

I'll be interested to to see how others get on with them before taking the plunge!

[sallym]

Had mine now for about 8 months and the only problem I had was headaches for the first couple of weeks. Personally, I wouldn't be without them.Before I was constantly changing from one pair to the other, which is a total pain when you can't remember where you left them.Try and persevere, you will be glad you did.

[bluemoon]

I had new glasses earlier in the year and the optician attempted to sell me varifocals. I couldn't see the point in paying three times the price for something that would rob me of all my peripheral vision, so I took Snadger's option, decent distance glasses, cheap reading ones. The optician swore that lots of people think varifocals are wonderful though, so perhaps you'll be one of them when you get used to yours.

[jacob marley]

Varifocals are the only sort i have ever had so probably easier for me but going up and down stairs was a bit dodgy at first.
jacob marley

[Winky]

Been catching up on the vine, and getting whiplash with moving my head from side to side reading the posts.

I had bifocals previously, and was finding my arms weren't long enough to hold whatever i was trying to read far enough away!! Prior to getting the bifocals I had two pairs of glasses, distance and reading, and remeber that was a pain as I always seemed to be scrabbling around trying to find the other pair

So I'll persevere with these as i seem to need three focii (?), distance, middle and close up

[terrier]

I started using vari's about four years ago. The first time I put them on I thought they were fantastic. I left the opticians and drove home with no problems. On the other hand my father tried them and they didn't work for him at all and he went back to normal single mag specs. They caused him to have severe headaches and he kept bumping into things. So they are good for some people and not for others.
I'm on my second pair at the moment and these are a better balance than the first pair. The first pair were useless for reading because the close up bit was too small but the peripheral vision was better, now I can read fine with these but the peripheral vision is not so good. You can have the peripheral bit 'extended' but that costs more money.
So I've come to the conclusion that not all vari's are the same and it helps if you know what you want before you buy.
Hope that helps a little

[lottie dolly]

I thought about them,and chickened out,have tried bifocals in the past and could not get on with them so went back to the two pairs,how ever i do tend to keep a small magnifying glass in my bag,it's very handy when shoping,it so makes life a lot easier.

[squashysu]

both my parents swear by their varifocals, i have wierd eyes, long in one eye and short in the other, so i just stick to the one glass (well at the mo),

Its funny i work in a nursery school and i am the only person in there with glasses and when i sometimes take them off the kids look at me as if i have a third eye and say "you look funny mrs clark" ha ha ! bless them!!!

SS

[janeyo]

I know my mum tried them the other year - it didn't go well, they actually made her throw-up! She suffers from migraine and they made them worse too, she said it was like being on a moving boat ALL the time. lol. Mind you she can't even watch home movie tapes without throwing up either, cos of the motion in them, so maybe she's just a bit odd

Needless to say she hasn't had them since! I guess you either love them or hate them.

janeyo

[JennieAtkinson]

Just got my second pair and even though I am used to them I still find I need time to adjust. I also wear contact lenses, but they are not working out too well at the moment, so I've had to go back to glasses.

I do feel I am turning into my mother though! The way she held her head to read the paper, or walked down the stairs, etc. was nothing to do with her own characteristics but because she was wearing varifocals!!!

[Cloud]

Her indoors keeps telling me to get my eyes checked.
Byt tgeres norjing wrpng witg my eyesght

[Catrina]

I had varifocals a few years ago. They were two pairs for the price of one £300. I got rimless and one pair worked but one pair never did and I knew instantly which pair I had got on. Even though I went back to the shop several times they never sorted the problem out.

It is really important that you get them fitted properly to make sure that the varifocal is in the right place. My husband got a pair two years ago. He had them fitted and then we went shopping. He said that they made him feel dizzy and sick so we went back to the shop and a different person fitted them. Then we went out and walking down the street they were perfect.

Try going back to the shop and see if they can make sure that they are fitted correctly.

They do take some getting used to but try and persevere.

Good luck.

[jackie j]

I have had varifocals for a few years now. I first had them when I was working with a mobile computer ( internet shopping ) walking round and trying to see what I wanted off the shelves was a nightmare thats why I got them, I am on my second pair and this time I also had light reactor ones as I cant use ordainary sunglasses, My free pair are not light reactor and they are not so good.

[loveday69]

Been catching up on the vine, and getting whiplash with moving my head from side to side reading the posts.

I had bifocals previously, and was finding my arms weren't long enough to hold whatever i was trying to read far enough away!! Prior to getting the bifocals I had two pairs of glasses, distance and reading, and remeber that was a pain as I always seemed to be scrabbling around trying to find the other pair

So I'll persevere with these as i seem to need three focii (?), distance, middle and close up

Ah! maybe its my eyes that are the problem, I thought my arms were shrinking