Progressive glasses are designed to let you see sharp in every distance. The area for computer work is just the smallest part. Therefore it is in most cases, not the best choice especially if you are over 50 try computer glasses instead.
In this article, I will explain to you when you could use your normal progressive glasses in your computer work and when you should consider other solutions. Just look at the picture down below. It shows you the image of a progressive lens. If you look through the grey marked areas your vision will get blurry. The other parts of the lens hold different powers to let you see sharp in the distance (blue), on the pc screen (green), and yellow and red for close-range reading.
As you can see only the green part of the lens is actually made for the PC. If you are like 43 years old you can probably get away with using your progressive lens for computer work. The reason is, that your eye still can accommodate the PC distance. But when you are 65 your eyes just can not do that anymore and you are dependent on the support of the green PC area to see the screen sharp. As you can imagine looking through this really small area (green) for an extended amount of time can be very taxing.
It forces you to stay in an unnatural position which can cause discomfort of your eyes, neck, and shoulders. The reason, therefore, is especially that most people tend to lift up their chin to see the screen sharp.
Every progressive lens is manufactured in a way to let you sharp while you just look straight ahead in the distance in a shoulder and neck position that´s natural for you. But when you are doing PC work and the monitor is at a height which levels your head you need to look through an area that is actually made for the distance. You need a little more reading power and what happens you tend to lean your head back to look through a point that is lower in the progressive lens to get the reading power you need.
What progressive lenses do you want to choose? Those with a longer design that makes pc work on your laptop a little easier or do you want a short or medium design?
Questions i ask everyday
We already described in this area how small the area for computer work really is in your progressive lenses. But what did you choose as you bought your lenses? There are different options that can make the green-colored space in your lens a little bit bigger or smaller.
Those options are categorized in Small, Medium, and Long and they describe how much you have to look down to get the full reading power of your progressive lenses. As the area for PC work gets bigger the lens would have to be a little longer to get the power for the pc fitted into the lens. And if you want a really really tiny area for the pc work you would go with the option small. So you get a short lens that could be fitted in a frame that has less height.
Are We Are Talking About a PC on Your Desk or a Laptop While You Do PC Work?
The key to using your progressive glasses correctly is to not force you in an unnatural position while doing pc work. If you are using a laptop the position of the screen tends to be a little lower than on a normal PC setup.
This enables you to look through the right (green) area of your progressive glasses while you can maintain a totally natural position in most cases. You can use your daily progressive glasses in most cases here because although the area in the lens design is still restricted you are also using a smaller screen.
This combination tends to work well for a lot of people. Especially when there is no permanent switching between near range distances like reading something printed, going back to the smartphone, and then back to the laptop. Every one of these devices has its own distance in which you read them.
If you use a device often or you need it for your hobby or your work measure it. This information can be crucial in the selection of your new progressive glasses.
If those pieces of information are clear before the lenses are manufactured it is pretty clear for you what to expect of your new glasses while you wear them at work. It is nothing more to test it in 2 minutes to see which options fit you and if progressive lenses would do the job for you to provide you with clear vision during pc work. But the testing should be done in the optometrist´s office not from you in your work environment.
If you are experience issues with your progressive glasses just read on I have something more I want to share with you.
Do Computer Glasses Really Work?
Yes, they do work really well because of their size for the area that´s meant to be the computer area in the lenses. Just compare normal progressive lenses and computer glasses (which are by the way also progressive glasses) side by side and you see the difference.
While normal progressive glasses let you see sharp from the distance to close range computer glasses are let you see from the computer screen to close range. Therefore they have a lot of bigger areas for reading and pc work as you can see in the comparison above.
Computer glasses not only have bigger zones for pc work they also let you stay, or sit in a natural neck and shoulder position which is crucial when working concentrated for a few hours on a task. Computer glasses are really easy to use and you get a lot faster used to them compared to normal progressive glasses at work. Just make sure you choose a bigger frame so you can have a really wide field of view so you don’t be restricted in your eye movements.
What Do Computer Glasses Help With?
- They let you hold a natural position compared to normal progressive lenses
- They can reduce shoulder and neck problems
- with a wide sharp field of view, they make it easier to stay focused
- they let you see sharp in the close range up to the pc range
- they can reduce dizziness and headaches compared to normal progressive glasses
Computer glasses help you in with all near range tasks like pc work, reading and also things like craftsmanship where normal progressive glasses won´t provide you with enough area for looking at near details. In addition that normal reading glasses are oftentimes too restrictive in the distances, you can work with. Because you just have on distance sharp instead of the whole near range distance from 5 feet to 1 foot.
As always it was a pleasure for me to write about one of my favorite topics. Thank you for stopping by. I wish you a great day.
Michael Penczek
