When do You need New Glasses
New glasses and routine eye exams usually go hand in hand. Through your lifetime, you should make regularly scheduled appointments to make sure you are seeing as well as you can and to screen for disease. Every once in awhile, you’ll need new glasses.
The recommendation for eye exams and possible eyeglass prescription updates varies by age. However, if you have a sudden, dramatic change in vision, you should see your eye care professional immediately. If you have an eye disorder or disease your eye care professional will recommend your exam schedule.
New Glasses and Eye Exam
For those without a pre-existing eye disorder or disease, the following are the recommended eye exam frequency by age group:
- Babies: The first eye exam should be at 6 months and then an eye exam every six months until age 2.
- From age 2 to 18: An eye exam every year.
- From age 18 to 64: An eye exam every two years.
- Age 65 and older: An eye exam every year.
All About Eyeglasses
Eyeglasses are the oldest method for correcting vision. The lenses are different shapes and thicknesses to correct refractive errors such as nearsightedness, farsightedness, and astigmatism. Glasses can also improve the visual acuity of people with cataracts or glaucoma.
Single vision Are glasses with only one prescription in each lens.
Progressive, bifocal, and trifocal glasses These glasses have more than one prescription in the lens.
- Progressive prescriptions gradually change from a distance correction to a close-up correction.
- Bifocals have two distinct prescriptions—one for distance and a lower section for close-up vision.
- Trifocals have three prescriptions—one for distance, one for middle range, and another for close-up vision.
Reading glasses These glasses magnify text and other close-up images. Reading glasses are the vision aid for anyone who has developed normal age-related presbyopia, which is the diminishing of near-focusing ability. It is caused by the gradual thickening and loss of flexibility of the eye’s natural lens. With this loss of flexibility and elasticity of the lens, focusing on close-up objects becomes difficult.
Update Your Eyeglasses
Even if you don’t need a prescription change, you may want to get frames for a style update, or new lenses with advanced features. You can also have your old lenses reglazed with new coatings too.
Blue-Light Control
Blue-light control neutralizes the incoming blue light and prevents eye strain and fatigue from looking at digital screens.
MAR
Multi-anti-reflective coating reduces glare when looking at a digital screen or when driving at night. It also eliminates reflections on your glasses that can be seen by someone facing you.
Anti-Scratch
This type of coating makes your glasses more resistant to scratches.
UV Coating
A UV coating on your lenses helps protect your eyes from the sun’s harmful UV rays. Spending lots of time in the sun without eye protection can gradually damage your eyesight.
Transition lenses
These lenses, called photochromic lenses, protect against UV radiation. The lenses contain dyes that undergo chemical changes and darken when exposed to UV light. Today’s advanced transition lenses are available in many colors.
UV Sunglasses
If you spend a lot of time outdoors, you may want to get a pair of prescription UV sunglasses. Remember that UV glasses only provide protection from the UV radiation from the sun. Tanning beds require different UV filtering protection.
If you would like to make an appointment, call us 609.877.2800 or EMail us.
Gregory Scimeca, M.D.
Ophthalmologist and Medical Director
The Eye Professionals
Our Locations