Patient Perspectives: Looking behind the lens

Celeste Martins, 59, senior administrator, was prescribed glasses for presbyopia in her mid-to-late 40s, with her first glasses being standard reading spectacles. After turning 50, and a subsequent deterioration of eyesight, the optician graduated Martins to varifocals. ‘Within approximately four years, anything I tried to read was blurry and illegible. My glasses very quickly became essential to my life and hobbies. My hobbies are reading and walking, following a GPS route on my phone, both of which require me to wear glasses,’ she says. 

However, there was only one pair of glasses out of three varifocals that Martins was able to get used to immediately over the years. She says: ‘My initial standard glasses were easy to adapt to but when I moved to varifocals it became much harder to adapt. All my prescriptions have always suited my visual needs but when I transitioned to varifocals, I have always found it hard to feel comfortable using them, especially while using my monitor screen at work.’