# Just got progressive glasses. Any tips for making adjustment?



## PeterF1963 (Jan 16, 2012)

I recently accepted that my 56 year old eyes just aren't as sharp as they used to be. And my arms aren't long enough to read my phone. So I made the leap and got prescription glasses. One pair was for day to day, and some ray ban aviators for driving. I found myself using the aviators on my road bike with no problems, so I had a set of MTB specific sunglasses made to match my prescription. Rode the trails on them this morning and it was very dicey. 
Anyone riding the trails with progressive glasses, and can you offer any advice on making the adjustment? 
Thanks in advance


----------



## upstateSC-rider (Dec 25, 2003)

I just did a road ride with new glasses that have 1.5 magnification at the bottom/inner part of the lenses, I give them a thumbs up. Very easy to read my distance, power, etc on my garmin compared to using my normal riding glasses. Haven't ridden off-road with them yet but expect them to be just as good there.
To me that's the worst part (thus far) about being in my 50's, I despise having to have readers on me at all times now.


----------



## Rev Bubba (Jan 16, 2004)

*What do you mean by progressive?*

Are you referring to glasses that darken in the sun but have only one prescription or the ones that are good for reading and distance. I.E. like bifocals?

I've heard the term progressive applied to both types.


----------



## rockerc (Nov 22, 2010)

I have trifocals for everyday, which cater for distance at the top, working at a desk in the middle, and reading at the bottom. Just keep wearing them and they'll come good. Took me maybe a week. I also have a pair ground just for computer work. Since I can be working on a large screen surface a lot of the time, that is a lot better for me.


----------



## Velobike (Jun 23, 2007)

If you're talking about varifocal, they're terrifying the first time you do fast downhill.

I initially thought of that as a criticism, but then realised it saved me having to travel to find a set of gnarly trails.

Just pop on the goggles, and fear becomes your co-pilot


----------



## SADDLE TRAMP (Aug 26, 2010)

^ Yup. Your eyeballs bouncing around, unable to focus on anything.


----------



## Rev Bubba (Jan 16, 2004)

*Varilux or other brands*

Like others have pointed out, you get used to them pretty quickly. Having worn them for decades, I reserve my previous pair for riding just in case I break them.

I also had a pair of wrap around sunglasses for riding with a rose color lens and only my distance prescription used. They are designed for motorcycles and have an impact resistant lens. All my prescription sunglasses are the distance prescription only.


----------



## MSU Alum (Aug 8, 2009)

Rev Bubba said:


> Are you referring to glasses that darken in the sun but have only one prescription or the ones that are good for reading and distance. I.E. like bifocals?
> 
> I've heard the term progressive applied to both types.


Yes, progressive lenses have variable focus, transitions change color.

Imagine my consternation, the first time I wore them landing a 767!


----------



## Sanchofula (Dec 30, 2007)

I have a pair, can't stand them, but my wife loves hers, so maybe it take time.

Mine are relaly only for reading, so I should probably ditch em and get readers.

Have you considered Lasik? I got it twenty years ago, best thing I ever did for me … other than marrying my lovely and talented wife


----------



## Ptor (Jan 29, 2004)

I've had progressives for reading and about the house and office for years. But once I go outside, they come off -- walking, running, riding, driving. My distance vision remains fine, but can't read a lick without glasses. I always carry a cheap pair of readers on me when I ride in case I need to do a repair. I just had to get over not being able to read a speedometer or my gps watch while riding. If I really need to see something, have to pull out the readers. But I agree, riding in progressives -- not a viable option for me.


----------



## str8edgMTBMXer (Apr 15, 2015)

rockerc said:


> I have trifocals for everyday, which cater for distance at the top, working at a desk in the middle, and reading at the bottom. Just keep wearing them and they'll come good. Took me maybe a week. I also have a pair ground just for computer work. Since I can be working on a large screen surface a lot of the time, that is a lot better for me.


same here...it took me a day or two to get used to them...but honestly, I don't use them now b/c I don't want them to get trashed. Luckily, my far sight is fine other than reading far away signs.

