Ask Slashdot: Are Progressive Glasses a Mistake For Computer Users?

An anonymous reader writes I'm a daily, all-day computer user and use two 19-inch monitors for my work. I'm at the age now where I need reading glasses, and my optometrist steered me to progressive lenses. I don't need any correction for distance, only reading. I'm trying very hard to get used to them, but I hate them. The focal point seems to be about 1 inch big, with everything around that blurry. Reading books on my iPad is a struggle; I have to turn my head side to side simply to keep the line of text in focus, and when I do that, the page warps and flow in a dizzying manner. I don't think reading should be like watching a tennis match. And using my two monitors at work? Hopeless and frustrating! Has anybody here who uses either very large or multiple computer monitors figured out how to comfortably use progressive glasses? Or are they simply inappropriate for this kind of use?

Comments

if it doesnt work

[ganjadude]

dont use it. Now pay my secretary

Optometrist?

[Anonymous Coward]

What did your optometrist say when you asked these questions?

Re:Optometrist?

[thechemic]

He likely paid more for the progressive lenses, and as a result, the optometrist also made more money. Therefore, any professional opinions provided by the optometrist are going to be biased by the money involved. In fact, money is probably the reason he ended up receiving a product he didn't need or want in the first place.

I was sold the same bottle of snake oil when I was 40. Asking his optometrist these questions is the last thing you would want to do.

They don't work for me

[Bearhouse]

Just as you, on "expert" advice I got some progressives...hate them. The "sweet spot" is just too small.

I now have a pair just for screen work; much, much better.

Thinking of getting laser corrective surgery, then will need a pair just for close reading.

You need a new doctor

[Lord Byron II]

Look at what happened here: You needed new glasses, your doctor suggests progressives, which you try and don't like. Then, instead of approaching your doctor about the issue, you post on /. instead. Maybe you're just looking for a second opinion, but it sounds like you're not comfortable talking to your doctor. You should find a doctor that you can bring up these issues with. Also, your doctor should have asked you about what you do all day (reading the iPad, using your computer) and offered you choices based off of your health and habits, not just your health alone. Just my two cents.

Re:if it doesnt work

[sconeu]

I always figured coke-bottle referred to lens thickness.

Pre-PRK, I had horrible near-sightedness (-7.50 or so), and referred to my glasses as "coke bottle" due to the thickness. As in "as thick as if they were cut from a coke bottle".