There is a strong perception that magnifying glasses are "glasses you wear only when needed." They help when reading up close, but the moment you lift your head or set your gaze farther away, your view can become blurred and dizziness can occur. In fact, users complain, "It's inconvenient because I have to keep putting the magnifying glasses on and taking them off," and "It's hard to wear them for long because of nausea."
To ease this discomfort, Davich Optical Co. launched the multi magnifying glasses "Home-Office magnifiers" in 2018, designed so users can see various indoor distances with a single pair of glasses.
Home-Office magnifiers are designed to reduce eye strain in environments that require prolonged near work. Unlike conventional magnifying glasses with a single fixed focus, they use customized progressive lenses so users do not have to repeatedly put them on and take them off during indoor activities.
The main targets for Home-Office magnifying glasses are not only customers who feel visual discomfort when using conventional magnifiers, but also office workers who frequently use digital devices such as smartphones, tablets, and laptops, customers just beginning to experience presbyopia, and full-time homemakers who are active indoors.
Before switching to "progressive lenses," which are designed to allow a single lens to see far, intermediate, and near distances more comprehensively than Home-Office, they also serve as an intermediate step to help with visual adaptation. This can reduce the sense of unfamiliarity or discomfort that can occur when wearing progressive lenses from the start. Home-Office glasses start at 49,000 won for entry-level products, and lens prices may be added depending on the prescription.
On the 30th, we visited the Myeong-dong branch of Davich Optical Co. to get custom Home-Office magnifying glasses. After selecting frames on the first floor, we moved to the second floor, which has a professional consultation room, an auto refraction (AR) testing room, and a binocular vision testing room. First, through a consultation, we checked daily habits, visual discomfort, and primary working distances, then identified the necessary lens functions and proceeded with the exam.
The AR test measures refractive errors, checking for myopia, hyperopia, and astigmatism, as well as near focus switching ability (accommodation). Whether vision is emmetropic or ametropic can also be identified at this stage.
The subsequent binocular vision test evaluates stereopsis—the ability of both eyes to work together—to check for fatigue or diplopia (seeing double). In some cases, basic tests are sufficient, but if necessary, more detailed tests are added.
After the tests, we wore trial frames with temporary prescription lenses and conducted tests simulating real-life environments. We walked around the store and read text at a distance to check changes in the field of view and how well we adapted.
Basic magnifying glasses clearly magnify text at close range, which is a definite advantage. However, the view became blurred when looking farther away or lifting the head, and the process of shifting gaze felt uncomfortable. They are suitable for near work, but there were limits to the range of usable vision.
By contrast, Home-Office glasses offered similar readability to basic magnifiers when reading close text or using a smartphone, while providing relatively natural transitions when shifting gaze to other distances. The lenses contain two different prescriptions, arranged so the focus continues depending on gaze direction. As a result, when moving indoors or switching tasks, the sense of visual discontinuity felt smaller.
Because of these characteristics, Home-Office magnifiers are also called "magnifying glasses with a wide field of view." The aim is not simply to enlarge text, but to reduce the burden of wearing by considering the various visual transitions that occur during indoor life.
This trial also confirmed that Home-Office glasses focus on easing the "difficulty of adaptation" repeatedly raised with conventional magnifiers.
The difference between basic magnifying glasses and Home-Office glasses lay less in magnification itself than in how they connect the field of view. For briefly checking close text, conventional magnifiers are sufficient. However, for continuing indoor activities while moving between a smartphone, documents, and the surrounding space, the very way magnifiers are used could change.