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Hyperopia and Presbyopia Progression

For and about anyone having difficulty seeing near/reading.

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Glass Lenses 02 Aug 2018, 14:51

Carrie

That is more information than we need to know.

Please keep the subject on glasses.

Soundmanpt 25 Jul 2018, 17:30

Bradley

I forgot to explain why I see shit so often in the toilet. It's very simple when you think about it. It is obvious to everyone here that I play other characters including Jim Boice. I see so much shit in my toilet because I am full of shit. But then again, everyone knows that here too.

Soundmanpt 25 Jul 2018, 15:45

Bradley

If you really can't see shit without your glasses, then I would suggest that you wear your new spectacles when looking in the toilet. Generally I like the way my shit looks, but sometimes it is runny and very stinky. The strange thing is that I always see my shit when I wear glasses or when I don't wear glasses. And I know my shit sees me. Sometimes I think I see an eye in my shit, and I think it is staring at me. When that happens, I will stare back at my shit for hours on end. I am not the type of person to back down from a challenge, and I am not going to blink before my shit blinks. But I think you are missing out if you are not wearing your glasses after you shit. You really need to closely examine your shit like I do.

Bradley 25 Jul 2018, 07:01

Hey Cactus, I still hate wearing these damn glasses, but I do need to see and no one has found a cure for "old vision". So WTF---I need to see.

Cactus Jack 24 Jul 2018, 09:10

Bradley,

I looked back at some of your initial posts. It is amazing how your feelings have changed about wearing "dreaded" bifocals, in a month. But really, not that amazing. It happens frequently when a person with Hyperopia and Latent Hyperopia discover what they have been missing. Once you get past the Vanity stage, you discover that wearing glasses and even bifocals, is no big deal.

I am really happy for you that most of your Latent Hyperopia has resolved so quickly. You are very fortunate. Sometimes it takes months and several prescriptions for it to fully resolve.

It is unlikely that you will be able to get by without a prescription update, fairly soon. Just remember that the calendar has nothing to do with when you need a prescription check. If you notice that your vision doesn't seem right for any reason, book an appointment with your ECP, without regard to when you were "supposed" to return.

When you are ready to explore buying glasses online, let me know. I think you will be surprised at the cost savings and the quality offered by some of the online retailers. It is easy.

Bradley 24 Jul 2018, 04:50

Over the past few weeks, I have gone from wearing no glasses to wearing glasses full-time. Just amazed that I can't see shit without glasses now---but also amazed how clear my view of the world is now. Wearing glasses is working out well.

Bradley 24 Jul 2018, 04:50

Carrie 23 Jul 2018, 21:38

Had another session with Danielle.

This time when her strap on unloaded in me, Danielle came, and I went. Then I came, and she went.

The bed was a mess, with urine, feces, and vaginal fluids from both of us.

Thank goodness Gemma, and Vicky were there to clean it up, as we were too exhausted to do it.

Carrie 23 Jul 2018, 15:36

Soundmanpt

If you liked that, you would really like to see all of us prancing around with our glasses setting on our strapons. They look like they are setting on long pink noses.

Sometimes the noses look like the are RUNNING, IF YOU GET MY DRIFT!

PS, Wish you were here.

Soundmanpt 23 Jul 2018, 15:26

Are you having fun using everyone else's name except your own? You're really a very sick person.

Soundmanpt 23 Jul 2018, 02:27

Mmmmm I like it like that. I like it like that. I like it like that. I like it like that.

Carrie 23 Jul 2018, 00:09

Just to update you all, since the incredible experience with Danielle's amazing strap on, we all have purchased our own.

Gemma charges mine up with warmed honey and allows me to shoot in her mouth.

Little Vicky, and her co worker share one, and mostly do rear entry.

And the highly experienced Danielle services us all,in the most exotic ways.

The whole time we are conducting our orgies, we are swapping glasses, and placing them on one another' s breasts, and private parts.

Glasses, and dildos just go so well together.

