Mildly Infuriating

There's a few points to note

-there are 1500 different progressive lenses, and a lot of stire are still selling 35 yeae old lenses. You get what you pay for, and avoid chains.

-the eyeglass industry is full of reps who think they're professionals, but don't actually know fuck all about how they work. What the other person said about measurements is way more obvious with a progressive. Because of this, online progressives are dogshit.

-if you're a hyperope, it takes more time to get used to the lenses. Plus prescriptions add more distortion, so it takes longer to adapt.

-the age you got the first progressive makes a huge difference. If you get one at 42, you'll have a much easier time than if you wait until 60, because the reading addition keeps getting stronger and causes more distortion. Side note, if you're over 42, you should be wearing a progressive. Stop lying to me and yourself.

-it takes about two weeks to feel natural, but you have to wear the glasses, and not switch back to an older pair. If you don't put in the effort, you'll be the old person with lines. If you wear them for two weeks and don't get used to them, theres something wrong with the lens.

• get a premium, dual sided antireflective. Plus power lenses have more space between the surfaces, and double the effects of glare on the lens.

-don't take advice from anyone you know, youtube, or especially reddit. Nobody knows any of the actual science behind optics, they just keep parroting things that sound legit. Even supposed professionals in my industry are goddamn idiots, including most licensed opticians i know. The only sources of info that can be trusted are lifelong lab managers, and the people designing the products and systems of manufacture. Everyone else spouts buzzwords like they know what they're saying, or they saw a video once.

I'm an advanced optician running three offices and a lab, working towards my masters designation, and i'm infuriated to be one of the last professionals in this industry.

Hiya! Former optician here!

Have you taken your progressives in to have them adjusted or aligned?

Progressive lenses must be fitted in the perfect spot in front of your eyes to give you the best possible vision.

Once fitted correctly, they mimic the way your focus changes naturally by applying +power as you progress further down the lens, basically shifting towards spherical shape to "magnify" a bit, the same way the muscles in your eyes bend your inner lens to do the same!

In order to use them efficiently:

Folks tend to point their nose slightly downward as they view distance, keep this in mind as your distance section is at the top!

When looking near people tend to slightly cross their eyes and look down towards their nose! This is why the bottom of the lens feels stronger, its where you're expected to read through.

Midrange is the tough one to nail. I recommend holding a piece of paper with text at arms length in front of you, find the spot where its perfect and slowly drag it from that spot to where you'd prefer to read. This will help to train your eyes to follow that track to vary the focus.

Dont give up! I usually recommend giving your lenses a few weeks to adjust to a new style of lens.

Remember though, while they may be difficult to use at first, your vision should be perfect when they do work, getting them to work 100% of the time is the part that takes effort.

I don't need long distance correction, but do need reading glasses distance correction. I got bifocals with no correction on top and my reading prescription on the bottom. When I was choosing types of bifocals, I was given a non-perscription demo progressives to try and hated them. I was then informed by the optometrist that there are a whole bunch of different lens styles to choose from besides progressives for bifocals. I chose "Segmented Ds" which look like this:

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These do exactly what I want. If I'm in a meeting and have my laptop or notepad (reading distance) close to me, and at the other end of the room a whiteboard or projection screen, I pop out my bifocals and they work perfectly. I can see both the distance (no prescription for me) and the close reading distance without having to lift my glasses off my face each time. I do not give a shit if someone sees that they are bifocals. I'm using them to help me be the best version of myself, not make a damn fashion statement. I have not one time had anyone say anything negative about them, and indeed had a few people ask how to order the same thing for themselves. If I'm doing pure close work, I don't use the bifocals and just use regular full field reading glasses.

They are super hard to get properly aligned. The absolute vast majority of people that work in eye glass shops have ZERO clue on how to set them up. They will claim until they die that they know how to do it. They don’t have a clue. And they don’t understand that. That’s the real problem. They think they know and they don’t.

And the more sensitive your eyes are to minute changes(tiny changes). The problem gets many times worse.

The best I can say is go to one person have them keep working on it. Do not let anybody else touch them. Keep working the same person. If you realize this person can’t get them right and it could take several visits by the way. Then blacklist that person and go to the next person in the same shop. Repeat this until you’ve gone through everybody in the same shop. Then go to the next shop and start over. Keep doing this until youcan find somebody who has a clue. It’s going to take a while. Trust me. I have exactly one person in Town that he can do it. By the way, my city is about 60,000 people in just this town. 60,000 population that is. And there are quite a few eyeglass places in town.

To those who are reading this, if you work in eyeglass shops, and you’re sitting there thinking, but everybody in my shop is really good. Then you have no what’s going on. And you’re part of the problem. Because if you’re thinking, everybody in your shop can do it that means nobody in your shop can do it.

Think of it this way. Imagine everybody on a baseball team says I am really great and everybody my team is really great. Then your entire team sucks. Because in every team, there are people who are really, really good and people are mediocre and people are bad. So if you honestly believe that, everybody in your team is really really good then you’re clueless.

So I guess the best advice I can give to the original poster is keep trying with different people and try to find somebody’s good. Or go to bifocals.

They take a month or 2 to get used to, give it time. Your brain sort of morphs itself to make it seem normal after a while. It's very strange but true.

I personally went for only 2 zones, one which was mainly the strength to use a computer rather than read a book up close (though I can do that in a pinch, but I keep stronger glasses for reading books), and the other for distance. This feels very natural to me now, I can just see what I need to see but it doesn't feel weird. I would never go for bifocals.

I found I can't do bifocals at all. When I'm reading, I need the whole lens. When I'm distance viewing, I need the whole lens.

So, two pairs it is!

Same. I despise them and refuse to wear them.

I bought a pair of reading glasses at the dollar store and just pretend I don’t need to see in the distance.

Just a note for anyone getting older: when you get your cataract surgery, when they insert the new lens into your eye, they can make that lens a prescription lens. And one thing you might consider doing is requesting that one lens be made slightly long-distance and the other slightly near-distance.

Yes. I paid extra and got the worse. Switched back to normal glasses after a year.

It used to be cheaper (bought some about 20 years ago) to have 2 pairs. One for distance and another for up close. I regretted buying progressives ultimately. Have they become less expensive?

Do you mean varifocals? You definitely get used to them and get muscle memory in your eyes for where to look through. You need to wear them 24/7 though

Try and return them first; tell them they give you a head ache and you cannot wear them. Refuse to wear them any longer.

If the prescription lens place doesn't help, dump them along with the glasses, consider your options and shop around.

I had the same experience 7 years ago. I ultimately went back to my old pair and even bought a pair of cheapos from eyebuydirect.com to hold me over until my insurance covered my next prescription.

I hated them too. It takes a few weeks, but I still have a second set that’s only the near prescription, set for my monitor distance. The chicken-bob is the worst.

Make sure that you have them set on your head the same way each time. The glasses moving around on your head is a pain since those “zones of vision” move whenever that happens.