March 19, 2024 • 11 mins
Struggling to find the perfect visual aid as your eyes demand more from you in a world brimming with screens and fine print? Say goodbye to those bygone days of visual jumps with bifocals and embrace the seamless transition of progressive lenses. Join me, Jeremy Wolfe, alongside the brilliant Dr. Laura Falco, as we unpack the intricacies of this spectacular eyewear innovation on the latest Jazzy Eyes podcast episode. Dr. Falco artfully demystifies the progressive lenses concept, likening it to a visual journey akin to a sand timer – wide at the top and bottom, with a gentle narrowing in the middle.
Tune in for our enlightening conversation that will change the way you view your visual needs. Whether you're navigating the complex technological dashboards of modern vehicles or intricately chopping veggies for dinner, progressive lenses cater to every glance and gaze. Dr. Falco reassures those hesitant about making the switch, explaining how today's digital customization ensures a smooth adaptation period, leaving discomfort and dizziness in the dust. Discover the tailored solution to your life's motion and gain clarity for every focal point with us on Jazzy Eyes.
For more information visit: JazzyEyes.com
or contact: (954) 473-0100
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:03):
Welcome to the Jazzy Eyes podcast.
Taking care of your vision withexpert precision.
Here's your host, dr LauraFalco.
Jeremy (00:16):
Hello, hello everyone, and welcome back to the Jazzy
Eyes podcast.
I'm your co-host, jeremy Wolfe,and joined by your host, dr
Laura Falco.
Dr Falco, nice to see you again.
Laura Falco (00:27):
Nice to see you as well.
Jeremy (00:29):
Yeah, yeah, so excited to get into this topic because I
saw you recently.
I got to say we may need torevisit the discussion we had
because I've noticed lately thatmy vision, very close, is
getting blurrier and blurrierand I might just need reading
glasses.
So today you're going to talk alittle bit about various types
(00:49):
of lenses in glasses.
Laura Falco (00:52):
Yes.
So today I wanted to touch onprogressive lenses and explain
what they are and when it's timeto consider a type of lens
called a progressive.
So a progressive lens hasmultiple focal points.
So when you put a progressivelens on, it progresses at the
(01:13):
top of the glasses from yourdistance vision to your reading
prescription at the bottom.
Some people think they havethree different levels.
They actually have many morethan three different levels.
It's literally a progression, astepwise progression from your
distance prescription at the topof your glasses when you're
looking straight ahead, andintermediate zones and then at
(01:35):
the bottom, your reading zone.
Jeremy (01:38):
Now I kind of I'm sorry, is that a bifocal?
Laura Falco (01:41):
No, so a bifocal only has two focal points.
Bifocal.
A trifocal has only three focalpoints.
So when someone has a bifocalthey typically have a line and
they have what we call like avisual jump, because sometimes
they have two markedly differentprescriptions.
So the difference between thedistance.
(02:02):
And then you look in the bottomunder the line, at the near
it's almost like the whole worldjumps at you because the
magnification just comes likeall at once, whereas a
progressive at the top you haveyour distance, there's no line.
I make an analogy to a sandtimer.
You think about a sand timer.
So you have kind of a wideswath at the very top of your
(02:23):
glasses for the distance andthen it gets a little bit more
narrow for the intermediate andthen it comes out again and
flays out at the bottom for thereader.
So that middle area progressesyou from your distance in a step
change way, like multipledifferent focal points to your
(02:44):
reading prescription and itgives you a lot more than a
bifocal.
For example, the people used tothink, oh, I just need my
glasses for driving, I just needdistance.
Driving isn't really a distanceonly task anymore with the cars
that are being made today.
Pretty much all these cars havefeels like an iPad or like the
(03:07):
dash, is so interactive.
Apple CarPlay, you know youhave all your whole like cockpit
with all of the things that'sgoing on with the car and the
video and the backup camera.
That particular distance, ifyou think about it, isn't
distance.
It's not.
Distance is defined as 20 feetand greater.
