Choosing a pair of sunglasses can take hours – they are a combination of style and eye protection and you need to match both. But there is another aspect to it – what do you do if you wear reading glasses? Take them off and put on your reading glasses each time you are outdoors and need to read something? Not only is this a pain – because you have to carry your reading glasses with you wherever your go, switching glasses around does not look, how else to put it – cool.

And while it’s easy to think that you don’t need reading glasses when you are outdoors, think about it carefully. How many times have you ad to read something when you were outside. Or have to look at something closely? Or working on something that requires close examination? What did you do, take off your sunglasses and use regular reading glasses despite the discomfort from the bright sunlight? Take heart – there is an easy solution for you.

Ask you optician for reading sunglasses. These are the same as regular reading glasses and offer the same refractive capabilities so that reading is comfortable and strain free. But they are also tinted or coated to protect your eyes from excess light. That means that you can sit in the brightest sunlight, like on a beach, and relax and read with no strain of having to squint to beat the glare.

Reading sunglasses are available in a variety of styles and are designed to take rough outdoor use. They look just the same as normal sunglasses.

Many people use clip on shades over their reading glasses when they have to read out in the open. Besides looking really, really ugly, they could affect the clarity of your vision since what you are in effect getting is a second lens in front of your reading glasses.

But what do you do if you need glasses for both distant vision and reading? Carry two pairs of glasses around with you? That’s just adding more clutter to your life. The solution you are looking for lies in bifocal sunglasses. Yes, just like the regular bifocals people where indoors, these sunglasses have lenses where the upper part is ground to match your distant vision needs and the lower part for your reading requirements.

Just like reading sunglasses, these bifocal sunglasses also look like an ordinary pair and are designed to take the rough outdoor use in their stride. While bifocal tinted lenses will have to be specially ground to suit your eyes, the range of frames is immense and you can choose from the plain and simple to the tough military look to designer frames.

With bifocal sunglasses you can put them on and forget about them as long as you are outdoors. There’s no need to carry another set of glasses with you. With bifocal sunglasses you can sit in the park in the sun and read a magazine and still easily glance up every once in a while and clearly see what your kids are up to.

I have absolutely grown to love eye wear accessories! Most of my life, I’ve had 20/20 vision; however, through the years, it became increasingly hard to focus while trying to read things like a menu, a book, or even my watch! When someone first suggested that I might need bifocals, I was indignant! I equated needing bi-focals with aging and senior citizens. However, as my arms grew shorter (from trying to hold objects at a distance to focus), I gave in and went to one of the retailer optical supply chains. The optician fixed me up with a prescription for bi-focals. I picked out some lightweight eyeglass frames with a spring hinge. I tried wearing these spectacles for a while, but couldn’t figure out how to hold my head so I could see without much aggravation! So I went to one of the local discount drugstores, and found a display of ready to wear, non prescription, designer eyeglasses and eye wear accessories. I found a pair (power – 1.50). They weren’t sexy, but I could read!

Since those days, my nearsighted vision has continued to deteriorate, and my quest for good looking, fashion eyewear has escalated! I’ve found some really cute reading glasses that make a fashion statement. I love coordinating my sexy specs with whatever I’m wearing! My eye wear has become one of my greatest accessories! Whenever I find a coordinating eyeglass case for my reading glasses, it always makes my day! I just recently found some ultra light, reading sunglasses in a contemporary, compact travel case in my favorite color – purple! What fun!

Because I’m farsighted, I don’t wear reading glasses while driving; however, I keep a pair of modern readers in my car. Frequently while at a stop light, I may check my blackberry for emails and need my “cheaters.” I just slip these non prescription reading glasses on and my blurry screen comes into focus. I couldn’t travel without now without them. You never know when you may need to read a map, or check an address. That’s when you grab your eyeglasses with the strength and magnifying power you need to read close up!

I keep magnifying reading glasses everywhere: in the kitchen (for reading labels, recipes, cooking instructions, etc.); on the end table near my easy chair (for reading newspaper, magazines, good book); in the bathroom (for reading toiletry items); in my office (helps with computer glare); in the bedroom (for reading before I go to bed); and, of course, in my purse! Some of my folding glasses are very convenient! I love all kinds of styles: wire rim, granny, horn, tortoise, plastic, gold, silver, inexpensive, cheap, metal frames or plastic frames. There are cute readers for every location and style. Experiment today to get your optically correct power and just have some fun with non-prescription reading glasses! You can never have too many specs!

If you have less than perfect vision, there is a good chance you are curious about laser eye surgery. But choosing to get it done is a big decision as treatment is extremely expensive and results of the procedure are permanent. Therefore it is important to know if the reality of what laser eye treatment can achieve matches your expectations, in order to avoid disappointment.

Many people assume that laser eye surgery results in perfect 20/20 vision for most patients but this is, sadly, untrue. However, this is not to say that the outcome of surgery is not extremely good for most people. Approximately nine out of ten patients will have their sight improved to an extent where they no longer have to wear glasses or contact lenses after the procedure, at least during daylight hours. A common side effect of surgery is poor night vision, which causes the person to see a halo effect around lights and means wearing glasses for driving after dark is an absolute necessity.

It is also imperative that a person understands the exact meaning of ‘permanent results’ is when it relates to laser eye treatment. The outcome of the surgery is permanent, in that the correction made to your eyes and therefore your vision will not change. But ‘permanent’ does not mean life long perfect eyesight, as laser eye surgery cannot prevent natural deterioration in vision as a person ages. Even patients with the best surgery results are likely to require reading glasses by the age of 45. However, it should be remembered that most people will enjoy many years of excellent eyesight before this deterioration, and even after glasses become a necessity again their eyesight will still be significantly better than it would have been had they never had the procedure.

