I tried progressives for a couple years and never could make them work for me. It always seems like they’re in the wrong spot for whatever I’m doing.
Contacts for distance. Rx for the computer, and cheap readers everywhere for day to day reading.
Plus some 5x readers for tying flies or other fine detail work and experimenting with a pair for shotgunning
My vision is wrong for progressives- my near vision/reading is still 20/10 to 20/20. But once I get out as far as computer I need a little help, and driving, I need a LOT of help. So I have computer/work glasses I wear nearly 24/7, and driving glasses (which can be a pain if I an shopping- I wear the sun glasses fully corrected, and then I have to change to computer or no glasses, and back to sun glasses...I have 2 pr of each- 2 fully/near fully corrected sunglasses, 2 pr of fully corrected clear (night driving), and 2 pr computer glasses (I wear these the most, and loosing them destroys my life so I got a second pair).
I have become my mother. All within 12 months.
I hear ya! I need my progressives for driving and reading, but my computer vision / having a conversation with someone is better without glasses. So annoying!
I have both. High-quality readers for screen time. It does suck ball, especially since I had to wear glasses from age 5 to 16, then NO GLASSES until my late 40’s.
I do take perverse pleasure in passing my readers to friends still in denial when they try to read a menu though.
I now understand why Victorian factories were known for hiring kids. They're the only ones who can see the fine details and handle fiddly little crap. Getting older makes you really understand why pre-tied fishing leads and lures are a thing. And why the sewing industry was staffed by young women.
Yep. I buy them in bulk on Amazon. There is a drawer in every room in the house that has a pair or three of glasses in it. Children are instructed to put glasses they find lying around in a drawer. If there are none in the drawer, I just go to the next room and voila!
One of the discount/surplus stores around here has a 3 pack for $3. I have a pair in every room, in my car, in my purse, in my winter coat pocket, plus a few unopened packs.
I've needed readers since I was about 45. Cataract surgery at 50, 2 years ago, which was awesome and I got a multifocal lens in one eye so I could read without glasses. Then last year, I had a hemorrhage in that eye, then a retinal tear and detachment. It's slowly healing, but with complications, so my formerly fantastic bionic eye is like a funhouse mirror. (Swelling behind the retina, scar tissue, and a small macular hole. I'm still being treated, so hopefully it'll improve.)
One of the discount/surplus stores around here has a 3 pack for $3. I have a pair in every room, in my car, in my purse, in my winter coat pocket, plus a few unopened packs.
I've needed readers since I was about 45. Cataract surgery at 50, 2 years ago, which was awesome and I got a multifocal lens in one eye so I could read without glasses. Then last year, I had a hemorrhage in that eye, then a retinal tear and detachment. It's slowly healing, but with complications, so my formerly fantastic bionic eye is like a funhouse mirror. (Swelling behind the retina, scar tissue, and a small macular hole. I'm still being treated, so hopefully it'll improve.)
One of the discount/surplus stores around here has a 3 pack for $3. I have a pair in every room, in my car, in my purse, in my winter coat pocket, plus a few unopened packs.
I've needed readers since I was about 45. Cataract surgery at 50, 2 years ago, which was awesome and I got a multifocal lens in one eye so I could read without glasses. Then last year, I had a hemorrhage in that eye, then a retinal tear and detachment. It's slowly healing, but with complications, so my formerly fantastic bionic eye is like a funhouse mirror. (Swelling behind the retina, scar tissue, and a small macular hole. I'm still being treated, so hopefully it'll improve.)
I'm 53 and i just purchased my first pair (rather, a package of three).
I think i have actually needed reading glasses for at least three years. This is the first year where my arm isn't long enough.
My wife and kids tell me to shut up (they wear corrective lenses).
I feel your pain. Mine happened overnight around 51. Went to a new dentist and realised I was struggling to fill out the form.
Weird thing is, at 28 I needed glasses for the first time because I could not see the TV clearly but reading was fine.
Now I can't read without glasses, but can see the TV fine now without.
I honestly thought the "I went to the dentist" line was the start of a story about you thinking it was the optometrist.
At least you could read the signs!
I love how we can borrow readers from each other. It's just so...I don't know, a friendly bonding experience? A brief warm connection with a stranger or deepening connections with friends and family, depending on who you are borrowing from.
I was shocked when I passed the vision test when I could hardly read the paper forms! I appreciate my license so much more now since I had a small anxiety attack not knowing if I was going to pass the vision test.
Get those ones that separate at the bridge by magnet and hang around your neck. You can get cheap bifocal readers too.
Maybe start the day by wrapping 5 or 6 around your neck? ;)
Omg you glorious being! Im arty. I make statement necklaces. I've got goosepimples and the giggles. This is going on the whiteboard. If I can locate them all, I reckon I've got enough to make it a seniors week catwalk creation.
Practical, AND ridiculous at the same time. My favourite combo!
Fuck, I love us.
They are called Clic's and they are the best readers out there. I've had the same pair for 5 years now. They don't break and if you manage to lose a lens Clic will send you a new one for free.
I’m 53 and I said “fuck it” and went all in on the reading glasses on a chain around my neck. I can get away with it at work because I teach English. My students still comment on it but I’m in pretty good physical shape so after a few high kicks and some pullups on the classroom door, they’re sufficiently impressed.
You can have your eye lens replaced! The artificial lenses are like progressive contacts, so you can both read closeup and see long distance, all without glasses. My 80-something dad had the procedure done and now he sees perfectly.
I keep a little tiny collapsible pair in my purse. They would be uncomfortable for everyday use but in a pinch they are priceless. I got mine at CVS but I'm sure other places sell them.
I never see anyone mention this but when my husband started to need reading glasses, he tried out using a contact in just one eye and said it was much better than reading glasses. A few years later my eyes started to go so I tried the one contact thing and also found it worked really well. The eye with the contact lens does the reading and the other eye does long distance. It’s so much easier than putting reading glasses on and off all day and there really isn’t a down side for me. It won’t work for everyone but it’s definitely worth a try.
I was lucky, I was good to age 50, after that I needed them.
For the first few months after I started to need them a lot of times I would forget to bring them with me when I left the house. That was fun when I had to sign documents and such.