It's not your readingprescription, where you will
(03:29):
hold a book or your phone to see.
It's called an intermediatedistance.
So whereas a bifocal you don'tget that zone in focus because
that's not reading, nor is adistance, a progressive hits the
intermediate.
So a lot of patients I say youknow, you don't think about it
anymore, but you really do needthat intermediate zone for
(03:52):
things like the dash orpreparing food.
And so what a progressive lensdoes is it gives you distance
and everything in between, up tothe reader.
Now, people had this fear of I'mgoing to be nauseous, I'm not
going to be able to adapt, andperhaps 25 years ago that was
more true when they were kind ofin their infancy.
(04:14):
But at this point, the way thatthey make progressive lenses
and the way we can measureexactly where to put what part
of the lens if you want moredistance, less near we can
really customize yourprogressive lens.
And All lenses are really notcreated equal.
(04:35):
The newest, latest, greatestwith the digital technologies
and the way they surface thelenses now makes a tremendous
difference in your ability toadapt to the progressive.
So when you look and you seesome places where it seems like
the deal's too good to be truefor the progressive lenses,
(04:58):
oftentimes you're gettingtechnology that is quite old and
that sometimes turns mypatients off to the idea and I
have to kind of handhold them alittle bit through.
No, we're gonna bring you up todate with today's technology
because it really really makes ahuge difference.
So to double back your problemof not seeing the teeny, tiny
(05:20):
print up close.
Eventually you might have dayswhere, if you get a good night's
sleep and your eyes aren't dry,you see.
And then days where you're likewait, I can't see my phone
break today, but I did yesterday.
Like what's going on?
Because as we age we lose ourability to focus.
But it's not quite linear, it'snot exactly a little bit every
couple months it goes in ageneral downward slope, but with
(05:44):
peaks and valleys, so it'slike-.
Jeremy (05:46):
So fluctuates right.
I thought that once it goes,it's gone.
It's just gonna get worse.
I can actually work from oneday to the next.
Laura Falco (05:54):
It's up and down, but it's on a general downward
trend and really I see the mostprofound vision change between
50 and 60 years old, where yourreserve tank of focus really
does go from, say, a quartertank to zero and then you really
are dependent on the glasses tosee and people always feel like
their prescription has changedand it really hasn't, but your
(06:15):
ability to compensate withoutyour prescription really has.
So when somebody is justneeding a quick little reader to
see things once in a while, orvery small print or medicine
bottle, that's fine.
I call it, I've termed it theglasses circus.
And what I mean by the glassescircus is when you are
constantly like on and off and Imake like the, the, the, the,
(06:38):
the, the, the, the, the, andit's everywhere you go.
You're in public, what I'll, amI in?
You put the glasses down to seefar, or you have to see how
many carbs, how much sugar, andwhen you're just so sick of
taking the glasses on and off,and on and off, and on and off
and putting them on your headand putting them on your shirt
and then you bend over and thenthey fall over and then they're
scratched.
And where are my glasses whenyou've reached maximum capacity
(06:59):
of aggravation fest from theglasses circus, you're ready for
a progressive, because you justput a pair of glasses on and
you see everything at the sametime.
It doesn't mean you have to wearthem all the time, but it does
mean when you do put them on youdon't have to look over them,
pull them down to walk around.
You don't have to put them onyour head If you're looking at
(07:20):
your, your phone, for where'sthe next turn on my ways.
But you also want to see faraway, or who just texted me?
You can see everythingsimultaneously and that is the
beauty of a progressive.
So I've hope I've kind ofcleared the air a little bit
about why somebody would do asingle vision, why somebody
(07:40):
recommends a progressive versusa bifocal, versus a trifocal.
But yeah, as we mature we loseour ability to focus up close
and so, yeah, at some point youwant to put a pair of glasses on
and just see everything youwant to see, without you know
going on and off with a milliondifferent pairs of glasses.
Jeremy (07:58):
So I always wondered about that, because I've never
put on bifocals or progressivelenses.
Is that something that I'dimagine.
