How do bifocals work?
Rather than having two pairs of single-vision glasses, bifocal lenses can be a more convenient solution as they combine all your vision needs into one pair of glasses.
Bifocal lenses are typically worn by people over the age of 40-45 who need additional help with their near vision due to the effects of presbyopia where the crystalline lens inside the eye naturally begins to lose its ability to focus on near objects.
For example, if you work in an office you may want to have bifocal reading glasses, so you can have distance vision in the top of the lens for meetings or presentations, and near vision in the segment for looking at your computer screen or at documents.
How to tell if you need bifocals
As we get older, we’ll start to find it more and more difficult to read or focus on things that are close up. This is called presbyopia and is a perfectly normal part of ageing.
Most people become aware of presbyopia when they start holding their phone or books further away in order to see it clearly.
Presbyopia will start to happen around the age of 40. If this sounds familiar, and you already wear glasses, it might be time for an eye test and to maybe give bifocal reading glasses a go.
If you don’t already wear glasses for distance vision, your optician might recommend single-vision lenses.
Types of bifocals lenses
Most of the lens in bifocal glasses will contain the power for distance vision, while only a smart part (or segment)
corrects your near vision. The lens segment devoted to near vision correction can be different shapes, such as:
How expensive are bifocal lenses?
The cost of bifocals will depend on the vision requirements you have, and the type of lenses that you need. But here are the typical prices for our bifocal lenses:
Standard bifocal lenses - €65
Offering distance and near vision in one lens. Bifocals have a small segment at the lower part of the lens containing your near vision area.
Premium bifocal lenses - €85
As with Standard bifocals, these lenses offer distance and near vision in one lens. Premium bifocals have a larger segment at the lower part of the lens containing your near vision area.
What is the difference between varifocals and bifocals?
Bifocals have two lens powers – one for distance and one for up close. Varifocal lenses have a blended transition of power between distance and near vision which allows for an easier movement between distance, intermediate and close vision.
Varifocal lenses don’t have visible lines on the lenses so look just like regular lenses. Your optician will be able to recommend the best lens to suit your needs.
Do bifocals lenses work for presbyopia?
Yes - they work for presbyopia. Bifocal lenses combine two prescriptions into a single pair of glasses. The top part of the lens corrects distance vision, and the lower part corrects vision for close-up focusing. So there’s no need for additional reading glasses.