Computer Glasses
Computer Glasses
(OP)
Calling experienced engineers (aged 40-60 or so).
I'm getting frustrated with my regular bifocal glasses when on the computer, which is about all day. It's too close for the distance sight and too far away for the bifocal. One of my three opthamologists (one for glaucoma, one for macular pucker, one for eye exams), suggested "computer glasses". I've googled and think I understand them. Does anyone have experience with them? Any testimonials? Any critique? I'd appreciate any input you may have.
I'm getting frustrated with my regular bifocal glasses when on the computer, which is about all day. It's too close for the distance sight and too far away for the bifocal. One of my three opthamologists (one for glaucoma, one for macular pucker, one for eye exams), suggested "computer glasses". I've googled and think I understand them. Does anyone have experience with them? Any testimonials? Any critique? I'd appreciate any input you may have.
Good luck,
Latexman
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RE: Computer Glasses
I wear photochromic progressive lenses, not real strong, but thick enough that plastic lenses make a big difference. I tend to arrange my computer area so that the general room illumination is, well, dark, and I have a ~30W incandescent flood for reference material. If I'm required to have overhead lights on, I wear a ball cap.
Mike Halloran
Pembroke Pines, FL, USA
RE: Computer Glasses
That being said, the only people I know who have purchased so-called 'computer glasses' are those people who ONLY wear glasses to read, or in this case, when using a computer.
John R. Baker, P.E.
Product 'Evangelist'
Product Engineering Software
Siemens PLM Software Inc.
Industry Sector
Cypress, CA
Siemens PLM:
UG/NX Museum:
To an Engineer, the glass is twice as big as it needs to be.
RE: Computer Glasses
David Simpson, PE
MuleShoe Engineering
"Belief" is the acceptance of an hypotheses in the absence of data.
"Prejudice" is having an opinion not supported by the preponderance of the data.
"Knowledge" is only found through the accumulation and analysis of data.
The plural of anecdote is not "data"
RE: Computer Glasses
Trifocal or progressive lenses and the fancy coatings and tints may make them pricey and nonideal for tasks other than computing, but they can make a difference.
... which reminds me, it's time to talk to my own optometrist.
Mike Halloran
Pembroke Pines, FL, USA
RE: Computer Glasses
<sigh> Sadly, I've gotten into the habit of increasing the monitor screen text size to 125% or more. And liking it. I'm still waiting for the implantable jack so I can mind-meld with the CPU.
TygerDawg
Blue Technik LLC
Virtuoso Robotics Engineering
www.bluetechnik.com
RE: Computer Glasses
My astigmatism is horrid. I'm about 20/120. I'm very particular about my lenses, and I think I frustrate the optometrist with all the fine tuning I make them do when figuring out my prescription with the "better here, or better here" routine.
When I'm done, though, I see a perfectly tiny dot when I look at a star or planet. I can read the 20/10 line on the eye chart.
Just for fun, here's a sketch of what Venus looks like to me with and without glasses on. Same thing with the little LEDs on electronic products around the house. The relative sizes shown are as accurate as I could do by hand.
Best to you,
Goober Dave
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RE: Computer Glasses
I also find I can see my cars dashboard instruments better thru the Tri lense.
prognosis: Lead or Lag
RE: Computer Glasses
I don't need them otherwise...yet.
My doctor gave me prescription glasses that are specifically for this work. Although I need to go in maybe every 2 years to get them adjusted because my eyes tend to adapt and getting worse as I age. (I'll be 50 this Dec).
Chris
SolidWorks 11
ctopher's home
SolidWorks Legion
RE: Computer Glasses
My computer glasses are -1.0 from my regular glasses, and WOW, what a difference. Worth every penny. No more headaches, no eyestrain, no vision problems at all. LOVE THEM!
RE: Computer Glasses
Like another poster said, mine are optimized to read my computer screen clearly, and everything past it is fuzzy.
RE: Computer Glasses
Early this week I'll visit folks at the office who wear glasses and hear what they use and who they go to.
Good luck,
Latexman
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RE: Computer Glasses
Get accurate on this distance: a close focus lens will have a focus distance of less than 3 inches. Too coose, you are straining. Too far ( 3 inches further) you are straining to read.
2) Put your arm out, and get the second half of the trifocal to read the car odometer, grocery store shelf or computer screen when you are working for short times.
3) Long distance is long distance.
I get mine built in Z87 safety lens and frames so the company pays for one pair I use on the job sites, and the second is built the same way so I don't have to switch for work.
COMPUTER GLASSES are different. I use a different single focus reading/computer glasses (slightly smaller than the trifocals) focused on the actaul distances involved. The reading glasses (For me!!!) are focused only 5 - 7 inches away. Further than that - they are useless. The computer glasses are focused 9 to 12 inches away.
My welding glasses are bifocals (not tri's) but have the bifocal part on both the top and the bottom so I can work overhead without craning my neck back. Most guys won't need the welding glasses, but I'm adding it anyway.
RE: Computer Glasses
My original PRIOs were single-prescription. A few years later, they made my new lenses "progressive" without telling me and it was horrible.
Then, I ditched those lenses and found a doctor who understood what I wanted and got it for me.
Basically, I use a single-prescription lens based on the PRIO-style eye exam. This yields a prescription for lenses that have a focal length that puts the computer screen in focus when eyes are at resting position. Key to life, it is.
RE: Computer Glasses
My astigmatism is also about as bad as it can get (in one eye at least), but the rest is just plain myopia, 20/300 in one eye, 20/200 in the other (the doctor and I play this game where I guess which wall the eye chart is on). Thank god for high-refraction polycarbonate lens (I have to put my glasses on before I get out of bed otherwise I'd miss the floor).
