bit of a shock today (i know im being silly)

[debster]

Hubby needed to have his eyes tested and we knew he would need new glasses.

It has been a couple of years since my eyes were tested and i had noticed that when looking up from close work and trying to focus on something futher away that the focusing took a little while. I was warned a good few years ago that this problem was developing and that by middle age i would need glasses.

Well i had my eyes tested today and told the optician what had been happening and he said he could see what my problem was. Then he socked it to me not only do i need glasses but the ONLY lenses i would be able to have were varifocals. Well my husband laughed his socks off mainly cos we always laugh at the fact that his lenses get thicker each year (well they would if it wasnt for technology). My problem is not so much that i need glasses but that i need varifocals and i am only 42 not what i would class as middle aged. i do a lot of close work knitting, cross stitch, reading etc and would need to use my glasses for close work and at work because as a nurse i do a lot of writing then i need to look up at the monitors which is when i struggle for a few seconds. I am sure they will be a great help but it did come as a bit of a shock.
Oh well i did get a free pair of sun glasses prescription ones which will be great for my holiday in july and they arrive just prior to our holiday so i can get used to them when not trying to work.

Has anyone noticed that glasses look really odd on you if you havent worn them before lol

any way thanks for listening to a silly OLD woman xxxx
debbie xx

[debster]

[shirlton]

I had varifocals but  couldn't manage them so had to have 2 pairs of glasses 1 for reading and 1 for everyday.
A lot of people are ok with them and they wouldn't have anything else

[debster]

Hi Shirlton, I am kind of hoping that never having ever worn glasses i shall take to varifocals the way anyone takes to glasses for the first time. I said about just having a pair of reading glasses cos my distance vision is fine but he told me that would make my problem more obvious and more difficult well here goes nothing lol xxx

[Trevor_D]

I've worn glasses since I was 6 or 7! Congratulations on reaching 42 without needing them!

And I've had varifocals for years - bifocals before that - and have never had any problems with them, although I know some people do.

Don't just go for the reading glasses bit - you'll dab them down and won't be able to find them. Mine only come off in bed or in the shower, so I always know where they are. OH's constant cry is "Have you seen my glasses?" or "Will you bring my glasses down - I think they're in  the ...."

[Alimo]

I was the same as you - got to 42 without having to have specs, then
I needed them for just reading.

Now (aged 48) I have just got the "office" lenses - which are varifocals by another name.  So that I can do reading / close up and then look up to the computer screen and not strain my eyes focusing all the time.

Hmm what I do notice is that in the few months I've had them I need to wear them (or my readers) to read anything - before I could read without, it's as if my eyes have got lazy ..... probably just my age, and not wanting to admit it !

Alison

[leeshaun]

OMG I'm going the same way i think.  Starting to struggle to focus.  will let you know what happens on the visit to the opticians :(

[grannyjanny]

I've had varifocals for years now. I used to have reading glasses only but lost count how many got broken when on the top of my head ;D. I can't even see to turn the washer on now ::). I went for an eye test at 43 & was told 'what do you expect at your age'. That was 19 years ago.

[betula]

I have always got on well with varifocals ,could not manage without them now :) :)

[gwynnethmary]

I have always got on well with varifocals ,could not manage without them now :) :)

Me too.  Having gone for years to a really expensive smaller optician, then having a go at ASDa in an economy drive, I went to that one today that everyone should have gone to.  It was great! They had a camera for looking right inside your eyes, and I found it incredible to see my eyeballs on screen.  No-one else has eyes exactly the same-they reminded me of planets!  Everything was fine, except that the pressure readings were a bit on the high side, so I need to get some more checks for glaucoma (Mum and my sister both had/have it).  I found 40 was the age for me-my arms needed to be suddenly longer in order to read......

[debster]

i went to the one everyone should go to and have to say their service was amazing they explained everything to me and i wasnt rushed at all to choose my frames and the young man that helped was very helpful and patient.

My husband swears that once you start wearing glasses your eyes deteriorate rapidly and i asked the optician about this he said its rubbish its because your eyes deteriorate with age anyway, what he aslo said is that the glasses makae it so much easier to focus that when you try to read without them your eyes have to go back to struggling again so seem so much worse.
i didnt realise eye tests are only every two years now unless you have problems of course so at least the cost is spread over two years lol

[Ragdoll Lady]

I am 49 and have put off going to the opticians for years. Hate to admit it but the last time I had an eye test was when I was an air stewardess and that was when i was 22.  My distance sight seems to be ok even better than it was in my 30's but..........my arms are not long enough anymore to hold the paper so I can read it. Forget instructions on packets they are completely blurred and now the computor screen is going the same way. Guess I will have to admit it and go and get them tested .....the only fear is they will make me wear glasses as thick as milk bottle bottoms. I hate this getting old bit.

[zigzig]

No you are not being silly at all. It depends. Are you long or short sighted?

