The Pros and Cons of Progressive Lenses

Progressive lenses, also known as multifocals or varifocals, and sometimes "three layer can see far and near lenses", comes with both advantages and disadvantages for the wearer, which we will explore in this post.

Presbyopia is a condition whereby the eye loses the ability to focus at near. This usually sets in at about 40 years old, with the presbyopic power increasing slowly in the next two decades or so. This cannot be reversed, and is a natural phenomenon.

In some situations, such as when the wearer's current myopic prescription is overcorrected, presbyopic symptoms can present earlier, i.e. before 40 years old, although this can be easily resolved by reducing the myopic prescription to the appropriate power.

You can read more about presbyopia and progressive lenses here.

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Advantage 1 - Convenience

With progressive lenses, you can go from distant to near vision in a split second. No more taking out your reading glasses to reply a text, or changing into distant glasses when standing up from your desk. You only need to use the appropriate zones within the progressive lenses to switch between seeing far and near.

Advantage 2 - Comfort over Bifocals

Unlike bifocals that have a prescription 'jump' from the distance power to the near power, the presbyopic (reading) power gradually increases towards the bottom of the lenses, resulting in a smooth transition from the distance portion to the near portion of the lenses.

Advantage 3 - Aesthetics

Unlike the older bifocals or trifocals, progressive lenses seamlessly blend in the presbyopic (reading) power, which means the absence of a line or lines. This is more aesthetically appealing, which is a plus point for many wearers, who may not like to be seen as requiring a presbyopic power or reading glasses.

Advantage 4 - You have all the Powers

Since the presbyopic (reading) power comes in as you look from the top to the bottom of the lenses, with the maximum presbyopic power right at the bottom, this means you actually have lesser (and varying) amounts of presbyopia in between the distance and near zones on the lenses. These intermediate powers can be used for viewing objects that are at intermediate distance, e.g. at the hotpot in the centre of the dining table. Nom nom.

Disadvantage 1 - Learning and Adaptation

Like learning how to ride a bicycle, we don't immediately get the hang of progressives. This is why it is important to control your expectations (it's not a "magic pill") and fully understand how progressives and the different zones within the progressives work. When dispensing progressive lenses, even for more experienced users, we like to ensure that the wearer knows how to use the lenses appropriately, and to take a little bit of time to walk and look around to adapt to the lenses.

Disadvantage 2 - Smaller Usable Areas

While you have various zones that you are able to use for objects at different distances, having multiple zones also means that each zone is smaller. Hence, for prolonged work at a certain distance, e.g. if you need to be on the laptop for hours on end, you may find that having a single vision lens (reading glasses in this case) is more comfortable as it will allow you to have more flexibility in head and eye positioning and hence your posture.

Disadvantage 3 - Price

Progressive lenses are relatively more expensive than single vision lenses, although with the popularity in recent times the prices have fallen to where it has become attractive enough for many users to want to give it a try, even for those who previously were concerned about adapting to progressive lenses. The cost of progressive spectacles these days is approximately the cost of doing two or three pairs of single vision glasses - minus the inconvenience of carrying two pairs of glasses around!

Disadvantage 4 - Sensitivity and Perfection

Progressive lenses may be more sensitive to frame fitting, i.e. how the frame sits on your face. This is a potential issue if you abuse your glasses, since a frame that is out of shape will mean that the zones are in different positions than intended. So stop frame abuse today; use both hands to remove your glasses! Also, with multiple powers within the lenses, we never believe things can be 100% perfect, no matter what the advertisements say; so if you're a perfectionist, you might want to proceed with caution.

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Conclusion

With the above pros and cons, you may realise that progressive lenses may not be as straight-foward as we would expect it to be, both for the wearer as well as the eyecare practitioner fitting the lenses.

It is important to know more about the lifestyle of the user and how the lenses will be used, i.e. the environment of the user. We tend to also try gather information about the motivation or reason for progressives, or for some users, the reasons behind why they feel uncomfortable with their current progressive glasses.

Through this, we are able to suggest a suitable solution for the spectacles wearer - and don't be surprised, sometimes the solution may be to not use progressives at all. Indeed we have advised a handful of customers that the ideal solution for them is to have two pairs of glasses, one for far and one for reading, which would best suit their needs.

