Yea I finally bit the dust and went that route. Tried the lenses with no line and that didn't work at all. Felt like I was looking through a 1" circle when I was reading. Very annoying. These have 3 focal lengths. It's taking me a little while to get used to moving my head a certain distance away for some focal lengths. They work perfectly for up close turning, it's that distance from about 16" to 3 feet that although very sharp focus I have to hold my head just right. I'm learning. The good thing is I can now see my pistol sights and with just a very slight movement of my head the target is in focus. Haven't had time to go to the range and try them out but will do that shortly.
I was sanding this morning and I now have no excuse for leaving any scratches. If I do it's just being lazy. Finishing up my latest 2 mirrors this morning. Will try to get enough finish on them and fully assembled by saturday and then will get a photo.
I got the variable focus (tri) since I was having trouble with both near and medium distance. Put them on after fitting, and have worn them since. During the eye exam, however, I had to insist on where I wanted the near focus -- not quite where the doctor was putting it. I knew I had to get glasses for close work and reading when I was trying to ink pottery drawings and couldn't decide which of the two parallel lines I was supposed to be following.
...that now appear so obvious, but I'm just glad I didn't need glasses until my 30's. I can't shoot with them now, and that would have been a huge problem during my tour in Vietnam!
I went the other way, the no-line graduated lenses, when I was about forty. Before that, I read for about an hour every night. Not anymore. It's such a chore to read, I no read for pleasure. I used to own a pool table and was never very good, but whatever "game" I had went away with the new glasses. Can't shoot at all. I used to shoot skeet with a pistol, not anymore. What a price for vanity.
I've had bifocals with lines for about 10 years now. I got them when I couldn't clearly read the scores of a basketball game on my 48" TV. Took me a while to get used to them, but I finally did. Going down stairs was the worst thing. What I found was that almost everything I need to clearly focus on for detail is about an arm's length away from my face: speedometer, car radio, GPS unit, computer screen, and lathe. I had my optometrist adjust the reading lenses so they focus at arm's length. Now everything comes in clearly. I also bit the bullet and got prescription safety glasses. I wear them every day so I don't forget them when I go to the shop. Now my eyes are protected, I can see clearly, and I don't have to mess with goggles over my prescription glasses. The weight difference between safety frames/glasses and regular ones is negligible. They fit well under my face shield, too.
you can get several pairs with different focal lengths on them. I wear line bifocals most of the time, but I have a single vision pair by the computer that focus at about 24-30". Also good for what shaving I do these days. I also use them under the car, bifocals are useless when laying on a creeper. I haven't tried them on the lathe, never thought about taking them to the shop. But since you can get two pair of single grind glasses at the discount shops for less than $100 (even cheaper on-line), you might want to give that idea a try.
Having posted my laments about wearing progressive lenses, a question for Dick and anyone else who switches glasses for the task. Is it easy? Could I have a pair of reading glasses and not get vertigo or something when I switched? It's so difficult to read in bed anymore that I don't even try.
>>>I was sanding this morning and I now have no excuse for leaving any scratches. If I do it's just being lazy.
I'm convinced some of the "horrible" scratches I've seen in show&tell turnings are due to vision problems, not enough light at the lathe, or both. I've visited other shops where the light was just plain too dim for me. I've had friends joke they needed sun glasses in my shop!
We all need more light as we get older. (Cells wearing out, I suppose.) The camera aperture relationship - the more light the better the depth of field and more useful range of acuity.
Lasik surgery 18 years ago took me from being unable to recognize people from 5' away to good far vision. I do use reading glasses for comfort and driving glasses at night when the light is low (the camera aperture thing again) AND at the lathe!
I have expensive prescription glasses but mostly use cheap dime store reading glasses for close work.
My overall useful visual range without glasses is actually better than is was 10-15 years ago. I am a firm believer in vision exercises, as someone mentioned about not wearing the glasses all the time. My doctor did prescribe bifocals after the lasik surgery but after wearing them for a year I started daily eye exercises and don't need them now. I can read the tiny text on my cell phone and still see if the bird high above the field is a buzzard or a hawk.
My exercises are simply alternating between focusing close and far away (in bright light), then repeat. I think this keeps the muscles toned and the eye parts more flexible. In the car I'll switch between glancing at a spot on the windshield and distance. This gave me headaches at first from eye strain but that went away.
Not around here. O sure they have a sign that says 2 pair for $100 but that's usually just the frames. Oh you want glass in them that's another X number of dollars. Oh and thats just for single focal length. It's X dollars for bifocals. Then if you want the non glare (which I found makes them easier to scratch) and of course polarized sunglasses are a lot more. By the time I got my glasses the other day including a very good eye exam which was $100 I had spend $378 bucks. That was a cheap as I could go. I had looked at various eye glass places for about 6 weeks before finally deciding I couldn't stand my old glasses anymore.
