How did you know you needed reading glasses
 

I think I might be there, I’m closer to 50 than to 45 and l can’t read text in dim or fading light. During the day is fine with sunlight, it’s just at twilight and evenings. Oh and how do you know which power to buy?

I figure it out when I could no longer read ****.

First tell is if you start moving things closer and farther away trying to find a focal point.

As far as power, go to the store and try on different ones.

You’ll fall between ranges anyway so grab the ones that bring things into Focus.

Don’t go too strong, the first set that works is it.

They are dirt cheap so if you want to grab the next strength as well won’t hurt to have.

When your arms aren't long enough to make the text clear for reading, you need reading glasses.
I have trouble reading in low light too. I'm not sure that's an indication you need reading glasses. It's probably a better indication you need more light in the room.

First, I needed magnifiers for soldering/fine electrical work. Then I couldn't read a tape measure.

And as Nick points out, low light (menus) I use either my phone light or phone app magnifier.

I don't know why they can't use a easier to read font for menus.

One of my pet peeves. Since I'm a CPA and I work with people that "handle" numbers, but they get them wrong consistently. Yet they're too stubborn or vain to get glasses. Or the new UPS driver that keeps dropping off packages for my next door neighbor because he is mixing up the 5 with a 6...

I have a lot of vain or stubborn friends who won't acknowledge that it might be time, so they keep fumbling.


You're - I have that problem, and it bugs me. I attribute it to spending many years working for a ski resort (Crested Butte) in and out of the bright sun and snow... Wait till you have the floaters all over and you think they're gnats...

About the time that I was 40, I began to notice a difference. My left eye when looking at a very tiny LED hidden in the grill of my cell phone wasn't a crisp dot. I watched over 5-6 years as that got gradually worse and worse. My family would always hand me medication bottles to read, necklaces to detangle, needles to thread, but at some point, I wasn't able to do that any more. Once it became consistently problematic is when I finally got glasses.

Buy the lowest power that you can manage. Take something that's difficult for you to read and make sure you can read it.

I started with 1.0 and even those were stronger than I needed. Then I got some prescription glasses so I could have good quality with quality anti-reflective coatings to use at work for computer monitors.

I don't care what anyone says. Once you start wearing glasses, your eyes get worse, I believe because they don't have to work as hard. That's my reason to 1 hold off until you really need them and 2 get the lowest power that you can manage.

I wish I'd started with .50 if they had been available.

Yep. 40 to 45 they start to tire for close vision. I am lucky at 63 and can still get away with only over the counter 1.25's.

You NEED to go to an ophthalmologists, and get your eyes checked every few years at the very least. I go one per year now. They can look at your retina, look for cataracts, check for glaucoma and about a zillion other things that might stand between your vision and blindness in the near future.

After a full medical evaluation and vision check, they will know precisely how good or bad your vision really is on a scientific scale.

I noticed back in my 30s that if I read a lot, the world turned fuzzy. I have astigmatism. With no line bifocals I have 20-20 vision at age 65. For working on the computer I almost always take my glassed off, unless I am using the laptop. It has a stupid small font size to make the camera control software for shooting aerial photo missions function properly.

Go to a real eye doctor, an ophthalmologist, and don't bother with a optometrist unless all you want are new glasses. I prefer my eyes to be checked by an eye surgeon. My vision is very important to me.

Logically that makes zero sense.

You are essentially saying that during a time that your eyes are working hard they degrade then further degrade when they are no longer working as hard.

What caused them to degrade before you got glasses to the point that you needed glasses?

I started around 50 y.o. with 1.25's and am still at that strength. I find the more I use them the more I need them so I use them sparingly. I used to use them mostly when reading but since I bought a Kindle and can enlarge the text it has cut down on my use.

I buy the 3 pairs for $20 at Costco, I've got them laying all around the house, in my truck, in my office, etc.

How do you realize you need reading glasses?

When you go to the store to pick up some 1.5's and they are reading glasses!

Start with the lowest magnification possible. It's a long slippery downhill slope from there.

Print out the JPG in the following link. Make sure that it is 5" wide when printed.

Hold the page 12-14 inches and follow the directions

https://www.readingglassesetc.com/pages/reading-lens-guide/reading-glasses-strength-and-reading-test.html

I use 1.5 for reading and 1.0 for my office computer.

I started at 50 yrs. with 1.5's...and have, over the intervening fifteen years, worked my way up to 2.25's. Lucky that my eyes are great at long distances, and even so I don't need anything other than 3 bucks a pair readers from our local Job Lots store.

As for "getting worse" with use, I've never changes my numbers.

I bought an iPhone 4 to try out, around 2011/2012. I could not make out the tiny numbers on the back. I used to be able to focus on just about anything.

On the office computer glasses, I noticed eye strain at the end of the day. I tried using my 1.5 glasses, but they were too strong for 24 inches. I switch to 1.0 for the computer. I tried 1.25 as a compromise, and they do not work well.

I’m two months in having cataract removed and new lenses inserted. I had bad night and long distance vision. My night vision is restored and I see everything in high def now. I still need reading glasses since I decided not to get the lenses that cure both near and far vision. My brother in law is an Optometrist told me there are more complications with these lenses.

