Just got my first pair of glasses with progressive lenses and I am NOT digging these things at all. For those of you that have, or had them in the past, what has been your experience with them? How long did it take you to get used to them?

LOL, I got a pair about 2 years ago. I work at a desk in front of a computer screen for 8 hours a day. The progressive glasses gave me "mid" range to see the screen and rock back in my chair. You have to "follow your nose". You cannot roll your eyes left or right or down without getting into fuzzy areas when looking at a distance. It makes for a bit of difficulty when walking and trying to see where your feet hit the ground.

One thing I did was get a pair of single lense sunglasses. It sure is nice to be able to walk and see the ground by rolling your eyes.

I had never had bi-focal glasses until I got the progressive glasses. Good Luck!

I do have to say, I can now read without taking my glasses off.

After falling down the stairs a couple of times, by the time the cast was off, it was fine.

Seriously give them a few weeks. Late one day you'll realize you have had them on all day. Took me a few days.

I much prefer the lined lenses, myself. I've tried progressive lenses twice over the 25 years or so since I first started needing bifocals and now trifocals but could never stand wearing them long enough to get used to them. With the lines I always know exactly where I'm at and which grind I need to go to for whatever distance range I'm working with.

Took me almost a month to get used to my progressive lenses. Hated em at first !
Love em now.

Took me a week or so, watch those steps! Now scanning for game took me a couple years, learning to scan with my head, not just my eyes. Single vision contacts were great for hunting until one day I forgot my reading glasses. Ever field dress a deer mostly by feel?

Had a pair of single vision made up for computer and reading, much more comfortable. Either I had to move my head all the time or my eyes strained to keep focus outside the sweet spot.

For some reason I never had any problems adjusting to progressive lenses. I loved them from the minute I put them on. Have had cataract surgery and now I only need "readers". I am plagued with floaters and macular degeneration that are other "issues".

I've worn them for almost twenty years,work great.Only trouble is my last pair are smaller in size and shooting a handgun can be a pain.Hard to focus on the front sight with the narrower vision allowed.
I have also noticed at malls,they make women's butts look bigger...

If you have a scope on your rifle, you'll have to refocus the scope for your new glasses.

This is me to a T, including the cataracts. I still wear the progressives, even after the cataract surgery. I have a very slight need for a correction at distance that they fix. I don't wear them at all in the field, but they're very handy at work & at home.

I have been wearing progressive lenses since they came out years back. Yes, it takes a few days to get used to them, but past that, they are great.
I would never go back to the old fashioned bi or tri focals.

It takes a few weeks to get used to using them. Be careful at first when using stairs or a urinal.

If you can't see your front sight, have the eye doc craft a prescription that emphasizes the mid-range so your front sight is in crisp focus.

Had my first pair for 4 days and can get myself sea sick by moving my eyes around too fast. Nice to be able to read with glasses on again though..

30 years in the the optical business here guys. All the above comments are very accurate. They are tough to get used to, especially if you're one that doesn't react well to change. You need to learn to point with your nose, so that your eyes stay in the "sweet spot" of the lenses. One difference between progressives and lined bifocals is that progressives give you mid range focus, which is your viewing area out at arm's length or dashboard distance, or out at your computer screen. An option for folks who aren't liking them for the computer would be occupational lenses, which are a no line design with a wider reading area, but are designed only for mid-range and reading. They won't work for distance, so are best suited as a second pair for folks who do a lot of computer work, probably at a desk or cubicle. Once again, these won't work for distance, so are basically a second pair option for most folks. For hunting, I either wear contacts, or single vision glasses made for distance only, and keep a pair of readers with me just in case I ever get a chance to fill out a deer tag. (That's another story!) I don't like trying to see clearly through the scope with the no lines on. Try to find a good optician who hunts or shoots. They will best understand what you're gong through and how to help address it.

I had a pair for over a month and couldn't get used to 'em.. Took them back and exchanged for standard bifocals and couldn't be happier.