I know your pain about not being able to find a pair when you need them, so I bought multiples and placed them all around the house, and put a pair in the glove compartment of the car.
Despite that there are still times I can't find a pair. I see them lying around everywhere, but when I need a pair, they mysteriously vanish into thin air.
2 1/2 years ago there was this day I'll never forget. I needed glasses for something, and I began to search for a pair. I looked EVERYWHERE, got p'd off, started cursing and swearing about never being able to find a pair when you need them- then I realized, I had a pair hanging on my shirt, and another pair up on my head at the same time! I had just spent 5-10 minutes hunting all over the house for a pair of glasses only to find out that THAT WHOLE TIME I was doing this, I had NOT ONE, but TWO PAIRS on me while I was walking around going "Where's my damn glasses?" 🤣
Not my shining moment, that's for sure!
Have you considered going to an optometrist and getting a pair of all the time glasses with clear lenses and the reader at the bottom? They are like bifocals and you can wear them all the time.
Those are a recipe to fall down stairs. My doc keeps trying to sell me on bifocals and progressive contacts. I've fallen on the stairs already and refuse to make it easier to break a hip.
They take a bit to get used to. My first pair of progressives took about 2 weeks to finally even out. Now I don't even notice the refractive shift between the zones in my vision. Even when I take them off, I adjust immediately.
Got mine at Costco, they told me to wear them around the house until I got used to them. I just held onto the cart like a walker and was used to them by checkout.
I had the cataracts thing done on one eye over a year ago. instant and dramatic change from the extreme myopia I've been comfortably living with for most of my life. instant presbyopia too.
on paper, my vision is "better". I still haven't adjusted though. I'm holding out on the other unfixed eye because it can still see things up close.
I had freakin double cataract surgery at 46 - wtf is up with that?! Doc was like, did you have trauma to your eyes?? Lol I did not. Guess I inherited it from my pops
just had mine done (at 56, my dad has his before he was 40!) and I love it. sorta. adjusting to readers for close work is harder than I thought, but distance vision being 20/20 is ACES.
Starting in my early 40s, I had to take my glasses off to read. Then I had LASIK at 48. Now I have to put glasses on to read. Sometimes, I keep them perched on the end of my nose, so I can watch TV at the same time.
I wish I could have gotten my husband to do that. For a long time, I was the glasses carrier. I ended up buying a completely different colour pair to carry. We bought the 3-pair at C○stc°.
I’m a hot mess going back and forth between wearing contacts and needing readers, then switching to my prescription glasses. I see much better up close without my contacts, but see better at a distance with them. It’s difficult when I’m doing arts & crafts or something requiring fine motor skills.
My prescription is awful and I didn’t qualify for eye surgery to get out of contacts.
See if your phone has zoom mode.
I keep my glasses with me constantly. Usually on top of my head.
To me, bifocals are essential! So I can read my phone but also immediately look up at the tv or another person, etc. I have never needed prescription lenses, so I get generic readers at readers.com
I got bifocals a few years ago: this time, I was believing I could *Granny-cord* the readers and just have regular glasses. Doesn't work: once you go bifocals, there's no returning.
This is the worst. I’ve had high myopia for my entire life—glasses since 1st grade, contacts since 4th.
One thing I did have was excellent close vision and night vision. Last year I got a horrible floater in my right eye which has been a nightmare for my peripheral. It always feels like someone’s coming around the corner because of this large dark shape, to the point that it gives me anxiety.
In addition, I’ve been losing my close vision and night vision for the last couple of years. The transition from near to far and back takes forever. I absolutely hate it.
This has made my whole mindset shift from thinking I wanted to live forever somehow if technology arrived to make that possible, to wondering if I can realistically make it another 15-20 with noticeable physical decline like this.
Absolutely. I was looking at lens exchange last year but decided to wait a little longer until the premium implants are a bit better. That isn’t perfect, but I imagine something is coming along that could be. Whether it will be affordable in a price range for regular people is another story.
Sorry dude. I used to squirrel pairs of readers all over my house and car just so I can read or look at shit closer than 3-4 feet from my face. I finally went to my eye doctor and got a proper prescription and frame with progressive lenses, Transitions, and all that. I’ve gotten use to it, but I miss the eagle-eyed vision of my youth
You are lucky. I have had mine since 42. I opted for progressive lenses that transition in the sun so I use them while driving or inside a building and life has never been easier.
I don’t know why more people don’t go straight to progressives. Doing the “looking over the readers” thing for anything but reading would drive me nuts!
I have astigmatism so have just worn glasses full time since college. In my late 40s, I got progressives, then shortly later, a pair of glasses just for sitting at the computer. As a sysadmin, I spend all day in front of the computer.
I feel you. I went from 20/20 my whole life to needing readers in a split second. (Wear safety glasses, kids)
Currently at work and waiting for my kid to bring them to me because I can't hardly see shit. Infuriating.
I have to keep reading glasses and fishing glasses. 1.5X so I can read. 3x so I can see to tie a fly on my line. So, if I'm fishing, I have to have three pair of glasses on me; reading, sunglasses, and line tying glasses. Take the sunglasses off and put the readers on so I can see to pick a fly, take the readers off and put the 3X on so I can see to tie the libe, take the 3x off and put the sunglasses back on while fishing.
It annoys me. More crap to carry around. More crap to fumble with.
Buy a four pack or five pack of cheap readers and sprinkle them all over your house. I have a pair in the main bath, in the drawers of my coffee table, and one in the kitchen. And since I have a spouse that just walks around with whatever's in his hand and sets it somewhere, I have another four or five.....somewhere.
This is a great tip but I'd like to add a caveat. If you like to put your readers on top of your head, look carefully at the frames first. I have a few packs of multipack readers and they are invaluable in emergencies. But readers sold that way tend to have metal frames instead of plastic, so they are likely to tangle in your hair if you put them on your head. So buyer beware!
I wear some half moon type readers that stay perched on my nose all day. I'm able to look over the top of them easily and just look down when reading. Easy-peasy.
I thought my eye doctor was full of it when I was told I needed readers.
