I need a magnifier..... eyes ain't what they used to be

[ToughButterCup]

Getting older is great fun : bits fall off , or  out, or stop, or falter, or hurt all the time.

All that's fine by me - lots to be grateful for.

 

The thing that's getting to me though is the change in my eyes. Close work especially. By turns I seem to need a telescope or microscope.   Close work work is especially problematic.  

 

What do you use to help you with close work?

[ProDave]

My reading glasses.

 

About the most useless things I ever got from an optician, because the only focus over a ridiculously short range "reading distance" so are totally useless for the computer for instance as that is too far away (so I just use a cheap pair of self select glasses for that)

 

If I come by something hard to read then I blow the dust off the reading glasses and use them, to try and justify their reason for being on this planet.

[Onoff]

Glasses are my norm but I have to put them to one side if marking out with a tape. Hell I even sometimes now wear just safety googles without glasses if cutting steel, tiles etc up close. Welding and just the mask, no glasses. Ditto wiring anything.

 

Wearing contacts typing this on the phone and having to squint. An analogy  might be that the contacts are great for driving to the restaurant but I can't then read the menu! I'll often borrow SWMBO's cheapo reading glasses just to read the menu etc.

 

I think it's age related whereby my short sight is "getting better" as I age into long site. Had a couple of successive eye tests where my prescription has improved by 1/2 - 1 diopter.

[ToughButterCup]

My reading glasses  are now permanently  welded to my head or face: bit like a teenager's mobile.  Makes showering interesting sometimes.

 

No, folks, I'm talking stronger, much stronger. I already use a small magnifier with a fluorescent light round it : but the lenses distorts. 

I suppose I just need a bigger more expensive one.....?

[Nickfromwales]

At 40 I started needing longer arms, not glasses  At 44 I may have to throw in the towel and get something for up close. Soldering is a nightmare, as is trying to read the forum off my mobile phone. I really do think we could have the font go up a point or two for the mobile version, even for those with 20/20 vision. 

[Nickfromwales]

1 minute ago, recoveringacademic said:

My reading glasses  are now permanently  welded to my head or face: bit like a teenager's mobile.  Makes showering interesting sometimes.

 

No, folks, I'm talking stronger, much stronger. I already use a small magnifier with a fluorescent light round it : but the lenses distorts. 

I suppose I just need a bigger more expensive one.....?

You need to go to the optician for some kosher advice mate.  I'll be sat opposite you most prob

[Hecateh]

Cheap reading glasses of different strengths.  I used to use strength 1 most of the time but also have a couple of pairs of 3 for close work

[Declan52]

Would getting a laser type treatment be worth while.

[Jeremy Harris]

I find that as well as a magnifier/reading glasses, I now need a lot more light to see close detail than I used to.  I've been doing some watch repairs recently and found that a loupe with built in LED lights has been been a tremendous advantage.  It throws bright light right where I need it, directly on the area being magnified. 

 

I was as pleased as punch at completing the restoration of my Father's retirement watch, one of the first electronic (non-quartz) Rotary watches from 1969, the day before yesterday.  It's now looking almost like new, and keeping reasonably good time, after a couple of days of painstaking work stripping, cleaning and reassembling it.  We found it up in the loft of my late Mother's house, when clearing it out a couple of weeks ago, and I suspect it had been sat in a box since my Father died in 1972.  I was amazed that the battery hadn't leaked and corroded after all those years, and equally amazed that I could buy the correct battery for it 49 years later.  It's on my wrist now, as we're off to the pub for lunch...

[Ferdinand]

Or get your prescription from the optician, and buy some prescription online glasses from somewhere direct for a tenner.

 

Depending on what closeup means, and whether you need to be hands free, you can get a monocle (from £25) or an eyeloup (set of 3 2x to 10x for £10). Or something that sits on a table.

 

Ferdinand

 

 

Edited August 5, 2018 by Ferdinand

[ProDave]

16 minutes ago, Ferdinand said:

Or get your prescription from the optician, and buy some prescription online glasses from somewhere direct for a tenner.

 

Depending on what closeup means, and whether you need to be hands free, you can get a monocle (from £25) or an eyeloup (set of 3 2x to 10x for £10). Or something that sits on a table.

 

Ferdinand

 

 

Might try that.

