How to know the correct strength for your reading glasses?

You won’t have 20/20 vision all your life. At some point of time, your eyesight is bound to weaken leaving you in dire need of glasses. You may start struggling with your near vision, the small prints on your book may become blurry or you start to have frequent headaches.

Fortunately, all of this is perfectly normal. During your 40s, your vision starts to deteriorate which is why you need reading glasses to see things up close. If you have also hit the milestone of 40 and these vision problems have started to trouble you, it is time to buy reading glasses online or from your local optician.

What is presbyopia?

The near focusing ability of your eyes is due to the crystalline lenses inside them that provide flexibility. When you hit 40, these lenses lose their elasticity, your eye movements become more rigid and you struggle to see nearby objects clearly. This condition is known as presbyopia.

Unlike prescription glasses, readers don’t come with an optical power. This makes shopping for readers so much more simpler than shopping for your first prescription. Since you don’t need a prescription, you can safely buy your reading glasses online that is specific to your magnification strength. You can also visit an optical store, give some frames a try and see which one helps you see more clearly.

Reading glasses strength

‘How do I know the strength of my reading glasses’? If you are buying reading glasses online for the first time, you might have this question in your mind.

The numbers that determine your magnification power are called ‘diopters’. Where a lower diopter level indicates lower magnification strength, as this number goes up, your magnification gets stronger.

The diopter level starts from +1.00 and may even go up to +4.00. These numbers increase by the margin of 0.25 as the strength of your eyeglasses go up.

The diopter number suitable for you depends on your eye health. However, the older you get, the higher magnification strength you will need. If you fall between 35 and 45 years, you will most probably get 1.00 diopter. Those between 45 and 55 years will have to begin with +1.5 diopter and may even go up to +3.00 in your late 60s.

Buying reading glasses is not as complicated as buying prescription glasses online. These all are general guidelines. Your specific number depends on your eye health. If you want to know what strength you will need, try as many glasses as you can.

Reading glasses are generally costly so if you’re looking for low cost glasses, online shopping is your best bet.

Do you need reading glasses?

Whether you need reading glasses or not can be figured out by answering some simple questions. Here they are:

Do you get a headache when you are reading something?
Do you always hold the reading material close to your face to see clearly?
Do your eyes wear out after you read something or spend time on the computer?
Are you older than 40?

If you have answered yes to some of these questions, it is not a surefire sign that you need readers. However, if you said yes to all of them, you better find a pair of good-quality readers for yourself.

If the very idea of wearing glasses is daunting to you, just know that there are countless stylish frames out there. Your readers don’t have to be old-fashioned or boring. If you are in need of readers, search for reading glasses online to get access to different frame styles, shapes and colours.

Can you buy reading glasses online?

Once you know your magnification strength, you can safely buy glasses online. While a brick and mortar eyewear does not have enough space to accommodate different styles of frames, online stores have no such problem.

Moreover, if you want to save money on the purchase, you will find a number of cheap glasses online that don’t lack quality and are also made for your required magnification power.

Buy frames that are opposite to your face shape. If your face is round, go for angular frames. And if your face shape is rather angular, round or circular glasses will look flattering on you. No matter if you are buying readers or prescription glasses online, always give the correct information like magnification or optical power and pupillary distance. This would ensure that your frame fits perfectly and you are not struggling to see clearly through the lenses.

What happens when you wear wrong prescription glasses

Wearing glasses has become normal. Where most people wear them to see clearly, there are people who like the fashion appeal that this accessory gives.

If you are from the latter category, you need to choose frames that suit your face shape, skin tone, hair colour and personal style. For example, cat eye women’s glasses for a round face. But, if you are someone who wears vision correction glasses, you need to make sure that you have the right prescription.

People with refractive errors are required to use glasses for vision clarity. Whether you are buying your first or fifth pair, make sure you buy glasses with the right prescription.

Your ophthalmologists or optometrists are only human. It is quite normal to make mistakes no matter how long you have been into your practice.

Signs that your prescription is wrong

Our vision changes throughout our lives. If you want to give up your old prescription glasses, make sure you visit your eye doctor to know if your optical power has changed. Although using wrong prescription glasses won’t cause any severe damage to your eyes, it can invite some visual and physical discomforts which are not worth suffering through.

Headache, nausea, dizziness or vertigo are some unpleasant side effects of using wrong glasses for your particular eye problem. Even when you order glasses online, be extra careful and enter the right prescription along with other useful information such as pupillary distance.

You don’t have to make a trip to your eye doctor to know if you are using the correct prescription, your eyes will let you know. However, if you are not accustomed to glasses or your prescription has recently changed, feeling dizzy is normal. Where some people take 2 to 3 days to adapt to their new spectacles, others might take up to two weeks.

Types of refractive errors

Different refractive errors target different parts of your eyes. Here are some vision problems that one can develop.

1. Myopia or Nearsightedness

In myopia, the length of the eyeball is longer than usual which causes the light to refract in front of the retina rather than focusing on the retina. People who are myopic are able to see close objects clearly but have a blurred vision when trying to spot distant objects.

If you have myopia, you can wear single vision lenses to get a clearer view at distance. Prescription eyeglasses are generally costly as they have specialised lenses with different focal powers. If money is a constraint for you, buy online glasses at affordable prices without going low on the quality.

2. Hyperopia or Farsightedness

Contrary to myopia, hyperopia occurs when the eyeball is too short that the light is focused behind the retina causing the eyes to lose their near focal ability. However, hyperopia is not the same for everyone. For example, sometimes the distant objects can be viewed clearly while other times people may have blurred distant vision.

