If roadsigns are better without them, take them off to drive.

At 42, your first pair of reading glasses should make things blurry far away
and it doesn't normally clear up.

If roadsigns aren't blurry, try a drugstore +175 for trimming your
fingernails.

(a patient once responded "I beg your pardon I don't DO my own nails.")

-MT

Single vision is as opposed to bi-focals or progressives (no-line bifocals).

No, virtually everyone at your age starts to develop presbyopia, which means
you need more "plus" correction  up close than you do for distance vision.
Lens come in plus or minus diopter correction, depending on whether it is
correcting for farsightedness or nearsightedness respectively.

Assuming your Rx is correct, and you never needed correction up until now,
you probably only need them for reading (unless you are an alien from
another planet and aren't developing presbyopia like everyone else your
age).

If you can't see clearly with the glasses at a distance, and you can see
clearly at distance without them, then don't wear them while viewing at
distance. Good vision is primarily up to you, not up to the OD.

However, just in case you don't really have single vision lenses, you should
post your exact Rx in this forum for review (in case want decent advice). If
you don't have it, got back to your OD and ask for a written copy of your Rx
(you are entitled to it by Federal law). Also, ask your optician what brand,
model, lens material of your lenses and post it here.

It is possible (if the doc says wear them all the time) that you have
progressives with plano (no correction) power for distance vision area at
the top of the lens, and a plus correction for the reading area at the
bottom of the lens. That is the one situation where I can see why he would
tell you to wear them all the time. Progressive are notorious for having
distortion caused by improper fitting (and to some extent the very nature of
a progressive lens), but in most cases you will get used to it over time
(unless the fitting is just plain wrong).

There is one other explanation that I can think of, and that is your
correction that is needed is the same for distance and reading, but there is
some distortion in your distance vision caused by an aspheric lens that is
not centered properly on your pupils, or other fitting problem with your
lenses that is causing distortion in your distance viewing. This seems
unlikely if you never needed glasses before and then at age 42 now need them
for reading.

In article
<b0859efb-d78b-4132-9cbc-122f39ecacbd@o2g2000yqd.googlegroups.com>,

I start by saying I am not a medical or vision professional. It is
merely a hobby. :=)

As you describe it, you see well enough at a distance to not need
glasses for that purpose. If you did not use a computer, you would only
require the glasses for reading. So far, it seems that no pro has
suggested the use of bifocals. If I were you, knowing what I know now, I
would get bifocals with zero power (effectively no) lens for the main or
distance vision portion with an add for reading. That add would probably
be about 3 diopters. Check with your OD. That would enable you to retain
your old vision for driving and allow you to read books and the like.
The source of your current problem appears to be that you can no longer
distort your crystalline lens to focus at reading distance.

That does not solve the computer seeing problem. What I did was to get
bifocals for viewing my computer and leaving them at the computer. Then
as Mike Tyner suggested. buy drug store reading glasses for viewing your
computer. I you wish to do it for yourself, measure the distance from
your eye to the computer in meters when you are in your desired computer
location. Find the reciprocal of that distance. The lenses you buy
should match that value. I would expect that to be between 1.5 and 2.5.
If your OD is cooperative, that would help.

My add for the bifocals was set so that I could look at objects closer
than my normal reading distance.

Bill

Michael <msurtees@gmail.com> wrote in news:b0859efb-d78b-4132-9cbc-
122f39ecacbd@o2g2000yqd.googlegroups.com:

I hate wearing glasses while driving, especially at night. Glare reflects
off of the lenses and causes distractions. Besides, the rims always
interfere with a certain perimeter of peripheral vision.

This might explain you situation.

http://www.eyeweb.org/optics.htm
           
Scroll down to "Latent hyperopia".

Most folks will wear the glasses "as needed" to reduce fatigue and/or improve
contrast and visual acuity. The lag in focus on the distance gaze might go away
with intermittent use, and would most likely be eliminated if the glasses are
worn full time.

Hope this helps

Robert Martellaro
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Optician/Owner
Roberts Optical
Wauwatosa Wi.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"Science is a way of trying not to fool yourself."
- Richard Feynman

your observations are totally as would be expected for an early
presbyope or early hyperope.  just use the glasses when you are doing
near tasks (reading, computer, etc) and forget about them otherwise.
as you get older you may find that they don't adversely affect your
distance vision at all when you first put them on.  you are
experiencing normal physiological changes in the lens and ciliary
muscle portions of your eye and it occurs to ALL humans at around your
age.  read about presbyopia.

I think that you are hyperopic and your eye doc prescribed your
distance correction to be used as readers.

People who are hyperopic can see clearly at distance by flexing a
muscle inside the eye that controls the lens.  This is the muscle that
is also used to focus at near.  At about age 38 to 45, the lens loses
it's flexability and it becomes harder to read.  At age 42, you likely
have enough flex left to clear your distance vision without glasses
but not at near, in efffect you "use up" your near flex room to clear
the distance.  By wearing glasses to correct the distance vision, you
then free up flex to clear near.

Since you have been flexing that lens for distance for the past 42
years, you continue to do so even with the glasses which is why the TV
is blurry with glasses.  As you look at it, your visual system relaxes
and the TV becomes clear.

At this point you can suit yourself, wear the glasses just for near or
wear all the time.  In another year or two you will find that you need
them for distance.  This is not the glasses making things worse, just
the normal age related change that would occur whether glasses are
worn or not.

Judy