I didn’t find that I suffered from presbyopia until one day I had trouble in seeing things on the road. I thought the signs should be of lager size at first, but my sister told me that she could say the letters clearly and after comparing what signs we could and could not see, I realized that aging eyes finally caught me up and then I would live in a whole new world.
I needed glasses to help me get a clear vision, however, I was totally ignorance of what kind of glasses I should buy. Therefore, I searched concerned information on the Internet. There are generally three kinds of glasses that are especially for aging eyes: bifocal glasses, trifocal glasses and progressive glasses. It is recorded on the site that compared with the other two, progressive glasses, characterised by a gradient of increasing lens power, are of best performance, because they are able to provide a more natural correction of presbyopia. Therefore, I decided to buy a pair of progressive glasses.
At the beginning, I thought it was a simple thing that I just told the retailer what I needed and s/he, after making a prescription, gave me the right glasses to me. However, the optician told me that things were more complicated. Firstly, I have to go to a big professional optical glasses where high and new technology is provided, for progressive glasses require accurate prescription and lots of medium and small-sized glass shops can’t afford much investment in the technology. Secondly, I have to select proper lenses from regular plastic and glass to photochromic lenses. Thirdly, I have to select certain type of progressive glasses, for some are made especially for computer which have a wider intermediate zone while some are for daily use which have a larger reading portion. Fourthly, I may need a short adaptation period typically lasting a few minutes to a few days when I am fitted with my first pair of progressive lenses, because blending lens power in progressive lenses, while letting me see clearly at all distances, causes minor aberrations in the peripheral part of the lenses.
According to the optician, I get to know that designers have made progress in reducing peripheral aberrations, so most first-time wearers will notice no problems at all. But if one does have a problem, s/he is able to make a slight head movement to look more directly at objects, thus symptom would relieve. I also get to know that, progressive glasses were originally large, for all powers of progressive lenses had to fit within a pair of eyeglasses. It is with the introduction of short corridor that contributes to the diminishing of the size. Thanks to it, we can wear progressive eyeglasses that are smaller and more fashionable today.
I suggest, no matter you are the first to purchase prescription or not, you’d better to consult with a professional optician. He is believed to recommend a pair of specific glasses for your according to your eye condition.