4 ms·

I'm nearly 49 now. Presbyopia (the loss of ability to close-focus) came on strongly for me at about 46. It was almost like an overnight change. I've also lost s

I'm nearly 49 now. Presbyopia (the loss of ability to close-focus) came on strongly for me at about 46. It was almost like an overnight change. I've also lost significant acuity in low light, but that seemed to come on more slowly. I got my first bifocals last year. I got the "no line" variety and, so far, I hate them. The focal distances I need for reading, viewing my phone, and other close work are at the absolute bottom of the lens. Likewise, I find the top of bifocal area of the lens interfering with straight-ahead vision sometimes, too. I'd like to try a set of bifocals with traditional discrete lenses to see if that improves my experience. I'd be curious to hear others' experiences. re: light - I can definitely tell I have better acuity in bright settings when my irises are "stopped down" to a small pupil. I'm glad of my experience shooting manual focus / aperture cameras because it gives me a good intuition for what the optical instruments in my head are doing. Edit: Oh, and the damned floater in my right eye. I've had it for 15+ years, and they're not increasing (so it's unlikely a symptom of retinal detachment). Reading on paper or a screen and, oddly, driving, always seems to bring it to the center of my vision. I flick my eye around randomly for a few seconds and it goes away for awhile. I haven't even broached the subject with my ophthalmologist because it's not too bad-- just annoying.