There are also various other alternatives, like having both a progressive glasses as well as a reading or driving glasses, or the use of office lenses that is for use within the office cubicle - giving relatively excellent intermediate and near vision as compared to a conventional progressive lens.

We wrote a post about some cases where progressive lenses fail. If you are looking for alternatives beacuse progressive lenses don't seem not to work for you, also check that article out.

Else, there's always Otago Optical to help you.

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365 days of Otago Optical

We are one year old. It's been a good one for us.

Thank you everyone!

I would like to start this short post by thanking all our customers who have visited us in the past year. It is because of your patronage that we are able to keep the store running the way we want it to - trendy and quality glasses, affordable and honest prices.

We've also have had the luck to meet with many good people along the way who have assisted us in various ways - from social media influencers to our neighbours.

And also to our tiny team toiling in the back-end to make things work; what would I do without your support?

Lastly, not forgetting the suppliers and manufacturers we work with, as we continue to attempt to squeeze every bit of value out from each dollar we pay (just kidding...partly).

Certainty in uncertainty

"How has it been for you, my friend?"

We live in uncertain times - there are major conflicts evolving, changes in the natural and economic environment, and challenges every step of the way for both businesses and individuals.

Some things (like the weather) we cannot control - like the many costs that have risen rapidly in the past year.

But some things, we like to keep a little more certain.

Like our concept.

We will continue to do what we do best - in a good way, in the right way.

Once upon a time we had much lesser styles

Soon, it will be another 365 days

In the upcoming days, we have new exciting developments - a larger product range for instance. There are new styles in the pipeline, to help you keep up with the trends and to better satisfy wearers who are looking for something different. A wider range of lenses will also manifest.

We will also continuously refine our processes based on your feedback, so we can meet (and exceed) the expectations of the majority of our customers.

Otago Optical can only be as good as your trust in and support for us. Thank you.

Signing off this post,

Signing on back to work,

Tim

:)

When Progressives Fail

Cases of failed progressives and lessons learnt.

Have you tried progressives but to no success? Are progressives lenses uncomfortable for you? Are you having issues adapting to progressive lenses? What could go wrong when you get such glasses?

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The advantages of progressives in a nutshell

- Convenience. We feel this should be the primary consideration and motivation. If you don't want to carry an extra pair of reading glasses out and switch your glasses around, progressive lenses can stay on your face and allow you to see both far and near.

- You probably wouldn't lose it. Because you aren't constantly changing between glasses, and so it's less likely to leave it at the hawker centre / food court / cafe / restaurant table.

The disadvantages of progressives in a nutshell

- Smaller usable areas. In a single vision lens, the whole lens is for far or for near vision, while in a progressive lens, there is both the powers, and everything in between. So each of the areas are smaller.

- Adaptation. Like riding a bike for the first time, you'll need to learn how to use it, and when you buy a new bike, you'll need time to get comfortable with the that new feeling. And yup, there will always be non-adapt cases.

P.S. progressive lenses are also known as multifocal lenses or varifocal lenses. Some folks call them invisible bi-focals. In general, people use these terms interchangeably.

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Haiyaa, why the progressives don't work:

Initial reluctance to use progressives

Presbyopia, a.k.a 'old flower' catches all of us, but not everyone wants to accept it initially.

So, some folks may have single vision glasses that are adjusted to be a compromise between distant and near vision. Some may even have multiple pairs of glasses, such as one for clear distant vision ('full power'), one for clear near vision (reading glasses), and one as a compromise between far and near vision.

At this point, the wearer may already be struggling with near vision. There may be an expectation of having the equivalent feel of the single vision distance glasses AND the reading glasses. This, needless to say, is not physically possible, since the areas of both far and near on a progressives would never be as wide or large as a single vision lens.

Solution: start wearing the progressive lenses when you first experience issues with near vision. With a lower "addition" or "presbyopia power", there is minimal distortion, swim, and other effects, which makes adaptation easier.

Lesson learned: START EARLY.

Unsure of what to get

Practitioners would advise on what they feel is best for the wearers, based on their feedback on their current and previous glasses.

One lesser known type of lens is an office lens, or workspace lens. For customers who spend much time on the desktop and mobile phone, this can be much more comfortable than a progressive lens as the areas for intermediate and near work are significantly larger. We have written about office lenses (scroll down to "office lenses" in that article).

