For centuries before prescription eyeglasses came into existence there were pinhole eyeglasses which were used to improve and strengthen vision. You may have never heard of pinhole eyeglasses because they are very cheap and they would put a lot of optical industries out of business. These glasses have holes and a person can look through any of the many small holes while looking at the target until he sees the target clearly. The glasses only allow rays which pass through the middle portion of the pupil.
Usage:Wear the glasses on your eyes without contacts or other eye glasses. It’s recommended to wear them 15 minutes or more while watching TV or reading something. You should not wear them while driving or performing any physical activities. You may use them for distance of close ups.
Some advantages that pinholes have over prescription glasses:
- As we get into our 40's and 50's and presbyopia (inability to focus close) develops, pinholes provide a simple and inexpensive solution for reading or other close work.
-Bifocals or trifocals are designed to provide a clear image only at fixed distances. Pinholes provide an improved image at ALL distances. In many applications, such as alternating between watching TV and reading, they can easily take the place of those very expensive prescription lenses that are so lucrative for the anti-consumer eye doctor/optical industry alliance.
-Multi-focal lenses provide a continuously variable curve that is supposed to give good vision at all distances. In reality, the distortion on either side of the center line is considerable and often too great for comfortable use. Pinholes eliminate this problem.
-There is no need to continually throw away old glasses and buy new, stronger ones. Unless the pinholes break, they can be used an entire lifetime.
-While pinholes are not as cheap as off-the-rack reading glasses, they are considerable cheaper than individual prescription glasses. For example, a person who is a little nearsighted but only needs clear distant vision for occasional TV viewing would find pinholes a cheaper solution than prescription glasses.
- Off-the-rack reading glasses have the same lens power in each lens. Some people find these cheap glasses unsuitable because the refractive error in each eye is not the same. Pinholes are ideal for such people because these glasses do not require a similar refractive error in each eye.
- There is a pincushion effect when looking through the edges of prescription glasses. That is, straight lines appear curved. This disturbing effect does not occur with pinholes.
- When you lay prescription glasses down improperly, they can easily get scratched at the center of the lens, the very area you have to look through. Scratching pinholes has no effect on their performance.
- Pinholes do not have to be cleaned of fingerprints and other marks that affect vision.
- Many parents will not allow their children to use bifocals to reduce the stress of close work because such glasses are for "old people." Pinholes are an easier thing to accept because they are the same for all ages.
- Many people who have had corneal surgery find that their night vision has permanently deteriorated. Glare is a problem. They see halos and "starbursts" around lights. Even in normal home lighting they have problems so that they get in the habit of turning on as many lights as possible in order to get a small pupil and reduce the visual problems. Pinholes, either conventional or Snap-ons, can deliver the same small pupil without increasing the electric bill.
- Children with special needs often use only their peripheral vision, and pinhole glasses help them concentrate on detail better. It has been found that the pinhole glasses help improve acuity and central macular vision. One nationwide organization that deals in child development uses pinhole glasses on a regular basis for this purpose.
- Aniridia is the complete or partial absence of the iris; polycoria is having more than one pupil in a single iris; and albinism is the lack of normal pigmentation. All of these abnormalities may be aided with pinhole lenses.
- In cases of retinal separation, unnecessary motion of the eyeballs should be avoided. This can be accomplished by blocking all but the central pinholes, forcing the user to turn the head rather than the eyes
