Are You Feeling Conscious About Your Reading Glasses?

The average person has a lot to contend with as they get older; most of us will gain weight, tackle greying hair (if it doesn’t fall out), and develop wrinkles around our eyes, on our foreheads and, well, everywhere really. While some may embrace these changes with “grace”, many more of us will likely turn to the latest fads and solutions, from hair dye to skin creams, to satisfy our vanity.

But there is likely one thing that the “grow old gracefully” and “hide the grey hairs!” parties have in common: an aversion to reading glasses.

Why do we need reading glasses?

Just like our hair colour fades and our skin loses its plumpness as we get older, so too do our eyes begin to deteriorate. As this process progresses, the finer aspects of our vision become weaker. For most people, this means their near, reading vision becomes less clear which, in time, leads to a dependence on reading glasses. This process is known as presbyopia – or more aptly, “ageing eyes”.

It’s not all about vanity. After all, we can now get glasses in almost every colour, style, and shape imaginable. There is almost certainly a pair of glasses out there that matches your personality perfectly – if you have the money to pay for them.

You may not care at all about how your glasses make you look. I mean, there are plenty of other ways to hold onto your youth, right? Meaningful experiences such as volunteering and giving back to your community or backpacking around the world do much more to nourish our hearts and souls than clinging to your youthful appearance.

But the bottom line is: Reading glasses don’t just make us look older to other people, they also make us feel older in ourselves. They are a constant reminder that our vision isn’t what it once was – and that’s before we even consider the many inconveniences wearing glasses brings. From constantly losing or breaking your specs to keeping up with changing prescriptions and foggy lenses while cooking.

If you’re one of the many people who are tired or feeling conscious about your reading glasses, you might wonder…

Is There a Better Solution?

Many people are willing to put up with the many inconveniences of reading glasses. After all, you may only need to wear them when you’re reading. But the shortcomings of reading glasses don’t just cover their appearance and inconvenience, they may also be a less effective option than other alternatives.

To hit this point home, optometrist Christopher Kerr set out to test the quality of reading glasses that can be purchased on the high street. He reported that four out of twelve ‘ready readers’ he picked up from high street stores had flaws and potentially “severe eye-straining faults”. According to the report, only one pair was deemed satisfactory.

Well, thankfully, there is a better solution! There are a few other options, actually. From contact lenses to monovision implantable collamer lens (ICL) surgery. But, being a Laser Eye Surgery clinic, we’re going to focus on what we believe (and the facts support) is the best solution: PRESBYOND® Laser Blended Vision.

Laser Eye Surgery is now not only able to treat common refractive errors like myopia (short-sightedness), hyperopia (long-sightedness), and astigmatism but also ageing vision. In doing so, it could be the answer to ridding yourself of reading glasses (and contacts, for that matter), for good!

How Does it Work?

Other options tend to cover multiple prescriptions in a single product – for example, multifocal lenses are split to provide near vision and distance vision – or correct each eye for different distances, PRESBYOND® Laser Blended Vision essentially combines these two techniques.

The laser procedure involves correcting one eye mainly for distance vision and a little for near vision while the other eye is corrected mainly for near vision and a little for distance vision. This creates a “blend zone” which your brain is then able to reconcile into one clear image across all distances.

This technique was pioneered by our very own founder and expert Laser Eye Surgeon, Professor Dan Reinstein. It is tolerated in an estimated 97% of patients. This compares with around 60% of patients who are able to tolerate monovision!

If you’d like to learn more PRESBYOND® Laser Blended Vision and how London Vision Clinic could help you to ditch your reading glasses for good, get in touch with one of our friendly clinic coordinators or Book a Consultation today.