If you wear eyeglasses, you may wonder whether you should keep them on or take them off while viewing samples through the microscope. If the glasses merely adjust for nearsightedness or farsightedness, or old age, then there is no need to wear glasses. You may find it more comfortable to do this if the eyepieces have rubber eyeshields which help block out light from your peripheral vision.

If you decide to wear glasses, you would just need to adjust the focus, diopters, and interpupillary distance as necessary so that you see only one circle for your field of view, instead of two.

If you have a stereo microscope and have parfocalled it while wearing glasses, you would want to continue wearing glasses while viewing samples.

Astigmatism

If you have astigmatism, in most cases the microscope lenses will not correct for it, so one option is to wear eyeglasses that correct for the condition while using the microscope. It may be helpful to purchase "high-eyepoint" eyepieces, which give you a good view of the specimen even if your eyes are slightly further from the eyepieces due to wearing glasses.

Note: When using a monocular microscope with or without glasses, keep both eyes open to avoid eyestrain.

If you have more severe vision problems, to minimize discomfort and prevent eye fatigue, it is advisable to consult an optician to find out whether you can safely use a microscope (even with corrective lenses) over long periods. In some cases they might suggest viewing microscope images on a screen as described in the next section.

Using a Monitor or TV

Another option is to view your samples on a computer monitor or TV instead of the eyepieces. Some microscopes have built-in digital cameras, while others let you mount a camera to the microscope through a trinocular tube or eyepiece. Both configurations would project the same image you see through the eyepieces on a screen.

With these solutions you would not need to remove your glasses (or safety glasses) while using the microscope.

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