Reading Glasses

Reading glasses are worn by almost half of the entire American population over the age of 40. If you find you can't read the newspaper without either bringing it up to your nose, or can't stretch your arms out far enough to bring the small letters into focus, it may be time to consider vision aids. Fortunately, reading glasses found at drugstores, pharmacies, and online through trusted distributors are an affordable first step.

Reading Glasses: Full-Frame or Half-Frame?

Reading glasses come in two main varieties. A full-frame design means the magnification/prescription fills the entire frame. The half-frame variety look like those worn by Benjamin Franklin, and sit lower on the nose.

Full-frame reading glasses are good for people who spend long periods of uninterrupted time reading, writing, or doing craft work. The drawback to full frame lenses is that only the material located close by is viewable. If you lift your head to look across the room, everything beyond your immediate area will appear blurry. Half frame glasses have the advantage, provided that your regular vision is normal, that you can look up from the reading material and see clearly across the room. Half-frame reading glasses are particularly useful when driving if you need to check a map from time to time.

Pharmacy and drug store over-the-counter variety reading glasses are easy to use, since they are often universally sized. They also come in increasing magnification levels, starting at 1.5 and topping out typically around 3+. Most pharmacies carry multiple styles and colors of reading glasses, though simple gold or simple frames remain the most popular.