Plus lenses over contacts for watching TV

[johnlink]

Tonight I used my +1.25 glasses over my contacts to watch a few episodes of Flash Gordon on my large-screen TV. The +1.25 glasses have a focal length of 31.5 inches, while the distance to my TV is about 8 feet (96 inches), so the image was fairly blurry. Watching TV, just like reading or working on a computer, is an activity in which for an extended period of time the distance at which we're looking has almost no variation. I think I'm going to get myself a pair of +0.50 glasses (with a focal length of 79 inches) to be used over my contacts so that I can watch TV just beyond my far point.

Have any of you gotten lenses specifically for watching TV?

[OtisBrown]

Hi John,
I suggest that, if you are at 20/40 to 20/50, you do not wear any lens for distance - except a minus you keep in  your car.  If you watch TV, just sit a little closer - until you begin to get better-than 20/40.

Assuming you have 20/50, man people find they can read at 18 inches THROUGH a +1.5 to +2.5 diopter lens (with no minus). They find this value of "plus" by checking in the drug store with plus lenses. 

Thus they do not wear a "plus" for watching TV - because there is no reason to do so.  But wearing a plus (for near) in an "optical sense", moves that "reading materal" out into the distance.  If you did this for ALL close work - it would be like "living out doors" for nine months or so.  With the above understood restrictions, the refractive state of the natural eye can change by about +1.0 diopters, thus the person who had the discipline  to wear the plus (and only for near) can see his Snellen clear to substantially above 20/40.

Tonight I used my +1.25 glasses over my contacts to watch a few episodes of Flash Gordon on my large-screen TV. The +1.25 glasses have a focal length of 31.5 inches, while the distance to my TV is about 8 feet (96 inches), so the image was fairly blurry. Watching TV, just like reading or working on a computer, is an activity in which for an extended period of time the distance at which we're looking has almost no variation. I think I'm going to get myself a pair of +0.50 glasses (with a focal length of 79 inches) to be used over my contacts so that I can watch TV just beyond my far point.

Have any of you gotten lenses specifically for watching TV?

[johnlink]

Hi John,
I suggest that, if you are at 20/40 to 20/50, you do not wear any lens for distance - except a minus you keep in  your car.  If you watch TV, just sit a little closer - until you begin to get better-than 20/40.

Assuming you have 20/50, man people find they can read at 18 inches THROUGH a +1.5 to +2.5 diopter lens (with no minus). They find this value of "plus" by checking in the drug store with plus lenses. 

Thus they do not wear a "plus" for watching TV - because there is no reason to do so.  But wearing a plus (for near) in an "optical sense", moves that "reading materal" out into the distance.  If you did this for ALL close work - it would be like "living out doors" for nine months or so.  With the above understood restrictions, the refractive state of the natural eye can change by about +1.0 diopters, thus the person who had the discipline  to wear the plus (and only for near) can see his Snellen clear to substantially above 20/40.

Tonight I used my +1.25 glasses over my contacts to watch a few episodes of Flash Gordon on my large-screen TV. The +1.25 glasses have a focal length of 31.5 inches, while the distance to my TV is about 8 feet (96 inches), so the image was fairly blurry. Watching TV, just like reading or working on a computer, is an activity in which for an extended period of time the distance at which we're looking has almost no variation. I think I'm going to get myself a pair of +0.50 glasses (with a focal length of 79 inches) to be used over my contacts so that I can watch TV just beyond my far point.

Have any of you gotten lenses specifically for watching TV?

Otis, while your conclusions for your assumed conditions may be correct, those assumed conditions do not apply to me at this time. I am not between 20/40 and 20/50. Instead I need contacts of approximately -3D in order to clear 20/20. For me to watch the TV at my far point with my naked eyes I would need to sit just 13 inches away from it. That could work with a very small TV, but I have a large-screen TV. So your comments do not at all address the situation in which I find myself.

[peterg]

Otis, while your conclusions for your assumed conditions may be correct, those assumed conditions do not apply to me at this time. I am not between 20/40 and 20/50. Instead I need contacts of approximately -3D in order to clear 20/20. For me to watch the TV at my far point with my naked eyes I would need to sit just 13 inches away from it. That could work with a very small TV, but I have a large-screen TV. So your comments do not at all address the situation in which I find myself.

Hi JohnLink, yes Otis avoids giving advice except for describing what he would do if he were 20/40 to 20/60. I have not tried plus lenses for watching TV. I find I am past my focal range without glasses now, but clear enough to watch. I do struggle to read the writing at times.  Get lots of pull excercise this way (probably too much).

[johnlink]

I have not tried plus lenses for watching TV. I find I am past my focal range without glasses now, but clear enough to watch. I do struggle to read the writing at times.  Get lots of pull excercise this way (probably too much).

If it's too much (which I remember you've written a number of times about yourself), you could try some weak minus lenses (since your TV screen is beyond your focal range) in order to put your far point near your TV screen. That would be an application of Todd's idea that a little bit of blur is more effective than a lot of blur. I'm going to order a pair of +0.50 lenses today so that my TV watching, along with my work on the computer, becomes part of my vision improvement program!