A Guide To Your New Varifocal Lenses

How To Use Your New Varifocals

Step one: Put on your new varifocal spectacles (obvs!)

Step two: Look down using the lower part of the lens to read this text. Now look up into the distance and you can also focus clearly. This distance vision and reading ability would be standard vision with bifocal lenses. To see the difference with varifocal lenses extend the card out and move your chin up and down. Notice the smooth transition and ability to focus at all distances. Varifocal lenses enable you to use this progressive area.

Step three: Move the page off to the sides, without turning your head. You may see the print become less sharp. Now point your nose at it and adjust your chin, see how the print glides into focus? Just remember that the proper usage of varifocals involves nose and chin movement. To view an object, simply point your nose at it and adjust your chin until it comes into focus, this will become an automatic movement in due course.

Top Tips To Adapting To Your New Varifocals

• To aid adaption to varifocal lenses, we suggest that you try and wear your glasses as much as you can. Continuously taking glasses on and off and switching between old and new glasses makes it difficult to adapt to a new prescription and lens design.

• Wherever possible, put your new glasses on first thing in the morning and try and keep them on all day. We recommend that you don’t drive, use machinery etc. until you are comfortable walking around in your new glasses. Care should also be taken with stairs and edges of pavements.

• You may wish to remove your varifocal glasses until you are confident in judging distances. Varifocals are general-purpose glasses and have limitations. For specific tasks such as computer work, varifocals are unlikely to give you clear, comfortable vision and may cause head and neck pain as a result of your head being held in an abnormal position for long periods of time. Task-specific lens designs are available for computer vision and these should be used for computer and close vision tasks.

How Long Does it Take To Get Used To Varifocals?

Whether you have worn varifocals before or not, getting a new pair will mean that there will be a short period of time needed to get used to them. Generally, we advise allowing 2-4 weeks to be fully comfortable with your new varifocal lenses, but if you are still adjusting to your glasses after 4 weeks, please contact us for further advice.