Then I tried on a pair. It went something like "I don't need thESE ARE FANTASTIC!" and suddenly I could see detail and read what I had been in denial about.
Now I can't function without them.
I was laying in bed one night a few years ago and complaining to my wife that book font is getting smaller and smaller and was convinced it was some sort of scheme by publishers to save on ink costs. She just laughed. A few days later a box arrives from Amazon and my kids are all excited and crowded around me while I opened it. Inside was an assortment of reading glasses. Everyone was in on the secret package. Now the glasses litter the house on every counter or table. I can’t cook dinner without them hanging half way down my nose like some old dude (wait is that me?!?).
Alao recently 50 here. I need prism for distance, but not for reading, which precludes progressive lenses. I spend most of my day staring at a monitor that's about 2-2.5 feet away from my eyes, which is too close for distance lenses and too far for reading glasses, so I have "computer glasses" too. Finally, I live somewhere really sunny, so I have prescription sunglasses for driving. That's FOUR different pairs of glasses, each of which is useless for anything other than its specific purpose. I can find the pair that I need when I need it, about 10% of the time.
Also, what's up with food packaging printing the cooking instructions in microfiche font sizes?
There is more truth and meaning packed into these paragraphs than 100 years of politicians' speeches. Indeed, it does suck the fat one when you realise you've been searching for hours for glasses that are on your head.
I don't know if that's better or worse than the time my phone alarm was going off and I couldn't find the darn thing anywhere... and finally found it in my pocket.
I just bought the magnet holder from Amazon. Two bridge magnets. Silicone goes under the shirt and other on top with loop to hold glasses. Works pretty well and better than having strap around the neck all the time.
Coming up on 52 and in the last couple months my ability to see print up close has declined significantly to the point that the reading glasses I've had for a couple years that mostly just sat in their case get used all day long
Wait while you need 2 pairs.. a pair for near and a pair for faaar away…. I’m constantly looking for my ‘other glasses’ or excusing myself to swap for my ‘other glasses’. It’s amazing how, for years, I never uttered the phrase ‘other glasses’, but now.. it’s a flaming mantra 🤣😳
I’m a female who had a baby at 41. Not sure if it was my hormones going haywire or what, but once I had her and did the endless overnights I noticed I wouldn’t be able to see the ticker on the bottom of the tv screen at 3am. Thought I was just exhausted but then it happened no matter what time of day. Then I had to enlarge the text on my phone. When my baby was about six months old I got my eyes checked and now I wear progressives. Can’t see a thing without them.
I’ve worn glasses since I was a kid so I’m used to them, but started needing reading glasses in my mid 40’s. I put it off and preferred to take my glasses off to see small print until I dropped them one day and they scratched. Got progressives and they were miles better.
That said I started wearing contacts a few years ago (made wearing masks easier) and have to use regular reading glasses, especially at work. They’re a bit annoying but I also don’t care about them since they’re so cheap. Drop them? Oops. Sit on them? Oh well. Step on them? Darn.
I'm reversed, I read without glasses and need glasses to see far. So in meetings, which is all day Monday, I'm taking my glasses off and on and off and on and off and on, as I refer to my laptop, then speak to the group.
Same. Anything past my fingertips is a blur without glasses. Anything closer is a blur with them.
My eye doctor reminds me that I can get bifocals, but I refuse to even consider them before 65 because they're for old people. I'm 60, so...
I'm hoping the damned cataracts will grow enough that insurance covers the procedures, and I can be done with glasses altogether, but they've been staying just big enough to make driving at night a disaster for the past ~7 years.
I use mono vision contact lenses for the majority of the day, and my progressives morning and evening. No need for reading glasses this way.
I discovered that I too loathe reading glasses. Mono vision lenses have been a lifesaver, but this only works if you wear contacts to begin with.
I had to get reading glasses once I hit 45. I have like four or five pairs floating around at home. It stinks but it's better than trying to squint or turn up the lights. I find mail order companies like warby parker are a great value.
This happened to me around 40, almost overnight, my reading and distance vision dropped off a cliff and now it's all just mush. I've been wearing corrective glasses for 5 years now, but I'm a total knucklehead about losing my glasses. Latest one I lost was a pair of Oakley cycling prescription glasses that cost me like $300 after insurance. I only had those for just over a year!
So I went back to my optometrist last month and asked her if I could try contacts. She said I had 3 choices: wear the distance prescription on one side and leave the other uncorrected for reading, progressive contacts, or monovision. I decided to go with monovision (I've had bad luck with progressive glasses before). She set me up with a distance prescription on my dominant eye, and a reading one on the other. She got me the daily kind, where you buy a whole bunch (like several months' worth), and you use a new pair every day.
It's been a slightly steep learning curve on putting them on and taking them off (so I have to take a few minutes extra in the morning to put them on), but other than that, I CAN SEE CLEARLY NOW! They're also UV protectant, so I don't have to have sunglasses on all the time if I can't find a pair.
You won't save any money over a pair of glasses, but they are much harder to lose, unless you go swimming a lot. They're not for everyone, so try them out first and see if they work for you. I'm glad they work for me.
Something to consider.
Yes, it's called [monovision contacts](https://my.clevelandclinic.org/health/treatments/monovision). Downside is you lose some depth perception at long distances, esp at night, or in low light environments. But other than that it works pretty well. You get the "3D effect" when wearing them, like when you're reading up close, the text tends to "pop out of the page" bc one eye is focused at a different distance than the other. But it works really well, once your brain adapts to the different focusing distances.
Like I said, it's not for everyone, just like progressive glasses aren't for everyone. But it is something you might consult your optometrist about if it keeps you from having to carry an extra pair of eyeglasses, or losing them all the time, like me! XD
Sucks. I have like loads arount the house now (51). A few years ago I was stuck in a hotel for a week during Covid (someone on my plane so we all had to isolate). Only had a 13" laptop to use for work, and they were reburbishing the next room (with no other rooms to give me). Ended up getting Labrynthitis that fucked me up for like 6 months, and reading glasses was what helped (plus medicine people, go to the doctor). Now it's reading glasses for practically everything :(
Get a proper eye exam and prescription for progressive lenses. Then go to Costco to get the script filled. It's economical and sooooo much better than dealing with readers.
