My friend has new glasses?

Question

My best friend just got glasses @ -2. As its her first pair she's pretty wowed by the difference they make but confused by the optician's advise which was to wear them for distance activites. She asked me what I thought he meant, I thought he probably meant the usual driving/tv. Someone else told her that means evrything but reading. Who's right?

(I don't feel I can advise her as I have gone for a long time wearing -1.50 and -3 part time till I recently got contacts. I should probably have done it before!)

Answer 1

your friend is near-sighted. That means she favors seeing clearly things that are close up.

She cannot see things that are far away.

Far away is a relative term. That could be 3 feet, 5 feet, 20 feet... She will know better by testing it. If she gets a headache with them on while reading a computer screen 2 feet away, she'll know not to do that. Each person is different.

Pretty much, she should wear them all the time, and will know when to remove them when engaging in close up activities.

Given that (her script is the same as mine) I STRONGLY suggest she get a pair of prescription sunglasses, as well. Mine are polarized lenses with glare reduction. It will save her eyes big time in the long run.

Answer 2

Your friend needs no assistance to read a book, magazine etc.  She only needs them to see in the distance.  Of course, she can read through the glasses assuming she's under 40 year of age.  However, her eyes will have to work harder to read through the glasses than they would on their own.  Therefore, we recommend not wearing them for close-up activities that we spend a long period of time performing.