Dial Vision glasses – the answer to a problem nobody was having?
Adjustable lens glasses have been popping up for years now, offering some obscure convenience of being able to change diopters simply by turning a knob or dial on the frame.
This doesn’t make a whole lot of sense since a single focal plane change should address most of your distance vision needs, and ideally that single focal plane should be carefully considered and chosen. Elsewhere here on the blog we discuss the potential negative impacts of too many arbitrary focal plane changes on your visual cortex, and the importance of good optical quality lenses.
Why should you not get dial vision glasses, or generally any adjustable lens type of glasses?
First, low optical quality.
Second, no need to be changing diopters around.
Third, you never quite know exactly how many diopters you’re using.
Fourth, you might be tempted to add more diopters and inadvertently increase your myopia further.
Fifth … come on. They look ridiculous!
A quick video review on dial vision glasses, and the whole adjustable lens premise:
We also discussed adjustable focus lenses previously as well as another brand of these, eyejusters.
Stick with the simple thing for best results. No monkeying with knobs and diopters!
Cheers,
-Jake
Frequently Asked Questions
Do Dial Vision adjustable glasses actually work?
They work as a low-cost, rough way to get variable spherical correction from one pair, using established Alvarez-lens optics. But they generally don’t correct astigmatism, aren’t a precise per-eye fit, and are best viewed as a backup rather than a replacement for measured glasses.
Can adjustable-focus glasses reduce or improve myopia over time?
No. They simply deliver a chosen focal power, the same as any single-vision lens. Reducing refractive error gradually relies on measurement, active focus, and consistently used reduced lenses, not on adjustable hardware. A realistic pace for people doing this consistently is about 1 diopter per year.
Are there legitimate uses for adjustable glasses?
Yes. Self-adjustable glasses have been used in low-resource settings where access to eye care is limited, and they can serve as a cheap travel or backup pair. The underlying optics are sound; the limitation is precision and lack of astigmatism correction.
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