Reading Glasses

I started needing them over the past few years (I'm 48). Yes, I've had to increase the strength too. I started off with just a .75, went to 1.00, then 1.5, now I seem to have leveled off at using a 2 for the computer, and a 3 for close up art stuff. I've been using the 2s now for a year and I'm still fine. (thankfully)

Mark,
there is no irony. You are near-sighted...which means you probabldo not need glasses for close up. Your prescription is for distance. You can't train your eyes to see close up when your contacts are scripted for distance...that's why people wear bifocals. It's time for bifocal lenses is all.
I wore contacts from age 10.....as an adult, I couldn't make sense of wearing contacts to not need glasses, but then still needing glasses to be able to read......so I gave up the contacts and put on glasses to drive and watch t.v.
voila

When I was 39, I went to renew my drivers license and when asked to read the smallest line I could read, the woman finally asked me, "What the heck are you reading?" I had to go get glasses. Now I find I need a new prescription, but I keep putting it off. Eventually I'm going to need a pair of glasses to help me find my glasses when I take them off in unusual spots.

It sounds as though you could do with distance glasses instead of contacts! Then you could look over them or take them off for reading. If that isn't an option - and I'm sure you want to keep the contacts - you need to get the reading glasses.

I've found that my eyes seems weaker after using reading glasses too, so I try to avoid them whenever possible.

My remedy is to taking a break from what I'm trying to focus on and exercising my eyes for a couple of minutes. For example: slowly rolling my eyes in large circles cw and ccw - multiple repetitions in each direction; looking at something like a wall that is about 8 feet away and having my eyes track a figure 8 pattern on the wall - cw and ccw; slow up and down or side to side movements; and other things like that - all slow and making sure my eyes are focusing at every step. In most cases when I look back to whatever I took a break from, my vision has improved enough for me to be able to read what I couldn't only moments before. FYI, I had done a search for eye exercises and these were some of the ones that I found. In my case they work most of the time unless the print is super fine. You might give something like this a try. Good luck!

At 50 I think you could be going through a period of change.

[duplicate]

I heard EVERYBODY over 50 has some kind of vision problem. We weren't meant to use our eyes this long!

Pretty much the day I turned 40 I needed reading glasses. From about age 10 I had trouble with distance vision.

I used my contact and then reading glasses. I went to the eye doctor a few months ago and updated my "backup" distance glasses. I also got the no line bifocals. I barely wear my contacts anymore. The glasses are a lot more natural than contacts/reading glasses were. I can see where I am looking no matter where I am looking.

I never thought I would give up contacts (I do wear them occasionally) but I have grown accustomed to the new glasses.

Mark, I have needed reading glasses for the past couple years now and don't turn 50 for 1 more month (I am holding on to 49 every little second). I too wear contacts for distance and first noted it when I had the contacts in. I can not read or do any painting without having reading glasses if my contacts are in. I can do these things without my contacts in however, I do have to hold things closer peering out from underneath my glasses otherwise things have to be held at a distance. When I started needing the reading glasses it was a 1 and I have since moved on to a 1.5, not as dramatic of a swing as you have had. It is hardest for me at work where I sit at a desk in front of a computer for 5 hours. Going back and forth between the computer screen and reading any paperwork can get real bothersome sometimes. The ol' reading glasses on the end of my nose is a real common site.

My eye doctor told me there is nothing we can do about it, it is a natural progression of our aging eyes. Sucks I know. The eye exercises work for short term visual clarity but do not change the aging process of the eye. It is a good practice though and helps if you can't find any glasses lying around.

Wait till you get to your seventies... you'll want to hire a reader...

I hear you, Mark! Wear glasses for close-up & for driving/watching TV. Yikes. Double [vision] trouble, since I am both farsighted & need reading glasses! They say the middle ground is getting smaller as I age, too. Have never worn contacts, just glasses, and, yep, that prescription gets stronger every time. Hate that, which is why I wait several years in-between eye exams! Too expen$ive, as well, especially when your insurance plan doesn't cover vision! I get a separate pair for each, one for reading/computer work & the other for everything else. I mean, I can see without glasses far away, but that commercial 'you should see what you've been missing' pertains to me! Lol. Good luck!

Yea, I went through the same thing, but I started having trouble when I was about 38. By the time I was 40 I was wearing bifocals, but I still prefer a cheap set of cheaters for just reading or using the computer. I haven't had to get stronger reading glasses though. I've been at about 1.25/1.50 since I started needing reading assistance.

All that said, I've been near sighted since I was about 12. I never had trouble reading with my distance glasses on until my late 30s. Then I found myself taking off my distance glasses to read stuff. My eye doctor told me that's because as you get older your lens hardens making it harder to refocus while the distance glasses were on. Your eyes also change shape as you get older, which is what causes the need for reading correction. The answer for me was the bi-focals. I wear no-lines, but it took me nearly a month to get used to them. They are indispensable now. I'm over 50 so it's been quite a few years that I've been wearing them.