It's become automatic for me to switch glasses when I sit at the computer, but still often leave the room and wonder what the heck is off when I leave. Then I walk back and switch glasses. No huge imbalance for me, it's just that not much is in focus when I leave on the mid distance glasses. I still get around, just can't read anything on tv, or a magazine.
John, Single focal length was exactly what I was talking about and trying to help you with an alternative. Personal I don't need fancy coatings and fancy frames to read the computer screen or work under the car. I suggest you shop around a little more, or go to the "big city". Don't want to drive? Take the information from your new eye exam and shop on-line. Hundreds of places sell for less than $30 total, and some even less than that.
My eye doctor told me bifocals would take some getting used to..... Boy was that an understatement. I may go the route of a pair of close up glasses (well, I think all of them are polycarbonate now) and a pair of distance glasses. About a year now, and I still am not used to them. Worst thing is that the close vision with my reading glasses was good for distances of a foot to 3 feet. These have a very limited depth of about 14 to 16 inches...
Eye exercises take me back. My eye doctor as a kid used to have me doing them, close/far. I may have to take up juggling again...
For several years I've bought my glasses from http://www.zennioptical.com . My last order for two pair bifocals cost $68 and were received in about a week and a half. Single lens and cheaper frames are available. You can spend much more for designer frames but I have no need.
Eye exercise? Can it change the shape of my eye to correct astigmatism?
I don't think so. The way I understand it astigmatism is due to unevenness on the surface of the cornea, non-spherical, "flat" spots, sort of facets. I have significant astigmatism in both eyes. I once mapped my astigmatism by viewing a point light source and sketching the multiple flares I saw - some were significantly bright, some fainter. (If the "facets" were perfect with sharp edges I suspect each image would be sharp, but since each is irregular with curved edges the image is smeared.) I showed my eye doctor the drawing and he said it looked like I got it right. If a point source results in multiple images, you can imagine the loss of acuity when each vision cell is getting light from multiple points in the image!
The only thing I know which corrects astigmatism immediately and perfectly is a rigid contact lens - I wore gas permeable contacts for many, many years which not only corrected my refraction from 20/400+ to better than 20/10 but removed every trace of astigmatism. I even wore them whitewater kayaking and scuba cave diving.
My theory about the eye exercises is they can build strength in the muscles and perhaps increase the flexibility of the lens by repeated flexing. This lets me focus closely while others my age are reaching for their "old man" glasses. One important observation: when I put something with small text up close to my eyes it is way out of focus UNTIL I do something with my muscles that I can't explain. My vision suddenly comes into focus. Most of the time the transition is instantaneous and without me even thinking about it or noticing, completely without effort. However, when I am exhausted or lazy I have to consciously do the little trick, whatever it is, to see anything close than about 24-30". The more tired I am, the more effort it takes to pop the the close vision into focus. When it switches, I can easily read the text in a book at 10" or the tiny text on my phone at about 8".
This observation that it takes some effort when I'm tired makes me imagine our eyes may naturally get inflexible when we get a little lazy and take the easy way of always popping on the glasses. I'm convinced my vision is better because of the effort I put into the eye exercises.
BTW, I do several types of eye exercises. I do the near/far focus exercise often, switching as quickly as I can between focusing on my thumb up close then at a distance, repeating a dozen time or so. I also practice "decoupling" the focus from the angle, sort of like focusing up close while the angle between the two eyes is set for distance - this is a hard one! I started this back when RDS (random dot stereograms) were all the rage and got very good at it. I also generated stereo images by computer and by hand, both stills and videos, and viewed them without viewers.
Sorry, I cannot describe exactly what I do to switch my focus. I am assuming it is a result of the exercises and not some mutation. If I could figure it out I could write a book and retire. Wait, I'm already retired...
I was going to suggest Zenni Optical. My cousin has been buying from them for at least ten years. I have not screwed up the courage but I am about to. Like you, my glasses have been so expensive I never could "afford" a second pair. I have chased the argument around in my head forever. If "real" glasses cost over $400 how can $40 be worth having? OTOH, if they are only $40 or maybe $60 why not? I have spent more than that on an evening out.
Get someone to help measure your PD and the other measurement points. I've actually had better luck doing that than relying on most "professional" fitters because I can filter it down to glasses that _should_ fit me properly as opposed to those that "look good" (which I can't see anyway.. without glasses I'm pretty blind).
