Presbyopia Advice
So the reason why it is getting harder to see the screen is because the lens inside the eye loses
its elasticity and gets harder. This means, it cannot change in power to help you focus with
the screen like before. The scientific term for this is called presbyopia.
5-10 years ago, since your lens was more flexible, all you needed was the power to look into
the distance. You would be able to look at near objects with the help of your lens. However,
now that your lens has become harder, we would need to look at options of spectacle that
have more than 1 specific power to them.
This can be achieved by giving 2-3 different spectacles with different power to them. Where
'spectacle 1' would be used for distance, 'spectacle 2' would be used for computers and
'spectacle 3' would be used for near work such as reading. However, some people find this to
be too much or their daily life as they cannot carry around so many spectacles and it may also
be costly.
To be able to help with this problem, there is an option called Progressive lenses. Like the
name suggest, the power of these lens increases in a progressive manner. With the top part for
looking far away such as the road when driving, the middle part for intermediate work such
as looking at the computer screen and the bottom part for reading and other near vision
activities.
Imagine a scenario where you are driving your car. When you are looking at the road far
away from you, you will be looking through the distance portion of the lens and it will appear
clear for you. When you now shift your attention to the dashboard which is around 60-70 cm
from you, you would shift your gaze down very slightly, now looking through the
intermediate portion of the lens. When you are looking at your navigator map, you would
shift your gaze even further down looking through the near portion of the progressive lens.
This lens would keep all the views clear for you.
Look at this picture (image below), which give you a hint as to how they use the top part for
distance and it changes progressively into near vision.
There is an adaptation period with these lens however. This is caused by the design of the
lens itself. Due to the arrangement of the different powers, you may need to tilt your head at
times to be able to see clearly for a specific distance.
Also the dotted line on the sides mark the extent of horizontal clear vision. This means that
you would have to move your head in the direction you want to look at. A simple rule is to
point your nose in the direction you want to look at.
Now for your ease of work, you would want to set the height of the centre of your screen at
or slightly lower than your chin. It would also help if the screen is right in front of you to
make sure you are getting the most clear vision. If you have to keep turning your head
around, always keep in mind that you should point your nose in the direction of the object
you are looking at.
If the screen is still not clear, try adjusting your vertical head tilt to make sure you that the
screen becomes clear and position your chair height accordingly such that you are
comfortable.
Some limitations of this kind of lens is that, you would have to get used to this type of lens.
Since you have not worn these before you would need a bit of an adjustment time period to
get used to which part of the lens you would need to look through and how much should you
tilt your head.
Like i mentioned before, the edges of the lens may look slightly distorted so make sure you
are scanning around by moving your head side to side rather than changing your gaze in that
direction.
Stairs may also appear distorted or closer at first as you normally look down using the power
which is for reading, so be careful when going up and down stairs until you get used to the
lens.
I do recommend you to take breaks when having long duration of screen time. Looking
outside your window for 20 seconds after looking at your screen for 20 mins. Also make sure
you make a conscious decision to blink more often when using the computer screen for a long
time.
Overall, i think this type of lens would help you with your daily lifestyle where you would
like to use the screen, and write things on paper or read other documents.
Claudia Age:50-51 years old in 2021
Option 1: Freeform multifocal spectacles
RE: -2.00 / -0.25 x 10
LE: -1.50 / -0.25 x 5
Near add: +2.00
Visual Task: Can wear full time for distance, computer use and near
Coating: Anti reflective (helpful) and blue light filter (optional)
Option 2: Vocational Multifocal Spectacle
RE: -1.25 / -0.25 x 10
LE: -0.75 / -0.25 x 5
Near add: +1.00
Coating: Anti reflective (helpful) and blue light filter (optional)
Option 3: Single vision intermediate
RE: -1.25 / -0.25 x 10
LE: -0.75 / -0.25 x 5
Visual Task: Computer work anything within an 80cm to 60cm range
Take glasses off for near and use old glasses for distance.
