A Microscope or a Telescope?

Most people who wear glasses, especially bifocals, are used to wearing one pair of glasses to help with all of their vision needs - near and far. Bifocals can help you see at any distance.

Not so if you have macular degeneration. You will need different glasses for different tasks.

If you've been reading about macular degeneration vision aids, you will often hear about the importance of learning to adjust and to adapt. This is one of those areas, where one pair of glasses will not meet all of your visual needs.

Different glasses will help you to see better depending on what they are needed for. So here are some questions you need to ask yourself:

1. Identify the task you need help with - i.e. knitting, watching TV, going to a movie or a concert, writing bills, seeing a street sign, reading a bus schedule, etc.

2. Determine if the task requires that your hands are free - i.e. sewing, wood working, watching a football game,

3. Determine how much light is available - the more light the less need there is for magnification

Macular Degeneration Telescope

Low vision magnifiers are need for things like reading your mail, writing a bill or knitting.

Macular degeneration telescopes or binoculars are needed for reading a street sign, watching a concert or a baseball game.

Magnifiers are needed to see things close up and telescopes are needed for seeing things at a distance.

There are no special macular degeneration glasses that will work for near vision AND distance vision.

Most everyone is familiar with magnifiers, but less familiar with the low vision technology that helps with distance vision.

Macular degeneration telescopes are like binoculars. You probably have used binoculars before for bird watching or have used them at a sporting event or a concert.

There are many different types of binoculars for those with AMD. You can purchase a pair on your own from a low vision store or you can get fitted by a low vision specialist with a telescope that is mounted on your eye glass frames.

Either way, being able to see things at a distance is just as important as being able to see things that are close up.

To learn more about binocular vision click here:

Binocular Vision

Thanks so much for subscribing to Macular Degeneration News.

Leslie Degner, RN, BSN

Better Health for Better Vision

www.WebRN-MacularDegeneration.com

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