Nerdy Eyeglasses Or Not, I Want Some

For most of my life I wore contact lenses. And half of that time I wore only one contact lens. Yeah, I was a prime candidate for mono vision. One lens to correct for distance and one eye without correction that blends with the contact in the other eye for close up work. It worked great for me for so many years.

And then I turned 60. O.M.G.

I couldn't see a thing up close. Computer work suffered. My jobs involved computers so I was under pressure to find something right away to correct the new sight situation. I saw an optometrist and started using two contacts. No more mono vision. That did not help much. So I ordered glasses. A pair of bifocals and also a pair of glasses for distance only and a pair of glasses for computer and reading. So I have been juggling these glasses for two years now.

You can imagine my delight when I read this article in the New York Times:

"Dr. Stephen Kurtin, 64, has spent almost 20 years of his career on a quest to create a better pair of spectacles for people who suffer from presbyopia — the condition that affects almost everyone over the age of 40 as they progressively lose the ability to focus on close objects. The glasses have a tiny adjustable slider on the bridge of the frame that makes it possible to focus alternately on the page of a book, a computer screen or a mountain range in
distance."

Now we're getting somewhere!!

"After many false turns and dead ends, he has succeeded in creating glasses with a mechanically adjustable focus. He says they are better than other glasses and some forms of Lasik surgery. This month, TruFocals, the company he founded three years ago, has begun selling its first adjustable focusing eyeglasses through a small group of optometrists and will soon sell directly online. The TruFocals eyeglasses, which sell for $895, are the first to become commercially available in the United States."

Uh Oh, $895!!???? Yikes.

"The glasses consist of a lens that is comparable in thickness to that of commercial eyeglasses, but which has three components: a back glass, a fluid-filled inner membrane that is essentially a piece of plastic-wrap-like material stretched across a ring whose surface curvature can be altered mechanically, and an outer prescription lens attached with magnets to the eyeglass frame. To change the focus, the user moves the slider on the bridge.

The TruFocals lens must be round to ensure that the curvature of the interior lens is correct, but the company’s founders do not think the shape is a fashion obstacle. TruFocals come in a unisex frame with a variety of colors."

Everything sounds great except the cost. Oh well, I will keep an eye out for these or something like these that carries a more reasonable price tag.