With change of life catching up with me, my new medical now says " Must have available glasses for near vision ". Been thinking about getting bifocal glasses. Tried on a pair with the no lines was like looking out a fish bowl, seems like it would really mess with your peripheral vision? I know you can adapt to anything, just curious what type is mostly preferred? Any input would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks

People tell me that they adapt to those things, but I've also talked to at least one eye doc who says many don't.

Cheapest and easiest thing is go to wal mart or?? And buy a half dozen cheap readers. Put one pair everywhere, including one in your pocket.

For sunglasses, make your own bifocals by getting stick ons....$25 a set. They last forever and work great. Wish they were a little higher/lower for flying than golf....move em...takes a few minutes.

MTV

Hi JDW,

the problem with no line bifocals is that the actual usable lens area is hour glass shaped and off the the sides of the lens your view will get fuzzy. You can set aside your vanity and get lined bifocals or you can "get used" to the lenses without lines (You will get used to it). You may find that your vision is fine (with single lens glasses or none) at the mid range (i.e. reading your panel instruments) but you need glasses for reading your charts. You can adapt to this in a way that allows you to use glasses just to read close items.

You can also get "bifocal" contact lenses. I don't know how they work but the do. You'll need to make a trade off in vision at a great distance vs your mid range and far vision. I'd would talk to a knowledgeable optometrist or ophthalmologist. Or you can just buy a Maule

Go to a good ophthalmologist who is willing to fit you properly for your needs. I've been wearing progressives for almost 10 years now full time in the Boeing flying mostly at night in low vis conditions. I wouldn't go back to bi or tri focals ever. The key is proper fitment and correct focal length for where you need it in the lense.

My own experience was that after a year of dead-on progressives, I still didn't like them. I tolerated them fine, I just didn't like them. It was 31 years ago that I changed to tri-focals, and I've been happy with them ever since. Depending on the airplane I was flying at the time, I've had the segments moved up or down a little, but that's always worked out well.

Cary

I have wore bifocals for a long time before I started flying so they were no problem. A few years ago I started not being able to see the instrument panel clearly through either the top of bottom of my lenses. I then got trifocals with the middle line focused for the panel distance. I like the lines between the three sections because I can easily know which one I'm looking through.

Just the thought of the progressives makes my stomach start to turn over.

I have the mid range section on my lenses placed so I don't have to move my head to change from looking out the windshield to at the panel or vise versa. Just move my eyes down or up.

I use progressives but I still hate all types of glasses. As nearly all my flying is VFR and I spend a lot of time looking out and down they are a problem. One thing I have found is that you can get a wider focal point if you demand it. This helps the fish bowl effect a lot, it allows a bit of side shift to the eye without going out of focus.
Honestly I usually fly with plain sunglasses or no glasses and carry the prescription glasses in my pocket until needed. It does make it a pain in the ass to use a GPS or read anything but most of the time that's what I do.

Be careful talking about bifocals on an open aviation forum. The FAA may catch wind of this and make it an exclusive affliction…

First is was overly intrusive Class III medical waiver requirements, then the sleep apnea thing, next it will be bifocals, male pattern baldness or poor fashion sense!


Seriously, I use Zeni Optical for my glasses. Super cheap at reasonable quality. You can buy 5 or more from them for the cost of one pair from the eye doc.

Hey John,
I'll chime in here. After I turned 52 I needed to do something about my vision. Had trouble focusing on anything close. Especially flying at night.
So I got my first bifocals. All seemed great at the clinic, looking at charts & stuff. Then I rode home on my motorcycle and hated every minute of it. They didn't work for me with a full face helmet. With my head stationary I glance at my L or R mirrors and my brain wouldn't process very well. I felt like I was going to get a headache or light vertigo. I had to turn my whole head to view my mirrors and forget peripheral vision. I quit wearing them for a couple of years. Then I tried again. This time with progressives. After my ophthalmologist did the proper fit he told me to give it 30 days (to train my brain). Didn't like them at first either but that changed. Now I love them. Cant imagine flying without them. Day or night, panel, charts, GPS, full face helmet, peripheral, the whole deal... I'm with RockHopper....I love the progressive.

An ole dog can learn new tricks...Just have to train their brain...hah

Sam

Took me about a week to get used to progressives, now wear them all the time, have a pair in Oakley sunglasses as well...don't like to be without them now

I guess I'm confused....not a challenge, by the way. I THOUGHT from the initial post that he didn't mention a requirement for distance correction???

If so, why would you even THINK about bifocals?

So, do you already wear corrective lenses for distant vision?

I don't, so just carrying "cheaters" works fine for me, and as I noted the stick ons work fine on sunglasses......prescription sunglasses with bifocals are expensive.

MTV

I thought I didn't need any distance correction so just used Walgreen cheaters, but a friend told me he when he finally went and got prescription glasses it was like seeing distance in HD. A lustrum ago I decided to get prescription glasses and my friend was right. Of course now every two years my glasses cost $1,200 instead of $17. I get aviators with progressive transition lenses, and I have the reader power section moved lower so the vast majority of the glass is distance. I prefer aviators cause the frames don't interfere with my regular field of vision and the larger glass area reduces the perceived distortion. And like everyone else I hate glasses. Crystal lens is likely in my future.

RockHopper wrote:Go to a good ophthalmologist who is willing to fit you properly for your needs. I've been wearing progressives for almost 10 years now full time in the Boeing flying mostly at night in low vis conditions. I wouldn't go back to bi or tri focals ever. The key is proper fitment and correct focal length for where you need it in the lense.

I agree with RockHopper.

Even before I need reading glasses I wore sunglasses a lot, safety glasses at work and goggles. So wearing glasses was no big deal. After a couple years of the cheap readers I made the jump to high quality prescription glasses. Much less likely to break or loose them when they are on your face.

Cheers

I forgot to say I am a fan of transition auto darkening lens. They don't change to dark unless your outside in UV light. Don't get polarized!!!!! they will make iPhone and some types of glass invisible.

Cheers

MTV I don't have to have prescription glasses for distance. While I was at the eye doctor for the exam asked about glasses that darken & have the bifocal. She had me try the progressive. I didn't like the fish bowl effect. I'm just trying to find a good set up, so I don't have to have a bunch of different glasses, to carry or have laying around ?
From what I'm reading from every one, the dark transitions don't work inside the plane, and seems the progressive lens are favored more than the lined bifocal. My only concern with the progressive would be while landing on snow with flat light, I tend to glance down & to the left trying to figure out how close to the ground you are. I think the lined bifocal would be better in this case? Or just toss em on the dash before landing.
Thanks for all the good info every one.

I wear progressive lenses. It took me two weeks to get used to them. I hated them at first. Gave me pounding headaches. But I finally did get used to them and now wear them all the time. I'm not a fan of them. Just saying that if you give them a chance you might get used to them.

I recall when my eye doc said "you need bifocals." He then went through a litany of all the things that would bother me about them and how long it would take to adapt, and said it's possible I'd never adjust completely. I suspect he did this such that I could not later blame my hatred for the new lenses on him. I think it took me about a week to adjust to the progressives.