Reading Glasses or Readers may be a good solution for those people whose “arms are too short”, and who otherwise have clear distance vision without eyeglasses. If this scenario accurately describes your vision correction need you might just be tempted to walk into a pharmacy or department store and pick up a pair off a rack. Ready made reading glasses or readers are even available on the Internet! They come in many fashionable styles and shapes and colors, and you can even figure out what strength you need by using a chart right there on the rack.

Is there anything wrong with purchasing “off the rack” reading glasses or readers?

Consider the following information carefully and then you be the judge.

• The onset of presbyopia and the symptoms of presbyopia have been thoroughly discussed. While it might seem obvious to you that you are becoming presbyopic, the only way that you can be certain is to actually have an eye examination. 
• During an eye examination, the doctor will rule out any other possible causes for your blurry near vision. These may include uncorrected farsightedness or hyperopic, uncorrected astigmatism that you are no longer able to compensate for, or something even more significant such as an eye health problem or maybe even a systemic health problem.
• During an eye examination the eye doctor will measure the amount of focusing power you have lost and then prescribe the proper lend strength for your eyes.
• If you have astigmatism, “off the rack” reading glasses are not able to correct your vision properly. Most people have a slight astigmatism and thus should have an accurate prescription written by an eye doctor for reading glasses.
• The distance between your pupils, called the interpupillary distance or PD, is an important part of the prescription. Your PD tells whoever is fabricating you readers where to place the optical center of the eyeglass lenses. If the optical center of the lenses is not aligned carefully with the centers of your pupils, you could experience eye fatigue, or even headaches, during long periods of reading or close vision activity such as sewing or knitting. “Off the Rack” readers do not always allow you to get the correct PD.