I know some people really like the progressive lenses, but I'm not one of 'em.. YMMV

One thing about progressives - if you need a real strong prescription for distance, you'll likely have problems shooting. They'll get weak in the upper corners - right where you have to look for sighting a gun or bow. The stronger the prescription, the worse it gets. I had to switch to bifocals to be able to shoot until my cataract surgery fixed it.

"You cannot roll your eyes left or right"

If you have this problem you need different glasses.I don't have any blurred areas on my progressive lens. My lenses are Nikon.

Tried them twice,hated them both times.

Maybe 2 weeks to a month. I was sorry I switched at first. But now you couldn't pay me enough to go back to bifocals. Just stick with it. There is a downside and you have to be aware. Once in awhile the get the prescription out of alignment with your eye. In that case you'll never see properly. Stick with them and give them a chance. But if after 30 days you're still not liking them. Go back to the eye doctor and have him/her check alignment.

I am one of the haters, tried them six years ago and said I preferred lined bifocals. Six years later and after months of headaches I went to get new lenses.

Doc said I needed mid-range correction, and since I prefer thin lenses, top to bottom I simply did not have enough room for tri-focals.

He took the time to explain the sweet spot using a similar diagram.



Took a few weeks to get used to it and I will never go back to lined lenses, plus, with no lines all the women's think I am 20 and not 50 now.

I have to take off mine when shooting,especially when hand gunning.They throw me off big time,cause me to shoot low.

I've used the progressives ever since I started needing glasses over ten years ago. Never had any problem getting used to them, after a few minutes of wear my eyes always seek the clearest focus at whatever distance I'm looking at. I advise people to get whatever they're happy with though, whether progressives or fixed point bifocals, if you don't like them you'll never get used to wearing them. Got to get what's comfortable.

The only reason I went with progressives was because I couldn't get along with bi-focals anymore, and I was pretty sure I was going to hate tri-focals.

I have progressive lenses and have zero problems with daily use. Handgun shooting just requires tipping my head back a bit to focus on the front sight. Shooting a rifle with open sights was harder for me than getting used to the progressives and a handgun. The first clay bird at sporting clays with progressives was a disaster. I swear I saw three clays and couldn't figure out which one to shoot at. Went the rest of the day with old, non corrected shooting glasses and missed a few.

For shooting rifle and shotgun, I got glasses with only distance correction and they work fine. Sunglasses were purchased with the reading correction part lowered so the distance correction area is larger. They're great for driving and I can see the dash through the lower part. They're also passably good for shooting shotgun or rifle.

Three pair of glasses seems a lot but I only need a new prescription every two or three years and then I update my daily glasses and either the shooting glasses or sunglasses. This way I'm only getting two pair of glasses every two or three years and I can see to do the things I need to do and enjoy.

I've had them for probably 20 years. I hate the [bleep] as much now as I did the day I first wore them. Unfortunately, my eyesight is so crappy that there isn't much in the way of a non-surgical alternative.

You will find that you must turn your head to maintain focus and not roll your eyes. You will not like this but you will get used to it. If you try to do otherwise expect to spend a lot of time vomiting.

You cannot use a welding hood because you cannot tilt your head enough to see the bead clearly and in focus.

You view of the rear sight of an iron-sighted weapon will be fuzzy. The front bead and the target will be fine. Adapt.

You must tilt your head back almost as far as it will go to read a computer screen. Your neck will hurt for awhile but you will get used to that too. Practice resting your chin on your hand for support. This will save neck strain and possibly make you look intellectual or distinguished.

They are fine for being outside and I do see distant objects very clearly.

You also will find reading or watching tv while laying down is difficult. Find something else to do while you are laying down.....

Pretty much your only alternative is having the lenses of your eyes surgically replaced. It's really no different than cataract surgery but you will still need reading glasses.

Unlike many of the other respondents I have few issues with scoped rifles. Need to be careful about the proper eye relief to avoid parallax but other than that not a major issue.

