Middle age hit quite suddenly in the past couple of years, and whereas close vision had previous been a strong quality of my eyes, now that's gone. So I struggle with small print. And in particularly I have a book want to read, but which has ridiculously tiny print. So I'm looking for an aid, like rectangular magnifying glass or something.
Any recommendations?
16 comments:
Here's one idea: download a pirated PDF copy of the book through some torrent tracker and read on your Kindle.
Websites for sight impaired probably have pointers to some inventive products in this field.
Well, that's probably Presbyopia, you should check with an eye doctor. I'd say what you need is reading glasses!
I'll probably get them, though since I have astigmatism, I need a full eye exam.
Last year I actually got varifocals, the most expensive kind. But they barely help, partly because the sharpest area does not cover the whole field of vision, it is hour-glass shaped, so you don't tend to see a whole book page sharp at the same time.
If you are not actually already wearing glasses, I found something nice recently: here in Germany you can get reading glasses that are ONLY magnificators. I got the stringes one at 3.5x, but they are almost too much. One issue that these do have is that they reduce the field of vision...
(I use glasses for my astigmatism.)
I thought the definition of reading glasses was that they are magnifiers?
You are not alone. I read somewhere that presbyopia hits 85% of the population between the ages of 41 and 43 (a few years later if you have myopia).
I was blessed with perfect vision most of my life, but for the past 4~5 years, I've been using reading glasses (+1.0 diop, plastic lenses in half-frames) I bought in a drugstore for ~20$, and they are just great. I have been trying to find another pair of similar quality since, to no avail. Must have been lucky the first time around.
I don't recall ever meeting anyone who liked varifocals, to the point that those almost seem like a scam.
"I read somewhere that presbyopia hits 85% of the population between the ages of 41 and 43"
That's amazing.
I was actually 43.
Yeah, me too. 41.
I've always had excellent vision -- the US Air Force found out and wouldn't leave me alone for fighter pilot recruitment!
One thing you need to recognize, is that different eye-doctors and different levels of training among eye professionals can lead to a variety of assumptions about the distance you might be working on something. Just as an example, the first eye-glasses prescription I got, for (what Eolake has referred to as) varifocals, included a "reading" zone that was 7 to 9 inches from the eye. Seemed reasonable at the time, but then when I got home with them I found out that this would mean holding the book up to my face MUCH closer than it had ever been in my life. I prefer reading "on the table," which means 14 to 20 inches away. The eye people were happy to rearrange, but there would have been no way for me to have known their assumptions without a detailed six-hour interview with them, about all the particulars.
In the long run, you need to take someone with you who has lived through the grief of dealing with eye-glasses, and with the transition to reading glasses. For me, it made a wonderful difference, and now I'm almost as good looking as you are in your picture. :)
Here in the USA, we have approximately three levels of eye professional. We have Ophthalmologists, who are full medical doctors with M.D. degrees who simply specialize in eyes instead of in (for example) cancer or pediatrics or brain surgery. They have all the privileges. Then we have, a rung down, Optometrists, who are only allowed to deal with eye problems that are related strictly to vision. Generally they work in an Ophthalmologist's office, or in a group of other Optometrists, dispensing eye-glasses prescriptions all day. They should know how to recognize eye problems in order to send you to an Ophthalmologist. Then we have, a final rung down, Opticians. These people have taken a mildly rigorous training program from a manufacturer of lenses and eye-glasses. They work at a store-front and can do a lot of what an Optician can do, but have no real medical training aside from the knowledge of how to be sanitary with other people.
These varying ranges of training and ability -- and of course with any given group of individuals, there's further variation even in a given eye profession -- lead to a wide range of services (and accuracy in service) available.
I'd suggest getting a vision prescription from a well reputed Ophthalmologist's office, where an Ophthalmologist himself or herself takes some of your readings, and where an expert staff of Optometrists or of Ophthalmologist's assistants takes care of the details. Don't let an Optician do any more than just make the lenses. And then, take the new glasses back to your Ophthalmologist for double-checking against the prescription. And THEN, figure out if the distance-ranges assumed into them are appropriate.
Also, get a glaucoma test. Especially with your astigmatism, there's major risk of blindness without the test, but easy prevention with it.
Thanks for the tips. I did not know astigmatism increased that risk.
My last optician was smart, gave me some text and asked me to hold it at my usual reading distance, to see what that distance is.
"That's amazing. I was actually 43."
Warranty expires at 40... ;-)
Hehehe.
Explains a lot.
I have a pretty bad astigmatism and have worn glasses since age 11. When I was about 36, my eye doctor said I needed a new prescription because I was struggling to read books and work on the computer. He actually sat me down at the computer and had me hold a magazine as if reading and determined that one pair of glasses (bifocals, etc.) would probably not work for me and gave me a separate pair of glasses to use while reading or working on the computer. It can be a pain, but no different than my having a separate pair of prescription sunglasses. I carry the reading glasses with me to work and put them on the desk right away so that I remember to change over to them instead of straining to see the computer screen and going home with a headache.
Thank you very much.
As Damien said. Nothing to add, really. Except that you'll probably need fixed focals for reading.
And then, switching between two pairs, you'll do like my mom, and start to always be searching for the one you distractedly misplaced.
:-)
"I thought the definition of reading glasses was that they are magnifiers?"
If you have astigmatism, your reading glasses will have to be adapted to your eyes. And therefore more than "simply" magnifiers.
"presbyopia hits 85% of the population between the ages of 41 and 43"
Well, the life expectancy of our species in prehistoric times wasn't much more than that, so we never adapted to avoiding this. Same with menopause in women, I guess. Originally, it didn't even occur! One would usually be dead before that time. Expiration date would catch up with our yogurt...
"I've always had excellent vision -- the US Air Force found out and wouldn't leave me alone for fighter pilot recruitment!"
Since R.A.F. seems to have missed this one, I won't!
[Vague comment of Final Identity suffering from chronic mythomania, sprinkled with some nastiness for flavor.]
;-)
"now I'm almost as good looking as you are in your picture."
See comment above.
Hey, I'm good at that flaming business! Maybe I could get rich with that?
Doctors don't make a lot of money in Lebanon these days. Too much poverty in the general population. (I'm not even going to mention the chronic unemployment among dentists!)
"My last optician was smart, gave me some text and asked me to hold it at my usual reading distance, to see what that distance is."
Some of the best Medicine is done in the simplest ways. :-)
Funny thing, that: Epona being the name of the gallic goddess of horses, I didn't imagine her with glasses since age 11. More like one of those classic Hollywood peplum actresses in the Sixties, à la Liz Taylor, riding a stallion in the amazon posture.
P.S.: So, what did the tiny print say, exactly? Did you sign, or not?
Curses, I'm too late!
I knew I shouldn't have taken that assignment as speech-writer for the Iranian government. Drat, and double drat!
Next time, Mr Bond. Next time...
"If you have astigmatism, your reading glasses will have to be adapted to your eyes. And therefore more than "simply" magnifiers."
Duh.
But I don't think Fruitbat was talking about my specific prescription.
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