It takes some time to for theeye to train to look where it
needs to.
I mean, what do you see whenyou first put it on?
And you see this degree ofvision.
Laura Falco (08:15):
Yeah, so when it's measured properly and you're
sitting with your optician andyou're, you can't.
You don't want to get this inthe mail.
You can't just get this all ofa sudden because two millimeters
off and you're looking throughthe wrong part of your lens and
you have a bad feeling about it.
You want to sit with youroptician, you want to be
measured properly, and when youput them on the new lenses, I'll
(08:39):
be so honest.
If you start early with theprogressive and the new
technology, it's barely anyadaption.
But you think of it as youpoint your nose at what you want
to look at and you reallyintuitively, within days, have
no problem putting the glasseson and see.
Jeremy (08:59):
So the eye kind of just finds its way very quickly based
upon how you structure the lensfor the specific patient.
Laura Falco (09:06):
Yeah, and it all depends you know, it starts off
with having the absolute rightprescription.
Sure, and then it comes off.
Then, just as important ashaving the most accurate
prescription is working reallyreally closely with your
optician and discussing brandmatters, what lens matters,
where you place the readersegment, so that all the rows of
(09:28):
progression depending upon thepatients needs, is huge.
So you really have to have anopen communication and a back
and forth with your opticianbecause you have to know what
brand, what lens, how wide tomake the middle of that sand
timer because you can alter it,and where to place your reading
(09:49):
segment because, again, theseare modifiable.
It's not a generic formula, onesize fits all.
So it's super important to talkwith your doctor about what
your visual needs with theseglasses are going to be, and
then the doctor communicatesthat to the optician so that you
can really hone in together andpick the best lens.
So the patients really set upfor success and if they love
(10:12):
that first pair of progressives,you're done.
I mean, they're patients goingto love it because then all of a
sudden they have simultaneousvision and all distances and
it's effortless if it's doneproperly.
Jeremy (10:23):
Sounds good.
Definitely good to know.
Hopefully I won't need to getthem anytime soon.
I'm not quite knocking on 50yet.
I'm close.
I'm close, but definitely,definitely keeping an eye pun
intended on my near sightedvision, because I don't want to
keep you straight.
Speaker 1 (10:39):
Sounds good.
Jeremy (10:40):
All right.
All right, dr Falco, always apleasure.
You have a wonderful day andthanks to our listeners for
tuning in and we'll catcheveryone next time.
Take care, thanks.
Speaker 1 (10:53):
Thank you for listening to the Jazzy Eyes
podcast.
For more information, visitjazzyeyescom or contact
954-473-0100.
Welcome to the Jazzy Eyes podcast.
Taking care of your vision withexpert precision.
Here's your host, dr LauraFalco.
Jeremy (00:16):
Hello, hello everyone, and welcome back to the Jazzy
Eyes podcast.
I'm your co-host, jeremy Wolfe,and joined by your host, dr
Laura Falco.
Dr Falco, nice to see you again.
Laura Falco (00:27):
Nice to see you as well.
Jeremy (00:29):
Yeah, yeah, so excited to get into this topic because I
saw you recently.
I got to say we may need torevisit the discussion we had
because I've noticed lately thatmy vision, very close, is
getting blurrier and blurrierand I might just need reading
glasses.
So today you're going to talk alittle bit about various types
(00:49):
of lenses in glasses.
Laura Falco (00:52):
Yes.
So today I wanted to touch onprogressive lenses and explain
what they are and when it's timeto consider a type of lens
called a progressive.
So a progressive lens hasmultiple focal points.
So when you put a progressivelens on, it progresses at the
(01:13):
top of the glasses from yourdistance vision to your reading
prescription at the bottom.
Some people think they havethree different levels.
They actually have many morethan three different levels.
It's literally a progression, astepwise progression from your
distance prescription at the topof your glasses when you're
looking straight ahead, andintermediate zones and then at
(01:35):
the bottom, your reading zone.
Jeremy (01:38):
Now I kind of I'm sorry, is that a bifocal?
