Wednesday, June 18, 2008

Intermediate glasses

Man, I've bought a lot of eyeglasses in the past couple of years. (Especially when you consider that my dealer sells two pairs "for the price of one" and you don't get it cheaper if you only want one pair (strange practice).)

Middle age hit me like a ton of chicks, and I started having problems with tiny text. So excitedly I went to my opticians last year and got varifocals. Sadly it seems that varifocals have the problem that the view is not really sharp when you look even a little bit to the side, so they are not very good for reading, the whole page/line is never sharp at once.

So last month I got proper reading glasses. And they are great for reading books with small print.

But they are not good for computer use, because the view is blurred beyond about 50 centimeters, and since I use a 30-inch screen, I use it at 70-80 centimeters.

So back to my opticians I went, and asked if there was such a thing as glasses for that distance. It turns out it's a common thing, they call it "intermediate" glasses.

So I got those glasses today, and as it happens, they are great. Not only are they perfect for the intermediate distance, but I can even see near-perfectly at the furthest distances (over 20 meters). And not only that, they work well for 99% of my reading.

So now I have glasses great for computer use, and they work great for almost anything I have need for, so I don't need to change glasses around.

You'd think this would be a good solution for many people, and that the opticians would use it often. Of course you could be cynical and say that I've used much more money at their place because they don't, but I generally find that the people you deal with in the world usually want to sell you the best product so you're happy the first time.

Anyway, just a little tip for ya, if you've reached the "trombone playing" reading age (you know, when you move a page in and out several times trying to find a good reading distance).

3 comments:

Monsieur Beep! said...

Welcome to the "100Minus"-club!

Please not I'm not saying "40Plus" (a term which I've adapted for you, 'cos the real term is "50Plus").

Anyway 100Minus insinuates that ALL OF US will one day have to wear eyepieces (lol), which really aint that bad when you consider what else ageing might have in stock for you.

Hey and when you watch some people taking off their glasses you will think "You look better wearing them".

Monsieur Beep! said...

Ah, I've traced back this post - it has become relevant for me too. I'm finding it harder and harder to read text on the screen.
Thanks for the useful information.

Eolake Stobblehouse said...

Thanks for writing, it's nice to know somebody can use the work I put into more specialized posts like this.