Are Bifocal Lenses A Good Choice For Computer Users?
There comes a time when people need bifocals. That is perfectly normal. As we get older our crystalline lens loses its ability to flex which gives us the ability to focus from distance to near. Simply put, the crystalline lens is similar to a camera lens and as we get older this lens get stuck, thus giving you only the ability to see far away.
The solution is bifocals! Today, bifocals come in a huge variety of choices but can be broken down into two classifications: line style bifocals (the flat top bifocal) and no line style bifocals (progressive). In either case, you may be wondering if bifocal lenses are a good choice for computer users.
The answer is no. Bifocals do not make for a good choice for computer users. The reason is fairly simple. With bifocal lenses, the added strength needed to see up close is applied to the bottom of the lens. In order to see up close you have to drop your eyes down so that you can view through the area of the lenses that give you the prescribed magnification to correctly focus up close.
In order to see the computer screen in focus, you have to tilt your head back in a very uncomfortable position. While this works, it can cause neck and back pain and even cause minor headaches.
A better solution would be to have a pair of eyeglasses ordered specifically for using the computer. Once your eye doctor writes a prescription, he can do some basic math and custom write an additional prescription that you can have filled that will allow you to see your computer screen perfectly.
With that said, when you wear your computer glasses, the computer screen will be the only thing that you are able to focus clearly on. If you look up over your computer and gaze on something further away, it will be very likely that the object you are trying to focus on will be blurry. That is the only trade off towards having computer eyeglasses.
There is an option where a bifocal lens can be used for computer eyeglasses. Depending on how much magnification you need to see up close, you may find that you need a magnification to see the computer screen and even MORE magnification to read the objects up close, such as a newspaper.
In this situation, the eye doctor can help you by writing a prescription for a bifocal lens that will correct your intermediate vision and near vision. Basically the top part of the eyeglass lenses will allow you to see your computer screen while the bottom part of your lenses will have even more magnification to help you see up close.
All in all, a traditional bifocal prescription will not work for computer users. The reason as mentioned above is that by default, eye doctors write prescriptions that correct for true distance vision and true near vision and nothing in between. If you are interested in having a pair of computer eyeglasses made, you need to let your eye doctor know so that he can write a prescription to match your needs.
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Date/Time: 10-3-2008 10:24:40 Comment #107
This is the exact information I have been looking for. I did go to an optician about my problem, which is specifically having trouble reading stuff on my laptop, but he brushed me off. I’m going to go to someone else. I was wondering about bifocals, but as someone who suffers from neck problems and who has to spend a lot of time on the computer, I can see why it’s not a good solution for me especially. Thanks so much for setting me straight before I made more expensive mistakes, lol.
Date/Time: 10-3-2008 17:35:38 Comment #108
Hi Patricia,
You are very welcome. I am happy to discover that my article was helpful for you and most importantly that it will help put an end to costly mistakes, which I must say, is not your fault at all. Unfortunately, it is the failure of most eyecare practices to recognize that more and more people are using computers hours on end through out the day.
Date/Time: 12-1-2008 17:30:52 Comment #496
I agree that for computer use eye glasses prescription should be different from the reading
glasses but isn’t progressive bifocal lens suppose to have the whole range from distance to
reading and everything in between (that’s why it is progressive)? I understand that one would
need to keep head relatively high up to be able to read computer screen through the middle
portion of the glasses. Right now I’m using reading glasses for my computer, which doesn’t solve my problem completly because I have to be very close to computer screens (and I have 3 of them at work) and when I need to go anywhere: bathroom, somebody’s office, meetings etc. I have to change my glasses back to the distance glasses and that gives me headaches.
I was actually hoping that progressive lens like Verilux would be solution to my problem. Please let me know what you think.
Thanks
Date/Time: 7-24-2009 12:53:05 Comment #547
Yes Anna, the progressive lens was designed to accomodate for the computer-distance range of vision. That being said, it does depend where your computer screen is located. Many people have their computer too far away, too high, etc, so the progressive lens doesn’t work for them. That may be why the above comment had problems with her laptop, because if you’re sitting & looking at your computer, you’re not using the intermediate range of your glasses at the correct distance. This is something the writer of the article failed to mention, but under normal circumstances, progressive lenses WILL work for a computer.