At some point after forty, most people find themselves holding a menu further away. The lens inside your eye stiffens with age and stops changing shape as readily, so near focus goes first. It is called presbyopia, it happens to everyone eventually, and it is not a disease — but it does mean a decision about lenses.
Get the eye test first
Reaching for supermarket readers without a test means you never find out whether your distance vision has also changed, whether the two eyes need different corrections, or whether something else is going on. Presbyopia arrives at roughly the age several other conditions start being worth screening for. Book the test, then choose the lens.
The three options
| Lens | Good for | The trade-off |
|---|---|---|
| Single-vision readers | One fixed distance: a book, a workbench, a screen | Anything beyond that distance is blurred, so they come on and off all day |
| Bifocals | Distance and near in one pair, with a clear line between | Nothing at arm's length, and the visible line jumps as your gaze crosses it |
| Progressives | Distance, intermediate and near in one continuous lens | Costs the most, needs a week or two of adjustment, and the sides of the lens are soft |
Choosing by how you actually spend the day
You only struggle with books and menus
Single-vision readers, made to your prescription, are the honest answer. They are the cheapest option and the clearest, because the whole lens does one job. Off-the-shelf readers are fine as a spare in a drawer, but they carry the same power in both eyes and assume an average PD — see measuring your pupillary distance for why that matters.
You work at a screen most of the day
A screen sits at arm's length, which is exactly the distance bifocals ignore and the narrowest part of a progressive. Ask about an occupational or office lens: a progressive weighted for intermediate and near rather than distance, with a much wider screen zone. It is a second pair rather than an only pair, and for anyone who spends eight hours at a desk it is usually the single biggest comfort upgrade available.
You want one pair for everything
Progressives. Expect an adjustment period: your eyes have to learn that the correction lives in a corridor down the middle, and that turning your head works better than swivelling your eyes. Most people adapt within two weeks. Some never like them, which is worth knowing before you buy.
What progressives need from the frame
- Lens height. The corridor needs vertical room — very shallow frames cannot hold a usable reading zone. Every product page publishes the lens height.
- A stable fit. A frame that slides down your nose moves the corridor with it, and the lens stops lining up with your eyes.
- A fitting height measured on your face, in the frame you chose. This is not something to estimate at home.
The lens that suits you is the one that matches your day, not the one with the most technology in it.
If you are unsure which way to go, tell us how you spend your screen time before ordering. And if the frame is the part you are stuck on, reading the measurements will get you to a shortlist quickly.
Written by
Eyevora Editorial
Product & care desk at Eyevora. We stock the frames we write about, and we publish every measurement we hold. Spotted something wrong here? Tell us and we will correct it.
- presbyopia
- reading glasses
- progressives
- lenses