Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunter's Campfire Question for the Ophthalmologists

A few years back I had cataract surgery in both eyes. Standard lenses. Set to see mid and far. I wear glasses with progressive lenses all the time for close up.

My question is, can one get glasses that are progressive but upside down. Meaning so I can see close up when looking up instead of down. A lot of times when doing things on a ladder I need to see up, not down. Or no ladder, Or under vehicles looking up, etc.

Thanks in advance.

PS: I would need to get back down off the ladder without killing myself.

Or any optomitrists.

Snap-on truck used to sell 'em to mechanics. Don't know where he got 'em.

I'm not an eye specialist. According to my optical dispenser, this is a common request and easily done.

A mechanic friend of mine has glasses set this way

F

any place that sells prescription glasses should be able to do it easily.

There are quite a few jobs that require that setup. They're readily available from any optical shop.

Simple!

Climb the ladder assbackards!!

I'm a dispensing optician and Vision Center Manager for Walmart. You have options, but I've never heard of doing an upside down progressive. 'Doesn't mean it can't be done, but it might be challenging.

Options-you could get a lined bifocal. There' s a couple different options. There is a double lined bifocal-one in the conventional position on the bottom of the lens, and another one upside down in the top of the lens. These are called double D bifocals. The top bifocal is typically 2/3 the strength of the bottom bifocal, with the premise being that the work you do overhead is a little farther away than your reading distance. Because your focus is a little farther out, you need less plus power to read at that distance.

Another option is a single lined bifocal, upside down in the top of the frame. The rest of the lens would be prescribed at your distance rx. This would only work effectively for distance, and overhead work.

I'm thinking through doing an upside down progressive. I guess it'd be possible, but I've never tried it. Without getting deeply into the technical side of producing this lens, they'd probably have to use the right eye lens blank for the left eye, and the left eye lens blank for the right eye. These lenses are built with the near vision corridor decentered inward in each blank, so to make that work, they'd probably have to swap the blanks eye for eye so your eye could travel up through the corridor. I've never had to make one of these, but it seems like it could (?) work. Your doctor and optician will need to go over this thoroughly with the lab they use, and you'd better hope they've got some older, manually operated equipment, as I doubt their RX computers would be set up for a highly specialized order like this.

Well, that gives me a good start. There is a small center in a nearby town. Older fella runs it. I'll check with him. Thank you for your help.


Are those magnifier reading glasses full lens magnification, or they set up like bifocals?

There is a website rx safety that shows kinda sorta what you are looking for. Got close see-er grind on top AND bottom and no magnification in the middle. Mine are just ground on the top 1/3 but I think the double grind would be handier yet.

Good luck on that job, gopher.

"My question is, can one get glasses that are progressive but upside down._

They're called "Occupational Safety Glasses" and they work great. You can get them at an optometrist but all stores don't sell them.

There is a lot of glass lower on your eye level to put progressives that you only use when looking down...

SO for what you are asking, you’d have to get a set of glasses that run REALLY high up over your eyebrows..... i.e. - you are going to look goofy.

I just go to Walgreens and get reading glasses. You can buy progressive reading glasses 1 to 3.5 power.

My brother was a computer programmer. He had an upside down pair that helped him a lot. He didn't need close up to see the keyboard but he needed it for the screen. I don't know if they were progressives or the line type, though.

If I still had an old set of Coburn surfacing equipment I think I could make that. Shouldn't be too hard to cut on an old Coburn 108. I'd think you wouldn't want to use any equithinning prism though.