Progressive lenses

[emily_in_nc]

I went to progressive lenses at about age 47 or 48 when I could no longer read with my contacts in. I tried several different multi-focal contacts, but none were good enough for both reading and distance. I did continue to use contacts plus reading glasses, and still will on rare occasions when vanity is an issue, but I wear my glasses about 95% of the time because I see a lot better in them. They were quite expensive, not because of my Rx being complicated, but because I got rimless metal Kate Spade frames, high-index polycarbonate lenses with anti-glare and Transitions (turn to sunglasses outdoors). So they ran me (with exam) around $1000! I had vision insurance at the time that covered about half that, and since they are both clear and sunglasses, it isn't quite as awful as it sounds.

What IS awful is that they're less than a year old, and I dropped them into the pool here and cracked one of the lenses, up where it attaches to the bridge of the nose part of the frame. It's just a small crack, and I can still see fine since it's not in the vision area, but eventually, they will probably break completely. Now I notice the other lens is cracking a bit around this same area too. I think it may be the nature of these rimless lenses to be a bit weak in that area. So, I'll need new glasses soon, but without insurance, I am going to have to cut way back on the "fanciness" to be able to afford 'em. I've heard there are mail-order places that will take your Rx and make glasses, and the frames are much less too since there's a huge markup on those in retail chains like the one I went to.

I really like progressives, and they took me almost no time to get used to. The only thing you have to be careful with is going down stairs, especially in low-light situations. I think because neither my distance nor reading Rx is very extreme, it was probably an easier adjustment than for folks who have a very strong Rx in either direction. I also have mild astigmatism.

The thing that's nice about progressives is that they look like single-vision lenses, so there's no line to announce to the world that you are, ahem, of a certain age.

P.S. I am wearing them in my avatar pic to the left.