Honestly, I can't wear sunglasses of any type in the woods b/c they mess with my perception of the light and dark. i have amber colored cheapy work glasses from Home Depot that work perfect.


----------



## Lone Rager (Dec 13, 2013)

How well the work can depend on the prescription. If you need really strong correction or have a lot of astigmatism they may not work as well. I'm moderately nearsighted with no astigmatism so progressives have worked very well for me. I started wearing progressives sometime around '95. A the time I was racing motos on/off road and used to wearing contacts so was concerned, but they turned out not to be an issue.


----------



## Squeeze (Apr 14, 2015)

I've always said I wouldn't get progressive lenses, but lately I'm not so sure. I'm nearsighted but not too badly. I used to be 20/100, but I think eye doctors use different measurements these days.

I need glasses to drive a car, ride a bike, watch TV, and see things across the room. Up close, however, such as when reading or using a desktop computer, I take my glasses off. This has worked great for most of my life. 

Nowadays, I notice the change most when working in the garage, such as cleaning and tuning our bicycles. I need to put my glasses on to find a tool hanging on the pegboard or on the workbench, but then I need to take off the glasses to see what I'm working on up close. Then put them on again to find the next thing I need, and then take them off again to see the work I'm doing.

I also can no longer eat while watching television. I need to have my glasses on to see the TV, but I need to take them off to see my plate, or everything is blurry up close.

Having watched a friend stumble around and miss things he was reaching for with a brand new pair of progressive lenses, I'm not so sure I want to make the leap just yet. My eye doctor, who happens to be the same age as me, told me a couple/few years ago, "when you're ready, you'll know it."

I'm not ready just yet, but maybe someday. I appreciate the opinions and experience everyone has shared in this thread so far.


----------



## PeterF1963 (Jan 16, 2012)

Yeah, I have been wearing a set on the road for a few months, and got used to it, but on the trails, stuff comes at you faster. But I agree, just need to get used to them.


----------



## PeterF1963 (Jan 16, 2012)

It is nice to be able to read my watch while riding again... After several years of denial..


----------



## PeterF1963 (Jan 16, 2012)

like bifocals, only the lower lense is for reading, the upper is for distance, and just straight glass in the middle. I could have just gone with reading glasses, since the short vision was more impaired than distance, but decided to bite the bullet and get improved reading and distance at once. But when you look down at the ground through the lens, its the reader part, so it gets blurry.


----------



## Lone Rager (Dec 13, 2013)

PeterF1963 said:


> like bifocals, only the lower lense is for reading, the upper is for distance, and just straight glass in the middle....


 It can vary. There will be straight glass (no diopter or cylinder correction) only at the angle in the vertical plane where your uncorrected eyesight would need none. So it depends on your correction. Since I'm nearsighted with no astigmatism, I can read fine print and see my watch and Garmin sharply without glasses, so the bottoms of my progressive lenses have very little if any correction. The middle of the lens has some correction for mid-distance correction and the tops have more stronger correction. If you have astigmatism, that correction (cylinder) will be applied equally from top to bottom of the lens. It's optically impossible to perfectly do what these lenses try to do, so in the transition zone between the tops and bottoms, and especially off to the left and right, there will be distortion. How much there is depends on the details of your prescription, and how the different brands try to minimize this distortion, so some brands of lenses may seem better to you than others.


----------



## KRob (Jan 13, 2004)

Nurse Ben said:


> I have a pair, can't stand them, but my wife loves hers, so maybe it take time.
> 
> Mine are relaly only for reading, so I should probably ditch em and get readers.
> 
> Have you considered Lasik? I got it twenty years ago, best thing I ever did for me &#8230; other than marrying my lovely and talented wife


LASIK is great, but you can't see close, right (if you're old)..Unless you got monovision or a corneal inlay like the Kamra or Rain Drop lens.

I didn't have any problems at all going to mountain biking progressive lenses. I put them in a wrap style sport WileyX frame.

I did purposely set the position lower than my normal office and daily life progressives when I had them made. I figured I'd only need the reading part occasionally for seeing my phone or doing trailside repairs.

