Magnifier Facts

• Drugstores and hobby shops often carry weak-powered magnifiers. Stronger magnifiers are found through agencies serving people with vision loss, low vision clinics, and catalogs.
• It is important that a person have guidance from a vision rehabilitation professional when selecting a magnifier. Otherwise a too-strong or too-weak magnifier will not have the desired results.  Instruction is also needed to ensure that the magnifier is held and positioned correctly or a person will not be able to see their best.
• Every magnifier has a certain strength. It is a number written on the handle or the packaging.  The higher the number the stronger the level of magnification.
• As magnification power increases, the size of the lens diameter decreases. What you see is bigger but you will see less of the whole at one time.
• As magnification power increases, the distance you hold it from the end of your nose, and the object in view decreases.
• The lens must be parallel to the reading material. The reader must look straight down through the center of the lens to see as well as possible.