 

My reading glasses were free on the NHS as was the eye test (advantage of being in Scotland) but when I went to complain about my reading glasses not doing what I expected, I was told I needed work glasses and there was no NHS subsidy for those and prices started at £170.  I walked out.  Trouble is I don't even think the eye test to get a prescription for that would be free.

[dpmiller]

if you've got your prescription go to somewhere like www.selectspecs.com and when you're entering your script change the figure in the "Add" column. If your normal reading glasses are eg Add 2.5D, get a pair made up at 3.0 or 3.5. Even get a couple of pair at different strengths. At a tenner a pair it isn't much to lose...

Or get some poundshop specials of different strengths and see which diopter helps most when worn over your own first.

[joe90]

I had laser surgery about 30 years ago and it was brilliant, enabled me to stop wearing glasses 24/7 but I was warned as I approached 50 I might need reading glasses. At 63 I have progressed to bi focals but was told at my latest test I am beginning to get cataracts. This is the main reason for needing lots of light to see small stuff. I am not worried tho as my mate (72) has just had both his eyes de cataracted and his eyes are very good and healed within a week. For working I use “factory shop” cheap glasses as they get scratched/broken often but cost about a fiver. There are pairs all over my Workshop. Yup, things fall off or don’t work as we get older?

[Jeremy Harris]

I've found that my prescription (free for me here, too) isn't that great, as it's for varifocals and there is a compromise for the reading distance part.  I keep meaning to just get two or three identical pairs of cheap reading glasses of different strengths, with the aim of seeing whether or not I can easily swap lenses over, as it seems I need a greater strength in one eye than the other.  All the cheap pairs seems to be the same for both lenses - just need to find out how easy it is to swap lenses over.

[nod]

1 hour ago, recoveringacademic said:

Getting older is great fun : bits fall off , or  out, or stop, or falter, or hurt all the time.

All that's fine by me - lots to be grateful for.

 

The thing that's getting to me though is the change in my eyes. Close work especially. By turns I seem to need a telescope or microscope.   Close work work is especially problematic.  

 

What do you use to help you with close work?

I had my lenses on my eyes replaced four years back After suffering with astigmatism all my life

Long and short sighted

Reading print on cad drawings was difficult  even with readers and drivers in my pocket 

It’s life changing to be able to read tiny print and not bead driving glasses 

[joe90]

Just now, JSHarris said:

I've found that my prescription (free for me here, too) isn't that great, as it's for varifocals and there is a compromise for the reading distance part.  I keep meaning to just get two or three identical pairs of cheap reading glasses of different strengths, with the aim of seeing whether or not I can easily swap lenses over, as it seems I need a greater strength in one eye than the other.  All the cheap pairs seems to be the same for both lenses - just need to find out how easy it is to swap lenses over.

 

Factory shop if you have one, I considered that as one eye is a bit different from the other.

[nod]

2 minutes ago, joe90 said:

I had laser surgery about 30 years ago and it was brilliant, enabled me to stop wearing glasses 24/7 but I was warned as I approached 50 I might need reading glasses. At 63 I have progressed to bi focals but was told at my latest test I am beginning to get cataracts. This is the main reason for needing lots of light to see small stuff. I am not worried tho as my mate (72) has just had both his eyes de cataracted and his eyes are very good and healed within a week. For working I use “factory shop” cheap glasses as they get scratched/broken often but cost about a fiver. There are pairs all over my Workshop. Yup, things fall off or don’t work as we get older?

Ah Is your picture pre laser Joe ?

[joe90]

2 minutes ago, nod said:

Ah Is your picture pre laser Joe ?

 

Its pre a lot of things ? (life’s hard, and it shows now).

[ProDave]

1 hour ago, dpmiller said:

if you've got your prescription go to somewhere like www.selectspecs.com and when you're entering your script change the figure in the "Add" column. If your normal reading glasses are eg Add 2.5D, get a pair made up at 3.0 or 3.5. Even get a couple of pair at different strengths. At a tenner a pair it isn't much to lose...

Or get some poundshop specials of different strengths and see which diopter helps most when worn over your own first.

My issue is astigmatism. Prescription glasses correct that, and my distance glasses for driving are brilliant. But self select reading glasses can correct focus issues and are adequate for reading a pc screen and general close up work, but are never perfect because the astigmatism is not corrected.

