Wearing eyeglasses may not be new to you but after a certain age, you may be told you need reading glasses! Before you splurge on a new pair, learn a little more about what wearing reading glasses entails!

Something funny happens around age 40 - your body starts to deteriorate and shift. OK, it may not be funny but it’s important to recognize before you reach the age where you’re considered "over the hill"! Yet, as your body starts wearing down, so do your eyes. Have you noticed if you are suddenly unable to see or read things up close? Perhaps you’re squinting more when reading a book? If this sounds familiar, high-tail yourself to your eye doctor for a new eye exam. This is probably a good time to start thinking about getting yourself a pair of reading glasses.

In a lot of cases, reading glasses are meant for people who have never worn eyeglasses before. This usually precedes the need for multifocal glasses. There are two types of reading glasses categories: readers and prescription reading glasses. Readers are traditionally found at your local convenient store or grocery store; while prescription reading glasses are found at your doctor’s office or online. Additionally, readers tend to sit further down on the nose and are to be worn for shorter periods of time, while prescription reading eyeglasses can be worn all day or as needed and they sit like normal eyeglasses.

If you notice that your eyes are going a bit fuzzy, ask your doctor for help! Once you do your Snellen eye exam, your doctor can properly diagnose your eyes and tell you whether you need basic readers or a new prescription. If you’ve worn glasses before, the new prescription won’t be in place of your old glasses. They will actually act as an addition to your older prescription. Your eye doctor will give you the prescription in one of two ways - either with your distance prescription written into the prescription with an additional value for each eye (ADD); or you’ll receive two prescriptions - one for distance and one for reading. If your doctor doesn’t think you need a new prescription or any prescription at all, he or she may recommend getting readers from your local pharmacy with a magnifying degree like +2.00 or +0.50. The degree of magnification will always run in quarter increments and be noted as having a plus symbol (+).

Simple readers, the ones you find at the drug store, are very cheap and basic eyeglasses that come in a multitude of styles, colors, and shapes. They have identical prescriptions in each eye and are only meant for short-term usage. A lot of people buy them in bulk at their local flea market and stash them around the house for when they need them. Their prescriptions will not have a cylinder or axis. The prescriptions will be noted on the packaging somewhere and will read anywhere from +0.25 to +4.00. Since the prescriptions are the same in both eye, you won’t have the option to fit the lenses to an actual prescription. They are very much a "one size fits all" kind of lens. Additionally, the pupil distance (PD) will be fit for the national average.

Prescription reading glasses, on the other hand, are made to fit your prescription. So, like choosing your distance-correcting eye glasses, you are given the option to personalize these lenses with your correct pupil distance, cylinder, axis, and sphere. These glasses can be worn all day or just when you need them but may be more costly than your basic reader. Granted, to cut costs, you should consider buying your reading glasses online, rather than buying them from the eye doctor. Regardless of cost, prescription reading glasses will cut down on any headaches or nausea that you may get from wearing basic readers. The choice is yours when it comes to which type of eyeglass lens to choose - it just comes down to function-ability!