Laura Falco (01:41):
No, so a bifocal only has two focal points.
Bifocal.
A trifocal has only three focalpoints.
So when someone has a bifocalthey typically have a line and
they have what we call like avisual jump, because sometimes
they have two markedly differentprescriptions.
So the difference between thedistance.
(02:02):
And then you look in the bottomunder the line, at the near
it's almost like the whole worldjumps at you because the
magnification just comes likeall at once, whereas a
progressive at the top you haveyour distance, there's no line.
I make an analogy to a sandtimer.
You think about a sand timer.
So you have kind of a wideswath at the very top of your
(02:23):
glasses for the distance andthen it gets a little bit more
narrow for the intermediate andthen it comes out again and
flays out at the bottom for thereader.
So that middle area progressesyou from your distance in a step
change way, like multipledifferent focal points to your
(02:44):
reading prescription and itgives you a lot more than a
bifocal.
For example, the people used tothink, oh, I just need my
glasses for driving, I just needdistance.
Driving isn't really a distanceonly task anymore with the cars
that are being made today.
Pretty much all these cars havefeels like an iPad or like the
(03:07):
dash, is so interactive.
Apple CarPlay, you know youhave all your whole like cockpit
with all of the things that'sgoing on with the car and the
video and the backup camera.
That particular distance, ifyou think about it, isn't
distance.
It's not.
Distance is defined as 20 feetand greater.
It's not your readingprescription, where you will
(03:29):
hold a book or your phone to see.
It's called an intermediatedistance.
So whereas a bifocal you don'tget that zone in focus because
that's not reading, nor is adistance, a progressive hits the
intermediate.
So a lot of patients I say youknow, you don't think about it
anymore, but you really do needthat intermediate zone for
(03:52):
things like the dash orpreparing food.
And so what a progressive lensdoes is it gives you distance
and everything in between, up tothe reader.
Now, people had this fear of I'mgoing to be nauseous, I'm not
going to be able to adapt, andperhaps 25 years ago that was
more true when they were kind ofin their infancy.
(04:14):
But at this point, the way thatthey make progressive lenses
and the way we can measureexactly where to put what part
of the lens if you want moredistance, less near we can
really customize yourprogressive lens.
And All lenses are really notcreated equal.
(04:35):
The newest, latest, greatestwith the digital technologies
and the way they surface thelenses now makes a tremendous
difference in your ability toadapt to the progressive.
So when you look and you seesome places where it seems like
the deal's too good to be truefor the progressive lenses,
(04:58):
oftentimes you're gettingtechnology that is quite old and
that sometimes turns mypatients off to the idea and I
have to kind of handhold them alittle bit through.
No, we're gonna bring you up todate with today's technology
because it really really makes ahuge difference.
So to double back your problemof not seeing the teeny, tiny
(05:20):
print up close.
Eventually you might have dayswhere, if you get a good night's
sleep and your eyes aren't dry,you see.
And then days where you're likewait, I can't see my phone
break today, but I did yesterday.
Like what's going on?
Because as we age we lose ourability to focus.
But it's not quite linear, it'snot exactly a little bit every
couple months it goes in ageneral downward slope, but with
(05:44):
peaks and valleys, so it'slike-.
Jeremy (05:46):
So fluctuates right.
I thought that once it goes,it's gone.
It's just gonna get worse.
I can actually work from oneday to the next.
Laura Falco (05:54):
It's up and down, but it's on a general downward
trend and really I see the mostprofound vision change between
50 and 60 years old, where yourreserve tank of focus really
does go from, say, a quartertank to zero and then you really
are dependent on the glasses tosee and people always feel like
their prescription has changedand it really hasn't, but your
(06:15):
ability to compensate withoutyour prescription really has.
So when somebody is justneeding a quick little reader to
see things once in a while, orvery small print or medicine
bottle, that's fine.
I call it, I've termed it theglasses circus.
And what I mean by the glassescircus is when you are
constantly like on and off and Imake like the, the, the, the,
(06:38):
the, the, the, the, the, andit's everywhere you go.
