gradient/progressive reading glasses

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Mario Proulx
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Re: gradient/progressive reading glasses

Post by Mario Proulx »

I had read many professional articles stating that these courses and exercises don't work, and why they don't, but for the price, I had to try it. Bill Machrone also did them and saw big gains, and in fact was the person who told me to keep doing them. At the time, I was afraid to damaged my eyes by crossing them as we do with the exercises, but he had been doing them for a decade or two at the time. My gains have also been documented by no less than two optometrists. After a few months without exercising, my vision begins to deteriorate, and I have to do a week or so of once or twice daily exercises to regain my ability to focus. It has worked flawlessly for nearly ten years, now....

It's rather simple. We lose the ability to focus because the lens gets stiffer and the muscles weaker, and the muscles get weaker because as the lens gets stiffer. The result is that we begin to compensate by pushing things further away at first, which allows us to still read and work with using the muscles less, thereby allowing the lens to get even stiffer, at which point we move things further away from us, allowing the muscles to get even weaker, which allows the lens to get stiffer, until one day, we give up, get corrective lenses, at which point we no longer use the muscles at all. The exercises strengthen the muscles enough to begin flexing the lens again, making the lens more flexible again, and continued exercising brinsg the lens and muscles back to their pre-presbyopia state. As I said, I'm now 50, and my vision has been checked by 2 separate optometrists(I'm also diabetic and have to have my vision tested regularly) and have returned to the script I had in my mid 30's... Bill was 64 when he told me to keep at it, and he was also still doing them to maintain his vision, and he brought his back from having 3 different scripts to using just one.

I pity the naysayers who dismiss it before even trying.

Keep fighting the fight, kids. The guy selling you expensive multi-vision glasses counts on you....
Bob Hammond
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Re: gradient/progressive reading glasses

Post by Bob Hammond »

I bought the Foster-Grant Multi-Focus and like them. My only complaint is the one-size-fits-all of the frames, which are a little bit too narrow for me, but still quite useable.

Barry, I suggest you wander over to Walgreen's and try them out. They have them in 4 or 5 ranges, and you'll probably be able to find a suitable pair.

Walgreen's provided the perfect test environment for determining the desired diopter range - those product labels with the eeny-weeny print. I was able to read the tiny, medium, and large print, and then glance across to another gondola about 7-10 feet away with good clarity. So I think I'll be able to read the hundredths scale on the Starrett ruler and still see just about everything else too.
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Peter Wilcox
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Re: gradient/progressive reading glasses

Post by Peter Wilcox »

Mario, I'm glad you have benefited from the eye program you use - it seems you have objective evidence that it is working in your case. However, I am unaware of any studies showing an improvement in vision in a statistically significant number of subjects in the study, leading me to believe that there can possibly be a few individual outliers (such as yourself) whose vision improves, but is of no help to the 99%+ of the population. If someone wants to try an eye exercise program, give it a go, but don't pay $$ for it, due to the overwhelming probability of failure. It's likely to fail not only from an anatomic/physiologic standpoint, but also because most people, like myself, are lazy, and it's a lot easier just to get the glasses (which do a superior job in correcting vision) rather than spend the time and effort to do an ongoing program.
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Beate Ritzert
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Re: gradient/progressive reading glasses

Post by Beate Ritzert »

Peter Wilcox wrote:... If someone wants to try an eye exercise program, give it a go, but don't pay $$ for it, ...
That's a suggestion i would strongly support. If it proves to be useful it will also help in connection with glasses.
Simple reason: the shortest distance of the corrective glasses is the reading distance. Many things require or at least profit from a good visual at closer distance, say, half the reading distance. This includes for example some tasks in lutherie, but also sewing or soldering electronic parts. All opportunities where i usually prefer to use my dedicated close-up glasses.
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Peter Wilcox
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Re: gradient/progressive reading glasses

Post by Peter Wilcox »

Beate Ritzert wrote: Many things require or at least profit from a good visual at closer distance, say, half the reading distance. This includes for example some tasks in lutherie, but also sewing or soldering electronic parts. All opportunities where i usually prefer to use my dedicated close-up glasses.
I'm extremely lucky in that I am 4 diopters myopic, with minimal astigmatism, meaning that when I take my glasses off it's the equivalent of wearing +4 closeup lenses. So when I do closeup tasks I simply take my glasses off.