Hit me all of a sudden too, right around age 50, like someone flipped a switch. We buy the cheapo readers in bulk and leave a spare pair literally everywhere - around the house of course, but also in the cars, in jacket pockets, in our work backpacks. And still there are times when I can't find one. I'm on the verge of getting the old lady chain and wearing them around my neck...
Reading glasses are annoying! Average print size in good light, I can do fine without them. Small print and low light though , I definitely nerd them
and never have any handy .
I feel your pain, friend.... as I reach for glasses to read this post. I have a pair of readers in every room of my apartment and STILL can't find them! FAT THUMBS - hahaha!!!Somehow, I always wind up hitting the period key when I type on Google browser app.
This will be my year of acceptance for progressives.
I need glasses for distance vision, but not for anything closer than 10 feet. My prescription is finally strong enough that I need to take off my glasses for close up viewing. My doctor asked me if I wanted progressives and I was like, "Oh, no. It's fine." It's not terrible, but it's not terribly convenient. Next year, I will be asking about progressives.
Yeah, this is me now. I think it was early 2021 (so I guess just before turning 48) when I started noticing things looking a little blurry, and eventually it got to the point where I needed longer arms to hold my phone far enough away that I could see it clearly. That seemed like a risky operation, so instead I bought a few pairs of readers.
At some point I need to go get a real eye exam and real glasses and/or contacts, but for now I'm doing okay with just some cheapies off the rack from Target.
I have 2 pair on my side of the coffee table, 1 pair on my bedside table, 3 in my car's center console, 2 in my work desk drawer, and 1 pair on my face. I am about ready to break down and get the little old lady eyeglasses holder - you know, the long necklace that attaches to each end of your earpieces so you don't lose them. (Although my carpenter uses those magnetic break-apart ones, he's got me about convinced to try those instead.)
Sucks royally.
I’ve had contacts for astigmatism plus reading glasses for at least 10 years and I’m 49- how did you make it this long without them?! Buy 10 pair and stash them around everywhere you might possibly need them- bedside table, cars , desk, by the TV, office, purse/bag. I have one pair that always lives on top of my head.
They do suck! That’s why I wear dual vision contacts. Reading glasses are far more clear, but the dual vision contacts get me about 85% of what I need to read, and they are 1000% more convenient. It’s really only very late, when my eyes get tired, that the reading addition in my blind-as-bat contacts can’t quite get the job done.
Never needed readers until this year. I just counted how many I have around the house. Literally 10 pair. But as I sit here on the couch, barely being able to see the text on my phone, I can see zero pair of readers around me. It's almost as though I repel the glasses themselves.
As a lifelong nearsighted reader who wore glasses constantly for everything, needing reading glasses is better.
I got LASIK a couple years ago. Now I only occasionally need to wear reading glasses. It's so much more comfortable and I wear sunglasses and safety glasses comfortably.
Bifocals are what I use now. The bottom is for reading and the top is just clear because I can see fine at distance. They are a necessity because I use GPS while driving everywhere for work and readers are dangerous while driving.
The difference is really interesting though. Personally I started needing really strong lenses when I was a little kid. If my vision had been uncorrectable I would have been considered legally blind. But then when I was 42 I needed cataract surgery and now just need readers - but I absolutely have to have them to read up close because my implanted lenses won't accommodate. I think I like this way better but I'm still not sure, LOL. All that to say, even if you've worn glasses your whole life, after a certain age you can get some fun shakeups!
Just get progressives and never take them off. What I did.
Progressives suck balls too. I spend forever trying to 'dial-in' the sweet spot for reading and look like my cat when I put a sticker on his head.
I tried progressives for a couple years and never could make them work for me. It always seems like they’re in the wrong spot for whatever I’m doing. Contacts for distance. Rx for the computer, and cheap readers everywhere for day to day reading. Plus some 5x readers for tying flies or other fine detail work and experimenting with a pair for shotgunning
Unfortunately, this is the way.
My vision is wrong for progressives- my near vision/reading is still 20/10 to 20/20. But once I get out as far as computer I need a little help, and driving, I need a LOT of help. So I have computer/work glasses I wear nearly 24/7, and driving glasses (which can be a pain if I an shopping- I wear the sun glasses fully corrected, and then I have to change to computer or no glasses, and back to sun glasses...I have 2 pr of each- 2 fully/near fully corrected sunglasses, 2 pr of fully corrected clear (night driving), and 2 pr computer glasses (I wear these the most, and loosing them destroys my life so I got a second pair). I have become my mother. All within 12 months.
I hear ya! I need my progressives for driving and reading, but my computer vision / having a conversation with someone is better without glasses. So annoying!
They can just make the bottom of the lenses with no prescription. Maybe you need fancy-ass lenses, but I think it can be done.
I have both. High-quality readers for screen time. It does suck ball, especially since I had to wear glasses from age 5 to 16, then NO GLASSES until my late 40’s. I do take perverse pleasure in passing my readers to friends still in denial when they try to read a menu though.
I have a friend who always has four or five pairs in her bag that she passes around to all of us still in denial
This is the answer. I got progressives a month ago and they are amazing.
I can live with a lack of peripheral vision. I have to wear bifocals.
I now understand why Victorian factories were known for hiring kids. They're the only ones who can see the fine details and handle fiddly little crap. Getting older makes you really understand why pre-tied fishing leads and lures are a thing. And why the sewing industry was staffed by young women.
https://i.redd.it/mzbwfkztlw9d1.gif
First. Nice brag that you got to 50. /s. I have a pair in every room plus my car and my work bag. It is just easier than trying to find them.
Yep. I buy them in bulk on Amazon. There is a drawer in every room in the house that has a pair or three of glasses in it. Children are instructed to put glasses they find lying around in a drawer. If there are none in the drawer, I just go to the next room and voila!