If you are short sighted then the chances are that the prescription for you to see at a distance will effect your reading. Same thing happened to me, younger than you.

I have had no end of bother getting the glasses I want prescribed for me and have to be a total nusiance to get what I want. In fact the best glasses I got were in Asia where they sell glasses 'of the peg' for short sighted people. Like they do reading glasses here and they cost less than a tenner.

What ever the problem, bifocals do not suit every one at all. Get the prescription from the optician and have it made up from one of the cheap places on line before you commit yourself to paying hundreds of pounds.

There is no reason what so ever for glasses to be the price they charge in opticians even thought they advertise that they are cheap

It is probably too late for now, you may have commited yourself  but for the future there is this site

http://www.specs-by-post.com/

I am convinced that opticians do a hard sell and we have to be strong about what we want.

Bifocals and varifocals are not for every one.

You may  like this tale.

Years ago Other Half called me blind because I was the one wore glasses.

We had just got an allotment and I thought an apple tree would be nice.

OH got a tree he believed was a variety called 'Henry Cooper.'

I read all the literature which came with the tree and without dicovering where he had found it  I asked him where he had found that name.

He pointed to the part on the  tag which clearly said

HEAVY CROPPER.

More than a decade later the tree is indeed a heavy cropper the apples are big and plentifull. The are excellent for eating and make a fair cooking apple too. No idea about what the actual variety is but to us. It is a Henry Cooper. Bless him.

By the way, if you are short sighted, then you are on a plus. The natural thing is to get longer sighted as you age. In fact your eye sight gets better.

I am well into my sixties and hardly need glasses now except for driving, to be legal.

I can thread a needle for sewing, use the computer and read perfectly well without.

Years ago I asked about laser treatment  (when it was new) and the optician told me that my eye sight could always be corrected with glasses but scarring from surgery may occur in time and that could cause permanant damage.

Well a friend of mine took took the option of laser treatment then and needed reading glasses within a year. Needs varifocals now.

Last year I went to a clinic where they do laser treatment to have my eyes tested. The person who did the job prescribed a lens for one eye (my strongest eye) and told me that if I had laser treatment that the result would be the same. I think it was an enducement for me having the treatment.

The glasses which are plain glass on my weaker eye do give me perfect sight at medium distance. I have to take them off to thread a needle and read.

Glad I did not take the op.

BUT that is just me. MY eyes. 

No two of us are the same and as I say, you need to find out what is best for you but it can be an expensive journey.

OH is long sighted and finds prescribed vary-focals are perfect. Is now as blind as a bat with out any specs at all.

If you can see the sun and the moon in the sky. You are all right.

[Fork]

You will be fine Debs.Ive had them for years.Admittedly,it did take a little while to get used to them but I find it much better to have them rather than a pair for reading and a pair for driving etc.

[Ellen K]

I'm 50 and have the same symptoms as Ragdoll Lady.  I thought that maybe I had some terrible retinopathy until I bought a pair of reading glasses from Poundland and now I have my life back!

Simples  :)

[louise stella]

I had all sorts of problems with my eyes, I needed ever stronger glasses every year I went to the opticians.  A couple of years back they were getting much worse, much quicker.  Eventually I could not read at all and roadsigns were a mystery to me. Varifocals made me feel sick and I was getting worried thinking I was losing my sight as every day was like a foggy day to me!!
Then an optician told me I had cataracts!  I couldn't believve it in my 40's!  I was advised to moitor it but over the next year it got to the point I couldn't cope and wearing glasses didn't help!  So I had to have them done!  I wasn't looking forward to it but the Op was a dream!  All done whilst you are awake, each eye one month apart!  That's a year ago now and I haven't looked back!  I only wear glasses now when my eyes are very tired and for close up work!   
The worse thing was not being able to garden whilst they were healing as you cannot get anything in them as the cuts are not stitched!

[djbrenton]

If you're vison has blurred through age, think twice about getting glasses now. You might get a shock when you realize how much your partner has aged since you last saw them clearly. I reckon glasses are responsible for more than a few divorces.

[louise stella]

If you're vison has blurred through age, think twice about getting glasses now. You might get a shock when you realize how much your partner has aged since you last saw them clearly. I reckon glasses are responsible for more than a few divorces.

: ) LOL

[grannyjanny]

I take mine off before going to the loo. I don't want to see myself in the bathroom mirror ;D ;D ;D.

[bridgehouse]

I am sure ypu will be fine ,I have just had a cataract op on my right eye, left one soon .I dont know about looking funny in glasses, I think I look funny with out them .don'y worry you will be fine with glasses. best of luck

June

[debster]

thanks guys i know its just a bit of mid life crisis lol, i didnt want to get the glasses off the internet for the first time but will certainly consider it in the future.
i loved that remark djbrenton and i may put them on and play a little joke on hubby bless
debbie xxxx