Finding them afterwards has posed a problem at times, especially on a cluttered bench. :lol:
Maybe I can't fix it, but I can fix it so no one can fix it
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Beate Ritzert
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Re: gradient/progressive reading glasses

Post by Beate Ritzert »

That's really lucky, indeed. During electrolysis sessions, which are really demanding on the eyes (i work over hours with 6X medical loupes) i need full correction including angular aberration; dioptres + astigmatism alone is not sufficient.

When i was younger, i also found it very comfortable simply to tage off the glasses. But with a focusing distance of about 25 cm on the left eye and 75 cm on the right eye that has become obviously difficult. I think that also demonstrates why progressive glasses are so difficult to adjust for me. I know it is possible, but it requires a well trained specialist and not just an optition who just runs the standard computerizes setup procedure. I did indeed spend over 700 € for my last progressive glasses (of the highest avalable quality) without success. And thoroughly adapted bifocals cost me around 200 €.
Simon Magennis
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Re: gradient/progressive reading glasses

Post by Simon Magennis »

Peter Wilcox wrote:"CONCLUSIONS: The Read Without Glasses Method does not produce clinically or statistically significant changes in unaided near VA and fails to show clinically significant changes in accommodation at near in presbyopic emmetropes despite favorable subjective responses of participants."

As with many things in life, it's not how well something actually works, but rather how well you think it works. :)
There is an another angle to this. The basic eyesight tests do not pick up anything about "quality" of vision. The quality of my eyesight has deteriorated quite a bit over the years even though according to the standard eye tests my glasses prescription is fine - I visit an eye doc every six months for a pressure test. All sorts of things from environmental (eyes drying out due to string air-con) to age related events such as vitreous separation can effect how well you see even though the "numbers" look OK. I am willing to believe that exercising your eyes improves some of these things. Just blinking more or putting in some eye drops improves things sometimes. I reckon I will give the exercise method a shot.
Christ Kacoyannakis
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Re: gradient/progressive reading glasses

Post by Christ Kacoyannakis »

I have progressive lenses. I don't need readers for reading. I also have astigmatism and so, my progressives were made to correct for that. What was happening was that when I was doing close up work or reading, I had to take the glasses off, so my doctor added a reader correction to the bottom portion of the progressive lens. I can now read without removing the glasses, but I do find that for really fine work (seeing those 1/32nd marks on a ruler) I see better without the glasses. As others have mentioned, if you are doing something above your head, then you have to crane your neck. Nothing is ever a perfect solution. I have considered surgery, but my eye doctor specializes in correcting the mistakes that happen in eye correction surgery, so I am not too eager to go that route.
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Eric Knapp
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Re: gradient/progressive reading glasses

Post by Eric Knapp »

Then there's AMD, something I'm learning all about now. One of the reasons I'm so motivated to get my shop fully functional is I don't know how long I'll be able to use it. Sight is a wonderful thing and I'm doing everything they are telling me I should do. Be careful out there.

-Eric
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Peter Wilcox
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Re: gradient/progressive reading glasses

Post by Peter Wilcox »

Sorry to hear that Eric. Hopefully you can slow or prevent its progression. My dad went blind from it, and I take lutein as a preventative - so far, so good.
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Eric Knapp
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Re: gradient/progressive reading glasses

Post by Eric Knapp »

Peter Wilcox wrote:Sorry to hear that Eric. Hopefully you can slow or prevent its progression. My dad went blind from it, and I take lutein as a preventative - so far, so good.
Thanks, Peter. I'm at the very beginning of the condition. It's still the dry form and only in one eye. I'm taking the lutein and avoiding UV light. Nothing else to do. Quite the motivator.

-Eric
Todd Stock
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Re: gradient/progressive reading glasses

Post by Todd Stock »

Progressives work pretty well for me, but the good Zeiss high index ones with good antiglare and scratch resistant coatings are not cheap...think I paid about $450 for last pair with Flexon frames (I am tough on frames) and my sunglasses ($$$ RayBan plastic frames...power of monopoly) were about $100 more in a Brown 3 tint (cannot wear polarized stuff with flat panel cockpit displays, so the B3 is a decent compromise).

Funny how all my eagle-eyed buddies that claim no degradation in their eyes, and like me had no problem dinging the plates at 300-400 yards with standard iron sights in their 20's, now have $800 1-6x30 illuminated reticle optics for anything over 100 yards and serious glass for the longer stuff in their 50's and 60's.
Mario Proulx
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Re: gradient/progressive reading glasses

Post by Mario Proulx »

but also because most people, like myself, are lazy, and it's a lot easier just to get the glasses (which do a superior job in correcting vision)

I agree that our society has programmed us to seek instant gratification, as well as an instant, "easy" fix to all problems. The exercises --do-- require patience and a "stick with it" attitude, and that's where most will fail at it. If a person only "tries" the exercises, they will fail. You must commit to doing them, not simply trying them. It took me a solid 2 or more weeks just to be able to converge my eyes and hold that convergence. It was likely 2 to 3 months later(all the while doing the exercises many times daily, mostly during commercials while watching the news..) that I realized that it had worked! I knew it had worked when one day, I couldn't find my "readers", and when I finally did find them, they were covered in fine dust. It had been weeks since I had needed them...!