Mel 22 Jul 2018, 15:38

To Charlie_Delta, SC, and Soundmanpt,

Thanks for your help. As her younger sister without any professional knowledge, I wasn't really informed about hyperopia and presbyopia. You are right that I don't need to worry about her driving without them. It turns out that my sister's new glasses certainly attract attention. Luckily she doesn't mind when friends and family ask about them, because many have.

It turns out that the doctor wanted her to get used to progressives while her overall prescription wasn't too strong, but for now her distance vision is OK. I believe her, because last week she could easily read, from a distance, menu specials handwritten in chalk on a restaurant blackboard. Now, reading is another story altogether! She does say that when she leaves her glasses on, usually because she forgets to take them off, she is less prone to headaches. So I think she is adjusting well.

Cactus Jack 22 Jul 2018, 13:05

Sorry, that last post was from me.

22 Jul 2018, 13:03

Anon 22 Jul 2018, 01:10,

It is unlikely that her actual Hyperopia did increase all that much. I do not try to guess prescriptions, but I think her prescription is less than +8 or +9 in the last video.

It is very likely that Presbyopia played a role in her apparent "increase". I suspect she was wearing contacts and maybe needed some low PLUS help for reading the music in the early video.

By the time of the later video, she was wearing her glasses for the occasion of receiving an award of some type and offered a musical selection as a "thank you". If it had been a concert performance, she might have worn contacts with an appropriate power for the occasion.

With talent like that, she has no need to be concerned about being seen wearing glasses. Her audiences come to HEAR her sing and is not the least concerned about the fact that she needs glasses.

Cactus Jack 22 Jul 2018, 12:35

mattp,

Progressives or "invisible" bifocals are very hard to detect when looking at a person straight on from the front, particularly with weaker Adds. The reason for this is that it can be very hard to detect the changes in the lens power by looking at the skin of the face, which is only a few mm from the back of the lens.

However, when looking through the lens from in back of the person, as you were doing in the line, the differences in the lens power between the distance portion and the near portion are pretty obvious and NOT invisible to you or the person wearing the glasses. Remember, the reading segment of any type of bifocal is providing the added PLUS (or less MINUS) that the individual cannot supply internally, to focus close. It has to be "visible" from the back or patients point of view, or it would not work. Nice observation and question.

22 Jul 2018, 01:10

I'm wondering how the classical singer Sara Mingardo went in about 15 years from a mild plus to what seems like +8 or +9 dioptres. I've never seen an increase like that.

Then:

http://youtu.be/z7pYZhFFPmo?t=4

Now:

http://youtu.be/knqQyxxqC3o?t=1854

Soundmanpt 21 Jul 2018, 12:01

Thank you for reporting the sighting. You are truly stimulating my man balls. I wish I could have been there to cream myself on her ass.

mattp 21 Jul 2018, 10:49

Hi All-Well, I had an interesting sighting this morning. A nice-looking guy about 40 was ahead of me in a slow line at the supermarket. I noticed he was wearing glasses, so started examining the lenses. They were plus progressives. Noteworthy was that the higher magnified lower section was quite visible. Obviously, there was no line, but from behind I could see quite clearly where the stronger power was because of the different magnification. He used that stronger section quite obviously when checking printed prices. Any explanation? I thought progressives were "invisible" bifocals!

Cactus Jack 20 Jul 2018, 17:52

Bradley,

There is no way to be absolutely sure what the future holds regrading your vision. You have experienced the effects of Latent Hyperopia being gradually resolved by your distance vision clearing up. This occurred as your Ciliary Muscles gradually relaxing after years of compensating for your Hyperopia.

There is no easy way to know if your Ciliary Muscles have fully relaxed, except with an exam and, if necessary, an increase in the +Sphere correction for distance. The increase in the + Sphere for distance would cause your distance vision to again be blurry, if it clears up, over a few weeks, your Latent Hyperopia had not been fully resolved.

One way to relax your Ciliary Muscles as much as possible for an exam is to use a dilating agent. However, modern dilating agents are not powerful enough to do much relaxing, because they are designed to work fast and dissipate fast to minimize inconvenience after the exam and maximize speed of recovery. There is just not enough time to have much effect on Latent Hyperopia..

