Adapting to your new Progressive lenses
Your progressive lenses are far more sophisticated and technologically advanced than traditional bifocals or trifocals. The newest, best version of these lenses provides the closest thing to natural youthful vision that a presbyopic person can achieve. Progressive lenses provide an uninterrupted view of the world with a gradual focus change from far to near and everything in between without the traditional bifocal line that so many perceive as ugly and a sure sign of aging. Vision distortions, narrow viewing areas and the inability to adjust to your progressive lenses are much more common with inferior quality brands of progressive lenses.
Adjusting to your progressive lenses:
Remember to point your nose directly at what you want to see. Then raise or lower your chin until the object comes into the best focus.
You may feel an initial difference in peripheral vision that will require some slight changes in horizontal head and eye movement. This will diminish with wearing time. Most people will adapt in a few hours although some can require as long as two weeks. If you are not adapted within two weeks you should return for a consultation with the optician that fitted your eyeglass frames to your face.
To adjust quickly to your new Progressive Lenses:
What's that distortion that I see off to the sides of my lenses?
The design of progressive lenses will allow you to see clearly at all distances, but it also creates aberrations in the lower periphery of the lens. These aberrations will cause slight blur and distortion and are more obvious when looking far right or left especially through the bottom of the lens. You can see these peripheral zones as the light colored areas in the diagram above. As a progressive lens wearer looks through the distance, intermediate and near zones of the lens everything is clear and in focus. The transition between different distances is smooth and natural.
This peripheral distortion may also cause a "swimming" feeling at first which should go away with adaptation. Progressive designs have improved greatly in the past few years and most first-time wearers have no problems at all.
If you do have blur or a swimming feeling, it will help to point your nose at whatever you are looking at in order to avoid looking through the periphery of the lens. As you adjust, you will not have to worry about your head position anymore.
Certain people will take longer to adjust than others, but with new technology and designs nearly everyone can wear progressive lenses successfully.
Adjusting to your progressive lenses:
Remember to point your nose directly at what you want to see. Then raise or lower your chin until the object comes into the best focus.
You may feel an initial difference in peripheral vision that will require some slight changes in horizontal head and eye movement. This will diminish with wearing time. Most people will adapt in a few hours although some can require as long as two weeks. If you are not adapted within two weeks you should return for a consultation with the optician that fitted your eyeglass frames to your face.
To adjust quickly to your new Progressive Lenses:
- Stop wearing your old glasses completely
- Wear your new glasses high on the bridge of your nose and as close to your face as possible
- To look at an object, turn your head and look directly toward it (do not just turn your eyes). Then simply raise or lower your chin until the object comes into focus.
What's that distortion that I see off to the sides of my lenses?
The design of progressive lenses will allow you to see clearly at all distances, but it also creates aberrations in the lower periphery of the lens. These aberrations will cause slight blur and distortion and are more obvious when looking far right or left especially through the bottom of the lens. You can see these peripheral zones as the light colored areas in the diagram above. As a progressive lens wearer looks through the distance, intermediate and near zones of the lens everything is clear and in focus. The transition between different distances is smooth and natural.
This peripheral distortion may also cause a "swimming" feeling at first which should go away with adaptation. Progressive designs have improved greatly in the past few years and most first-time wearers have no problems at all.
If you do have blur or a swimming feeling, it will help to point your nose at whatever you are looking at in order to avoid looking through the periphery of the lens. As you adjust, you will not have to worry about your head position anymore.
Certain people will take longer to adjust than others, but with new technology and designs nearly everyone can wear progressive lenses successfully.