It can happen, although not common, that a customer will first want office lenses, and then call a couple of days later to change it to progressive lenses. We think this may be a fallacy of value - "if we do a progressives, it is more worth it than an office lens, since there is more use for it" - they have failed to take into account the usable areas of the lenses.

When this happens, it causes the expectation of being able to see near as well as office lenses, yet also have the area for distant vision like a normal progressive lens. Of course, this is impossible to achieve since those are two different lens types / designs.

This creates a mismatch between the product and the wearer's expectation. Furthermore, in the above case, the progressives would end up being the same as the previous glasses (albeit slightly better since it's customised) and not fully solving the initial issues presented by the wearer.

Solution: Listen to the practitioner's suggestions, and think about what you really wish to solve, if they create a match, and if it does, stick with it and give it a try.

Lesson learned: DON'T SELF SABO.

Change in Prescription, especially for First-Time Progressives Wearers

Similar to the wearer who may be reluctant to use progressives at first, someone who has a change in prescription will have to get used to BOTH the new prescription and the progressives. This adds a layer of challenge, made worse if the wearer tends to have difficulty adapting to a new degree.

This is why it is important to regularly get your eyes tested and change your glasses accordingly. Even if your prescription does not change, lenses will degrade over time and be less clear. When you use your glasses for too long, changing to a new pair might make things 'too clear' even with the same degree, as the lenses are new.

We like to advice wearers that if you have a change in prescription, wear the new glasses rather than trying to rely back on the old glasses, which then results in having multiple pairs of glasses, all with different degrees! If you prefer to keep the prescription the same, tell it to your optician or optometrist, and they will be able to advise accordingly - if the change isn't large then it may be alright to just "follow back" the old prescription, which means you will now have glasses that are of the same degree that can be worn interchangeably.

Solution: Check your eyes regularly, especially if you're already not seeing clearly.

Lesson learned: DON'T LAZY TO VISIT YOUR OPTICIAN.

Expectations and Imagination

(No) thanks to some advertisements promising you everything, consumers can come in looking for magical glasses that can adjust and adapt to whatever they are seeing, in perfect unicorn vision. Also, it must be fast, cheap, and guaranteed success! Too bad, the closest to a unicorn is the narwhal and it doesn't fly around on a magic carpet. Progressives aren't binoculars or microscopes, nor are they alive and can auto-focus for you. Progressive lenses have both pros and cons, and although customisation of the lenses seek to make the lenses as suitable for the wearer's requirements as possible, they are never 'perfectly perfect'.

Excessively high expectations can also happen when a progressive wearer loses their progressive glasses. Since it can be a lot more inconvenient without the progressives, they may imagine how wonderful it used to be, creating a false impression and expectation of the 'perfectness' of progressives.

Realising and accepting that every new pair of glasses needs adaptation, and more so for progressive lenses, and even more so if we do not know the previous prescription (hence it could have changed significantly) will usually resolve the issue.

Also, have a reasonable budget and don't overspend.

Solution: Manage your expectations.

Lesson learned: KEEP CALM AND WEAR YOUR GLASSES.

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What to do if you still can't seem to get used to progressives?

1) Try a different design

By customising the progressives to your visual needs and according to the feedback on the vision and comfort in the failed pair of progressives, the subsequent pair can be done with the aim to best resolve the issues that you faced.

2) Use two pair of glasses instead

Single vision far, and single vision near. Minimal adaptation required, especially if you've worn these before.

3) Use a specific single vision lens for a purpose

If your issue with the progressives is mainly on, say, near work, why not try to use a single vision reading glasses for near, and the progressives as a general use - like when you're shopping or our for lunch.

4) Check out office or workspace lenses

If the issue is with a limited area for your desktop, mobile phone, or writing materials, office lenses that have a prescription specific for your workspace (e.g. up to 1m for the desktop and close up to 35cm for paperwork) can help a lot better than standard progressive lenses!

5) Take note of your typical visual space

A few of us might have some kind of workspace that's markedly different, perhaps a monitor that's placed at a non-typical location, or have lifestyles that require extra consideration when doing the progressives. Your practitioner can only help you if they know about these, so don't be afraid to tell them about it.

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