You probably wouldn't care what I have to say on it then. ;)


Once I broke down and started using glasses I find I use them more and more as I get used to them. You can say I need them more because my eyes got lazy, but I think I use them more because I now realize how poorly I was seeing without them.

I went to reading glasses when bifocals had me peeing on my shoes!

I started doing the moving of printed text back and forth to find a focal point at about 43 and didn't know what was going on. Needing reading glasses didn't even enter my mind. I finally went to an optometrist and asked him what the problem was. He answered the problem was I was 43 years old and needed reading glasses. I was shocked. I've been using them since and totally, totally hate them. I find I can still squint and read close up, though it's uncomfortable to do it.

Try fly fishing, when you can't tie a size 18 fly onto your leader anymore, you'll swear by reading glasses.

I didn't know I needed ANY glasses until I went for my 3rd class medical after 20 years on the ground and failed the vision exam. That was 12 years ago and it's been downhill ever since.

There is this thing you do where you go to an eye doctor, and they make sure you don't have any conditions that would cause you to go blind. This is important as you get older. Then they test your vision, and give you a prescription for glasses if you need them. Then you get glasses and see how you like them.

After that, you can go buy cheap readers if you want, and spew them all over your universe.. Seeing the eye doctor is more important as you get older. I am only telling you the obvious because you asked. Get your eyes checked, no joke. Glaucoma. Macular degeneration. Having a wife who still wants me working, I do get tested from time to time. No big deal, and it is nice to be able to see things.

Captain Obvious out.

Walmart has cheap readers, I grab a handfull, and keep them everywhere, cars, home, etc.

I have progressives for daily office work.

Is this a fairly new procedure? Just did a quick search and the links found are pretty recent.

+1 There is also something to be said for keeping a stronger set of reading glasses in the tool box for short duration micro work.

This really is the best advise in the thread. What are your eyes worth?

I understand that one of the reasons that vision declines as we age is that the eye hardens so that it won't focus to the same range.

If you magnify things so your muscles don't have to try to push the envelope, of what they can do, I believe 2 things occur, the muscles weaken so they can no longer do what they could, and it may enable the hardening to accelerate since the muscles aren't keeping things as loose.

I think the eyes naturally degrade as we get older, but that by giving them the crutch of reading glasses, we enable them to relax and get out of shape which makes it harder to do their job.

For a year or two, I work reading glasses occasionally. My vision around that time continued the way it had been. I got a great, very comfy set of glasses and wore them more than I had been and have seen a noticeable acceleration of degradation.

Hahahha, could be.

And then another option, that I believe I first saw when Redbeard posted it.

+1.50 for reading (or whatever works for you), +2.50 for detail work, stack them (+4.00) when you REALLY need to see small stuff.

Yes, you can stack reading glasses for increased magnification.

I’m going this week.

Been wearing glasses for 40 years and in retrospect I should have been wearing them earlier.

By that logic I shoulda gone blind like 10 years ago.

And I did not need readers any earlier than is the norm, IIRC I was around 48/49 when it started becoming an issue.

Right at age 45 I realized I needed them. I saw a dr and he said my eyes were normal for my age. I just buy a bunch of readers at Costco and leave them where I read or work on small stuff. Definitely less eye strain than squinting.
At first I bought a nice $20 pair but I realized it's better to have half a dozen cheap pairs than one good one that you can't find when you need them .

When you say, where's the flashlight when looking down between the floor joist trying to see if the copper joint has been cleaned by the dumb plumbers during the day. You workmen are saying, its right there, you can't see it? Here's the flashlight. Yep, it started at 50 and I have been near sighted almost all my live. Sucks.

Yeah, like Dad 911 say, WTF is with the small hard to read tiny letters on the menu with very light. Oh, WTF is with the loud music. Not only I can't see, but can't fooking hear with all that back ground noise. Damnit, those whippersnappers :)

My dad told me at the rate I was going I'd be blind by the time I was 18. Fortunately I got a different girlfriend who seemed more interested in my eye health.;)

When I was 50 I was having trouble with fine print. Went to get my eyes tested and they told me to go to Walmart and get some cheaters. At age 62 I finally got prescription bifocals.

It was last year for me (turned 51). I couldn't see the slot for a screw under the car. Not enough light and couldn't get my head far enough away for my eyes to focus.

This.

At forty or older, do yourself a favour and get a professional to look at your eyes at least once.
I would never buy those supermarket reading-glasses.
Get a pro to do a check up, he will tell you which power you need. this can vary from one eye to the other!

Tried a set of cheaters on at WallyMart and muttered "oh my God, my hands look old."

When people start calling you Sir.

Because my arms were getting to short for me to read I realized I probably needed reading glasses. The issue was forced one night at a very nice restaurant when I couldn't read the menu (low light, small print).
Best solution for me for years was monocular contact lens. One eye for reading, one eye for distance vision. After I retired I just went back to readers ... until I failed the vision test for TX drivers license renewal and then came the bi-focals.

One thing about "over the counter" readers, the quality is all over the place... some worked great, some I couldn't stand to wear.

Go get your eyes checked and get good quality readers