When you reach the point of not being able to read up close without stretching your arms to the limit, you may need to consider single-vision reading glasses. Reading glasses come in two main styles: full frames glasses, in which the entire lens is made in the reading prescription, and half-eyes, the smaller “Ben Franklin” style glasses that sit lower down on the nose.
Full reading glasses are suitable for people who spend a great deal of time concentrating on material close-up. If you try to look up and across the room through the reading glasses, everything appears blurry.
In contrast, half-eye reading glasses allow you to look down and through the lenses for near work, and up and over them to see in the distance.
For those, who need a pair of glasses that can be used for both close up and distance, there are bifocal glasses and progressive eyeglasses, which have two portions on the lens, top portion is for distance and bottom portion is for reading.
Generally, people who have never needed glasses in the past will start out with a pair of single vision reading glasses rather than bifocals eyeglasses or no-line progressive glasses, which are usually a better choice if you have a need for distance as well as near correction.
Also available are reading sunglasses with UV protection for wearing outdoors in the sun; a popular type is the sunglass bifocal, with a nonprescription upper half for looking far away and a reading prescription in the lower half for close up.
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