I found the learning curve to be pretty shallow. You need leenses that are big enough for a reasonable transition. They don't have to be Elton John size just not tiny lenses.
Give yourself a week or so and you won't notice. They work pretty well for me when shooting handguns with iron sights.

Ernie

Got my first pair about 4 years ago.....the glasses shop convinced me to get the most expensive lenses they had.....I had them 3 years and never felt they had the prescription right. Took me almost a year to feel comfortable with them. Stairs took about 3 months. Went to Costco this past time and they were MUCH cheaper and seemed about the same, vision-wise. Went back to Costco after a year and told them my close vision in one eye didn't seem right. They put them on a machine and discovered that the precription wasn't cut correctly. They fixed them at no cost and it is better. The lesson being, if they don't seem right after giving it time, ask them to confirm the grind.

Give it time.

after wearing old fashioned trifocals for the last 3 years,after returning the progressives then for the lined ones,I just got a new pair last night.
being now used to using trifocals,the progressive were a no problem transisition at all.

I had progressives a number of years ago and liked them but switched back to lined bifocals for some reason I don't remember now. I now need trifocals so after my last exam I decided to try progressives again. I couldn't get used to them this time around. There was way too much distortion around the edges in my peripheral vision and it really messed me up. Walking down hallways and flights of stairs were the worst - walls and other flat surfaces/straight lines appeared bowed and got worse as I walked closer.

The optometrist explained to me that progressive lenses are shaped more like an hour glass around the edges (top, bottom and sides) and the sweet spot is much smaller in the center of the lense as compared to regular lenses. He said progressives will always have more distortion around the edges and to minimize this your frames need to fit your face so that your eye is as close to the center of the lense as possible, and larger lenses will have more distortion than smaller lenses.

I had him switch me to lined trifocals and they are much better for me - not near the distortion. My eyes are fairly close together - I have a heck of a time with binoculars getting them to close far enough to get a good view. With my current frames, I am looking through the inboard third of the lense so have more than normal distortion out the outer edges. I have some older frames with lined bifocals that are much smaller lenses than my current ones and I have literally no distortion with those. My problem with the small frames is shooting with a scope - I'm trying to look over the top of the frames unless I use a fairly high scope mount.

That's more than the OP asked about, but is a frustration I've been trying to sort out for a number of years.

At first I hated them and was sure they weren't going to work, as it was very disorienting. I suffered through wearing them for a few days, and next thing I knew I didn't even realize I had them on. Then I started to really like them.

Wearing no lines for better then 20 years I have learned first do not get thin lenses top to bottom tightens up the area of correct vision to much. Second is not to buy the cheaper lenses the correction area left to right is to small and causes you to turn your head every time to look at something to the side. With my current lenses I can turn my eyes from frame edge to frame edge and see just fine. My eyes are really bad only correctable to 20-40.

THE very worst thing about bifocals is when trying to read a label on the top shelf at the store. For some reason when the head goes back far enough to read thru the bottom parts of the lenses the mouth comes open. I get very frustrated working on vehicles trying to see thru the lower bifocal and there is not enough room, I finally wen to a pair of cheaters.

I tried the son's-a-bitches for a half hour.....

Been wearing progressives for ten years now. I about puked a couple of times the first couple days with the first pair, and I about fell on my face a couple time on stairs.

You might want to remove them before walking down stairs for a week or so. Falling up the stairs does not hurt so bad.

It took two or three weeks for me to get over the visual disorientation, after acquiring my first pair of progressives.

Today, the only time they bother me is when I am shooting off the bench with a scoped rifle. The progressive lens causes little swirls of distortion (much like strong heat mirage) all around the periphery of my field of view through the scope. In my experience, single vision lenses do not do that.

I didn't take time to get used to them. Then went back as soon as I could get some new "old fashion" glasses.

These things are rough.....

It is gonna be real tough to give them time. I want to throw them out the window and go back to single vision. Damn!!!

after having lined bifocals,then trifocals for a few years,I love em.course,I havent tried to do any shooting yet.