bifocals

[DebW]

I don't really like the progressives. I have to work to find the focus point when I'm reading, and like Deb, walking down stairs is a challenge. I'm really worried about them hiking. My plan is to use my regular (non-progressive, just distance) sunglasses for hiking and biking.

I wear my bifocals for hiking now without a problem (except a sore neck on a long steep downhill). These are things you get used to if you do them consistently. My non-progressive lenses have a large focus area for reading. They are fine for biking (couldn't read the bike computer without them).

[bambu101]

I have tri-focals after wearing contacts for years and then needing reading glasses and finally my eyes were just too dry for contacts any more.

These were made up to have a larger middle distance piece for computer work, which I do most of the day. I also had a separate pair of just reading glasses made up, which I almost never wear.

You do get used to bifoclas and trifocals, and the best advice I can offer is to point your nose in the direction you want to look.

Good luck!

[divingbiker]

I've worn progressives for about 4 years, and haven't had any problem except on stairs. That's still tricky.

The only issue I've had is that the style lately has been for lenses to be fairly short from top to bottom, and you need a bit deeper lens for the progressives. So the most stylish glasses aren't an option, which isn't a problem for me since I'm not stylish anyway, but the selection of frames can be pretty small.

[Tuckervill]

I have progressive lenses in my glasses and they work great. I do have to adjust to them after I have been wearing my contacts for a while. But after an hour, I can ride my bike and go downstairs just fine. I do have trouble with balance work at the gym at first.

When I don't wear my glasses, I use bifocal-monovision contacts. Both my contacts are bifocal, but one is for reading and one is for distance. The bifocal part gives me middle distance, which I didn't have before with just monovision.

I do not consider my contacts to work as good as my glasses, and some people can't adjust to monovision, but it works well enough for me. The trade off is to have to wear glasses all the time, and I don't want to do that. I like to be able to sleep and read in any position without glasses. I don't carry a purse, so I can't carry extra prescription sunglasses, and I must wear sunglasses (cataracts are a huge problem in my family and I don't want to develop them).

It's not a perfect set up, but it works for me so far.

Karen

[Crankin]

I wear contacts 99% of the time, with readers over them. Im 56 and started needing the readers when I was maybe 42. My face is teeny teeny and I cannot buy the drugstore ones or even the moderately stylish readers in dept.stores. I go to the optometrist for the readers and use my HSA to pay for new ones every 4-5 years. I buy kids/pre-teen sized frames.
I have progressives as backups and have had them for about 15 years. I did wear them constantly for about a week when I first got them to get used to them, but now I basically wear them when I get into bed at night, when I take the contacts out, or if I am sick, allergies, etc. Most people have never seen me in my progressives. I went through the headaches and the stair thing that first week, but, now I don't notice it. I live in a house with 4 stories, so when I have them on at home, I go up and down stairs a lot. I am a little careful, but so far, so good.
I spent a lot of $ on my progressives, so in the event I have to wear them, they would look nice and be comfortable. However, I really get annoyed when I have to wear glasses all of the time. My nose hurts. My ears hurt, too. Even though I have readers, I constantly take them off and on, so it's different. I would really hesitate to wear progressives riding, but if I had to, I would. One issue is that I would need to get some clip on sun glasses for them (one pair I had came with those). I *always* wear sun glasses when I go outside, all year round. Maybe it comes from living in the Sun Belt for a long time, but I can't stand not having the sunglasses on. Wearing contacts, I just buy regular cycling sunglasses. If I am riding alone, I will bring my readers with me, in case I have to change a tube, but I can do it without them.
I have considered the bifocal contacts, but I haven't heard much good about the monovision kind. My DH's optometrist suggested the new kind that have both near and far vision in both contacts, but I think my far vision might be compromised; I am super nearsighted and also have an uncorrected astigmatism with my contacts, which is corrected with the progressives and readers. I already have really bad, I mean really bad, depth perception, so I am sort of keeping things the way they are.
I do know people that wear progressives riding and don't seem to be bothered at all.

[redrhodie]

Thanks for all the ideas. I'm glad I waited to get the bifocals. It sounds like there are issues with them I wouldn't like.

I may just opt for the looking over the top of my glasses suggestion while I can still see well without magnification. Then, when my eyes get worse, either the goggles Oakleaf linked to, or another clip-on type I found in a tool catalog.

Yes, Badger, aging is fun! (isn't that what you said? )

[blackhillsbiker]

I have lined bifocals with the focal distance of my computer screen at work. The bifocal part goes up as high as they'll go so I don't have to crane my neck to see the screen. I don't care for them to walk around in because the line is right in the middle of my vision, but at least now I can look up and see who is entering the room. I have lined bifocals with a little shorter focal distance for normal wear. I tried progressives but they made me really nauseous. I can't manage to ride my bike with them. I get really frustrated because I went for 43 years without needing glasses at all. DH finds this amusing since he has been wearing glasses since kindergarten. I hate getting old!

Deb