If you are 40 or older and have noticed it’s been getting harder to read small type, you may have a common condition called presbyopia. Presbyopia is the worsening of vision, especially close up. The condition is a natural part of ageing; as you grow older, the lenses in your eyes thicken and lose their elasticity, and the muscles surrounding the lenses weaken. While you still can see distant objects clearly, you cannot focus on near objects.
Adding an extra lens in the form of reading glasses will serve to focus close objects properly on your retina. Reading glasses are available without a prescription and are intended as an aid if you have blurred vision at close distances. They are not however intended to replace prescribed corrective eye wear, or replace regular professional eye examinations and care.
Typically, reading glasses can be safely self-prescribed by the user with the help of an eye chart or strength calculator. However if you are uncertain your optician will also be able to provide advice as to whether ready-to-wear reading glasses are suitable for you and what strength would be recommended.
The level of magnification in the lenses of a pair of reading glasses is called the “dioptre”. This is also known as the strength of the lens. A very weak magnification would be found in reading glasses with a dioptre of +1.00 and dioptres available extend upwards to +5.00 in quarter or half steps.
Presbyopia is progressive, and therefore, the strength of magnification in your reading glasses will probably have to be increased every year or two. Moreover, it is not uncommon to need a second pair of reading glasses with greater magnification for stressful times, as stress can intensify the near vision blurring caused by presbyopia.
Check out the Tiger Specs web site for a wide range of reading glasses in styles to suit all tastes and in a range of dioptres from +0.50 all the way up to reading strength +5.00.