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Medical Forum / General / Vision / November 2006How to describe need for bifocal eyeglasses with lower lense focus at 6 to 10 feet
elderly sister has new prescription for standard bifocal glasses long distance on top, reading on bottom. She needs to see her feet and sidewalk just in front of her. What do I ask the eyeglass store to do to adjust the lower lenses? She already has long distance, computer glasses, and reading eyeglasses. Thanks DLM Why is she getting bifocals? No bifocals will allow her to see the ground in front of her clearly without her lowering her head to look over the reading part, that WILL be out of focus unless she is 3 ft tall. IOW she should wear her long glasses for walking. w.stacy, o.d. > elderly sister has new prescription for standard bifocal glasses long > distance on top, reading on bottom. [quoted text clipped - 7 lines] > Thanks > DLM > She needs to see her feet and sidewalk just in front of her. What do I > ask the eyeglass store to do to adjust the lower lenses? The doctor might adjust the bifocal power to a lower value in order that the sidewalk wouldn't be quite so blurry (and fine print not so good), but the optician/store are not allowed to do this. The most reasonable thing the optician might do is to place a bifocal low in the frame, so she "sees over" the blur more easily. Of course, her "long distance" glasses should just fine if she doesn't need to read while walking. -MT > > She needs to see her feet and sidewalk just in front of her. What do I > > ask the eyeglass store to do to adjust the lower lenses? > but the optician/store are not allowed to do this. >From personal experince that would be news to some of the eyeglass stores in my town. William Stacy, O.D. says "No bifocals will allow her to see the ground in front of her clearly without her lowering her head to look over the reading part, that WILL be out of focus unless she is 3 ft tall. " Give me a break. I know that if the bottom lenses are for reading then they focus at a very short distance. She is considering bifocals that is the presciption the doctor gave her. I know when I get glasses the doctor takes viewing distance in to consideration in the top lenses. I know it makes a difference if they are for infinite distances or if I want medium distances. Do long distance lenses focus from ten feet to infinity equally well? My sister seems to be able to see reasonably OK with the LD lenses except when she looks down towards her feet and then she as trouble seeing curbs and sidewalk details. Thus my question about bifocals with bottom lenses for 6 to 10 feet. She has bifocals for woking on her computer. The top lenses are set for viewing a screen three of four feet away and the bottom lenses are better for reading text about a foot away. Stacy seems to imply all bi-focal glasses are LD and reading. > The most reasonable thing the optician might do is to place a bifocal low in > the frame, so she "sees over" the blur more easily. That's a good idea. I wear bifocals, I have some with mid line large reading lenses and a pair with small reading lenses set very low for watching TV in a recliner and still being able to read a newpaper or book. > > Of course, her "long distance" glasses should just fine if she doesn't need > to read while walking. At eightfive she's needs all the help she can get focusing on walking (never mind reading and walking <big grin>). > I know when I get glasses the doctor takes viewing distance in to > consideration in the top lenses. I know it makes a difference if they > are for infinite distances or if I want medium distances. Mostly that's an exception - as a rule the top lenses are made for infinity and it's the reading lens that's carefully adjusted for working distance. > Do long distance lenses focus from ten feet to infinity equally well? Pretty much, yes. > My sister seems to be able to see reasonably OK with the LD lenses > except when she looks down towards her feet and then she as trouble > seeing curbs and sidewalk details. Thus my question about bifocals with > bottom lenses for 6 to 10 feet. Those would be exceptionally weak bifocals. The weakest available are usually 0.75, meaning they would focus (for your sister) at about 1.3 meters or 4 feet, and make the ground blurry if she's over 4 feet tall. At the same time, 0.75 bifocals would be worthless for reading. > Stacy seems to imply all bi-focal glasses are LD and reading. Most of them are. > At eightfive she's needs all the help she can get focusing on walking > (never mind reading and walking <big grin>). She'll see the ground as well, or better, with her LD lenses than with a bifocal. -MT >William Stacy, O.D. says "No bifocals will allow her to see the >ground in front of her clearly without her lowering her head to look [quoted text clipped - 3 lines] >Give me a break. I know that if the bottom lenses are for reading then >they focus at a very short distance. The only "break" will be your sister's bones when she falls. Dr. Stacy knows better than to Rx bifocals, without good reason, to an 86 year old who has worn separates for many decades. That's why he recommended that she wear her distance glasses when walking. Now, if she has a problem negotiating the stairs with her distance glasses, the problem may be the Rx or lens positioning, probably the latter. The optician should check that there is sufficient panto (lens tilt), typically insufficient for a comfortable perspective when looking down towards the floor or steps. If she wants bifocals so that she can read and watch TV without having to constantly switch glasses that would be fine, although almost all of my elderly clients who wear separates find the line extremely uncomfortable, and would rather switch between distance and near glasses. Hope this helps, Robert Martellaro ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Optician/Owner Roberts Optical Wauwatosa Wi. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ "An expert is a person who has made all the mistakes that can be made in a very narrow field." - Niels Bohr Hi, you guys, I am going to share a good thing to you! I think this information may help you. I bought a pair of eyeglasses online on eyebuydirect.com last week. The glasses I ordered is frameless plastic, which looks cool, and I'm quite satisfied with the high quality with the low price (the second one just cost me $15.95, complete with my prescription). The shipping is quick too (got mine in 12 days). After that, they gave me a coupon code to encourage me to buy more. With this code, I can buy any eyeglasses sale with 5% off! It's cool and the price will be lower. But I'm not going to buy another one in this year, because I had bought 3 pairs within 2 month on this site (two for me, another for my father), but I hope this code will be useful to you! The coupon code is "glasses923". Their website is www.eyebuydirect.com |
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