A flower may look like a flower until you’re wearing a brand new pair of eyeglasses fitted with bifocal or progressive lenses. If you’ve never worn progressive lenses before and you can’t see well just yet, your first instinct may be to run back to the doctor’s office and scream. Before you do, hold off and give yourself 24 to 73 hours to adjust. It can take around three days to really adjust to your new lenses, commonly called multifocal glasses. While some people adjust instantly or within a few hours with minimal need for help, others are not so lucky. If you need help, there’s no point in sitting around aimlessly, here are a few tried-and-trusted methods for adjusting to your brand new multifocal glasses.
First, it’s helpful for you to understand that your bifocal or progressive lenses come with areas that change strength. These specific areas go from distance vision correction to reading correction and may also include an intermediate zone. They tend to blend together seamlessly in progressive lenses but bifocal lenses may be a bit more jumpy given the line of demarcation indicating the bifocal portion of the lens. Either way, you may encounter an “image jump” or “optical jump” – which is the top complaint for most people wearing multifocal glasses. Other common complaints lie in not having enough room for reading or distance vision. If either of those are your complaints, head back to your doctor and be specific on what your needs are – they will likely remake the lenses for you.
If the optical jump is your complaint, there are a few methods that can help minimize the jump and the visual acuity issues that may arise from it. First, wear your glasses all day – don’t take them off unless you are experiencing severe headaches and dizziness. Slight vision problems may occur, like images popping out at you, but by taking off your glasses you are prolonging the time it takes for your eyes to adjust to the lenses. Just like you need to break in new shoes, you may also need to “break in” your new glasses, too.
The next trick is to stare straight ahead through your lenses at an object in the room, then move your head from one side to the other while still looking at the object. Repeat this process several times throughout the day. Do the same thing as you look up and down. Next find an object out of the left corner of your eye – while still looking at the object, move your head up and down and from side-to-side. Repeat this while looking at an object through the right corner of your eye. Practice this movement several times a day to help your eyes get used to the optical jump.
Another trick is to take an object and move it close to you while looking in the bifocal or reading section of your lens – the move it far away. You can choose to look at an object across the room and move towards it and away from it; or hold an object in your hand, the move it closer to you then far away. These motions will help you get used to seeing objects through the bifocal or reading portions of your lenses. Repeat the process a few times during the day.
Another trick for progressive lenses is quite simple: turn your head when looking at an object instead of just turning your eyes. Also, wearing your glasses on the bridge of your nose – close to your face – will help tremendously.
When reading something, like a newspaper or magazine, rather than tilting your head down from the neck in order to read try this: hold your head up straight and look down with your eyes. You’ll be able to see and read without hurting and straining your neck.
Regardless of your lens choice, if you are having severe headaches or eye strain, head back to your doctor. These tips and tricks can help you adjust to your new multifocal glasses but any major problems should be handled by your doctor. If you are still having problems adjusting after three days, please consult with your doctor. Accidents happen and you may have been given a pair of prescription eyeglasses that were made incorrectly or made with the wrong prescription given by your doctor.
Hillary Glaser is a social networking specialist and expert in cross-media promotion, currently working on promoting prescription eyeglasses. She is the Director of Marketing and Special Projects for GlassesUSA – the easiest way to buy glasses online, which now offers free shipping on all US orders with the code FreeShip10.