The results of surgery are largely dependent on the person’s eye sight before treatment. Realistically those with extremely poor vision, while they may still notice a significant improvement, may still need glasses after surgery. Patients who are very short sighted (-8 or greater) or long sighted (+2 or more) may be advised by their consultant not to undergo laser eye treatment as the results are likely to be unsatisfactory.

While the results of treatment are generally very good and technology is always improving, patients need to bear in mind that the procedure does not always go to plan. Even good candidates for laser eye treatment may not receive the perfect sight they were hoping for as under or over correction is a fairly common problem.

Laser eye surgery may not give most patients flawless vision, but satisfaction rates are high. If you have had bad eye sight for many years the novelty of not having to wear glasses at all times can make the cost of treatment very worth while. Realistic expectations will mean a patient’s satisfaction is even greater.

I bought a second pair of reading glasses from my local
Optician recently. I need this pair to help me find the
first pair which inevitably go missing. While in the
Opticians I remember thinking that I needed to buy some
solution and some of those tissues for cleaning my mucky
glasses.

However, when it came to the point of paying for my new
glasses the cleaning stuff went right out of my head. So why
didn’t the Optician or his assistant ask me – “Is there
anything else you need today?” or even – “Do you need any
cleaner for your glasses?” Perhaps they didn’t like or have
the courage to ask, or even they forgot. One way or another,
they missed an add-on sale and I didn’t get any muck
remover.

A couple of days later I was buying a lunchtime sandwich and
totally forgot to pick up a bottle of water. If only I’d
been asked – “Is there anything else sir, a drink to go with
your sandwich?” I ended up going back to another shop in the
mall for my bottle of water.

These are only two small opportunities of lost sales and
irritation for the customer. To be fair, I’m often asked –
“Is there anything else we can do for you today sir?” I
usually say “no” because I can’t think of any thing.

It’s far better to ask a specific question relevant to the
customers’ needs and your business. It doesn’t matter what
business you’re in, you could always sell another product or
another service if you only have the courage to – Ask!

Accommodation is a function of the eye which has long been overlooked in eye surgery because we just have not had the technology to do anything about it. The term accommodation refers to the ability of the eye to change focus from things that are very far away, like when we are driving, to things that are very close up and small, like reading or threading a needle.

If you have used a camera before, you have probably been aware of hearing the auto focus feature or noticed the lens move as the camera adjusts to the distance of the main objects in your picture. If it did not do so, the picture would appear blurred. Your eye has the same auto focus feature which allows us to keep the main objects in sharp focus regardless of their distance.

However, as we age, the lens in our eye begins to harden and loses this auto focus capability. Eventually, everybody begins to wear reading glasses or bifocals because of this aging effect called presbyopia. Over the years, people have tried to figure out how to eliminate presbyopia surgically, but there is no perfect way to do so.

Only recently have new developments in intraocular implants given us the ability to truly mimic accommodation as it occurs in the youthful eye. Most notably, the crystalens intraocular implant has been used very successfully in cataract surgery in elderly people. This surgery using the crystalens not only improves the patients distance vision by removing the cloudy lens (cataract) but it also gives improved near/reading vision.

The crystalens is a premium lens implant that has the ability to move in a certain way after it is placed inside the eye which is similar to the auto focus of a camera. With careful preoperative measurement,
calculation, and planning, this surgery can improve distance vision while reducing the need for reading glasses or bifocals.

When we do Lasik surgery, however, we do not have the ability to implant a new lens inside of the eye. Lasik surgery is done on the cornea which is the outer surface or clear dome shaped structure at the front of your eye. In this case, your normal lens remains intact and if you have reached the age where your lens has stiffened, it will remain so.

I often have patients that want some flexibility in terms of still being able to read after Lasik surgery and we do what we can to maximize their reading without significantly compromising their Lasik outcome for distance vision. Many surgeons do a monovision correction on their Lasik patients. Monovision is the practice of leaving the non-dominant eye nearsighted while fully correcting the dominant eye for distance. The concept goes as far back as the monocle, the one-eyed lenses seen worn in the 19th and early 20th century especially in Germany.

Often, in my opinion, surgeons will overdo the monovision effect and leave the patient too nearsighted. Although it gives very good reading vision, the large difference between the two eyes often creates problems with depth perception or dizziness. Also the compromise in distance vision becomes very noticeable to the patient and the brain is not adequately able to fuse or coordinate the different images from the two eyes.

I have had a much higher degree of success using a mini-monovision technique where I leave only a small amount of residual nearsightedness in the non-dominant eye. With this technique, I target good intermediate distance vision rather than close reading/threading-a-needle vision. The residual correction is probably only -1/2 to -1 diopters at most for these patients. This allows much better distance vision and good intermediate vision and some close reading ability. In general, in the modern world, most of our close work is done at the computer distance.

Mini-monovision accomplishes this goal and reduces confusion between the two eyes or loss of depth perception. Ultimately, my goal is to maximize the patients distance vision while giving them the ability to work on a computer, see their cell phone or watch, and read a menu. More extensive small print reading like sitting down to read the newspaper or a novel would probably require reading glasses. For most people, this set-up eliminates the use of glasses for over 90 percent of their day.

Surgical options for correction of accommodation have come a long way in recent times and continue to develop. If you have questions about accommodating intraocular lenses for cataract surgery, or about options when considering Lasik surgery, discuss them with your surgeon (not just a technician) prior to proceeding.