You're in public, what I'll, amI in?
You put the glasses down to seefar, or you have to see how
many carbs, how much sugar, andwhen you're just so sick of
taking the glasses on and off,and on and off, and on and off
and putting them on your headand putting them on your shirt
and then you bend over and thenthey fall over and then they're
scratched.
And where are my glasses whenyou've reached maximum capacity
(06:59):
of aggravation fest from theglasses circus, you're ready for
a progressive, because you justput a pair of glasses on and
you see everything at the sametime.
It doesn't mean you have to wearthem all the time, but it does
mean when you do put them on youdon't have to look over them,
pull them down to walk around.
You don't have to put them onyour head If you're looking at
(07:20):
your, your phone, for where'sthe next turn on my ways.
But you also want to see faraway, or who just texted me?
You can see everythingsimultaneously and that is the
beauty of a progressive.
So I've hope I've kind ofcleared the air a little bit
about why somebody would do asingle vision, why somebody
(07:40):
recommends a progressive versusa bifocal, versus a trifocal.
But yeah, as we mature we loseour ability to focus up close
and so, yeah, at some point youwant to put a pair of glasses on
and just see everything youwant to see, without you know
going on and off with a milliondifferent pairs of glasses.
Jeremy (07:58):
So I always wondered about that, because I've never
put on bifocals or progressivelenses.
Is that something that I'dimagine.
It takes some time to for theeye to train to look where it
needs to.
I mean, what do you see whenyou first put it on?
And you see this degree ofvision.
Laura Falco (08:15):
Yeah, so when it's measured properly and you're
sitting with your optician andyou're, you can't.
You don't want to get this inthe mail.
You can't just get this all ofa sudden because two millimeters
off and you're looking throughthe wrong part of your lens and
you have a bad feeling about it.
You want to sit with youroptician, you want to be
measured properly, and when youput them on the new lenses, I'll
(08:39):
be so honest.
If you start early with theprogressive and the new
technology, it's barely anyadaption.
But you think of it as youpoint your nose at what you want
to look at and you reallyintuitively, within days, have
no problem putting the glasseson and see.
Jeremy (08:59):
So the eye kind of just finds its way very quickly based
upon how you structure the lensfor the specific patient.
Laura Falco (09:06):
Yeah, and it all depends you know, it starts off
with having the absolute rightprescription.
Sure, and then it comes off.
Then, just as important ashaving the most accurate
prescription is working reallyreally closely with your
optician and discussing brandmatters, what lens matters,
where you place the readersegment, so that all the rows of
(09:28):
progression depending upon thepatients needs, is huge.
So you really have to have anopen communication and a back
and forth with your opticianbecause you have to know what
brand, what lens, how wide tomake the middle of that sand
timer because you can alter it,and where to place your reading
(09:49):
segment because, again, theseare modifiable.
It's not a generic formula, onesize fits all.
So it's super important to talkwith your doctor about what
your visual needs with theseglasses are going to be, and
then the doctor communicatesthat to the optician so that you
can really hone in together andpick the best lens.
So the patients really set upfor success and if they love
(10:12):
that first pair of progressives,you're done.
I mean, they're patients goingto love it because then all of a
sudden they have simultaneousvision and all distances and
it's effortless if it's doneproperly.
Jeremy (10:23):
Sounds good.
Definitely good to know.
Hopefully I won't need to getthem anytime soon.
I'm not quite knocking on 50yet.
I'm close.
I'm close, but definitely,definitely keeping an eye pun
intended on my near sightedvision, because I don't want to
keep you straight.
Speaker 1 (10:39):
Sounds good.
Jeremy (10:40):
All right.
All right, dr Falco, always apleasure.
You have a wonderful day andthanks to our listeners for
tuning in and we'll catcheveryone next time.
Take care, thanks.
Speaker 1 (10:53):
Thank you for listening to the Jazzy Eyes
podcast.
For more information, visitjazzyeyescom or contact
954-473-0100.
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