04-07-2009, 09:10 PM
guitarist wrote: The over-the-counter ones are like a 50-year-old RCA tube TV with bad reception. Professionally-made reading glasses are like a modern LCD HDTV, by comparison. Are your eyes worth it? Do you ever read anything? A cereal box? A magazine? The label on medicine bottles? Books? On a budget, places like Lenscrafters, etc., are pretty good. Once you get a prescription, and have custom-made lenses, you'll be glad you did.
I don't buy that analogy. If you have significant astigmatism, very different vision in each eye, or your interpupillary distance is unusual (very narrow or wide face) then you can get eyestrain from using drug store glasses. If you're pretty average then you won't. If it is comfortable to wear drug store glasses without getting headaches or other symptoms then there's little advantage to getting prescription glasses. I have prescription bifocals and I don't find them any better than cheapo reading glasses. My ophtalmologist told me that drugstore glasses were fine for me.