There is a very important point to "transferring" the extra + from your Ciliary Muscles and Crystalline Lenses to external corrective lenses. It makes more Accommodation Range available for focusing close and slows the apparent onset of Presbyopia. Unfortunately, it will not prevent the gradual onset of Presbyopia. As that occurs, you will find that you need an increase in your Add, until it reaches about +2.50 or +3.00 depending on your close focusing needs.

There is no need to get another exam until you again have focusing issues, with one exception. If your ECP has a free check and remake policy if your prescription changes within a certain limited period, you might request a recheck.

It is also possible that your ECP actually prescribed a bit more Sphere + than he/she measured to minimize the chance of having to do a remake.

One important thing to remember. What you are experiencing is NOT unusual or unique. It happens to almost everyone who needs + glasses after years of dealing with Hyperopia.

Bradley 20 Jul 2018, 15:20

OK Dr. Cactus, my eyes have seemingly gotten used to my glasses---both near and far. Can you tell me why I might need an adjustment to the prescription in the near future?

Bradley 20 Jul 2018, 15:20

OK Dr. Cactus, my eyes have seemingly gotten used to my glasses---both near and far. Can you tell me why I might need an adjustment to the prescription in the near future?

Soundmanpt 20 Jul 2018, 07:33

Plum

Those "crude" remarks were not make by me but an imposter using my name.

Comment posted on "19 Jul 2019 18:10" wasn't from me.

Soundmanpt 19 Jul 2018, 18:10

plum

I just wanted to let you know that I masturbate heavily to the stories people post here. Your stories are really jacking me off bigtime. Please continue.

plum 19 Jul 2018, 17:26

Cactus Jack,

I'm studying biology, so there is quite a bit of reading and math work involved in my schooling. I suppose this can lead to eye strain, and I'm leaning more towards buying some new glasses before the fall semester starts.

Sorry about the double post! I'll try to avoid that haha.

~plum

Cactus Jack 19 Jul 2018, 15:08

plum,

May I ask your Major? Some majors involve more reading than others.

Also, be patient when pressing the Submit button, sometimes the server is slow and if you click it more than 1 time, you will get multiple posts. A clue that your post is acceptable is that the Submit button will, sometime very briefly, turn blue with while text.

plum 19 Jul 2018, 10:34

Cactus Jack,

Thank you so much for helping me understand this! I didn't even bother to look at the prescription until I had gotten home, so I didn't get a chance to ask about it. I have ordered from eyebuydirect before, and got decent quality glasses for super cheap, so I might do that again before the fall semester starts. I am 20, and I live in the midwest (united states). No matter where I get my eyes examined they never write the PD on the prescription they print for me. Luckily, I know mine from last time I ordered from EBD.

I think the only question I had is whether or not it is worth the money to buy glasses with this new prescription, but it seems silly now because I guess I'm the only person that can decide that haha.

Thanks again, I really appreciate you taking your time to help me out :)

~plum

Cactus Jack 19 Jul 2018, 09:25

plum,

The confusion you are having is pretty common.

Your old prescription:

OD sph +1.00 cyl -.50 axis 156

OS sph +0.75 cyl -.50 axis 180

was written with MINUS (-) Cylinder.

Your new prescription:

OD sph +0.50 cyl +0.75 axis 068

OS sph +0.25 cyl +0.50 axis 084

was written with PLUS (+)Cylinder

Traditionally, Optometrists and Lens Makers use MINUS Cylinder and Ophthalmologists use PLUS Cylinder, but it depends on the preference of the Examiner.

To make a comparison, you need to convert the new prescription to a MIUS Cylinder form. It is easy. Algebraically Add the Cylinder to the Sphere, Change the sign on the Cylinder and add or subtract 90 degrees from the Axis so that it is between 0 and 180.

OD sph +0.50 cyl +0.75 axis 068

OS sph +0.25 cyl +0.50 axis 084

becomes

OD sph +1.25 cyl -0.75 axis 158

OS sph +0.75 cyl -0.50 axis 174

The two different way of writing your prescription would yield identical glasses because the Lens Maker would do the above conversion and make the glasses.