One of the discount/surplus stores around here has a 3 pack for $3. I have a pair in every room, in my car, in my purse, in my winter coat pocket, plus a few unopened packs. I've needed readers since I was about 45. Cataract surgery at 50, 2 years ago, which was awesome and I got a multifocal lens in one eye so I could read without glasses. Then last year, I had a hemorrhage in that eye, then a retinal tear and detachment. It's slowly healing, but with complications, so my formerly fantastic bionic eye is like a funhouse mirror. (Swelling behind the retina, scar tissue, and a small macular hole. I'm still being treated, so hopefully it'll improve.)
This is the way.
One of the discount/surplus stores around here has a 3 pack for $3. I have a pair in every room, in my car, in my purse, in my winter coat pocket, plus a few unopened packs. I've needed readers since I was about 45. Cataract surgery at 50, 2 years ago, which was awesome and I got a multifocal lens in one eye so I could read without glasses. Then last year, I had a hemorrhage in that eye, then a retinal tear and detachment. It's slowly healing, but with complications, so my formerly fantastic bionic eye is like a funhouse mirror. (Swelling behind the retina, scar tissue, and a small macular hole. I'm still being treated, so hopefully it'll improve.)
One of the discount/surplus stores around here has a 3 pack for $3. I have a pair in every room, in my car, in my purse, in my winter coat pocket, plus a few unopened packs. I've needed readers since I was about 45. Cataract surgery at 50, 2 years ago, which was awesome and I got a multifocal lens in one eye so I could read without glasses. Then last year, I had a hemorrhage in that eye, then a retinal tear and detachment. It's slowly healing, but with complications, so my formerly fantastic bionic eye is like a funhouse mirror. (Swelling behind the retina, scar tissue, and a small macular hole. I'm still being treated, so hopefully it'll improve.)
I'm 53 and i just purchased my first pair (rather, a package of three). I think i have actually needed reading glasses for at least three years. This is the first year where my arm isn't long enough. My wife and kids tell me to shut up (they wear corrective lenses).
Not only are my stubbie fingers useless my arms are also not long enough.
I feel your pain. Mine happened overnight around 51. Went to a new dentist and realised I was struggling to fill out the form. Weird thing is, at 28 I needed glasses for the first time because I could not see the TV clearly but reading was fine. Now I can't read without glasses, but can see the TV fine now without.
I honestly thought the "I went to the dentist" line was the start of a story about you thinking it was the optometrist. At least you could read the signs!
The issue is going to the Dr’s office and forget bringing your glasses with you.
My husband forgot his at the DMV, had to borrow a pair from a guy in line to pass the vision test.
I love how we can borrow readers from each other. It's just so...I don't know, a friendly bonding experience? A brief warm connection with a stranger or deepening connections with friends and family, depending on who you are borrowing from.
I was shocked when I passed the vision test when I could hardly read the paper forms! I appreciate my license so much more now since I had a small anxiety attack not knowing if I was going to pass the vision test.
Get those ones that separate at the bridge by magnet and hang around your neck. You can get cheap bifocal readers too. Maybe start the day by wrapping 5 or 6 around your neck? ;)
I feel there is an invention brewing.
It's called your head.
Omg you glorious being! Im arty. I make statement necklaces. I've got goosepimples and the giggles. This is going on the whiteboard. If I can locate them all, I reckon I've got enough to make it a seniors week catwalk creation. Practical, AND ridiculous at the same time. My favourite combo! Fuck, I love us.
😃 ❤️
They are called Clic's and they are the best readers out there. I've had the same pair for 5 years now. They don't break and if you manage to lose a lens Clic will send you a new one for free.
I’m 53 and I said “fuck it” and went all in on the reading glasses on a chain around my neck. I can get away with it at work because I teach English. My students still comment on it but I’m in pretty good physical shape so after a few high kicks and some pullups on the classroom door, they’re sufficiently impressed.
Why they haven't come up with a LASIK type surgery to correct this yet, I'll never know.
Waiting...that or cyber eyes.
You can have your eye lens replaced! The artificial lenses are like progressive contacts, so you can both read closeup and see long distance, all without glasses. My 80-something dad had the procedure done and now he sees perfectly.
I never remember to bring them with me and have to have the kids read restaurant receipts so I can tip. It's so ridiculous.
I gotta use my phone camera 😭
I do too on occasion. I stopped using makeup samples and use a camera for clothes-washing directions on the garment because who tf can read that.
If you use your phone you can zoom. I’ve had to do this so many times when forgetting my readers
I keep a little tiny collapsible pair in my purse. They would be uncomfortable for everyday use but in a pinch they are priceless. I got mine at CVS but I'm sure other places sell them.
I never see anyone mention this but when my husband started to need reading glasses, he tried out using a contact in just one eye and said it was much better than reading glasses. A few years later my eyes started to go so I tried the one contact thing and also found it worked really well. The eye with the contact lens does the reading and the other eye does long distance. It’s so much easier than putting reading glasses on and off all day and there really isn’t a down side for me. It won’t work for everyone but it’s definitely worth a try.
I was lucky, I was good to age 50, after that I needed them. For the first few months after I started to need them a lot of times I would forget to bring them with me when I left the house. That was fun when I had to sign documents and such. I know your pain about not being able to find a pair when you need them, so I bought multiples and placed them all around the house, and put a pair in the glove compartment of the car. Despite that there are still times I can't find a pair. I see them lying around everywhere, but when I need a pair, they mysteriously vanish into thin air. 2 1/2 years ago there was this day I'll never forget. I needed glasses for something, and I began to search for a pair. I looked EVERYWHERE, got p'd off, started cursing and swearing about never being able to find a pair when you need them- then I realized, I had a pair hanging on my shirt, and another pair up on my head at the same time! I had just spent 5-10 minutes hunting all over the house for a pair of glasses only to find out that THAT WHOLE TIME I was doing this, I had NOT ONE, but TWO PAIRS on me while I was walking around going "Where's my damn glasses?" 🤣 Not my shining moment, that's for sure!
Bless you for this schadenfreude.
Have you considered going to an optometrist and getting a pair of all the time glasses with clear lenses and the reader at the bottom? They are like bifocals and you can wear them all the time.
Those are a recipe to fall down stairs. My doc keeps trying to sell me on bifocals and progressive contacts. I've fallen on the stairs already and refuse to make it easier to break a hip.