Since you wear contacts one option you might want to check into is one contact for one eye, and in the other eye, one for reading. Yes, its sounds weird, but my wife did that for a while and it worked great for her. I know others that do the same thing.

My aunt did the one eye for up close and one for distance thing with her contacts for years. I could never get the hang of contacts in the first place... Anyway, the dual eye thing sounds crazy but it does work. Your brain apparently learns which eye to use for which task.

I have worn glasses every since the third grade. At first I only needed them to see the board at school but after a few years I hit the point where it was pretty much first thing in the morning until bed. On top of being near-sighted, I have a pretty "good" astigmatism to boot. So even if I was able to find glasses at the drug store capable of correcting distances, they wouldn't correct the blurriness from the astigmatism, so I've never known the joy of standing at the pharmacy trying on reading glasses. My Mom has been able to wear those types for years. Lucky her!

Last year I hit the point where regular glasses were helping distance but not up close and got progressive lenses. I know they work for some people but they were a nightmare for me. I was basically never looking through the right part of the lens. Every time I tried to focus on something I was consciously having to move my head around trying to find that sweet spot. I don't think I will ever wear those again. After a month, I broke down and got two pairs of glasses, one for close up, one for distance. I don't get the impression most people have that problem but I know from poking around on the net that there are plenty of people like me who just cannot seem to adapt to having to look through a particular part of the glasses to see near versus far. That was how I found my way to the compromise of two pair.

Mark
tisdaleart.com

When I was 44, glasses weren't in my future - then I turned 45.

Lol, Roy! That was about the time I got my first pair of readers. My younger sister used to brag all the time about not ever needing to wear glasses, ever. Now, she has 3 or 4 pairs sitting around in every room of her house, for watching the tele, computer work & reading. I could tell her, 'told you so', but I won't.

I'll be 50 in few months but I am in state of denial about needing glasses. I only need them for small stuff and detail work on my paintings.
I try to avoid them like the plague, but I find the need to use them when I am at the store (I read every single nutritional label).

I think it is part of the aging process and that part I do not like but I have to deal with it. On the other hand I have been very fortunate all my life because I never needed them prior to reaching my late 40's.

I guess I'm one of the lucky ones that I haven't needed them until now. I may try the bifocal contacts but not sure how that works. I'm a raging hypochondriac too, getting old is gonna be rough for me LOL. Some stupid commercial was on the other night about the signs of Alzheimer's. One of them is misplacing things in odd places. The wife is looking for her keys and then the husband opens the fridge and his face gets all sad...her keys are in the fridge. Well guess where I found my keys the other day....in the fridge. Granted I've been under a lot of stress lately what with losing my mother last year and now selling her house and figuring out where I want to go so I guess I have an excuse. I tend to get absent minded when under stress.

I was in the same boat about 10 years ago (in my 40s). My Dr recommended a monovision correction. It's where one eye gets the normal correction for nearsightedness and the other eye is under-corrected. My left eye is under-corrected, so I can see well up close in my left eye, while my right eye does better with distances. Your brain quickly learns which eye to trust, throwing out the blurry image. I can read a book without bifocals, and I can read street signs with no problem. It took about two weeks for me to adjust.

Here's an article on monovision:
http://www.allaboutvision.com/contacts/monovision.htm

I did the same as Julia and it works well for me too. I've worn contracts since I was 19 so no adjustment needed there and I adjusted to the monovision correction right away when I first got it just after I turned 50. I've had one adjustment as my eyes got older and it is still fine. The new eye doctor I had last year suggested bifocal contacts were another possibility but I've been totally happy with the monovision and have no desire to change. I wear my contracts from morning til night and I really don't notice one eyes is weaker than the other with distance vision and I don't think about it when reading close up either. For me it beats always hunting for misplaced reading glasses the way my dad did. He had six pairs- put them everywhere; in every room, in the car, in his pockets, etc and could never find a pair when he needed them.

I couldn't read anymore and ended up with progressives. Takes a while to get used to them but now at least I can read (with my head tilted just the right way).

All artists are very hard on their eyes. Overuse causes a lot of stress on the eyes and problems in the latter part of life. Go easy on your eyes, take breaks and vits for your eyes. Ease your eye strain. I have the same problem as you.

Appt. is next week - & then I will be able to see again for awhile !

Yeah Ed - what's up with that ? I have the same thing, tilt my head to the side to read better with my Progressives.
& you can't just read by allowing your eyes to go from Left to Right... you must turn your head to see properly through the bifocals..
They make me very clutzy.


ETA - Mark Tisdale - that is my problem. & I made the mistake of getting cute little Sarah Palin type glasses with progressives. So now I have 3 lines of vision. no wonder I am clutzy.

Astigmatism - 1 eye vertical, 1 eye horizontal.