I picked up my new glasses today, and it was very daunting.Because I now require reading glasses as well as distance glasses I decided to go for varifocal lenses and that is what was so daunting.  Maybe I take an over-simplistic view of things, but I always thought the idea of glasses was that you just looked through them: not so with varifocals – you get instructed in how to use them, and all sorts of warnings about them.
Apparently it takes some time to get used to wearing varifocals, and some people never do get used to them. Its brilliant to not have to carry two pairs and keep swapping them, but weird having to learn how to use a pair of glasses.  The opticians said that if I don’t get on with them I can swap them or get my money back if I decide I can’t handle varifocals, and I can take up to three months to decide.
Sounded over the top to me. How hard can it be to look through glasses? Harder than I imagined actually.
I bought a Guardian today to test the glasses out, and it was difficult to keep looking through the right bit of the lenses. I kept moving my eyes instead of my head and looking through the medium-range bit so it was all more blurred than without glasses at all. I am told that it becomes second nature, but for a time I will be bobbing my head up and down a lot as I find the right angle for everything, and that all new wearers of varifocals look like a nodding dog in the back shelf of a car. Thats my excuse for coking up the Kakuro puzzle anyway 
The other thing to get used to is the fact that the prescription part of the lenses is only in a strip down the middle. I was warned of this and told that it means you have to rely more on moving your head from side to side like you are watching tennis. That is going to take a lot of getting used to because when I read I don’t tend to move my head much.
What they didn’t warn me about is the disconcerting way everything wobbles when you move your head. You know the effects they sometimes use on TV when going into a flashback? When the picture is sort of tilted from side to side diagonally? With varifocals its a bit like that.
At the moment I find it easier without glasses at all, but I know that just leads to headaches so I’ll persevere for now.  There must be a good reason the opticians allow a few months to adjust to this type of lense, and I think I have discovered it, and have to accept that if I do get used to these it is not going to happen overnight.
They look good though. Jayne is happy and no longer calls me Harry Potter like she did with the old ones. Unfair of her really – I laways thought they were more Alf Garnett than Harry Potter.
I know how you feel on this one as I got my first varifocal pair a couple of years ago as I got really cheesed off with putting reading glasses on/off. I decided after a week that they weren’t for me but after a chat to the staffer in Specsavers she reckoned that the total lens size was too small.
As a result I went for another pair (at no cost to me) that had a much larger lens and by definition the “reading” part of the lens was bigger.
No problems since.
So assuming you have varifocals with a small total lens size that may be the problem!
True. I do have a smaller lense size, as is the fashion these days.
Much as Jayne prefers the look of them, I may have to think about something with a bit more reading area but that is not the real problem.
My computer screens are far enough away that I actually use the mid-range and not reading part of the glasses so its strange getting used to using that part for screens and a different part for books.
Still early days yet. I’ll try and give it at least a few weeks or a month and think about changing then if I haven’t adjusted.
The real challenge is the WSCT and their attachment to the broadsheet format. If the paper is spread on the table I am using one part of the lense for stuff at the top of the page and a different part for stories at the bottom of the page!
hi , i just got my first pair of varifocals yesterday ,what a joke .took mine back next day, and got the next ones up why does,nt the optician explain to you that they are three different prices ,that the cheap one should not even be sold ,that there is only about a quarter of an inch of actual lens going through the center of the glass, than the next higher priced about half inch of actual lens ,so you are not trying to see through virtualy a pin hole of actual lens, i live in uk and the goverment help pay with my glasses,i think these opticions are giving people the cheapy glasses ,and most of them dont realize, if ihad walked in his shop with cash ,he would have introduced me to the better ones ,
I’ve been using varifocals for 4 years now and have no problem with them at all. It took around a week to get used to them (driving and using stairs are the most hazardous) but after a while I started getting a stiff neck. As I sit in front of a PC all day I guess this was due to having to hold my head at a slightly different angle. Following a couple of visits to the Osteopath the neck pain was resolved and I’ve had no further problems.
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At present I’m due for another eye test (should be every 2 years but it’s been 4) and on shopping around I’ve noticed a huge difference in price for replacement varifocals. At Specsavers I originally paid £59 and this has now dropped to £49 although the lenses are said to be much improved. However, at Vision Express I was quoted from £300 to £500!!! Boots quoted me £350.
The difference is supposed to be a wider field of view but at that colossal price difference I would expect to be have 360 degree vision
So, as I say, I’ve had no problems for the last 4 years so I’ll stick with the cheaper versions.
Just picked my first pair up- oddly had no problems at all adjusting to them – probably because I’ve been moving my old glasses up and down my nose like someone in a film playing a victorian gent (if you know what I mean).
The only thing that that is slightly annoying is that they’re not as clear for reading as I’d hoped (since this was the main reason for changing however watching the tele / using the pc seems better – btw if you have problems with a stiff neck looking at the pc try lowering the screen you should be able to see the top of the bezel (ie you should be looking down at it not straight ahead).
