With my annual eye exam approaching, I knew it was time to
consider a new prescription. Reading was getting progressively more difficult
and less comfortable, even with 2x flip-down magnifiers over reading glasses,
with an occluder clipped on to the clip-on, covering my right eye. (My bad eye,
which also insists on pointing in the wrong direction, normally closes
automatically to let my good eye focus. This causes muscle aches around the
right eye.)
We determined that we could leave the bifocals alone, but
could do better with the reading glasses. After careful examination, and with
consideration for my non-existent glasses budget, Dr. Taylor advised that
changing the left lens on my reading glasses would do the job.
Armed with a prescription for one new lens, I headed to our
family’s favorite optical shop. After calling around to find the right high-index
lens blank, they created a new lens and put it into my old glasses. Indeed, this
did make reading easier, and eliminated the need for the magnifier, as Dr.
Taylor had predicted. Of course, I lost the occluder in the bargain, as the
glasses lens is too thick to hang the occluder on directly and the clip-on
magnifier is no longer necessary. Since reading is now easier, however, the
occluder is at least less crucial.
But alas, that isn’t the end of the story. For as long as I
can remember, I have used my reading glasses to work at my computer. Now, glad
to have my reading glasses back, I sat down to go to work. Since my old reading
lens used to work at both focusing distances (holding a print document closely
and sitting before a monitor), I assumed the new lens would do the same. I was
wrong.
I immediately discovered that I simply cannot use the new
lens to see the monitor. I was thus forced to resort to using bifocals for
computer work—an untenable solution, at least for the long-term.
Enter, Plan B.
Dr. Taylor
suggested that I could put the old lens, which still works for monitor reading,
into a new frame. Of course, I also had to get a new right lens to finish
filling the frame. Thus, I ended up with the equivalent of a new pair of
glasses, but spread over two units.
I am now the proud owner of three pair of glasses: one for
walking around (old bifocals), one for reading (new left lens—the thickest I’ve
ever seen—in old glasses), and one for computer work (old left lens and new
right lens in new frame). Add to that clip-on magnifiers, a now unusable
occluder, a CCTV, and ZoomText on my computer, with a 19 in. monitor.
How did reading become so complicated?