Computer use at work is one of the biggest daily complaints in the US, and bifocal age computer users need to know how to improve both physical and visual comfort to successfully survive all the hours needed working on a monitor. Those of you PC users that are currently wearing a prescription progressive or bifocal lenses, and feel you are able to see the computer screen clearly through the distant part of your general wear eyeglasses, are encouraged to continue reading this article to see why you may soon realize the vision reality associated with mid-range eyestrain.
Computer Conversion Clips have been helping bifocal age men and women solve the computer mid-range distance problem to work longer at the computer with better vision and with better physical ergonomics. Yes, wearing a clip-on over your eyeglasses may make you look a bit nerdish, however; you are really a much happier, more productive and accomplished savvy geek without the troublesome eyestrain and neck aches. Understanding why you need a mid-range computer lens will help you decide what course of action you want to take to solve this problem; here is why.
Bifocal age is around forty and using general purpose eyeglasses that contain a standard bifocal or a progressive lens design while using a computer requires your eyes to work harder. Let’s touch upon the eyes waning ability to focus on near objects as we go down the road of life after forty. The focusing ability of the eye actually begins to lessen after age ten. Remember, when you could hold something in your hand and bring it really close to your eyes for a clear detailed visual inspection… when you were young? As we naturally age both the ciliary muscles, that are attached and helps to control the tension around the focusing lens in the eye, and the crystalline lens itself become less efficient adjusting or accommodating on close objects. Most of us fit into one of the following vision scenarios.
If you are nearsighted, can see up close without glasses, you generally begin to take off your glasses to read more comfortably or even look under or over the top of your eyewear to see up close in your early forties. If you are very nearsighted this problem of focusing up close won’t happen until mid to late forties.
If you always had good distant vision, without the need of a prescription lens, you will notice your arms getting shorter around age forty. Holding your reading material further away in order to maintain a comfortable focus is a sign of the dreaded bifocal, or reading lens.
Lastly, if you are wearing prescription glasses for being farsighted, meaning you can see in the far distance but have trouble focusing up close, than you can generally expect to have a bifocal prescription around thirty-nine or forty. There is a myriad of statistical data on this focusing problem the optical community calls presbyopia. This predictable progressive nature of the eyes not being able to focus on close objects as we age has been studied for decades. How can you benefit with this information while working on a computer?
Visiting your eye doctor yearly is a good thing, and when you reach the magic age for presbyopia you will be given a prescription that will contain both distance and close lens powers. The bifocal power will be set for a distance of usually 14 to 16 inches. The bifocal reading lens power gives your eye the added ability to focus up close once again. You will be able to maintain a reading focus comfortably like you did when you were younger.
The computer monitor is usually placed from 20 to 30 inches away from your eyes, and this is considered a mid-range, so unless you want to move closer to you monitor while lifting up your head with your present bifocals or progressive lenses, this is visually and physically just poor ergonomics. One pair of glasses can’t do everything… period.
If you are using the upper portion of your general wear bifocals or progressive lenses to see the computer monitor, than the eye’s focusing ability is under pressure to maintain that mid-range focus. It is already established that looking at round pixels is harder for your eyes to focus on. Sharp edges found on printed materials, ink and paper, are much easier for your eyes to maintain a steady focus. Viewing pixels on a monitor will cause eyestrain and fatigue after extended computer use, or perhaps a number of other eye symptoms that are associated with extended use on a PC called computer vision syndrome.
Imagine if you were a person lifting weights at a gym, and using 20 pound dumbbells to do a set of arm curls. What if somebody took 15 pounds of weight away, and now you are doing the arm curls with only 5 pound dumbbells. Think how many more curls you can do now before getting fatigued! This is the essence and science behind a computer conversion clip or a dedicated pair of computer glasses.
The bifocal add power allows your eyes to focus on reading distances with less accommodative (eye muscle and lens focusing ability) effort and greater comfort for longer periods of time more efficiently. The computer conversion clip’s add powers allows your eyes to focus comfortably at mid-range or computer distances the same way. Otherwise, looking at a PC monitor through the distant portion of your glasses is like using the 20 pound dumbbells in the gym example; you may be able to do it but your eyes will get tired sooner. It has always been my argument that as the eye’s get tired, so goes the body. You have a choice to prevent this vision and ergonomic reality from becoming a problem.
You can choose to have a dedicated pair of computer glasses custom made by your eye doctor for about $200 or more. Your eyecare professional can make up a special pair of bifocals for intermediate and near vision, or use a special pair of progressive lenses, called near variable focus, that are specifically designed for mid-range office work. Now, it is also possible, you can convert your existing general purpose bifocals or progressive eyeglasses to accommodate your vision needs while working at the computer for long periods of time with the new ergonomically designed computer reading clip-on lens for a fraction of the cost. It is also interesting to note that if you have a complicated prescription in your general wear glasses that the clip-on will be a great addition.