Glasses Rx after cataract surgery

I recently had cataract surgery and I'm having a lot of trouble with glasses. Some of the problems were there before the surgery, but seem worse now. Maybe it's that my natural lenses still had a little accommodation left in them, and the IOL have none.

My optometrist prescribed ADD 2.25 for reading, and I have a pair of reading glasses and a pair of progressives in that prescription. ADD 2.25 is not strong enough for me to read with. I can barely read the newspaper and cannot read any kind of fine print, like the ingredients on a food package.

I ordered a pair of progressives over the internet with a +3 add for reading. These allow me to read fine print, but the field of vision of the reading prescription part of the glasses seems too small for any extended session of reading.

Neither pair of progressives is any good for working on the computer. The focus isn't right and the field of view too small.

I have found that my +2.25 reading glasses are pretty good for my computer at work where the screen is about 18 inches away. If I have to look back and forth from the screen to some printed material on my desk, though, I have a problem.

For my computer at home, which is at 30 inches, I have found that a pair of 1.5 diopter drugstore readers in series with the distance part of my progressives, allows me to see the screen very well.

I've seen flip-up readers advertised, but I think they would be too heavy to wear all day.

I'm wondering if trifocals, the kind that have visible lines, would work better than progressives for me? Any other suggestions?

[John C Hagan III, MD, FACS, FAAO]

The progressive lens (also called lineless bifocals or lineless trifocals) are always better than lined bifocals or lined trifocals.

They do make progressives just for the computer. (they have no far away part so when you look away from the computer its blurred and you have to switch to the regular progressives)

JCH MD