Tips for adjusting to bifocals and other specialty lenses

The first day she wore her new bifocals, Colleen felt disoriented. It was a struggle to navigate stairs or scroll her phone, her head bobbing as she figured out which section of the lens to focus through.

A tricky adjustment to bifocals is extremely common - and usually temporary. Unlike traditional glasses, bifocals, trifocals, and progressive lenses include two or more vision "zones" that provide different corrections depending on whether you're focusing up close, at arm's length, or far away.

It's not just the eyes that must acclimate. Your brain has to recalibrate how it interprets space and distance, and it takes time to align what the eyes are seeing with what the brain registers, says Dr. Amy Watts, director of the Optometry and Contact Lens Service at Harvard-affiliated Massachusetts Eye and Ear.

"With single-vision lenses, no matter where you move your eyes, you're focused at the same distance," she says. "With bifocals and other lenses, when you move your eyes down, there's more magnification. So you have to move your eye to exactly the right spot of the lens to focus on exactly what you want to see."

Challenging switch

Bifocal lenses, which are divided into two parts by a visible line, help with both distance viewing - what you do when you're driving or watching TV, for instance - and close-up tasks such as reading. Trifocal lenses have three zones separated by two visible lines, for distance vision, intermediate tasks such as computer use, and close-up vision. Progressive lenses, which don't have visible lines, allow the eyes to gradually shift through these three vision zones.

Because you're using different parts of the lens for different distances, objects can seem slightly distorted when you move your eyes. You might also feel dizzy or nauseous or have problems with depth perception while you're adjusting.

"Some people feel like they have motion sickness when they're first adapting to bifocals," Dr. Watts says. "Other people find they can't read as quickly, because their brains are used to how they've always coordinated their head, neck, and eyes to read across the page."

A large proportion of people in their 40s and 50s switch to bifocals, trifocals, or progressive lenses as aging stiffens the eye's lens, making it more difficult to see at multiple distances.

"When we're younger, we take for granted the ability to both look across the room and read our phone up close," Dr. Watts says. "But you can't do that anymore, and it's frustrating."

Adjustment strategies

Most people adjust to bifocals or other lenses within a few days, Dr. Watts says, while others take two or three weeks. Here, she highlights ways to smooth the transition.

Adapt in familiar places first. "Bring your old glasses with you when you try on the new ones, but don't necessarily wear them out of the store, like a kid with new sneakers," Dr. Watts says. "It's better to go home and adapt there, where you're accustomed to different distances."

Move your eyes, not just your head. If you're trying to see something at a distance, aim your nose toward it. But when you want to see close-up, don't bend your neck - keep your chin up and shift your eyes down. "It's not how we're wired, but this is part of the adjustment," she says.

Be extra cautious on stairs and curbs. Because the bottom section of bifocals and other lenses magnify what they focus on, steps and curbs will look higher than they are. "This will make the brain think they're closer, so I tell people to be very careful," she says.

Don't switch between glasses. It may be tempting in the first days or weeks to revert to using your old glasses to get a break from the adjustment. But be patient and stay the course. "Generally, it's best to put them on and leave them on," Dr. Watts says.

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