Progressive Lenses Explained: A Plain English Guide to Varifocals

If you have been told you need progressive lenses and quietly nodded along without knowing what they are, you are in good company.

Most people in this country have never heard the phrase.

They have heard of varifocals, and that is the same thing.

Progressive lenses and varifocals are two names for one type of spectacle lens.

The lens manufacturers say progressive, most British opticians and nearly all of our patients say varifocal, and if you ever buy glasses in Australia they will call them multifocals. Same lens, three names.

This guide covers what they are, who needs them, how they work, what they cost, and how to get on with them from the first day. It is written for people who have never worn a pair, so there is no jargon that is not explained, and no assumption that you already know how a lens is made.

Why do people need progressive lenses?

It usually starts in your mid forties. The menu in a restaurant drifts a little further away each year. Your phone ends up at arm’s length, and then your arms stop being long enough.

The small print on a packet of paracetamol becomes a two person job. If you already wear glasses for distance, you may find yourself pushing them up onto your head to read, or peering over the top of them.

The medical name for this is presbyopia.

It comes from Greek and means old eye, which is a bit unkind given that it happens to every single one of us.

It is not a disease and it is not a sign that anything has gone wrong. It is simply what the human eye does with age.

Inside your eye, just behind the pupil, there is a small flexible lens.

When you look at something close, a ring of muscle squeezes that lens into a rounder shape to bring near objects into focus.

Through your twenties and thirties this happens so quickly that you never notice it. From around 40 the lens starts to stiffen, and the muscle can no longer bend it as far.

The result is that near things stay slightly out of focus however hard your eye tries.

The change carries on gradually until your mid fifties or so, then largely settles.

If you have never needed glasses before, a pair of reading glasses solves the problem and you can stop reading here, though we hope you will not. If you already wear glasses for distance, you now have two problems in one pair of eyes.

You need one lens power for the road ahead and a different one for the book in your lap. That is the job progressive lenses were invented to do.

What a progressive lens actually does

Three zones in one lens, with no line

A progressive lens has your distance prescription at the top, your reading prescription at the bottom, and a smooth, gradual change in power between the two.

Look straight ahead through the upper part of the lens and the far side of the room is sharp.

Lower your eyes a little and you are in the middle section, which is set for the sort of distance you hold a computer screen or a car dashboard. Lower your eyes to the bottom of the lens and you are reading.

Because the change in power is gradual rather than sudden, there is no visible line across the lens.

To anyone looking at you, they are ordinary glasses.

Nobody can tell from the outside that you are wearing them, which is one of the main reasons people choose them over bifocals.

The soft edges, and why every progressive lens has them

Here is the part that other guides tend to skip.

To blend one lens power smoothly into another within a single piece of plastic, something has to give, and what gives is the lower outer edges of the lens.

Those areas are slightly blurred. This is a matter of physics, not manufacturing, and it applies to every progressive lens ever made.

Better lens designs make the clear central corridor wider and push the blur further out to the sides, so you notice it less.

No design removes it entirely. If anyone tells you their lens has no distortion at all, they are selling you something.

The practical result is simple to live with once you know it. With progressive lenses you point your nose at what you want to see. Turn your head towards the thing, not just your eyes, and you will be looking through the clear part of the lens. Within a week or two most people do this without thinking about it.

Progressive lenses, bifocals and reading glasses compared

Progressive lenses for children

It surprises people to hear that progressive lenses are occasionally prescribed for children.

A child’s eyes focus close without any trouble, so they are plainly not being worn for the reason an adult needs them. There are two situations where they come up.

Helping the eyes work together

Some children have an eye that turns inwards when they concentrate on something close. The effort of focusing pulls the eyes together more than it should. A lens with extra power in the lower part takes some of that focusing effort away, which helps keep the eyes straight for reading and schoolwork. A bifocal, with its visible line, is usually the first choice here, because a parent or teacher can see at a glance whether the child is looking through the right part of the lens. Sometimes a progressive lens is used instead. Children with this kind of squint are normally under the care of the hospital eye service, and any lenses are prescribed alongside that.

Slowing down short sight

Short sight, or myopia, usually appears between the ages of six and twelve and tends to get worse through the teenage years.

For a while progressive lenses were tried as a way of slowing it down, on the idea that easing the focusing effort for close work might slow the growth of the eye.

A large American trial followed children for three years and found the difference was real but too small to be worth it for most children, so progressive lenses are no longer used routinely for this.

What replaced them is a newer type of spectacle lens made specifically for myopia management. From the outside it looks like an ordinary single vision lens.

Inside it carries a pattern of tiny lenslets that change how light lands towards the edges of the retina, and in trials this has slowed the progression of short sight by a good deal more than a progressive lens ever did.

There are contact lenses that work in a similar way, and since late 2025 a licensed low dose eye drop has been available privately in the UK.

None of these stop short sight and none reverse it. The aim is to slow it down, because higher levels of short sight carry more risk of eye problems in later life, so less of it is better.

Time outdoors helps as well, and around two hours a day is the figure most often quoted.

If your child is short sighted and the prescription is creeping up at each visit, ask about myopia management at their next eye examination.

NHS sight tests are free for children under 16, and under 19 if they are in full time education

Bifocals have been around for a very long time.

Benjamin Franklin is usually credited with them in the 1780s, and the design has barely changed since.

A bifocal is a distance lens with a separate reading segment set into the lower half. The line between the two is visible, and when your eyes cross it the image jumps.

There is also no middle distance at all, which was fine in Franklin’s day and less fine now that most of us spend our days looking at a screen an arm’s length away.

We hope this helps to explain how progessive lenses can help with your vision needs.

Progressive lenses: your questions answered

Are progressive lenses the same as varifocals?

Yes. Progressive lenses, varifocals and multifocals are three names for the same thing: a single spectacle lens that changes gradually from your distance prescription at the top to your reading prescription at the bottom, with no visible line.

At what age do people start to need progressive lenses?

Most people notice the change between 40 and 45, when the lens inside the eye starts to stiffen and close focus becomes harder. If you already wear glasses for distance, that is usually the point at which progressive lenses come up in conversation.

How long does it take to get used to progressive lenses?

For most people a few days to two weeks. Some take up to a month. Wearing them all day from the start, rather than swapping back to old glasses, makes the biggest difference.

Can I drive in progressive lenses?

Yes. Once you are used to them they are entirely suitable for driving and most wearers drive in them every day. We suggest a day or two of walking around in a new pair before you get behind the wheel.

Why are the edges of my progressive lenses blurry?

Because blending one lens power smoothly into another always produces some soft focus at the lower outer edges of the lens. Better designs reduce it but none remove it. Turning your head towards what you want to see keeps you looking through the clear part.

Do progressive lenses make your eyes worse?

No. This is a common worry and it is a myth. Presbyopia carries on at the same pace whether you wear glasses or not. Glasses make it easier to see; they do not change what is happening inside your eye.

Can I get progressive lenses in sunglasses?

Yes. Prescription sunglasses are available with progressive lenses, and so are light reactive lenses that darken outdoors and clear again inside.

Can I buy progressive lenses online?

You can, but we would not recommend it. The measurements, taken with your chosen frame on your face and adjusted to fit, are what decide whether a progressive lens works. A photograph cannot capture them accurately.

Can children wear progressive lenses?

Yes, though for different reasons from adults. They are sometimes prescribed for children whose eyes turn inwards when focusing on close work, usually alongside hospital eye care. They were once tried for slowing short sight, but the effect was too small to be useful, and purpose made myopia management lenses have taken over that job.

For more information and to book an eye test, lease head over to the Coleman Opticians website.