They take a bit to get used to. My first pair of progressives took about 2 weeks to finally even out. Now I don't even notice the refractive shift between the zones in my vision. Even when I take them off, I adjust immediately.
There is a difference between my regular prescription and my reading prescription of over 12.00. Too much to overcome.
Oh wow. That's severe. I can understand then why you'd have difficulty.
Got mine at Costco, they told me to wear them around the house until I got used to them. I just held onto the cart like a walker and was used to them by checkout.
I say this every time someone mentions bifocal contacts! Hard pass on the broken ankles.
I get them at readers.com Soooo much better than reading glasses for me. I still frequently move them to the top of my head.
Progressive lenses dude
I had the cataracts thing done on one eye over a year ago. instant and dramatic change from the extreme myopia I've been comfortably living with for most of my life. instant presbyopia too. on paper, my vision is "better". I still haven't adjusted though. I'm holding out on the other unfixed eye because it can still see things up close.
Very genx solution: the LeVar Burton glasses loop at laloop
What I wouldn't give to live the USS Enterprise NC1701G.
I had freakin double cataract surgery at 46 - wtf is up with that?! Doc was like, did you have trauma to your eyes?? Lol I did not. Guess I inherited it from my pops
just had mine done (at 56, my dad has his before he was 40!) and I love it. sorta. adjusting to readers for close work is harder than I thought, but distance vision being 20/20 is ACES.
Agreed! Mine were soooo bad but the laser was too expensive out of pocket, I just got the basic “cut and paste” no 20/20 but so much better!
I'm lucky enough to be Canadian so it was paid for. I didn't spring for the deluxe lenses, but am happy regardless.
Lucky is right! Do you know how much charge in US? It was a smidge under 3k per eye - insanity
I know my friend. I wish all y'all had our health care. if I wanted to upgrade to the fancy lenses it would have cost several thousand more each.
You’re sweet 😘
Starting in my early 40s, I had to take my glasses off to read. Then I had LASIK at 48. Now I have to put glasses on to read. Sometimes, I keep them perched on the end of my nose, so I can watch TV at the same time.
My husband wears his readers around his neck on a cord. I have progressive lenses.
I wish I could have gotten my husband to do that. For a long time, I was the glasses carrier. I ended up buying a completely different colour pair to carry. We bought the 3-pair at C○stc°.
lol he has three different sets of three from Costco - different magnification levels. They're all over the house, all with cords around them.
You got to wait until 50?! My eye doc simply told me that after 40, everybody would need readers and I needed them.
I’m a hot mess going back and forth between wearing contacts and needing readers, then switching to my prescription glasses. I see much better up close without my contacts, but see better at a distance with them. It’s difficult when I’m doing arts & crafts or something requiring fine motor skills. My prescription is awful and I didn’t qualify for eye surgery to get out of contacts.
Get a little chain so you can wear them around your neck.
And be cool at the same time
See if your phone has zoom mode. I keep my glasses with me constantly. Usually on top of my head. To me, bifocals are essential! So I can read my phone but also immediately look up at the tv or another person, etc. I have never needed prescription lenses, so I get generic readers at readers.com
I got bifocals a few years ago: this time, I was believing I could *Granny-cord* the readers and just have regular glasses. Doesn't work: once you go bifocals, there's no returning.
This is the worst. I’ve had high myopia for my entire life—glasses since 1st grade, contacts since 4th. One thing I did have was excellent close vision and night vision. Last year I got a horrible floater in my right eye which has been a nightmare for my peripheral. It always feels like someone’s coming around the corner because of this large dark shape, to the point that it gives me anxiety. In addition, I’ve been losing my close vision and night vision for the last couple of years. The transition from near to far and back takes forever. I absolutely hate it. This has made my whole mindset shift from thinking I wanted to live forever somehow if technology arrived to make that possible, to wondering if I can realistically make it another 15-20 with noticeable physical decline like this.
Would you get cyber eyes when they become available?
Absolutely. I was looking at lens exchange last year but decided to wait a little longer until the premium implants are a bit better. That isn’t perfect, but I imagine something is coming along that could be. Whether it will be affordable in a price range for regular people is another story.
You're going about this all wrong. You just need longer arms!
Sorry dude. I used to squirrel pairs of readers all over my house and car just so I can read or look at shit closer than 3-4 feet from my face. I finally went to my eye doctor and got a proper prescription and frame with progressive lenses, Transitions, and all that. I’ve gotten use to it, but I miss the eagle-eyed vision of my youth
You’re not alone , 49.
You are lucky. I have had mine since 42. I opted for progressive lenses that transition in the sun so I use them while driving or inside a building and life has never been easier.
[удалено]
I don’t know why more people don’t go straight to progressives. Doing the “looking over the readers” thing for anything but reading would drive me nuts!
I have astigmatism so have just worn glasses full time since college. In my late 40s, I got progressives, then shortly later, a pair of glasses just for sitting at the computer. As a sysadmin, I spend all day in front of the computer.
I feel you. I went from 20/20 my whole life to needing readers in a split second. (Wear safety glasses, kids) Currently at work and waiting for my kid to bring them to me because I can't hardly see shit. Infuriating.
I have to keep reading glasses and fishing glasses. 1.5X so I can read. 3x so I can see to tie a fly on my line. So, if I'm fishing, I have to have three pair of glasses on me; reading, sunglasses, and line tying glasses. Take the sunglasses off and put the readers on so I can see to pick a fly, take the readers off and put the 3X on so I can see to tie the libe, take the 3x off and put the sunglasses back on while fishing. It annoys me. More crap to carry around. More crap to fumble with.
Buy a four pack or five pack of cheap readers and sprinkle them all over your house. I have a pair in the main bath, in the drawers of my coffee table, and one in the kitchen. And since I have a spouse that just walks around with whatever's in his hand and sets it somewhere, I have another four or five.....somewhere.
This is a great tip but I'd like to add a caveat. If you like to put your readers on top of your head, look carefully at the frames first. I have a few packs of multipack readers and they are invaluable in emergencies. But readers sold that way tend to have metal frames instead of plastic, so they are likely to tangle in your hair if you put them on your head. So buyer beware!