There isn't much difference between your old prescription and the new one.

My though would be to order new glasses from a low cost online retailer and compare them. If you order the lowest cost frames from Zenni, it could be as low as US$6.95, plus shipping.

Also, I suggest you read the piece I wrote, "How to Study for an Eye Exam" before your next exam.

You can find it on the Vision and Spex Website.

If you want to order online, you will only need your Pupillary Distance (PD), your prescription, and a credit card. Let us know if you need help measuring your PD.

Hope this helps. If you have more questions, please ask.

May I ask your age and where you live?

plum 19 Jul 2018, 08:19

Hi Eyescene!

I posted in the vision forum a few months ago about a problem i had with my eye twitching. This wasn't as much of a concern after I finished the school year, so I put off going to the eye doc until today. I just got my new prescription and I'm a little confused because the prescription does not look like my old ones. My sph values went down, but cyl went up. The doc said I don't need to get new glasses unless I want to, so I'm wondering if it is even worth the money to buy glasses with this new prescription.

old (2016):

OD sph +1.00 cyl -.50 axis 156

OS sph +.75 cyl -.50 axis 180

new (2018):

OD sph +0.50 cyl +0.75 axis 068

OS sph +0.25 cyl +0.50 axis 084

why has my cyl gone down, and why has the axis changed from minus to plus?? the dr. said it wasn't much of a change, but it looks pretty different to me... should I consider getting new glasses? I only notice a strain when doing schoolwork or driving at night. any help is appreciated.

thanks,

plum

plum 19 Jul 2018, 08:19

Hi Eyescene!

old (2016):

OD sph +1.00 cyl -.50 axis 156

OS sph +.75 cyl -.50 axis 180

new (2018):

OD sph +0.50 cyl +0.75 axis 068

OS sph +0.25 cyl +0.50 axis 084

thanks,

plum

Cactus Jack 17 Jul 2018, 18:04

Bradley,

I did not answer your question about how long I had been studying my vision problems, from the inside. About 70 years, from 10 until today.

Cactus Jack 17 Jul 2018, 17:40

Bradley,

I have told you and many others before, that I am NOT an eye care professional ECP) and do not pretend to be. My background is Electronic Engineering and Computers. Fundamentally, a problem solver.

My knowledge of Vision and Optics came from the study of Physics and lots of reading and study, trying to understand and solve my own vision problems, when I could not get satisfactory answers from ECPs.

I guess you could call me an Amateur in the original French sense as someone who studies a subject out of love.

I have done quote a bit of industrial teaching and have gained a reputation of being a pretty good explainer of difficult to understand subjects.

It is amazing how similar human vision is to modern digital cameras. With active image compression occurring in the Retina, The different functions performed by the Rods and Cones, and how very sophisticated image processing is done in the Visual Cortex. Not unlike the image processing that was done to the initial blurry images from the Hubble Space Telescope, until it was fitted with "glasses". Engineers and Scientists have learned from the natural world

Bradley 17 Jul 2018, 12:32

I appreciate all the information that you have provided. Can you give an idea about your background in Optometry? Where did you go to school? How long have you been practicing? Have you written any research papers on optics that I could read further?

Cactus Jack 17 Jul 2018, 08:00

Bradley,

What you are experiencing is classic Latent Hyperopia. The more you wear your glasses, the quicker it will be resolved. However, the exception is night driving. If you see better at night without your glasses, it is best to NOT wear your glasses, when driving. In some ways it is like a person who is mildly nearsighted who needs to wear MINUS glasses when driving. The issue is safety.

Ultimately, the Latent Hyperopia will be resolved and you will likely need an adjustment to your prescription for the best vision under all conditions.

The problem with blurry vision at night is that it makes it more difficult to detect low contrast or dark colored objects, in or near the roadway.

One thing you need to do is be sure of your ECP's policy about "short term" prescription changes. Some ECPs have a policy that they will remake glasses at no charge, if you need a different prescription within a stated period of time. Others charge full price for new glasses. One alternative is to order new glasses online from someone like Zenni Optical. Many of us have had excellent experience with them. If you decide you want to try ordering online, we will be happy to help.

