HEALTH & MEDICINE :: JUNE/JULY 2007
There’s More to Seeing than 20/20 Vision
When you get your eyes examined, your eye care professional determines your most accurate prescription. Eye tests are done with black letters on a white background to provide perfect contrast. But real life is not black and white. Since we cannot all have perfect 20/20 vision, we instead strive for the most realistic vision available.
After age 40, you begin to lose your ability to focus at near, and continue to do so through your 50s. It is a natural aging process of the eye that happens to all of us. Consequently, you may be prescribed an “add,” which is a different power for reading than what you need for distance. You can get this in a bifocal or progressive lens in your glasses.
A bifocal lens has a line or half moon. You look through the top for distance and the bottom to read. However, this only gives you two sharp focal points (usually 20 feet away and approximately 16 inches near). If you need to read something a bit further out, you may have to move in closer to see it in a bifocal. The progressive design (sometimes called invisible or “no-line” bifocal) has multiple parts to the lens. The upper distance-power lens gradually changes into your near prescription as you look downward, thereby giving you more natural vision in the intermediate distances. This can make mid-range objects like computers, car dashboards, and shelves at the grocery store more easily visible than with a bifocal.
In the past, the progressive design had distortions in the peripheral parts of the lens, making it difficult or impossible for patients to adapt to the change. The distortions were minimal for distance vision, but greater for intermediate vision with some distortion in the near periphery. This produced an even smaller area of reading vision than with a standard line bifocal. However, with technological improvements, the distortions in the progressive designs have decreased throughout the years. Two of these major improvements are the Varilux® Physio® and the Varilux® Physio® 360°TM designs.
Another important measure of how well you see is contrast sensitivity. This is your ability to see visual detail and perceive color. Improving contrast sensitivity will help you: distinguish objects from their backgrounds, see textures (like the weave in a carpet), see visual details (like freckles on the face of a child), and see colors in all their richness and vividness (like the intensity and depth of a flower).
Low light situations, like driving at dusk or at night, make it difficult to see contrasts. If you have problems in these situations—even with your glasses on—chances are your vision could be improved. Generally speaking, difficulty seeing contrasts when there is not enough light also means problems during the day. There may be an entire world of color and detail that you’re not seeing.
Varilux® Physio® and the Varilux® Physio® 360°TM are the only lenses proven to give you up to 30% more contrast sensitivity as compared to standard progressive lenses without Wave-front Advanced Vision Enhancement (W.A.V.E.) Technology ™. They provide a level of sharpness in distance, mid-range and near vision not previously possible in progressive lenses.
I personally have worn four different progressive designs. However, when I put on my Varilux® Physio® 360°TM lenses for the first time, I felt like the side distortions I had in my previous progressives were eliminated. Looking through my glasses I experienced a more natural transition to near objects. My distance vision was much sharper while driving on the expressway, and looking down at the speedometer was a more natural task.
Varilux® Physio® and the Varilux® Physio® 360°TM come in plastic, polycarbonate and hi-index materials. You can even get them in transitions (lenses darken when in the sunlight) and polarized. If you are a presbyopic patient who is dissatisfied with your progressive lenses, or have tried previous Varilux® lenses without success, the Varilux® Physio® and the Varilux® Physio® 360°TM lenses may be able to help you see the world as “perfectly” as your eyes will allow.
Dr. Biddle is a part of the multi-specialty eleven-physician team at Delaware Ophthalmology Consultants. For more information about this article or to schedule an appointment, call 302-479-EYES (3937) or contact us via our website at www.delawareeyes.com. Delaware Ophthalmology Consultants has two convenient locations that offer a full-service optical center featuring the latest in lens technology and eyewear fashion, all with competitive pricing.
