BIFOCAL LENSES

Some time after age 40, you will begin to notice the symptoms of presbyopia, including that feeling that your arms ‘aren’t long enough’ to hold a newspaper or magazine at a position where you can read it clearly.

People with presbyopia generally need lenses for reading and may need a different lens for seeing in the distance. While most presbyopes these days choose varifocal lenses, there are instances where conventional bifocals and trifocals can be more suitable.

Bifocal lenses have two parts – the upper part normally used for distance vision and the lower part used for near vision tasks such as reading.

TRIFOCAL LENSES

Trifocal lenses have three different focus areas – the top for distance vision, the centre for intermediate vision, and the bottom for near vision.

The intermediate segment is used to view objects at arm’s length - computers are an excellent example of something that is in a person’s intermediate zone, as are the gauges on a car’s dashboard.