Even if you have a 20/20 vision, you might want to consider wearing non-prescription glasses with protective coatings such as Anti-UV, Anti-Glare and Anti-Scratch. At Specscart, you will get these coatings for free on every pair of glasses that you buy.

3. Astigmatism

Astigmatism can be resulted from an oddly-shaped cornea. When your cornea is not round but rather shaped like a football, the light gets focused in front or behind the retina and thus your vision becomes blurry at any distance. People with astigmatism generally have distorted vision at every distance including near, intermediate and far. If you are a man with astigmatism and above 40, your eye doctor will most probably recommend men’s glasses with bifocal lenses to work on your vision difficulties.

4. Presbyopia

It is an age-related problem in which the crystalline lenses inside your eyes start to lose flexibility and become incapable of focusing on nearby objects properly.

People often confuse presbyopia with hyperopia but they are not the same. High hyperopia may even cause your eyes to have blurred vision when looking at far distances. In such a case, people with hyperopia will benefit from varifocal glasses that will give them vision clarity at all distances.

Side effects of wrong prescription

It becomes important to not only identify your particular eye problem but to also figure out the magnification strength or optical power you will need for your glasses.

When you have given an eye test, your optometrist will give you the latest prescription so you can get your lenses made or order glasses online using the right prescription. The correct optical power will work on your specific vision problem so the things around you are not a blurry mess.

However, if you act careless and buy glasses without consulting your eye doctor, these are the side effects that might come your way.

1. Headache

Have you ever worn somebody’s glasses and had a headache?

Excruciating pain in your head and eyes are the most common signs that must alarm you to check your prescription glasses. If you have frequent headaches for some days after you have started wearing your new eyeglasses, it is time to make a trip to your optometrist.

Your eyes work hard to adapt to a new prescription and when the prescription is wrong, they will work extra hard and wear themselves out in the process.

2. Vertigo

Vertigo is not just dizziness. It is the feeling of dizziness that does not go even when you lie down. Blurred vision is also a cause of vertigo but wearing glasses with the wrong prescription will make the situation only worse.

If you don’t have vertigo or if it has become worse with your new glasses, see your doctor and get your prescription fixed.

3. Blurred vision

When your optical power is off even a few degrees, you might have blurry vision. However, blurriness can also occur while adjusting to a new pair of frames. If the situation remains the same even after two weeks, it’s most likely that you are wearing wrong glasses.

The Final Word

We trust our optometrists but they can also make mistakes while taking your eye measurements leaving you with the wrong prescription. The next time you visit your eye doctor, make sure to notice how well you are able to see after your glasses fitting. If you like to buy online glasses, pay close attention to the prescription as well as the fitting.

Your eyes have a way of telling you that something is wrong with your optic health. If you have any questions about your vision difficulties, talk them out with your eye doctor or optometrist.

Computer glasses: Why you need them when using digital devices

We all need digital devices to make our life easier and better. Although the advent of these new-age appliances has improved our standard of living, we cannot overlook their not-so-good effects on us.

For starters, the blue light emitted by these devices is extremely harmful for our retinal cells. The continued exposure to it can prompt eye problems and in some cases, complete vision loss. If you think that you don’t need computer glasses to optimize your eyesight, this blog will change your mind.

What is digital eye strain?

What is the first thing you do when you wake up in the morning? Scroll your social feeds or check your mails?

And how do you end your day? Probably stuck on your smartphone or TV.

Unfortunately, being fixed to our digital screens cripple our vision. Spending more than 2 hours on our smartphones or computers can increase the risk of digital eye strain or computer vision syndrome. If you are smart enough and use blue light glasses, this problem will not bother you.

However, this problem is not just limited to adults. Kids are also falling victim to digital eye strain due to excessive screen time. If you are concerned about your child’s eye health, encourage them to wear computer glasses if they are exposed to blue light.

What triggers digital eye strain?

The excess of anything is bad. It is not these devices that cause poor vision, it is the way we use them. Whether you use a smartphone, computer or laptop, the following factors can increase your risk of digital eye strain:

Sitting too close to your devices makes your eyes’ focusing muscles to work harder and wear them out.
Hunching over your laptop screen to look clearly will not only mess with your vision but will also bring about health-related problems such as back pain.
The high energy blue light from these devices goes deep into your eyes making them feel tired. Also, it interferes with your circadian rhythm affecting your sleeping pattern.
If you already have dry eye syndrome, try maintaining your distance from your smartphone to keep this problem at bay.

Our eyes work throughout the day and thus need good care. Investing in good-quality glasses will help you secure better vision in the future. Do not worry about the price. There are companies that sell good-quality cheap glasses online.

How to avoid digital eye strain?

Eye strain can be avoided by making some changes in our daily habits. However, if your symptoms are worse, book an appointment with your optician and know what you can do about it.

When you are using digital devices, don’t forget to take a break in every 20 minutes. This will help you eyes adjust their focus and get some time off from the screen.
Blinking is the easiest way to refresh our eyes. Blink your eyes more often when staring at your digital device to reduce the amount of blue light that passes through your cornea.
Adjust the brightness of your screen as per the lightning in your room.
When you are reading, make sure that the source of light is behind you.
Avoid using blue light before you go to sleep.

The risk of eye strain increases as you age. If you are over 40, use reading glasses when you are looking at objects that are too close. Even if you are buying reading glasses online, buy ones that have anti-glare, anti-uv and anti-scratch coating on them to improve your eyesight.