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| Are readers safe to use? |
Absolutely. Leading ophthalmologists routinely recommend over-the-counter reading glasses for patients with presbyopia who only need simple magnification. Millions of people worldwide use ready-to-wear reading glasses.
Ready-made reading glasses are available in lots of fun styles and colors, too, so you can experiment with fashion, purchasing a somewhat outrageous pair of glasses without risking a lot of money. If you don't like the style, you can always get another inexpensive pair with a more conservative look. Pre-made reading glasses also allow you to stash extra pairs in different rooms of the house, as well as in your car, office, briefcase, purse, boat, and so on.
Drugstore reading glasses (readers) give an approximation of one's prescription for reading glasses. While they are not nearly as accurate as prescription glasses if the same correction is needed for both eyes and you don’t have much astigmatism they can be recommended for occasional use.
You have to pay more than $100 for a pair of reading glasses from an optician, which might easily be lost or broken.
While readers are perfectly safe to use, they cannot provide the benefits of individual prescription glasses. Prescription glasses can be fine-tuned with bifocal or trifocal lenses to meet the exact needs of each eye and give you the best vision from near to distant and in between. Most people do not have exactly the same prescription in both eyes, and almost everyone has at least a small amount of astigmatism correction in their prescriptions.
The most important thing you can do for your eye health is to get regular eye exams. Routine eye examinations every two years for people over the age of 40 are recommended.
