PSA: Get Computer Glasses

This is good advice, I just got my first pair and they make a huge difference in comfort, and being able to stare at a screen throughout the day. Particularly if you are nearsighted and already wear glasses, the need for computer glasses may sneak up on you. I found that by afternoon/evening my eyes were tired and having problems focusing on a screen with my regular glasses.

The way my eye doctor explained it, there's two compounding problems - we start losing the ability to focus up close in our 40s, and distance-vision glasses push the near focus point further out. Eventually the near point is close to or further than the distance to your monitor/laptop, and your eye muscles have to strain to be able to focus.

I've tried for a couple of years to get this sorted, but I can't find an optometrist who can understand what I'm trying to say. I got so animated trying to explain it, I got told to "calm down" by the last one, who also gave me another useless prescription, which I spent hundreds of dollars having made into glasses, only to be disappointed. Again. Maybe someone here can help.

One of my experiments was to get a pair of actual "computer glasses." If I sit at the perfect distance from the screen, they're fantastic. However, at that distance, even the top and bottom of the screen is enough of a difference that they are fuzzy. Apparently, the so-called "working distance" of the prescription is so narrow that even a couple of inches either way will ruin it. I don't want a laser-focused prescription that only works within an inch. Am I saying that right? Is "working distance" the distance at which the prescription works, or the distance between the near and far usable distance?

I want my single-distance prescription _tweaked_ to work _closer_. My current prescription does pretty well from about 2 feet to near infinity. I want the "center" of this workable range brought closer. I want the usable range of the prescription to be "in the room," say, 20 feet at the far end to whatever it works out to at the close end. I expect this will bring my screen into sharp focus, at the expense of, say, driving, where I could use a different pair. I just don't want to have to change glasses when I get up and get a cup of coffee. How can I explain this to an optometrist? Because I've failed about 3 times now, and have $1000 of worthless glasses to show for it.

Yes I had exactly this issue— I had to keep straining my neck so I can see the monitor through the “sweet spot” at the bottom of my reading glasses. So I read somewhere that computer glasses are a thing, but didn’t want to pay LensCrafters another ~$300+ for glasses. So I went online to Zenni Optical , and entered my normal prescription, plus the all-important PD (self measured Pupillary Distance, which your optometrist will NOT tell you), and specified “computer glasses” and got a pair delivered for around $60. I don’t recall if I measured the distance to the computer… but that’s a good point obviously, maybe I will get another pair and do it right.

If anyone has recommendations for glasses online I’d appreciate hearing those. Warby Parker seems good, haven’t tried them. Zenni wasn’t bad, the glasses seem slightly off, it could be due to my self measurements.

I first got glasses as a kid when I was about -1 diopter nearsighted. In the long term it stabilized at about -4.5 and then, of course, with age, the focusing ability went away. Now I wear a weakened prescription for working at the computer that leaves me... about -1 diopter nearsighted. And I'm totally used to keeping those glasses on all the time around the house and (memory is fading!) the office. Sort of come full circle. I do have to switch to normal glasses for driving, of course.

But yes, getting dedicated glasses for the distance at which I use a computer screen was a complete game changer. No compromise, just good vision. With mail-order outfits (Zenni in my case) you can experiment... I ordered glasses weakened by -1, -1.25 and -1.5 diopters and just picked my favourites.

Or... you know... Don't use small displays with 4k resolution and tiny fonts.

I agree with this advice. My daily headaches stopped completely after getting computer glasses (which are just prescription glasses with the resting focal distance of about 6’ and higher-than-normal blue light filtering.) The only issue is that I often forget to swap to normal glasses so things are a little blurrier when I’m outside.

The older the eyes, the more of the youthful ability to shift focal distance is lost. No single-focus glasses can mitigate this.

If you're 60+, the workaround is one to three smallish monitors, 24-26", arranged in an arc equidistant from the eyes, along with glasses focused at just that distance.

Great advice--I found out I had astigmatism nearly 20 years ago when going to the Eye Dr. for my first pair of computer glasses. I've been having them add #1 rose tint and Crizal ever since!

Some doctors say get them and say any works, some specify brands, and many doctors say don't get one as long as you have not been prescribed powered specs and since this is one of those things related to medical field that one can't just do it on their own based on things read on the Internet, so I end up never getting one.

I got computer glasses and wear them all the time when at home now. The other pair has become my “outdoor” glasses.