Sunday, September 13, 2009

Prescription vs. store-bought reading glasses.

About a year ago I went to the optometrist for my annual eye exam, and admitted to myself for the first time that I needed reading glasses. Now I had been told by many friends not to get prescription glasses because they were too expensive and the glasses you buy at a generic store work just as well. I ended up getting my glasses from the optometrist because he convinced me that off-the-shelf glasses would not work because they would be too strong. Yes, the glasses/frames/exam/anti-reflective coating were expensive, but the glasses worked great.

Last week I was in Costco and they have this set-up where you look through four different lenses to see which reading glasses work the best. The "125", whatever that number means, was the weakest, but I could tell that I could read the letters better. So I bought a three-pack of that type. When I got home the first thing I did was test them out while working on the computer. Immediately I noticed that the glasses did not make the text on the computer screen easier to read, but actually more blurry than my prescription glasses. The Costco glasses seem to only work for actual reading, where the book is about 12 inches from my face. The computer screen is about two feet away, and the glasses I've been using work great for both computer use and reading books.

So if anyone needs "125" glasses, I have three pair - with cases! - you can have, except I might keep one just for the fun of it.

2 comments:

Karen said...

I can't use the store bought ones either because my glasses are for eye strain and not vision. I looked thru the weakest pair at Thrify once and got the blurry view.

Optickart said...

I agree that choosing the best sunglasses are important in your Hawaii vacation. It also reminds me of my first vacation there like it was just yesterday.
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