Purchasing new eyeglasses isn't always an easy task. When buying reading glasses, you’ll want to be mindful of four influential factors: comfort, vision strength/Rx, appearance, and safety. You may also need to seek assistance from an Optometrist for choosing eyeglasses for your specific visual needs.

Thanks to technological advancements over the years, designer reading eyewear is now available for all kinds of different tasks, activities, vision needs, and environments. This blog post reveals five popular types of eyeglasses on the market to offer you the best visual experience.

5 Different Reading Glasses Options and Their Purposes

1. Single Vision Eyeglasses

The most common eyeglass lens style are single-vision eyeglass lenses, ideal for those with trouble seeing either far or near (but not both). They have a single power over the entire lens. These lenses offer a full field of vision. The wearer can use these eyeglasses to view a distance of up to 18 inches.

Please note that all I Heart Eyewear reading glasses are single-vision lenses, unless ordered in the "No Power" option, in which case your frames will be shipped with demo lenses, ready to fit with your Rx.

2. Progressive Lenses

Like regular reading glasses, progressive lenses are another popular choice for those in their 40s or 50s that need vision correction for presbyopia. A progressive lens will give you three different vision powers within a single lens for a better, more flattering, and natural way to visualize your world.

These lenses let you clearly see everything from any distance by simply adjusting your head position. For example, you need to look straight ahead to get a mid-range vision, tilt your head up to get a farsighted vision, or tilt your head down towards your nose for close-up work like texting or reading. Also note that progressive lenses don't have any visual lines in the lens, similar to bifocal glasses.

3. Bifocal Glasses

Bifocals contain two different prescriptions within a single lens. They help with aiding both farsightedness and nearsightedness. Usually, these lenses contain focal lengths which correct close vision of approximately 12 - 18 inches from your face and distances of 21 inches and beyond (for farsightedness). These eyeglasses have a clear visual line between their farsighted and nearsighted prescription. Click here to check out our Brentwood Bifocal Readers (below).

Bifocal sunglasses are a variation that’s popular in the summertime, especially for reading up close and seeing off into the distance with UV protection. Click here to see our line of Bifocal Sunglasses for Women, including our bamboo Brisbane Bifocal Sunglasses (shown below).

4. Task-Specific Eyeglasses

As the name suggests, these eyeglasses are suitable for a specific dedicated task. One of the most common types of task-specific glasses are computer glasses where the wearer enjoys an optimum viewing experience from a specific distance. To personalize these eyeglasses, the Optometrist will use the distance from which a specific task is usually performed/viewed and customize the prescription accordingly. You’ll want to know the distance from your eyes to your computer screen for correct fitting.

5. Trifocal Glasses

Trifocals consist of three prescriptions within one single lens. The top prescription corrects distance vision, the bottom corrects your up-close vision, and the middle corrects your intermediate distances (from 18 to 24 inches). Similar to bifocals, they have a noticeable line between the prescriptions.

Shop I Heart Eyewear for Designer Reading Glasses Without the Designer Price Tag

I Heart Eyewear offers great looking reading glasses for women, without the designer price tags. Most of our reading glasses are under $20 and available with “No Power” options to have them shipped with demo lenses ready to fit with your prescription. Sort by type, shape, style, color, strength and material to find the pair that’s right for your individual style and vision needs.