Graduate lenses are the most important development in modern optics

No line vision zones are the ideal solution for many with beginning presbyopia.

Graduate lenses are products for people age 40 and up. After this age, so goes the saying, the arms get shorter. It means that one can only read fine print when it is held at a distance. Possible solutions to this problem are special reading glasses and bifocals, or, alternatively, modern graduate lenses.Graduate lenses (no line bifocals) have obvious advantages. The different strength lenses blend into one another. Graduate lenses have three zones: a section for looking at things up close (below), a section for viewing things at a distance and a blending zone between the two that eliminates jarring bifocal jumps. This professional solution does have drawbacks for some eyeglass wearers, however, who cannot adjust to the different visual zones. Experts say that an adjustment period of several days to four weeks is necessary. If the wearer still does not feel comfortable with the Graduate lens glasses at the end of this period, he or she should go back to the optician and ask for a different solution. Some manufacturers are well known for their obliging customer service, and are willing to provide the optician with normal lenses for such customers.