There is no problem wearing varifocals whilst sitting on the sofa darning socks whilst watching TV. The problems arise the moment we leave the sofa and move about. Why?
Vision is the most important sense. There are two main parts to sight: foveal, which is what we are looking at and peripheral, which is everything else. Foveal vision occupies the central 2° of our visual field and the rest is peripheral. At night in low light, we use our peripheral vision to see. As that degrades, driving at night becomes increasingly difficult. ((Foveal vision uses photoreceptors in our eyes called cones, these pick up colour and detail and they need good light. As light levels fall, the photoreceptors called rods come into increasing action: these have poor colour vision and are not good at detail; in good light levels, rods fill in the 98° of the visual field. This explains why, at night, we see things more in blacks, greys and whites. And in order to maintain good night vision, it is vital to maintain good peripheral vision – or the health of our rods.))
As we move about, our brain needs to see ahead clearly and it also needs to see what dangers are lurking in our peripheral field: uneven surfaces, raging dogs, electric scooters, low flying gulls. The sooner we become aware of danger, the better we can take evasive action; the sooner we see that car about to pull out in front of us, the more chance we have of avoiding it.
The main problem with any type of graded lens is it messes up peripheral vision. We are not designed to have to look down every time we encounter a step. Each eye has six eye muscles to move it about, all controlled in the brainstem. Move your head instead of moving your eyes is a recipe for downgrading peripheral vision, eye muscles and brainstem. In short: use them or lose them!
As we walk along, with any type of varifocal, the ground is blurred. This makes us instinctively shorten our step and tighten up. This gets much worse when walking off road. It simply isn’t on to have to look down at our feet for the entire time we are walking – what does that do for our posture and neck muscles? Stiff neck, stooped posture, tight legs all lead to pain. Click on bold letters to find a dissertation written in 2012 on this subject.
Yes, it’s a terrible nuisance to have two or three pairs of glasses. But personally, I think endless pain is worse. Ideally distance glasses should have as big a frame as the face can take to maximise peripheral vision. And when possible, read without reading glasses to keep some elasticity in the lens – slow the decline.
Opticians are right when they tell us the brain adapts to varifocals, but that adaptation comes at a dreadful price.
And don’t get me going on the utter madness of having your eyes lasered, with one eye for distance and the other for reading. A recipe for contributing to the orthopedic surgeon’s next top of the range Lexus.
Vision is a gift; we are wise to value it.
Hi Clare, Thank Youuuu so much for this. I have been going in and on about this with my 81yr old Mum. Stemming from pure biomechanic logic and obviously a background in movement and physical therapy. It absolutely insenses me that opticians are continually supplying elderly people with varifocal glasses AND tiny lenses AND heavy frames. She shuffles along not feeling the space around her in turn losing confidence. Thankfully my lovely Mum is all ears and listens to my logic. Next visit is escorting her to the optician for 2 pairs of glasses (or maybe 4…).
I found you while searching for a Z-Health person by the way. Love this work introduced to me by a wonderful friend in California.
Best wishes
Sue
Thank you for your comment. You are lucky to have a Mum that listens to you! And clearly I share your rage and frustration with optioians! I hope your Mum regains confidence when she’s wearing the right glasses for what she’s doing.
Is your Californian friend a Z-Health trainer? If so, what’s their name? I might know them. We are a relatively small community, even world wide (microscopic in UK).
Hi,
This is a really informative and useful article, it really explains my recent issues with varifocal glasses. My physio agrees with you!
I wondered if you knew if varifocal contact lenses would cause similar or other difficulties?
Thank you,
Jessica
Hi Jessica,
Excellent that your physio agrees! An enlightened physiotherapist indeed. Varifocal contact lenses will be just as bad because the floor will still be out of focus, unless you are crawling on all fours or wiggling along on your stomach. Contact lenses always give superior vision to glasses because they give a full visual field and the point of focus is directly over the eyeball, no matter where it is pointing.
So alas we need two pairs of glasses – one for distance and one for reading. And certainly if involved in anything requiring movement, like all sports activites, walking and running, I do recommend you get a pair of ordinary distance glasses. And for long time reading, use proper reading glasses, then you don’t tilt your head back!
However, I can forsee a problem when driving if the speedometer etc is out of focus! A quick google search on possible solutions included putting a big sticker/ arrow at the relevant speeds. There doesn’t seem to be a stick-on magnifying sheet you can apply over the instrument panel – but maybe you can find one. If you own varifocals now, you could just use them when driving; not as good as proper distance glasses – driving really does need extremely good all round vision and good peripheral vision! – but this is the most relevant use of varifocals there is.
I’d also fight the encroaching presbyopia. Yes, I’d find various neural drills that help, but even just making your eyes focus on reading without the glasses will help encourage the lenses to contract and keep some elasticity going. Obviously you read something unimportant and don’t strain your eyes, but do exercise them. As I sometimes tease my clients, ‘Let’s not be lazy.’
I have been suffering with neck and shoulder pain for years and have now realised, having seen myself on camera walking with a stoop looking down all the time, that it’s caused by my varifocal glasses. Your article confirms my suspicions. Thank you!
Why are opticians getting away with prescribing these things, especially to the elderly?
People need to be made aware of this problem. Very few would guess that their postural and balance problems could be due to their glasses.
How can this be brought to the attention of the public?
Many thanks
Sylvia Younger
Thank you for your comment. And I’m so glad you read the article, and it confirmed your suspicions that your varifocals were hugely contributing to your neck and shoulder pain. Opticians are completely beyond my understanding. Anybody applying a brain cell or two can think through the implications of having two – and sometimes three – different lenses within one pair of glasses. These types of glasses can only work if you only ever sit at a desk working – and never leave it!!
Whilst I’m on a rant, I also know that opticians who specialise in laser eye surgery are fond of lasering one eye for distance and the other for close work. I have a client who is a Proam racing driver, and this was suggested for him. Our eyes are designed to have one of them dominant, which locks onto the target, then the non-dominant eye follows onto the target (at mind boggling speed), giving us depth perception. I think a racing driver needs the most excellent depth perception to avoid dying.
I suppose opticians just think of the eyes as cameras and seem oblivious to the fact that vision is a squillion more times more complex than that!
I read this with great interest.
I am mildly short sighted (-1.25), at 62 I have a degree of age related presbyopia and moderate astigmatism.
I tried varifocals 10 years ago and detested them.
I have found that wearing bifocals with the reading section at only +1.25 instead of my +2.25 prescription, means that I can easily go about my daily business, driving, shopping, using phone etc., and then I have separate reading glasses for serious reading.
I’d be interested to hear your comments on this.
Hi Mary, I suspect you are doing better with these varifocals because the difference is not so great. The ground will be less out of focus with a +1.25 lens instead of a +2.25. If you are serious about long term health – including the ability to be able to go out for a long walk for exercise – I would wear a pair of non-varifocal glasses for when you are moving about. Varifocals are not so threatening when you are sitting and reading etc.
Incidentally, I always recommend still working the eyes hard when reading – so at this presciption, I’m sure you can still read without glasses on at all if in decent light. So I recommend people deliberately read stuff that is not important without their reading glasses on at all. This helps delay the deterioration of presbyopia.
It is also worth doing a near/far drill without any glasses at all – bring a pen close to the bridge of your nose and stare at it, then quickly shift your gaze to a distant target – writing is best – and switch between the two targets, changing when each target is clear.
Meaning: keep a pair of plain glasses for moving about. Wear the varifocals when sitting down. Sometimes read stuff without the glasses on at all. Do a near/far drill daily.