I have the same problem with my varifocals. They give me headaches. I dont know whether I am looking through the wrong part of the lense half the time.
Hi Skuds. So, nearly a year on – did you ever get used to varifocals? I’ve preferred them for years and found they soon became second nature. I know my (Norwich) specs maker well, so I got my current pair with the reading segment positioned a lot lower than standard, overall lens depth being just 34mm . Much better! Some ‘heavy users’ of monitors keep single-vision specs alongside the computer solely for screen use, the prescription being calculated for their eye-to-TFT distance.
A mixed experience. I wear them more than I wore my old glasses. but still have some trouble getting them right for reading – wishing I had gone for larger lenses with a bigger reading area now.
I don’t get dizzy or anything, but do quite often leave them off in the evenings. The thing is I only have a very mild prescription so sometimes I forget I am not wearing them until I try to read the credits after a TV show or something like that.
After struggling with my trusty old goggles for more years than I’d admit too I elected to go for Varifocals. Went to local Specsavers store. Nice people, very helpful, good choice of frames (but forget the old 2 for 1 gimmick) and collected my first pair of varifocals a few days later. I am very pleased with the way my new glasses look. Unfortunately I can’t see a thing. After persevering for 5 days I went back to Specsavers and explained my problem. Lots of adjustments and half hour later things have gone from bad to worse. Fortunately Specsavers give you 30 days to get used to them but I am unsure as to whether I ever will. I can’t get used to the blurring, the headaches, and my poor eye muscles trying to cope with not knowing what bit they’re supposed to be looking through nor my poor neck trying to compensate. For those that do want to give them a go – good luck. One piece of advice I would offer to anyone going to Specsavers, do go for the ‘Taylor Made’ lens option. It is very expensive but I am sure will help make all the difference. I went for the ‘Elite’ (the next one down) which are £50 cheaper and I wish I’d specified the top of the range lenses.
I’ve had two attempts at wearing varifocals but they just don’t suit me. I get along just fine with bifocals (for distance and reading) – but then when I’m in the office all day and on the computer a lot of the time I wear a pair of single vision readers (cost me £19.99) which are just perfect! We are all different and one size certainly doesn’t fit all.
Got my first pair of varifocals two days ago. Feel like I am drunk wearing them and a bit annoyed with needing to move my head up and down. Not to sure if they suit people using computers day in day out. Well I am an optimist and hope things are getting better.
I got varifocals earlier this year, but reached the conclusion they weren’t really suitable for intensive computer use, as you look at the screen through the narrow intermediate section of the lenses and thus have to keep moving your head up and down, and crane your neck to see the top of the screen. I have gone back to using my old pair of distance glasses, but next time will consider getting single vision lenses with the intermediate prescription for computer use.
It’s “lens” not “lense”
At first I almost stopped using varifocals because my eye just wouldn’t adapt to it, then I tried with varifocals contacts and I never looked back! Don’t know what’s the reason because AFAIK the technology is similar…
i got my varys today ,i am so disappointed and excuse the pun, disillusioned,i am a taxi driver,there is no way i can be turning my head all the way to right and left and front at every corner i need to turn, my eyes have to be were my head is pointing to focus, you cant just glance useing just the eye left or right in the slightest or they are out of focus,as for reading or on laptop,even more so,,,, i can read something in middle of screen if keep my head perfuctly still .but goes out of focus on both sides ,i have at to put my old faithfulls on to type this,other wise been here all night, screen wobbles.
Started using varies 2 years ago.Strange at first, especially when looking down at a golf ball !!
Went to Asda to pick up my new ones, fed up paying 3-400 pds, waste of time. The short sight is really good but when I look long distance everything is blurred. Went back, re-teasted, still the same. Told to go away and try them for a couple of weeks. People are asking why I am ignoring them, can’t see them that’s why.Going back after Xmas to sort it out once and for all
got my first varys in oct last year, no good whatsoever, i was under the inpression that my local spec maker had sold me cheapies ,even though i paid to have the best, called him all the names ,as you do…i will go in tomorrow and apolagize . cos i have just paid top money at specsavers for taylor made ,and are exactly the same . i think the answer is deeper lens ,cos its the reading part of the lens that is crap,and i need that part of the glasses to be as good as the top part of glasses i thought on specsavers web sight that what it demonstates ,load of crap, will let you all know when i take them back and get deeper lenses ..john
I got mine 3 days ago, and have worn them all day today (Sunday). They’re fine for watching the telly, and jobs where you don’t move your head much, but it all starts swimming at the edges with too much movement. Everyone who I’ve spoken to who has them says it takes a week or two to get used to them, then they’re great, so I’m persevering. Actually driving isn’t too bad. I think one’s brain has to adjust…….
Been wearing varifocals for the last 5 years, love ‘em! Initially it’s a question of the correct size of lens & your brain getting used to automatically placing your eye in the correct portion of that lens for distance, midrange or close work, you have to persevere. It took me about a week before I became comfortable with them & no problems since.