get me new varifocals tomorra!

[crisgal]

i can't wait to see again!
I'm a bit apprehensive though. They say some people never get used to 'em.
Do you wear them? If so, how long did it take?
The optician has given me 30 days - is that long enough?

[carlton23]

Perseverance is the key word, and follow the instructions to the letter and you`ll never regret having them.

[crisgal]

i'm even more excited now!

[Buenchico]

From my own experiences (about a year ago) I'd suggest the following:

Time to get used to them: About 2 hours

Time to get REALLY used to them: About 2 months

The trick is (whenever possible) to move your head, rather than your eyes. If (when you've first got your varifocals) you try to look down at the pavement immediately in front of you by moving your eyes, everything will 'swim about', inducing something akin to travel sickness. To avoid this rather unpleasant sensation you need to tilt your head forwards, so that you're still looking through the middle of the lenses, rather than through the lower portion (which is for close up vision).

Chris

[carlton23]

Tut,tut, silly me, I was thinking about contact lenses.

[Wak]

I've worn Varifocals for donkeys years and wouldn't have any other specs.
As the name suggests, the focus varies smoothly from distance to reading so you don't get that vague area in between ( 2ft to 4ft?) like you do with split lens Bi-focals.
After a while, you'll just naturally move you head so that things are always in focus.
Best of luck with them, anyway.

[Justincider]

Took me about two weeks to really get used to them. They're the best thing since sliced bread.

[coccinelle]

One tip, crisgal is keep wearing them; don't swap with other glasses or keep taking them off as this will just belate getting used to them. I took over a month and quite honestly on occasions was thnking of going back to the optician's and going back to my normal lens then all of a sudden and I can't remember how, but one day I realised presto I've hacked it.

[crisgal]

thanks everyone. I've got them, and it did feel very odd!
Anyway, they've advised me to start with them in the morning (cus I won't be driving) and to persevere as much as I can.
I must say though, it felt like the prescription was all wrong - but i suppose i was looking through the wrong bit.

[boxtops]

crisgal, I've had mine about six years and I couldn't manage without them now. My optician is excellent and spent hours making sure that the band widths for the three distances on the lenses were right. I need a lot of reading room at the bottom and sufficient distance at the top to be able to work on my computer at work without difficulty. Because I hold my head up a bit that also made a difference - and my optician made four pairs of lenses (without additional charge) before we got it exactly right. Now we have the model the next pair were much easier to order as he just repeated the formula. Now I don't see any different between the zones because each one is right for me personally - I think I have been very lucky indeed. It is worth perservering and going back if you have queries or problems. If the distances don#t seem right for reading or looking, do go back. It's worth it - they've made so much difference to my life!

[jno]

I got ones to drive in. I very quickly noticed that the range varied not only from top to bottom but round the sides as well, so in effect I was looking through a letterbox and had to keep swivelling my head whenever I wanted to look to one side or in my mirrors - just turning my eyes wasn't enough. After about five minutes I decided I was going to get myself killed so I turned around and took them back to the shop. They replaced them with bifocals. Never again, imho.

[beejaybee]

My husband couldnt use his either. He went back to the optician, one he`d never used before this time, & got his money back. He went to another optician, one he`d used several times before, & was told he only needed glasses for reading.