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.
