Guide to choosing reading glasses
Leafing through a book or a newspaper have you noticed that reading is not fluid, that you confuse some letters? If yes, then you might need a pair of reading glasses. It is a useful support to facilitate the vision that struggles to focus up close.
Reading glasses are necessary to have crisp and clear vision up close. They use single vision lenses or office lenses.
Reading glasses: function and types
Reading glasses are a good remedy for read easily and to rediscover the pleasure of carrying out small daily activities in peace.
Do you often have to move an object away to read the label? Or the receipt because you don’t focus on the numbers? In all these cases it means that you cannot read correctly up close, your vision is blurred and blurred.
Reading glasses are required to focus well. Generally we speak of presbyopia, which occurs when, with advancing age (usually after the age of 40), the lens begins to lose elasticity.
To facilitate the eyesight, you need a tool that helps the eye to focus on both nearby and small writings. To ascertain the visual defect, a visit to the ophthalmologist is necessary.
Reading glasses are divided into the following categories:
- Close-up glasses, are made to measure, the lenses are measured on the actual need of the person who has to wear them. The exact diopter, i.e. the power of the lens, is evaluated during an eye check;
- pre-assembled glasses with two identical lenses. They have the same alcohol content and are ideal for simple presbyopia. Lenses are centered on an average value and not on the individual person, so in the long run they can create some discomfort for a centering that is not perfect for the person who wears them;
- Glasses with office lenses, which guarantee clear vision both on the PC and for reading documents. They have a greater depth and are perfect for use in the office.
How to choose the lens of your reading glasses?
In the presence of simple presbyopia, pre-fitted spectacle frames can be used. In this case , the lenses have the same prescription, i.e. the same correction diopter.
Having a general average value, these frames fit everyone.
If, on the other hand, during the eye exam, you have been found to have presbyopia that involves the use of different diopters for the two eyes, it is advisable to choose a tailor-made close-up eyewear. In this way, the lenses will be perfectly tailored to your personal needs and will be able to perfectly correct the visual defect, allowing you to see clearly and sharply.
The lens is the fundamental element of a pair of glasses. So always choose the best ones without sparing on this aspect.
Test to choose reading glasses
It is possible to find many online tests to assess one’s vision independently, but they cannot be considered systems that replace a visit to a doctor.
The diagnosis of a visual defect must be made by an ophthalmologist, i.e. by a doctor who specializes in everything related to the visual system. He can certainly prescribe the use of glasses or contact lenses, but he can also identify eye diseases, indicate medical therapies to follow and even perform surgery.
You can also go to the optician to test your eyesight and to be guided in the choice of reading glasses. The optician cannot diagnose diseases or prescribe drugs, but he can measure vision and create lenses that compensate for the visual defect.
What requirements must reading glasses have?
Reading glasses also need to have some specific requirements to be perfect. They must:
- enhance the face of the person who wears them;
- adapt to the shape of the face;
- have a quality lens;
- fit into the hollow between eyes and nose to read comfortably.
What are the diopters of reading glasses?
The eye is made up of a series of dioptric elements, or natural lenses, which affect vision. Light, before reaching the retina, passes through the cornea, the aqueous humor, the crystalline lens, the vitreous body. When this system is not in balance, refraction is not perfect and typical defects such as myopia, astigmatism, hyperopia are generated.
The diopters of reading glasses are the units of measurement that express the refractive power of a lens or an optical system.
Diopter is also referred to as convergent power. It expresses its ability to modify the directions of the parallel rays of a beam of light entering the lens to focus them in order to form an image, real or virtual, at a certain distance from the center of the optical system itself (focal distance).
The number of diopters of a lens or optical system is equal to the inverse of the focal distance expressed in meters. This unit of measurement allows you to choose your prescription glasses more consciously, but you don’t have to make self-diagnosis.