TacticalCoder 4mo ago
Like you but it began at 51 y/o. No glasses 'till 52 y/o. We had good runs mate! Same: presbyopia and I hate low-light now: it's just as you wrote: better acuity in bright settings. Either during day time or with proper lighting. Still can read signs from the car (say while on the highway) before anyone else so there's that. Can't really share any experience as I don't have a good understanding of glasses/focals.
- WarOnPrivacy 4mo ago
  > Like you but it began at 51 y/o. No glasses 'till 52 y/o. 40s but it's been a slow grow. I got by on magnifiers until 50 or so. I'm still on my original script. My indy eyeglasses guy got taken out by a hurricane and he was the last one. I can't bring myself to visit s vision mill.
  - picofarad 4mo ago
    I had good luck with the eye-q device, but I am unsure if it is still made or supported. If you dont have a complex scrip, it works fine. My lenses got scratched so I just ran out of luck, dont think there's much to be done with glasses for me anytime soon. It gives you a prescription after running it 3-6 times for each eye. It is tiring but much cheaper end-to-end than going to an OD or whatever. And just get glasses online! Dont get extorted at the "vision mills"!
mkl 4mo ago
I'm in my mid 40s and I'm now switching between three different pairs of glasses for different distances. Bifocals and progressive lenses wouldn't help given the things I need to focus on are usually directly in front of me. Changes have been happening rapidly.
pivo 4mo ago
I’ve had the same issues. Bifocals are definitely better, though I now have progressives for general around town or driving purposes because I was talked into them by the saleswoman. “Oh, they’re so much better now than they used to be”. Maybe, but they’re still not great. For reading, computer and other generally fixed focal length purposes I have different, single prescription glasses.
tharkun__ 4mo ago
Oh so much. Progressives here. The very bottom irritates me to no end during the day. If I drive in the morning or walk around I feel absolutely horrible. Like I'm drunk. Sure, if I need to read something really really close on my phone in the evening, when the eyes have gone tired it's kinda OK. I do need to focus on the bottom of the glasses. But I still (after months) usually just look straight ahead (sometimes that "mid section" is not right for what I'm looking at) or I need to intentionally look down, in order to actually look through the top of my glasses. I think the progressives are worse than getting two pairs, but I can't tell for sure yet, since this is the first time for me and I believed the optometrist who recommended progressives (from own experience, being a little older than myself). I will have to try the other way soon I guess. Like right now, evening, I can't read this screen on the bottom of the glasses. The laptop is too far away. To look through the top, I have to look down. Like "double chin territory". At normal cell phone distance, I can't use the bottom part. It's sorta blurry. I need to try and find the middle. Which is the smallest sections (I don't have huge glasses. Maybe an inch top to bottom, which all the progression has to fit into.
- 01100011 4mo ago
  I'm trying progressive lenses again after throwing them in the trash a few years ago. The distortion is the worst part for me. Moving my head around makes the world warped as it moves between zones. Maybe I'd get used to it if I forced myself to wear them all the time but I spend most of my day WFH and wearing a weak version of my distance prescription that lets me focus on my monitor yet see reasonably well around the house without too much eyestrain.
  - m463 4mo ago
    Knew a friend who was a doctor. Said your brain is very malleable and adaptive. If you wear them for a week, you will probably adapt and stop noticing the progressives, even walking around and going up/down stairs.
    - y1n0 4mo ago
      I've had progressives for years. They suck, universally.
inkyoto 4mo ago
> I got my first bifocals last year. I got the "no line" variety and, so far, I hate them. They are called progressives (or multi-focal – depending on whom you speak with). Progressives come in a few «ranges»: near-range, mid-range and all-purpose. There are also «premium» options available, although I am not entirely sure how much different they actually are. I have found that having two separate pairs of progressives (near-range for reading, laptop use and all-purpose for everything else) works the best. All of them can also be had as the transition variety and with different tint colours, thus obviating the need for a separate pair of shades. In fact, when I first tried the near-range progressives some 5 years ago, it was an eye-opener in the almost literal sense of the word – the laptop screen flattened and became bigger despite obviously not changing its physical size. It was something that I had struggled with for a long time before the progressives entered mainstream. At high prescription numbers, the lenses for myopia start distorting the true shape of objects which creates mild to substantial visual discomfort, and near-range progressives fix that. Another source of discomfort might be the suboptimal «Add» number on the script for progressives. This can be fixed by going to an optometrist clinic rather that a street optometrist (or find a reputable and good one first). If the «Add» is too small, the progressives will make little difference compared to conventional lenses, and, if it is too big, they will make it difficult to see in the distance. Based on own subjective experience, I can't recommend the progressives enough, although a little bit of fine-tuning might be required (none in my case).
CyLith 4mo ago
Optical engineer here. This is what they don't tell you about continuous/transition/progressive bifocals: optically they don't work. The lens design is an overconstrained optimization problem and the solutions they come up with end up compromising a lot on everything, to the point that it is practically useless.
- nikolay 4mo ago
  Aren't the bifocals just a convenience over quality? It's inconvenient to wear two sets of glasses, but why would one wear bifocals while driving? This convenience can come at a high price!
  - itishappy 4mo ago
    Bifocals in general are quite useful. It's nice to be able to see the road and the speedometer using the same lenses. Traditional bifocals and progressives are different beasts. The hard outline on traditional bifocals means you get essentially two different lenses, both able to function as intended. The soft blend on progressives means you get essentially one big blurry lens that does not have well defined properties anywhere.
    - EvanAnderson 4mo ago
      > The soft blend on progressives means you get essentially one big blurry lens that does not have well defined properties anywhere. That seems to be exactly my experience with them, stated very succinctly. I've had these about 9 months and I'm still struggling with the ergonomics daily. I think I made the wrong choice.
    - nikolay 4mo ago
      I used the wrong term, sorry. My concern applies to both bifocals and progressive lenses, though: aren't drivers trading off convenience over safety? Shouldn't we have at least two pairs of glasses - one for driving, and another for everything else?
      - 4mo ago
functionmouse 4mo ago
look into occupational glasses
toast0 4mo ago
Right in there now. On the plus side, I'm near sighted, so I don't need two sets of glasses, I can just take my glasses off. Usually only happens when I'm tired. Bifocals are probably in my future though. If I want to do circuit repairs, I have to do it in the morning though. Detail work is too hard on my eyes otherwise.
WarOnPrivacy 4mo ago
> I got my first bifocals last year. I got the "no line" variety and, so far, I hate them. Same. I tried bifocals and they annoyed me to no end. Now it's muscle memory to move my glasses between my pocket and my face. I don't even notice I'm doing it.
el_benhameen 4mo ago
I had a congenital cataract removed, and the intraocular implant can’t adjust focus like a normal lens. So I have a similar problem. Progressives suck. Bifocals also suck. Finding an optometrist who was willing to listen, experiment, and adjust three different prescriptions (distance, computer, reading), and then carrying around three pair of glasses also sucks, but it sucks the least. Accepting that this is just a thing that is part of me and that I can’t fully optimize away has made it suck less! And I have a central floater, too! Also sucks. Sorry you’re in the same boat! Helpful optometrist tells me that vitrectomy is the only real solution and the juice isn’t worth the squeeze. Another thing to accept and move on from.
SpecStudioHN 4mo ago
after COVID i experienced macular degeneration—first in the left eye, later in the right. unfortunately, I was in a rural area of India at the time, and there was no good ophthalmologist available. So the macular degeneration was diagnosed as cataracts; which were also there, but in a nascent stage and not yet the cause of vision problems. So I got a cataract procedure done on the left eye, and it basically changed nothing. Later I moved to Sri Lanka, where there are good eye hospitals in the local area. There I got a proper diagnosis and was discouraged from a second cataract procedure. I am controlling the macular degeneration by high doses of ocular vitamins. As far as glasses, I also found progressive lenses pretty useless, so I have two pairs: one for distance and one for computer work.
- walterbell 4mo ago
  FDA approved red light therapy. About USD $100 for device.
MarceliusK 4mo ago
The camera analogy is a really good one