 

My gripe is the self select glasses I am wearing right now are fine for the pc screen and fine even for looking at something the other end of the room. I could wear them around the house all the time if I wanted to.  Why can't I have a pair that does that AND corrects the astigmatism without paying £170 for them?

[Tennentslager]

Last birthday present from middle daughter



[Ferdinand]

The option for docs is a 27” monitor and an iPad to take the photo.

 

F

[daiking]

My wife had just bought one of these for close up work

 

https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/aw/d/B01M2442NR/ref=psdcmw_200859031_t2_B01N498K1C

 

i was surprised how effective it was.

[newhome]

Hubby had his eyes lasered years ago but it did speed up his need to wear reading glasses. The only benefit was that due to the laser treatment his prescription was identical both sides so he could just by an off the shelf pair. He did a lot of stuff with tiny electrical components and struggled to see those enough sometimes so he bought some like this (not these actual ones but a similar type) that magnified everything circa 20x 

 

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/10X-15X-20X-25X-LED-Eye-Jeweler-Watch-Repair-Magnifying-Glasses-Black-Loupe-GA/282977196381?hash=item41e2c1595d:m:m-pgzseOrwc8brujoHvWTFQ

 

I don't use glasses that much other than for driving but do have many pairs in various colours . I sometimes use readers if the text is very tiny and have always bought them online for not much money. Goggles4You or Selectspecs always have offers on prescription glasses. You take a bit of risk that the frame fits or suits you, and they can take a while to arrive but for price and having a spare pair around they are a pretty good deal. 

 

https://www.selectspecs.com/cheap-glasses/?gclid=CjwKCAjwwJrbBRAoEiwAGA1B_d5L27GWQugjA4rrSU8kcwSWsqpinwasX5Lfht3zdU1X-TVROYFTLxoCl3YQAvD_BwE

 

 

 

 

[dpmiller]

3 hours ago, ProDave said:

My issue is astigmatism. Prescription glasses correct that, and my distance glasses for driving are brilliant. But self select reading glasses can correct focus issues and are adequate for reading a pc screen and general close up work, but are never perfect because the astigmatism is not corrected.

 

My gripe is the self select glasses I am wearing right now are fine for the pc screen and fine even for looking at something the other end of the room. I could wear them around the house all the time if I wanted to.  Why can't I have a pair that does that AND corrects the astigmatism without paying £170 for them?

 

You can Dave. Take your distance prescription and put whatever ADD you want on it. SWMBO has a similar problem- the optician sets her reading power for normal "holding a paperback" distance and it's useless if she's sitting 2ft away from a monitor in work...

[newhome]

4 hours ago, ProDave said:

My issue is astigmatism. Prescription glasses correct that, and my distance glasses for driving are brilliant. But self select reading glasses can correct focus issues and are adequate for reading a pc screen and general close up work, but are never perfect because the astigmatism is not corrected.

 

My gripe is the self select glasses I am wearing right now are fine for the pc screen and fine even for looking at something the other end of the room. I could wear them around the house all the time if I wanted to.  Why can't I have a pair that does that AND corrects the astigmatism without paying £170 for them?

 

Would you not be able to order some cheap glasses online using your own prescription that should in theory correct the astigmatism? With delivery you should be able to get them for less than £15 as long as you choose the included lenses that come as standard and you don't have a special or unusual prescription. 

 

https://www.selectspecs.com/cheap-glasses/

 

Below is the info from Selectspecs re the values that are important to enter. 

 

https://www.selectspecs.com/info/glasses-guide-buying-glasses-online/

 

 

 

CYL / Cylinder

The CYL and AXIS compensate for an astigmatism. So what's an astigmatism? An astigmatism is where the eye is shaped slightly like a rugby ball or referred to as ‘toric’, not a perfect sphere like a football. This just means the eye has difficulty focusing at certain angles.

 

This box maybe empty or have a plus or a minus value in it. The measurement is the Dioptre. Most values range from +/- 0.25 to +/- 4.00 and will go up in steps of 0.25.

 

AXIS

The AXIS is only present if there is a value in the CYL box, the AXIS tells us where the astigmatism is on your eye. The measurement is in Degrees. The values range between 0 and 180 and may go up in steps of ½, 1, 5 or 10 degrees, we only show the AXIS to a whole number but if you have a ½ degree on your prescription you can list this in the additional information box when ordering.