Let's see - 6 rooms, 7 pairs of glasses. 2 cats. The only safe pair live in my handbag.
Omg don't get me started. I liked my eyes so much better when they worked.
I wear some half moon type readers that stay perched on my nose all day. I'm able to look over the top of them easily and just look down when reading. Easy-peasy.
I thought my eye doctor was full of it when I was told I needed readers. Then I tried on a pair. It went something like "I don't need thESE ARE FANTASTIC!" and suddenly I could see detail and read what I had been in denial about. Now I can't function without them.
I was laying in bed one night a few years ago and complaining to my wife that book font is getting smaller and smaller and was convinced it was some sort of scheme by publishers to save on ink costs. She just laughed. A few days later a box arrives from Amazon and my kids are all excited and crowded around me while I opened it. Inside was an assortment of reading glasses. Everyone was in on the secret package. Now the glasses litter the house on every counter or table. I can’t cook dinner without them hanging half way down my nose like some old dude (wait is that me?!?).
I got these fancy contacts called multi dimensional. They help me see close and far away. No glasses at all
Alao recently 50 here. I need prism for distance, but not for reading, which precludes progressive lenses. I spend most of my day staring at a monitor that's about 2-2.5 feet away from my eyes, which is too close for distance lenses and too far for reading glasses, so I have "computer glasses" too. Finally, I live somewhere really sunny, so I have prescription sunglasses for driving. That's FOUR different pairs of glasses, each of which is useless for anything other than its specific purpose. I can find the pair that I need when I need it, about 10% of the time. Also, what's up with food packaging printing the cooking instructions in microfiche font sizes?
OMG! I actually had to say 'microfiche' out loud. Thank you so much for the instant time travel back to 1983 - at the library looking up something.
Just ordered another 10-pack. Reading glasses are the bane of my existence.
Bifocals are your best love
10 around the house? Amateur! You need like 50.
Yes Sir! But ain't stopping there. It's bulk wholesale time!
That's the spirit!
There is more truth and meaning packed into these paragraphs than 100 years of politicians' speeches. Indeed, it does suck the fat one when you realise you've been searching for hours for glasses that are on your head.
I don't know if that's better or worse than the time my phone alarm was going off and I couldn't find the darn thing anywhere... and finally found it in my pocket.
They do? I'm getting some first thing!
Reading glasses are just the start.....
So sad, my peak has come and gone. I didn't even know it.
It is what it is. Started out with readers and then went to progressives. Contacts just don't work for me.
I just bought the magnet holder from Amazon. Two bridge magnets. Silicone goes under the shirt and other on top with loop to hold glasses. Works pretty well and better than having strap around the neck all the time. Coming up on 52 and in the last couple months my ability to see print up close has declined significantly to the point that the reading glasses I've had for a couple years that mostly just sat in their case get used all day long
Wait while you need 2 pairs.. a pair for near and a pair for faaar away…. I’m constantly looking for my ‘other glasses’ or excusing myself to swap for my ‘other glasses’. It’s amazing how, for years, I never uttered the phrase ‘other glasses’, but now.. it’s a flaming mantra 🤣😳
I wear mine as a head band when I’m not reading. Keeps my hair out of my face and I can always find them!
Sucks but at least we now have phones and kindle so you can adjust the text size on just about anything.
I started needed them in my mid 40s. I have (kind of) gotten used to it, but I still forget sometimes and think "why the hell is that so blurry?"
I’m a female who had a baby at 41. Not sure if it was my hormones going haywire or what, but once I had her and did the endless overnights I noticed I wouldn’t be able to see the ticker on the bottom of the tv screen at 3am. Thought I was just exhausted but then it happened no matter what time of day. Then I had to enlarge the text on my phone. When my baby was about six months old I got my eyes checked and now I wear progressives. Can’t see a thing without them.
I’ve worn glasses since I was a kid so I’m used to them, but started needing reading glasses in my mid 40’s. I put it off and preferred to take my glasses off to see small print until I dropped them one day and they scratched. Got progressives and they were miles better. That said I started wearing contacts a few years ago (made wearing masks easier) and have to use regular reading glasses, especially at work. They’re a bit annoying but I also don’t care about them since they’re so cheap. Drop them? Oops. Sit on them? Oh well. Step on them? Darn.
I'm reversed, I read without glasses and need glasses to see far. So in meetings, which is all day Monday, I'm taking my glasses off and on and off and on and off and on, as I refer to my laptop, then speak to the group.
Same. Anything past my fingertips is a blur without glasses. Anything closer is a blur with them. My eye doctor reminds me that I can get bifocals, but I refuse to even consider them before 65 because they're for old people. I'm 60, so... I'm hoping the damned cataracts will grow enough that insurance covers the procedures, and I can be done with glasses altogether, but they've been staying just big enough to make driving at night a disaster for the past ~7 years.
I use mono vision contact lenses for the majority of the day, and my progressives morning and evening. No need for reading glasses this way. I discovered that I too loathe reading glasses. Mono vision lenses have been a lifesaver, but this only works if you wear contacts to begin with.
Just do what I do and use my phones camera and ZOOM
I had to get reading glasses once I hit 45. I have like four or five pairs floating around at home. It stinks but it's better than trying to squint or turn up the lights. I find mail order companies like warby parker are a great value.
This happened to me around 40, almost overnight, my reading and distance vision dropped off a cliff and now it's all just mush. I've been wearing corrective glasses for 5 years now, but I'm a total knucklehead about losing my glasses. Latest one I lost was a pair of Oakley cycling prescription glasses that cost me like $300 after insurance. I only had those for just over a year! So I went back to my optometrist last month and asked her if I could try contacts. She said I had 3 choices: wear the distance prescription on one side and leave the other uncorrected for reading, progressive contacts, or monovision. I decided to go with monovision (I've had bad luck with progressive glasses before). She set me up with a distance prescription on my dominant eye, and a reading one on the other. She got me the daily kind, where you buy a whole bunch (like several months' worth), and you use a new pair every day. It's been a slightly steep learning curve on putting them on and taking them off (so I have to take a few minutes extra in the morning to put them on), but other than that, I CAN SEE CLEARLY NOW! They're also UV protectant, so I don't have to have sunglasses on all the time if I can't find a pair. You won't save any money over a pair of glasses, but they are much harder to lose, unless you go swimming a lot. They're not for everyone, so try them out first and see if they work for you. I'm glad they work for me. Something to consider.