TacticalCoder 4mo ago

Like you but it began at 51 y/o. No glasses 'till 52 y/o. We had good runs mate! Same: presbyopia and I hate low-light now: it's just as you wrote: better acuity in bright settings. Either during day time or with proper lighting. Still can read signs from the car (say while on the highway) before anyone else so there's that. Can't really share any experience as I don't have a good understanding of glasses/focals.

WarOnPrivacy 4mo ago
> Like you but it began at 51 y/o. No glasses 'till 52 y/o. 40s but it's been a slow grow. I got by on magnifiers until 50 or so. I'm still on my original script. My indy eyeglasses guy got taken out by a hurricane and he was the last one. I can't bring myself to visit s vision mill.
- picofarad 4mo ago
  I had good luck with the eye-q device, but I am unsure if it is still made or supported. If you dont have a complex scrip, it works fine. My lenses got scratched so I just ran out of luck, dont think there's much to be done with glasses for me anytime soon. It gives you a prescription after running it 3-6 times for each eye. It is tiring but much cheaper end-to-end than going to an OD or whatever. And just get glasses online! Dont get extorted at the "vision mills"!

mkl 4mo ago

I'm in my mid 40s and I'm now switching between three different pairs of glasses for different distances. Bifocals and progressive lenses wouldn't help given the things I need to focus on are usually directly in front of me. Changes have been happening rapidly.

pivo 4mo ago

I’ve had the same issues. Bifocals are definitely better, though I now have progressives for general around town or driving purposes because I was talked into them by the saleswoman. “Oh, they’re so much better now than they used to be”. Maybe, but they’re still not great. For reading, computer and other generally fixed focal length purposes I have different, single prescription glasses.

tharkun__ 4mo ago

Oh so much. Progressives here. The very bottom irritates me to no end during the day. If I drive in the morning or walk around I feel absolutely horrible. Like I'm drunk. Sure, if I need to read something really really close on my phone in the evening, when the eyes have gone tired it's kinda OK. I do need to focus on the bottom of the glasses. But I still (after months) usually just look straight ahead (sometimes that "mid section" is not right for what I'm looking at) or I need to intentionally look down, in order to actually look through the top of my glasses. I think the progressives are worse than getting two pairs, but I can't tell for sure yet, since this is the first time for me and I believed the optometrist who recommended progressives (from own experience, being a little older than myself). I will have to try the other way soon I guess. Like right now, evening, I can't read this screen on the bottom of the glasses. The laptop is too far away. To look through the top, I have to look down. Like "double chin territory". At normal cell phone distance, I can't use the bottom part. It's sorta blurry. I need to try and find the middle. Which is the smallest sections (I don't have huge glasses. Maybe an inch top to bottom, which all the progression has to fit into.

01100011 4mo ago
I'm trying progressive lenses again after throwing them in the trash a few years ago. The distortion is the worst part for me. Moving my head around makes the world warped as it moves between zones. Maybe I'd get used to it if I forced myself to wear them all the time but I spend most of my day WFH and wearing a weak version of my distance prescription that lets me focus on my monitor yet see reasonably well around the house without too much eyestrain.
- m463 4mo ago
  Knew a friend who was a doctor. Said your brain is very malleable and adaptive. If you wear them for a week, you will probably adapt and stop noticing the progressives, even walking around and going up/down stairs.
  - y1n0 4mo ago
    I've had progressives for years. They suck, universally.

