Multifocal lenses

Multifocals (also called progressive lenses) combine three optical prescriptions in one lens – without any visible lines.

They allow you to see:

• At a far distance
• At an arm’s length distance, like working on a computer
• Reading and other close-up for activities.

Multifocal lenses are often more convenient if you wear one pair of glasses for reading and another pair for distance as these can be combined into the one lens. The top of the lens is for distance vision, intermediate distance is in the middle of the lens and reading or close up vision is towards the bottom of the lens. With multifocals, you don’t have to swap your glasses each time you change from one activity to another. This means if you are making dinner, you are able to view the ingredients while chopping, read the recipe on the tablet, and checking the saucepan over at the stove without the frustration of blurry vision between the distances.

Single vision prescription? Here’s how multifocals could benefit you

Do you often misplace your glasses at work or at home? Single vision prescription wearers often find it frustrating to take off their glasses after wearing them to read and then going to do another task, and then searching where they left their glasses. If you have glasses for reading and glasses for distance, you are frequently swapping between glasses to see clearly. Multifocal lenses provide convenience by not needing to take the glasses off between different tasks.

Not all multifocal lenses are built equally.

If you’ve been noticing distorted or blurred vision when looking between different distances, then you may be interested in a newer high-performance lens on the market.

The most common multifocal lens product on the market are a “standard” level, which were designed decades ago. They provide a good cost-effective vision option over having two pairs of glasses, but can be limited with blurrier focus at the edges at the different distances. Mid-priced lenses provide slightly wider fields of vision and top of the range high performance provides the widest field of vision at all three distance levels. All multifocal lenses have some side distortion due to multiple prescriptions in the one lens.

If you haven’t heard of high-performance multifocal lenses, you’re not alone.

Health Partners offer a range of Multifocal lenses for our customers. Higher performing, customised multifocal lenses allow the side distortion to be pushed to the side as far as possible providing the clearest and more seamless vision between distances, and can address some of the frustrations that some multifocal wearers have experienced with standard lenses such as side distortion or “swim”, or the need to find the best focal spot by constantly moving your head.

What can I expect when I switch to multifocals?

It might take a while to adjust to wearing multifocals, especially if you’re switching from single vision lenses, or are new to wearing glasses.

Things might look a little blurry when you first start wearing them. However, this is completely normal and most people adjust to the new lens usually within a couple of weeks. Just ensure you look straight ahead when viewing distance and move eyes down the lens to read at close distance.

Tips for wearing multifocal lenses

• Wear your new multifocal lenses all day to adjust to the new areas of vision – put your old glasses away while you adjust to the new lenses
• To read through the bottom of the lens, keep your chin up and lower your eyes
• Be careful when walking up and down stairs – don’t look through the bottom part of the lens as it can magnify areas, distorting distance. Make sure you are looking through the mid distance part of the lens, you may need to tilt your chin down slightly to do this
• Move your head to where you want to see to the side to avoid the side distortion. Your eyes should follow where you nose is pointing to. This may not be required as much with higher performing multifocal lenses
• Make sure the frame and lenses are adjusted and fitted properly, and ensure they are correctly positioned in front of your eyes
• Find the sweet spot in each of the three distances, so when reading, mid-distance (eg computer) and distance
• Let us know if you are having difficulty adjusting or having problems so that we can help you as you adapt to your new lenses.