One thing I like that I didn't expect is that the intermediate range is just about right for seeing my front tire and immediate obstacles when maneuvering in slower tech sections.

Disclaimer: I was already used to progressive lenses when I finally got some for mountain biking.

To the OP, you may have your optometrist set the seg height lower if you still aren't getting used to them after 2-3 weeks.

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


----------



## Spec44 (Aug 17, 2013)

The hardest part is getting used to moving your head the right amount so you are looking out of the right "zone" in the lens for the distance you are trying to see. Looking down at your feet is the hardest to get used to, in great part because the lenses are curved so you get some distortion. Looking out of the corner of your eye is second worst because there just isn't any focus over there (my distance vision has been bad for decades).

You'll get used to it. Try to work on doing more looking out in front of you. Gives you more time to react and you can see it without seeing distortion from the lens curvature.


----------



## Velobike (Jun 23, 2007)

One of the oddest things with wearing multi-focal is when you ride rigid hardtail and hit a rough section fast. 

I don't mean technical stuff, more like Paris Roubaix surfaces with lots of small rocks showing through, maybe an inch or two above the surface. The sort of thing that's well within the capabilities of the bike if you trust it.

My experience is that my glasses bounce up and down and I get a very blurred view of the world, a bit like double vision with my eyes trying to adjust focus in time with the rapidly oscillating changes in diopter as the glasses bounce.

That's when the old maxim "Trust the bike" really needs to be observed. Naturally I now slow down when that happens, but it's also improved my riding in that I ride looser on those surfaces and manage to stabilise my head better. 

But it's a bit of a fright when you hit an unknown section and that happens.


----------



## speedygz (May 12, 2020)

Yeah, I got them a few years back. Fantastic things, if you have to wear glasses. Everyone said how difficult it is to adjust to them, I walked out of the optometrist after picking them up & getting them adjusted properly, and promptly forgot about them. That's after a year or two of wearing reading glasses. Marvellous invention.


----------



## AP-123 (Nov 24, 2004)

What are good cycling glasses to have progressive lenses put in?

Sent from my Pixel 4 XL using Tapatalk


----------



## Rev Bubba (Jan 16, 2004)

*Absolutely*

The only slight issue I had the first day was walking down the stairs to the PATH train in the morning. On the way home, I forgot about them.

After that, I never, ever, had an issue.

I just got back from a 40 mile road ride and was trying to imagine the problems others have mentioned but no matter how I tried, I could not find an issue.

Yes, great invention.


----------



## speedygz (May 12, 2020)

Rev Bubba said:


> The only slight issue I had the first day was walking down the stairs to the PATH train in the morning. On the way home, I forgot about them.
> 
> After that, I never, ever, had an issue.
> 
> ...


For sure. With bifocals, I got the feeling of standing on the edge of a cliff, for want of a better description, due to the hard transition between the two magnification areas. The progressives are fine, because of the gradual transition between the magnification. Much much more natural. I have noticed that some of the complaints come from people who get a script, then buy online. They miss out on the careful setting up, where the optometrist plots out the transition heights etc, which to my mind would make a big difference in performance.
The shop I go to use Pentax lenses I think, and they're available in 3 different levels. The difference being in the viewing angles, and lack of edge distortion. The wider, more expensive viewing angles are definitely worth the $$$


----------



## A/C in Az (Jan 14, 2019)

PeterF1963 said:


> I recently accepted that my 56 year old eyes just aren't as sharp as they used to be. And my arms aren't long enough to read my phone. So I made the leap and got prescription glasses. One pair was for day to day, and some ray ban aviators for driving. I found myself using the aviators on my road bike with no problems, so I had a set of MTB specific sunglasses made to match my prescription. Rode the trails on them this morning and it was very dicey.
> Anyone riding the trails with progressive glasses, and can you offer any advice on making the adjustment?
> Thanks in advance


I had the same experience. It turned out the curvature of the sport glasses caused distortion in the lens prescription. If I kept either eye closed, vision was fine. With both eyes open, the distortion caused issues. The distortion in mine occurs mainly in the peripheral area of vision, not straight ahead.


