How to Get Used to Progressive Lenses

From a certain age (somewhere between late 30s to early 40s), your vision naturally declines, especially when it comes to seeing things up close. For most glasses wearers, that comes in addition to imperfect eyesight when looking at a distance.

You can get 2 pairs of glasses, each for a different issue, but switching between them can be a pain. A more ideal solution would be the all-in-one kind, aka progressive lenses.

This type of lens provides clear and corrected vision for reading, distance and everything in between, with a smooth transition between all fields of vision. However, it might take a long time getting used to, because it requires looking through different parts of the lens for each field of vision.

Here are some tricks and tips to make your adjustment period as smooth as possible.


1. Wear Your New Glasses, Not the Old Ones

It might feel weird at first to wear progressives. Still, you should stick to them for all your glasses-needy occasions until you get the hang of it. The more you wear them, the easier the transition will be.


2. Focusing Tricks

A neat way to get the hang of it. Start by looking and focusing on an object at a distance (across the room for example), and slowly lower your eyes to the midsection of the lenses, focusing on something else. Then, take a book and start reading it using the bottom part of the lens.


3. Move Your Head, Not Just Your Eyes

When getting accustomed to your new glasses, try moving your head and not just your eyes. Do it up and down and then side-to-side as you look through different fields of vision.


4. How to Walk up the Stairs with Progressive

It’s quite common to feel like your eyes are playing tricks on you when walking up a flight of stairs for the first time with progressive lenses. As mentioned above, move your head and not just your eyes to look down, which will enable you to keep everything in focus.

During your first week of wearing new glasses with progressive lenses, use them while driving only if you’re already comfortable.

For first timers with multifocals and progressive lenses, there might be some super subtle side effects such as very slight dizziness. It’s completely normal, and will pass quickly. And now that you know what’s in store for first-time wearers of progressive lenses, it’s time to get yourself a pair of multifocals. Vision Express offers 1000s of styles to pair up with high-quality progressive lenses for any prescription at affordable prices. Check out the collection. There’s probably a sale on multifocals you can take advantage of right now.