I do disagree with you that glasses do a better job of correcting vision. Presbyopia isn't a change in your eyes' optics, but rather a change(decrease at first and complete inability soon afterward) in your ability to adjust your focus from far to near. The exercises simply return that ability.

All of the correction in my right eye is for severe astigmatism, with my left eye only needing a minimal focal correction as well as correcting the astigmatism. Removing my glasses never let me see clearly near or far, because of the severe astigmatism. What the exercises did for me is to give me back the ability to focus from near to far as I had always had until presbyopia set-in as I neared my 40th birthday. At 50, I now have the same eyes I had in my 20's and 30's.... I still wear glasses, of course, but there are no glasses, bifocal or progressive, that could ever be better than the ability to wear a single script lens combined with the ability to focus as we enjoyed in our youth. My opinion, of course.
David King
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Re: gradient/progressive reading glasses

Post by David King »

Pin hole (camera obscura) glasses would solve 90% of my vision problems for when i need to read or see detail without peripheral distractions. Are they available?
Gordon Bellerose
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Re: gradient/progressive reading glasses

Post by Gordon Bellerose »

David King wrote:Pin hole (camera obscura) glasses would solve 90% of my vision problems for when i need to read or see detail without peripheral distractions. Are they available?
Those are an interesting item. I tried a pair in one of our local health food stores. No prescription at all, just a lot of small holes in a black lens.
I could even read with them on. What is the science behind those?
I need your help. I can't possibly make all the mistakes myself!
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Peter Wilcox
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Re: gradient/progressive reading glasses

Post by Peter Wilcox »

The trouble with the pinhole aperture is that for a reasonably clear image, the f ratio has to be ~f/100 or smaller, so you need huge amounts of illumination to make it work - impractical in daily life. Poke a pin hole in a piece of paper and look through it. The use of multiple holes allows a wider field of view, but not much improvement in illumination, and also reduces the sharpness of the image.

A diagram of how a pinhole aperture works: https://www.scratchapixel.com/images/up ... olecam.png?
Maybe I can't fix it, but I can fix it so no one can fix it
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Beate Ritzert
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Re: gradient/progressive reading glasses

Post by Beate Ritzert »

Mario Proulx wrote: until presbyopia set-in as I neared my 40th birthday. At 50, I now ....
In my 40s i noticed presbyopia slightly setting in, and it was always easy to compensate. At about 50, my vision in the far range changed. A little bit, but that overcorrection of 0.25 dioptres made my eyes hurting, so i got to progressive glasses about a year earlier than i hoped to live without. I still could compensate to a good degree but it was forseeable that that time span would be limited. Maybe Your training will extend this span a bit longer. And don't forget: it is individual. Even my span was a long one. And then the change set in rapidly over a few years. It has now slowed down - and that seems to by typical. It is the time of the 2nd hormonal change around 50 where also Your vision changes often changes rapidly. Like in puberty.

So You are still Young and You are in an age where it is absolutely normal that You could do well without progressive glasses. There is nothing special about that.
Let's talk again in 10 years...

One of the reasons why i am advocating against progressives - except that the available with of the field of clear vision is a lot wider than it is with progressive glasses - and pro bifocal is that You have to adjust your eyes to near and far as usual and keep them in training.
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Barry Daniels
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Re: gradient/progressive reading glasses

Post by Barry Daniels »

My local CVS now has the progressive glasses in stock, so you can try them out without having to buy them.
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David Robinson
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Re: gradient/progressive reading glasses

Post by David Robinson »

Check out www.eyebobs.com they have lots of good looking solutions - some with a closeup section, a computer section and normal section. Their frames are better looking than the dreck you get on the carousel at CVS.
Bob Hammond
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Re: gradient/progressive reading glasses

Post by Bob Hammond »

The short report is that the progressive readers are working out great for me.

Also, a big box store (Menards) sells wraparound safety glasses with magnifiers molded in for $8, also a good buy.

https://www.menards.com/main/maintenanc ... oreId=3299
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