----------



## MariyaUS (Oct 30, 2020)

*How to adjust progressive glasses?*

Bifocals and progressives have different vision strengths built into the same lens. As you look down to read, the lens helps you see things close up. As you look up at the horizon, it lets you see clearly far away. This helps when you walk or drive.here some steps gives for adjust 
progressive glasses?
1.Give putting a shot your new glasses before anything else and wear them for simply an hour or two. ...

2.Try not to switch between your new pair and your old one.

3.Ensure your eyeglasses fit appropriately and don't slide down your nose.

4.At the point when you walk, look straight ahead, not down at your feet


----------



## paramount3 (Jul 13, 2014)

I have trouble reading without reading glasses, and I have also become nearsighted. I also have a distinct prism issue, where the two eyes focus at different distances. I have tried progressives but feel nauseated if I wear them for more than a few minutes at a time. And the thought of looking down through the "near" vision section of the glasses and trying to discern trail features is scary. So I continue to ride with only regular sunglasses, but the time will come when I will need some help. At that point, I think I will try simple distance vision glasses with the prism correction. "Distance" means anything more than about six feet, really. If I can't read my Garmin, so be it, but I really need to be able to see detail of what I'm about to ride over/into.


----------



## speedygz (May 12, 2020)

paramount3 said:


> I have trouble reading without reading glasses, and I have also become nearsighted. I also have a distinct prism issue, where the two eyes focus at different distances. I have tried progressives but feel nauseated if I wear them for more than a few minutes at a time. And the thought of looking down through the "near" vision section of the glasses and trying to discern trail features is scary. So I continue to ride with only regular sunglasses, but the time will come when I will need some help. At that point, I think I will try simple distance vision glasses with the prism correction. "Distance" means anything more than about six feet, really. If I can't read my Garmin, so be it, but I really need to be able to see detail of what I'm about to ride over/into.


Have you actually been to an optometrist, had your eyes properly tested, and had the appropriate lenses fitted and adjusted in the frames, to suit?


----------



## bitflogger (Jan 12, 2004)

Contact lenses that only correct for distance and astigmatism are my best bet to preserve skills for air time and slow motion moves. Otherwise I do my best to look ahead - something we should do anyway.


----------



## camp10 (Mar 2, 2015)

For the last 5 years, I've done the monovision thing with contacts. (One eye corrected for distance, one for up close.)

Two weeks ago my optometrist suggested multifocal contacts. I've ridden with them three times so far. They seem to do OK. I've read that it takes four to six weeks to really get used to them. I want them mostly for skiing and biking.

Anyone have experience with multifocal contacts???


----------



## mtbdudex (Jan 13, 2020)

I'm 58, had Lasik in 1998 was 20/15 till 2017 now 20/20.
But, age attacks most of us and I'm at +2.0 readers.
Tried the progressive lens, really, for 3-4 weeks, I'm part of the 7-10% than can't adjust.
I got dizzy feeling upon moving my head by the blend zone, never got used to it.
Just bring readers with me wherever I go, yea, cheap amazon 4 for $12's.


----------



## rob214 (Apr 18, 2019)

I've been wearing glasses since age 5, I'm 58 I only wear and own 1 pair of glasses at a time I find it extremely difficult and aggravating to adjust to switching glasses everytime I need to do something different. I could never change from one pair to another and be able to drive the next minute. once I get a new pair I usually take a few days to adjust and not get headaches.


----------



## ojito (Jun 20, 2010)

I got progressive trifocals at 47, so about a year ago, and absolutely love them. From stories I had heard, I was prepared for trying to get used to weirdness, but when I tried them on at the store I thought they made a mistake and gave me straight lenses. I have a very strong nearsighted prescription with astigmatism, and had pretty much zero adjustment period, including with riding, driving, etc. They seem totally normal, except now I can read things at arms-length and it has been fantastic. I wish I could get something riding-specific with a bit more protection, like more durable and wrap-aroundish, but with my prescription I can't get anything too curved.