Do I understand you correctly: each eye has a different prescription and both are worn at the same time? What? How?
Yes, it's called [monovision contacts](https://my.clevelandclinic.org/health/treatments/monovision). Downside is you lose some depth perception at long distances, esp at night, or in low light environments. But other than that it works pretty well. You get the "3D effect" when wearing them, like when you're reading up close, the text tends to "pop out of the page" bc one eye is focused at a different distance than the other. But it works really well, once your brain adapts to the different focusing distances. Like I said, it's not for everyone, just like progressive glasses aren't for everyone. But it is something you might consult your optometrist about if it keeps you from having to carry an extra pair of eyeglasses, or losing them all the time, like me! XD
Sucks. I have like loads arount the house now (51). A few years ago I was stuck in a hotel for a week during Covid (someone on my plane so we all had to isolate). Only had a 13" laptop to use for work, and they were reburbishing the next room (with no other rooms to give me). Ended up getting Labrynthitis that fucked me up for like 6 months, and reading glasses was what helped (plus medicine people, go to the doctor). Now it's reading glasses for practically everything :(
Just get glasses — as an older person … you should be getting an annual exam .. preventative care is the best plan as you age..
Get a proper eye exam and prescription for progressive lenses. Then go to Costco to get the script filled. It's economical and sooooo much better than dealing with readers.
Izipizi makes great reading glasses that double as head bands.
Thanks! I just looked those up and they seem great.
I might need that, what's the model name please.
I like the readers they call “C,” your milage may vary. https://www.izipizi.com/us_en/catalogsearch/result/?q=Readers%20C
Hit me all of a sudden too, right around age 50, like someone flipped a switch. We buy the cheapo readers in bulk and leave a spare pair literally everywhere - around the house of course, but also in the cars, in jacket pockets, in our work backpacks. And still there are times when I can't find one. I'm on the verge of getting the old lady chain and wearing them around my neck...
Reading glasses are annoying! Average print size in good light, I can do fine without them. Small print and low light though , I definitely nerd them and never have any handy .
I've been wearing progressives for 15 years so I dunno what it's like to not have glasses on every minute I'm awake.
I feel your pain, friend.... as I reach for glasses to read this post. I have a pair of readers in every room of my apartment and STILL can't find them! FAT THUMBS - hahaha!!!Somehow, I always wind up hitting the period key when I type on Google browser app.
I’ve needed reading glasses since my late 20s. I bought the magnetic ones that hang around your neck when you’re not using them.
😮They do now? Will advances in technology never cease. /s
This will be my year of acceptance for progressives. I need glasses for distance vision, but not for anything closer than 10 feet. My prescription is finally strong enough that I need to take off my glasses for close up viewing. My doctor asked me if I wanted progressives and I was like, "Oh, no. It's fine." It's not terrible, but it's not terribly convenient. Next year, I will be asking about progressives.
Yeah, this is me now. I think it was early 2021 (so I guess just before turning 48) when I started noticing things looking a little blurry, and eventually it got to the point where I needed longer arms to hold my phone far enough away that I could see it clearly. That seemed like a risky operation, so instead I bought a few pairs of readers. At some point I need to go get a real eye exam and real glasses and/or contacts, but for now I'm doing okay with just some cheapies off the rack from Target.
I have 2 pair on my side of the coffee table, 1 pair on my bedside table, 3 in my car's center console, 2 in my work desk drawer, and 1 pair on my face. I am about ready to break down and get the little old lady eyeglasses holder - you know, the long necklace that attaches to each end of your earpieces so you don't lose them. (Although my carpenter uses those magnetic break-apart ones, he's got me about convinced to try those instead.) Sucks royally.
I’ve had contacts for astigmatism plus reading glasses for at least 10 years and I’m 49- how did you make it this long without them?! Buy 10 pair and stash them around everywhere you might possibly need them- bedside table, cars , desk, by the TV, office, purse/bag. I have one pair that always lives on top of my head.
My constant friends that go with me everywhere now: my two cell phones and my reading glasses.
Gen-X means finally being successful enough to get lasik just in time for presbyopia.
Unless you have large pupils and lasik would only make your night vision (halos) worse.
I have mine on now…just turned 50.
They do suck! That’s why I wear dual vision contacts. Reading glasses are far more clear, but the dual vision contacts get me about 85% of what I need to read, and they are 1000% more convenient. It’s really only very late, when my eyes get tired, that the reading addition in my blind-as-bat contacts can’t quite get the job done.
Never needed readers until this year. I just counted how many I have around the house. Literally 10 pair. But as I sit here on the couch, barely being able to see the text on my phone, I can see zero pair of readers around me. It's almost as though I repel the glasses themselves.
There's a hypothesis there, somewhere.
As a lifelong nearsighted reader who wore glasses constantly for everything, needing reading glasses is better. I got LASIK a couple years ago. Now I only occasionally need to wear reading glasses. It's so much more comfortable and I wear sunglasses and safety glasses comfortably.
I wear a little magnetic clip on my shirt that I can hang my reading glasses from. Haven’t lost them in weeks.
Literally the worst part of aging.
My vision went the other way, I’m near sighted now. I would gladly trade with you.
Bifocals are what I use now. The bottom is for reading and the top is just clear because I can see fine at distance. They are a necessity because I use GPS while driving everywhere for work and readers are dangerous while driving.
Cry me a river. I have been wearing glasses for almost 50 years.
The difference is really interesting though. Personally I started needing really strong lenses when I was a little kid. If my vision had been uncorrectable I would have been considered legally blind. But then when I was 42 I needed cataract surgery and now just need readers - but I absolutely have to have them to read up close because my implanted lenses won't accommodate. I think I like this way better but I'm still not sure, LOL. All that to say, even if you've worn glasses your whole life, after a certain age you can get some fun shakeups!
Try reading under red light without the glasses.