Progressive lenses for vision over 40
After age 40, no one likes to advertise their age — especially when you start having trouble reading fine print.

Thankfully, today’s progressive eyeglass lenses make it impossible for others to tell you’ve reached “bifocal age.”

Progressive lenses — sometimes called “no-line bifocals” — give you a more youthful appearance by eliminating the visible lines found in bifocal (and trifocal) lenses.

Advantages of progressive lenses over bifocals
Bifocal eyeglass lenses have only two powers: one for seeing across the room and the other for seeing up close. Objects in between, like a computer screen or items on a grocery store shelf, often remain blurry with bifocals.

To attempt to see objects at this “intermediate” range clearly, bifocal wearers must bob their heads up and down, alternately looking through the top and then the bottom of their bifocals, to determine which part of the lens works better.

Progressive lenses more closely mimic the natural vision that you enjoyed before the onset of presbyopia. Instead of providing just two lens powers like bifocals (or three, like trifocals), progressive lenses are true “multifocal” lenses that provide a smooth, seamless progression of many lens powers for clear vision across the room, up close and at all distances in between.

With progressive lenses, there’s no need to bob your head up and down or adopt uncomfortable postures to see your computer screen or other objects at arm’s length.

Natural vision with no “image jump”
The visible lines in bifocals and trifocals are points where there’s an abrupt change in lens power.

When a bifocal or trifocal wearer’s line of sight moves across these lines, images suddenly move, or “jump”. The discomfort caused by this “image jump” can range from being mildly annoying to creating nausea.

Progressive lenses have a smooth, seamless progression of lens powers for clear vision at all distances. Progressive lenses provide a more natural depth of focus with no “image jump.”

Progressive lenses have become the most popular multifocal lenses for anyone with presbyopia who wears eyeglasses, because of their visual and cosmetic advantages over bifocals and trifocals.