----------



## bsieb (Aug 23, 2003)

Look down the trail through the top of your lenses, should put everything in proper focus by just moving your eyes.


----------



## mvray (Jul 26, 2007)

I've worn glasses since I was about 5 and progressives for the last 15 years. Adjustment was ok for me. For me the peripheral depth perception is wonky and causes me to sometimes shoulder check trees.


----------



## EKram (Oct 30, 2020)

Had a friend tell me to point my nose at what I want to focus on.

Never realized how much I depended small movements of the head and still being able to focus. I.e. a quick glance over the shoulder.

Another quip I heard was the worse your vision is, the quicker the transition.
Took me awhile (mostly 'cause I would not wear the progressives all the time) to get comfortable.

I have had them fitted by moving the center of the focus up, for more close up reading lense area-tired of looking for my cheaters. That never really caught on with me.


----------



## KRob (Jan 13, 2004)

camp10 said:


> For the last 5 years, I've done the monovision thing with contacts. (One eye corrected for distance, one for up close.)
> 
> Two weeks ago my optometrist suggested multifocal contacts. I've ridden with them three times so far. They seem to do OK. I've read that it takes four to six weeks to really get used to them. I want them mostly for skiing and biking.
> 
> Anyone have experience with multifocal contacts???


Yes, I did mono vision for a couple years but always switched to two distance lenses when riding or driving long distances at night because the depth perception threw me off.

Then I switched to bifocal contacts and the balance and depth perception issues were solved. Overall clarity both near and far is a bit of a compromise but really pretty good for both. I loved that I didn't have to tip my chin up to see things close that are at eye level (like grocery store shelves and computer screens).

I'm an OD so have tried them all and different combinations of bifocal add power and brands. Some work better for some and others for others, so keep going back for your CL follow ups until you and the doctor find the right combination.

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


----------



## Palapapapa (Oct 8, 2010)

I have been riding with progressives for about a year now. One thing that helped me was having the progression dropped about 1-2mm in the lens.


----------



## PeterF1963 (Jan 16, 2012)

Palapapapa said:


> I have been riding with progressives for about a year now. One thing that helped me was having the progression dropped about 1-2mm in the lens.


Good tip I must say it's getting better after a few months also, using the croakie to keep them steady also helps winter riding and the fogging due to mask wearing is the bigger problem now Thanks to everyone for all the great tips


----------



## rob214 (Apr 18, 2019)

I've been wearing progressive for years and never really had a problem, some say men adapt to them slower than woman, but I never had a problem
I just got a new pair of prescription sunglasses and it's been overcast all week so I haven't really worn them.
Robert


----------



## Bubs (Jan 27, 2021)

I just started getting into mountain biking and wear progressive transition glasses (just cheap Costco glasses, no sport goggles or anything). After a few rides I hated my vision on the trails, plus cold winter riding with a face mask on caused fogging issue. So last time out, I switched to disposable contacts, and it was so much better, especially having that full peripheral clarity for distance vs only seeing clear through a center point with my progressive glasses. I just carry readers in my backpack for when I stop to fool with my phone.


----------



## dentdoc (Feb 28, 2021)

Bubs said:


> I just started getting into mountain biking and wear progressive transition glasses (just cheap Costco glasses, no sport goggles or anything). After a few rides I hated my vision on the trails, plus cold winter riding with a face mask on caused fogging issue. So last time out, I switched to disposable contacts, and it was so much better, especially having that full peripheral clarity for distance vs only seeing clear through a center point with my progressive glasses. I just carry readers in my backpack for when I stop to fool with my phone.


 Most people take awhile to acclimate to progressives. I remember the first time I wore them, almost got sick to my stomach. Now I can do anything with them, Race Motorcycles off-road, Fly airplanes night or day with quick accusation from distance to near reading conditions. Better than 20/20 results.

Your brain needs time to adjust & you learn certain head movements that work better others.

Also had my optician put the readers part as low into the glass as humanly possible.

Also have spent a lot of back & forth with optician getting a good Contact solution that I wear most times.


----------

