The varifocals have arrived

You will have problems wiring ceiling roses. I know I do.

These made it a lot easier with single focus main glasses.

They do different powers, buy the ones on your varifocal prescription.

You can get "varifocal" contact lenses, they have rings with different powers around them. They bring close and distant to focus but they do lower contrast. There must be a compromise as in bright light there are less rings to use but there is increased DOF too.

Your eyes are too spherical?

I don't think he did, I think the frames were inverted in some way, you still want the near bit at the bottom when playing snooker.

I can have another pair made up if needed.

It's a suck it and see. I only did 20 minutes of work today and that was at desk height - the rest of the time was spent waiting to turn the power off etc. I did have a nice chat with the guy that made the lenses when I got back from work.

So I have 2 pairs of varifocals, one for work and one for better wear AKA a spare for when I break the work ones and a pair of polarised sun glasses for that are single distant lens.

I drove to work with the varifocals on and back with the sunglasses on. A good 90 minutes each way. I was OK with either.

I *really* don't see the point in degrading the main vision for the sake of possible convenience.

I can get contact lenses for mine but the optician reckons they will move a few degrees every time I blink and that I am very sensitive to a few degrees.

My snooker glasses are to all intents just normal fixed focus glasses but with no top to the frame so you can use all of the height of the lens blank rather than needing to cut it down to fit the frame.

Yes, putting varifocal lenses upside down for snooker would be daft. Hugely daft.

Putting a distance zone on the bottom then the reading zone and then the middle distance at the top might make sense for some people, but not just upside down.

It would be different for bifocals.

Indeed not. I tried a pair. I have two screens on my computer at work, and looking anywhere other than straight ahead the distortion was intolerable. I had to turn my head whenever I wanted to look at something on the other screen, not just my eyes.

What kind of lenses do you have?

Andy

I had no problems with mine, other then the optician getting the measurements wrong and me having to drive with my head angled lower than I was comfortable with. Unfortunately they'd replaced a pair I'd lost and so I had to put up with them on holiday, until they could be replaced after my return.

SteveW

As I said it depends on the type of astigmatism. Most of mine is on the front part of the cornea. So a rigid contact lens sorts that as it becomes an extension of the cornea. If the astigmatism is on the rear of the cornea you need a special lens to correct that. And keeping that aligned perfectly at all times isn't easy.

It's why I've never bothered with soft lenses.

I adapted to them immediately, although for very close/fine work I find removing them best (more for comfort/head position).

I've worn glasses since my teens, with a brief spell of wearing (soft) contact lenses. I've considered laser treatment- not out of vanity- even after near on 50 years I still find glasses a faff, less so than contact lenses, I could do without.

I'm guessing they'll be soft lenses. The rigid lenses don't have this issue.

They can do if toric lenses to correct residual astigmatism.

Apologies, like stupid purchases of unidirectional Oxygen Free Copper speaker wire, I'm trying to work out how these glasses ended up pretty close to £500 from an optician with a Boots franchise. (Maybe it's that

- Boots)

I hadn't tried something else (first time with varifocals), so was easily swayed by the swish marketing and lack some way to justify the hole in the pocket - emperors new clothes thing.

Essilor Varifocal Lenses - Online Opticians UK

So now, having now got a recent varifocal prescription that appears to work, maybe I should find a cheaper online brand, just to do A-B tests?

Would actually be interested if anyone else has done the same "is it worth it" exercise, as I don't fancy spending out that much again when my prescription changes with age....

Essilor Varilux Physio 1.67 Forte UV

My experience over a number of years is that, in general, the makers have improved their product across the board.

In my case I have in the past been aware of slight distortion, though not found it difficult to adapt to, but my most recent pair have top of the range lenses (Specsavers Tailor-made), which greatly improve matters.

As I used to favour fairly shallow frames, I needed a compact lens, which limited the options. Selecting a slightly deeper frame, (without going to the 70s style, the size of a bay window) has also been an improvement.

Chris

I've found online prices to vary by a very large amount depending on the company you select and the options for the lens and your prescription. For basic glasses the prices can be quite low but as soon as you start adding options for thin or super thin lenses, the different type of varifocal lenses, tints, or react to light the prices will rise dramatically. The prices between different on-line companies could be of the order of hundreds of pounds depending on which combination you chose. A company that supplies cheaper thin lenses may be the most expensive for tints, and not by a few pounds! I've also noticed that no two on-line companies will offer exactly the same options or option combinations.

Possibly the best way to get a rough idea of a price of glasses is to search for the price of reglazing your exiting glasses. It's not worth spending an hour selecting the frames and checking the size of the bridge, lenses, arms etc. if in the next stages the lens becomes too expensive. Alternatively just choose a frame at random and then go immediately to the lens selection and pricing thereof to get a rough price for the options you may want

I've also found that if you want a bigger lens, say, 55mm x 35mm, and thin frames then the choice from all on-line retailers may be very limited, irrespective of the price of the frames

After entering you prescription you get to the part where prices can vary a lot.

The other things to watch out for is the offers - buy one get one free, two for the price of one etc. This offer may/will be only available on the frame and not the lenses that go in them (apart from the bog standard entry level lens which come free with the frame)