Hiya! Former optician here!

Have you taken your progressives in to have them adjusted or aligned?

Progressive lenses must be fitted in the perfect spot in front of your eyes to give you the best possible vision.

Once fitted correctly, they mimic the way your focus changes naturally by applying +power as you progress further down the lens, basically shifting towards spherical shape to “magnify” a bit, the same way the muscles in your eyes bend your inner lens to do the same!

In order to use them efficiently:

Folks tend to point their nose slightly downward as they view distance, keep this in mind as your distance section is at the top!

When looking near people tend to slightly cross their eyes and look down towards their nose! This is why the bottom of the lens feels stronger, its where you’re expected to read through.

Midrange is the tough one to nail. I recommend holding a piece of paper with text at arms length in front of you, find the spot where its perfect and slowly drag it from that spot to where you’d prefer to read. This will help to train your eyes to follow that track to vary the focus.

Dont give up! I usually recommend giving your lenses a few weeks to adjust to a new style of lens.

Remember though, while they may be difficult to use at first, your vision should be perfect when they do work, getting them to work 100% of the time is the part that takes effort.

Do you mean varifocals? You definitely get used to them and get muscle memory in your eyes for where to look through. You need to wear them 24/7 though

There’s a few points to note

-there are 1500 different progressive lenses, and a lot of stire are still selling 35 yeae old lenses. You get what you pay for, and avoid chains.

-the eyeglass industry is full of reps who think they’re professionals, but don’t actually know fuck all about how they work. What the other person said about measurements is way more obvious with a progressive. Because of this, online progressives are dogshit.

-if you’re a hyperope, it takes more time to get used to the lenses. Plus prescriptions add more distortion, so it takes longer to adapt.

-the age you got the first progressive makes a huge difference. If you get one at 42, you’ll have a much easier time than if you wait until 60, because the reading addition keeps getting stronger and causes more distortion. Side note, if you’re over 42, you should be wearing a progressive. Stop lying to me and yourself.

-it takes about two weeks to feel natural, but you have to wear the glasses, and not switch back to an older pair. If you don’t put in the effort, you’ll be the old person with lines. If you wear them for two weeks and don’t get used to them, theres something wrong with the lens.

• get a premium, dual sided antireflective. Plus power lenses have more space between the surfaces, and double the effects of glare on the lens.

-don’t take advice from anyone you know, youtube, or especially reddit. Nobody knows any of the actual science behind optics, they just keep parroting things that sound legit. Even supposed professionals in my industry are goddamn idiots, including most licensed opticians i know. The only sources of info that can be trusted are lifelong lab managers, and the people designing the products and systems of manufacture. Everyone else spouts buzzwords like they know what they’re saying, or they saw a video once.

I’m an advanced optician running three offices and a lab, working towards my masters designation, and i’m infuriated to be one of the last professionals in this industry.