Taking Care of Your Eyes as You Age

If you have been told you need to get computer glasses, you'll find you have a range of options that fit budgets and work situations. However, each option has its optimal conditions for use, and if you get the wrong option, you could make your glasses situation quite awkward. Here are three types of glasses to consider for computer use and how each can affect you.

Basic Dedicated Pairs

The basic pair of computer glasses uses lenses made solely for computer use. They are good if you spend a lot of time using the glasses at specific distances. In other words, if you're spending most of your day sitting at one computer, so the distance between you and what you're reading doesn't change that often, a dedicated set of glasses is all you really need.

The drawback, of course, is that you have to remove the glasses for anything other than computer use. Depending on your prescription, you may have to remove them for close-up reading, and you'll have to remove them for distance use, such as driving. That also means keeping track of multiple pairs of glasses. Still, this works well for people who like to keep things relatively simple.

Mid-Distance Pairs

These are similar to basic glasses in that the lenses tend to have only one prescription built into them. However, these incorporate a slightly farther distance. So instead of having glasses meant to let you see a computer screen clearly when you're seated at your desk, the lenses let you see the screen and items just beyond that. These are excellent for people who have to work with computers a lot but who also need to look up frequently and reference items farther away in a room. However, they will still not be suitable for driving, and the range of the lenses will still be limited.

Occupational Progressive or Multifocal Pairs

Just as progressive or bi/tri-focals can include multiple prescriptions for distance and reading, these types of lenses can also include computer prescriptions. However, the occupational versions of these make the computer sections slightly larger than normal. So, instead of a bifocal that's divided evenly between distance and computer, you have a bifocal that's got a slightly larger computer-use section and a slightly smaller distance section.

These are excellent if you have to look at variable distances all day and don't want to keep switching glasses every few minutes. The drawbacks are that you may have to hold your head at certain angles to ensure that the lens section you want to use is in front of your eyes. That may lead to neck strain if not done properly. Another issue is that the distance section in the occupational version of the glasses may be too small for you to use when driving. They work for walking around and general sight, but the lens section for distance can be so specific that driving becomes risky -- your eyes can wander out of the distance section very easily. So, you would still need a separate pair of driving glasses if you're nearsighted enough to need distance vision assistance.

If you'd like to look at these styles and see which might be best for you, talk to your optician or optometrist or visit websites like http://envisionnv.com/. They'll have samples as well as knowledge gained from talking to other customers who have used these about what actual usage can be like.