John R. Baker, P.E.
Product 'Evangelist'
Product Engineering Software
Siemens PLM Software Inc.
Industry Sector
Cypress, CA
Siemens PLM:
UG/NX Museum:
To an Engineer, the glass is twice as big as it needs to be.
RE: Computer Glasses
It was suggested to me by my optometrist when I changed the lens for miopia: "Take your old lens (-1) for everything but the car driving".
In the past, only one pair of glasses covered everything... but now I'm in the 50s
Good luck!
RE: Computer Glasses
What you are talking about is a moving target as you go through life. At first you have enough accomodation to look at the screen then look away and back again. Around age 40 things do not do so well, thats when things start to stiffen up. My own example, until age 21 did not need glasses, then had difficulty reading road signs, diagnosis near sighted. Wore single vision glasses, that I took off to do close work. Then computors came along and I took the glasses off to see the screen. At age 60 now the near vision was deteriorating, and I needed to hold the newspaper at arms length even with the glasses off. Bifocals were prescribed, now the fun started, glasses on, far vision, not enough correction, near vision, too much correction, and getting headaches. Solution single vision lense at 30" focal length, great for the computor screen, pain in the neck for anything else look away and everything goes fuzzy. Next solution trifocals, better,but you had to remember which lense you were looking through. Final solution for a while, progressive lenses, then came age 70, threw away the distance correction, got the glasses required restriction removed from my pilots and drivers licences. Don't need the glasses to read the computor, and absolutely cannot focus on anything without glasses if it is closer than 15 inches.
Join the club.
RE: Computer Glasses
RE: Computer Glasses
It wasn't cheap, $3400, plus a bunch of prescription eye drops, but I've got to say life without contacts and glasses is worth it. If you're able to wear contacts, try the monovision and see if that helps, before you invest in any surgery.
RE: Computer Glasses
RE: Computer Glasses
Can you tell us what the experience was like, and do you still need glasses after?
Best to you,
Goober Dave
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RE: Computer Glasses
Best to you,
Goober Dave
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RE: Computer Glasses
Good luck,
Latexman
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RE: Computer Glasses
LASIK was one of the best personal decisions I've made. The process is VERY un-nerving, but at least it doesn't take long. You can find plenty of other personal experience stories by Googling. Pre-surgery, I was roughly -4.5 and -6.5 diopters spherical correction, 1.0 or less cylindrical.
I haven't worn glasses since before the surgery. I had some haziness, but was driving the next day. Haziness and point-source diffusion faded over time. One year after LASIK, I had 20/15 vision. Last year (14 years after) I had 20/20 vision. Probably would be better if I didn't spend so much time staring at a computer screen.
RE: Computer Glasses
Best to you,
Goober Dave
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RE: Computer Glasses
“Know the rules well, so you can break them effectively.”
-Dalai Lama XIV
RE: Computer Glasses
RE: Computer Glasses
I don't like them for driving, I find I have to tilt my head more so that things are in focus for driving. I got a pair of bifocal prescription sunglasses, which are the normal grind, and they are great, but at night especially, I do find the 'computer cut' to be a little harder to get used to.
RE: Computer Glasses
I used to have 20/20 vision but am 65 yrs old so I need about +1.0 in one eye and +0.75 in the other eye for infinity, and about +2.5 to +3.0 for looking at the computer. I bought cheap non-prescription reader glasses at Wal-mart, and have been happy with them for years. I replace them frequently as they get scratched or damaged.
For me, the +2.5 works most of the time but if I am looking at paper drawings that have very small detail and print, I put on the +3.0.
RE: Computer Glasses
I don't deal with franchises for eye care anymore. Bad news all around. Find a good private practitioner who takes her practice and patients seriously.
RE: Computer Glasses
For anyone who can get LASIK done, I would highly recommend it. Been wearing glasses since I was 7 (second grade), and had the "coke bottle" variety until polycarbonate high index came out. My uncorrected vision was (doc's words) "counts fingers at 4 feet", meaning I could finally resolve fingers at 4 feet distance, since 20/XXX numbers don't really apply with -6.5 right, -7.5 left and bad astigmatism. I too needed to put my glasses on first thing in the morning and take them off last thing at night. I had LASIK (corneal flap method) done ~14 years ago, and I d%#$ near cried when I was able to read the menu when my wife and I stopped for a meal on the drive home from the office. The final result was 20/25 in the right eye and 20/30 to 20/40 in my left eye with some residual astigmatism in the left. I have resumed wearing glasses in the last two years, mostly to eliminate "squint headaches" from driving and too much computer/book work, but I can do without if I have to. I am about a year or two away from bifocals/readers but that is just due to age and the doc warned me it would happen before I had the procedure (I'm 42 now).
Matt
Quality, quantity, cost. Pick two.
RE: Computer Glasses
David Simpson, PE
MuleShoe Engineering
"Belief" is the acceptance of an hypotheses in the absence of data.
"Prejudice" is having an opinion not supported by the preponderance of the data.
"Knowledge" is only found through the accumulation and analysis of data.
The plural of anecdote is not "data"
RE: Computer Glasses
One fascinating thing about eye exams is that if you can marginally and correctly guess more than 1/2 of the letters in a line, you get credit for that line. So, I still have 20/20 vision despite the fact that the letters are all kind of blurry.
TTFN

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RE: Computer Glasses
B.E.
RE: Computer Glasses
As an aside the cataract operation was free on the UK National Health Service and I had it quicker than by going privately through my employers health scheme and with the same surgon. I have never seen a business card flashed so quickly when I mentioned private treatment at the initial consultation! To be fair I was putting off booking the private operation as I had some holiday due and he only did private work every two weeks.