Selecting Reading Glasses

When shopping for a pair of reading glasses, see your eye doctor first, advises the Vision Council of America. If you're at an age when you're considering reading glasses, you're also at an age when sight-threatening eye diseases might begin to develop. People over 40 should see their eye doctor to make sure their eyes are healthy, according to the Vision Council. Many of the serious diseases (glaucoma, cataracts, age-related macular degeneration) have no warning signs and early detection is vital to prevent vision loss.

Magnification of reading glasses is measured in what is called "diopter strength." The strength of reading glasses begins at 1.0 and increases in .25 increments. The aging process of the eyes will continue, so you might need to purchase a different strength of reading glasses every few years.

Over-the-counter reading glasses can be fatiguing, "but fatiguing is not damaging to the eye," says Dr. Elliott H. Myrowitz, an optometrist at the Wilmer Eye Institute at the Johns Hopkins University Hospital. If your eyes get tired with ready-to-wear readers, "you may want to get a custom pair," he says.

When selecting readers, find a pair "that gives you the widest range, so you can read the medicine bottle and the computer," Myrowitz says. Customers in the market for reading glasses might require a pair with a milder magnification for "far away and a stronger one for up close," he says.

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