inkyoto 4mo ago

> I got my first bifocals last year. I got the "no line" variety and, so far, I hate them. They are called progressives (or multi-focal – depending on whom you speak with). Progressives come in a few «ranges»: near-range, mid-range and all-purpose. There are also «premium» options available, although I am not entirely sure how much different they actually are. I have found that having two separate pairs of progressives (near-range for reading, laptop use and all-purpose for everything else) works the best. All of them can also be had as the transition variety and with different tint colours, thus obviating the need for a separate pair of shades. In fact, when I first tried the near-range progressives some 5 years ago, it was an eye-opener in the almost literal sense of the word – the laptop screen flattened and became bigger despite obviously not changing its physical size. It was something that I had struggled with for a long time before the progressives entered mainstream. At high prescription numbers, the lenses for myopia start distorting the true shape of objects which creates mild to substantial visual discomfort, and near-range progressives fix that. Another source of discomfort might be the suboptimal «Add» number on the script for progressives. This can be fixed by going to an optometrist clinic rather that a street optometrist (or find a reputable and good one first). If the «Add» is too small, the progressives will make little difference compared to conventional lenses, and, if it is too big, they will make it difficult to see in the distance. Based on own subjective experience, I can't recommend the progressives enough, although a little bit of fine-tuning might be required (none in my case).

CyLith 4mo ago

Optical engineer here. This is what they don't tell you about continuous/transition/progressive bifocals: optically they don't work. The lens design is an overconstrained optimization problem and the solutions they come up with end up compromising a lot on everything, to the point that it is practically useless.

nikolay 4mo ago
Aren't the bifocals just a convenience over quality? It's inconvenient to wear two sets of glasses, but why would one wear bifocals while driving? This convenience can come at a high price!
- itishappy 4mo ago
  Bifocals in general are quite useful. It's nice to be able to see the road and the speedometer using the same lenses. Traditional bifocals and progressives are different beasts. The hard outline on traditional bifocals means you get essentially two different lenses, both able to function as intended. The soft blend on progressives means you get essentially one big blurry lens that does not have well defined properties anywhere.
  - EvanAnderson 4mo ago
    > The soft blend on progressives means you get essentially one big blurry lens that does not have well defined properties anywhere. That seems to be exactly my experience with them, stated very succinctly. I've had these about 9 months and I'm still struggling with the ergonomics daily. I think I made the wrong choice.
  - nikolay 4mo ago
    I used the wrong term, sorry. My concern applies to both bifocals and progressive lenses, though: aren't drivers trading off convenience over safety? Shouldn't we have at least two pairs of glasses - one for driving, and another for everything else?
    - 4mo ago

functionmouse 4mo ago

look into occupational glasses

toast0 4mo ago

Right in there now. On the plus side, I'm near sighted, so I don't need two sets of glasses, I can just take my glasses off. Usually only happens when I'm tired. Bifocals are probably in my future though. If I want to do circuit repairs, I have to do it in the morning though. Detail work is too hard on my eyes otherwise.

WarOnPrivacy 4mo ago

> I got my first bifocals last year. I got the "no line" variety and, so far, I hate them. Same. I tried bifocals and they annoyed me to no end. Now it's muscle memory to move my glasses between my pocket and my face. I don't even notice I'm doing it.

el_benhameen 4mo ago

I had a congenital cataract removed, and the intraocular implant can’t adjust focus like a normal lens. So I have a similar problem. Progressives suck. Bifocals also suck. Finding an optometrist who was willing to listen, experiment, and adjust three different prescriptions (distance, computer, reading), and then carrying around three pair of glasses also sucks, but it sucks the least. Accepting that this is just a thing that is part of me and that I can’t fully optimize away has made it suck less! And I have a central floater, too! Also sucks. Sorry you’re in the same boat! Helpful optometrist tells me that vitrectomy is the only real solution and the juice isn’t worth the squeeze. Another thing to accept and move on from.

SpecStudioHN 4mo ago

after COVID i experienced macular degeneration—first in the left eye, later in the right. unfortunately, I was in a rural area of India at the time, and there was no good ophthalmologist available. So the macular degeneration was diagnosed as cataracts; which were also there, but in a nascent stage and not yet the cause of vision problems. So I got a cataract procedure done on the left eye, and it basically changed nothing. Later I moved to Sri Lanka, where there are good eye hospitals in the local area. There I got a proper diagnosis and was discouraged from a second cataract procedure. I am controlling the macular degeneration by high doses of ocular vitamins. As far as glasses, I also found progressive lenses pretty useless, so I have two pairs: one for distance and one for computer work.

walterbell 4mo ago
FDA approved red light therapy. About USD $100 for device.

MarceliusK 4mo ago

The camera analogy is a really good one