Bradley 17 Jul 2018, 05:02

Hi Dr. Cactus, I have been wearing the new glasses for a week now. Adjusting to the the distant prescription was a little more difficult than I expected. In fact, when wearing the glasses, driving at night was pretty blurry. Had to struggle to read some road signs. Slowly, my distance vision is coming into sharper view. With glasses, my near vision is great. I took your advice and am wearing the glasses full-time.

Likelenses 14 Jul 2018, 13:51

Remimartin

I wish your wife would succumb to my dick.

Cactus Jack 14 Jul 2018, 08:53

Remimartin,

It appears that the first line of each eye is the Distance prescription. The ONLY part of the distance prescription that could cause her difficulty is her Astigmatism as indicated by the Cylinder and Axis.

The second line appears to be here reading prescription. Presbyopia is creeping up on her. You can expect the Sphere to increase up to around +2.50 or +3.00, depending on how close she needs to focus.

At some point, tt is likely that she will get tired of having to find her reading glasses that she has mislaid. When that happens she may consider bifocals or progressives.. Don't mention that or ask questions, it will only delay the inevitable. Time is your friend here, let it work for you. If she has any friends who are also developing Presbyopia, they may get bifocals or progressives and talk about how convenient they are. That will be much more effective than anything you might say.

What is your vision situation?

Remimartin 13 Jul 2018, 18:18

The wife succumbed to glasses about 12 months ago. Her prescription reads:

Right 0.00 -0.5 180

+1.25 -0.5 180

Left 0.00 -0.75 7.0

+1.25 -0.75 7.0

Could anyone explain this please and will it lead to her having to wear her glasses full time?

Thanks Remi

Cactus Jack 11 Jul 2018, 00:25

Bradley,

It is very likely that you have some Latent (hidden) Hyperopia. Many people discover that they have some Latent Hyperopia, in addition to regular Hyperopia to go along with everything else, when Presbyopia rears its ugly head.

True Hyperopia or far or long sightedness is caused by the eyeball not growing quite enough for the total power of your eye's lens system. Hyperopia has to be pretty significant for you to notice it. The reason is that Hyperopia is the ONLY refractive error you can correct internally using some of the accommodative power of your Auto-Focus system.

Your Auto-Focus system consists of your Ciliary Muscles and Crystalline Lenses inside your eyeballs, along with the Focus Control System in your brain. It is very likely that you have had mild Hyperopia since childhood and you have been correcting it with your Ciliary Muscles all this time and your Ciliary Muscles can't relax very quickly.

If you hold a muscle in a contracted condition, as the Ciliary Muscles have to to correct Hyperopia or focus close for a long time, they have trouble relaxing, I'll be 81 in September and EVERY muscles I own has trouble relaxing if I stay in one position very long. If I am lucky, the stressed muscles won't painfully cramp at the most awkward time. Ever had a "Charley Horse" in a muscle?

Because there is no way to massage your Ciliary Muscles, they just have to relax on their own, at their own rate. The best way to encourage your Ciliary Muscles to relax is to wear you glasses as much as possible (full time). As they relax your distance vision will clear up.

I have a little bad news for you. It may take a few weeks for them to relax and you may need a new prescription when that happens. It is not unusual for a person to need 2 or 3 prescription changes until your vision stabilizes. The good news is that after your vision stabilizes, your prescription will not change much for years, except for your Add. It won;'t change a lot after it reaches +2.50 to +3.00 depending on you close focusing needs.

I would like to suggest that you might find Macrae's Story (saga) interesting. It is on the Vision and Spex site under Forums > Fantasy and True Stories about vision -and -spex. It is a very well written story about one man's experience with Hyperopia. It is pretty humorous in places. It is a bit long, written over many months, but I think you might find it both entertaining and applicable to what you are experiencing.

Bradley 10 Jul 2018, 18:07

Alright, Dr. Cactus, I picked up my new glasses last night. I must say Bradley looks pretty cool in the specs. I like the frames a lot. BUT, driving home in those glasses was not so cool. My distance vision was fuzzy, fuzzy. Oh well, I do remember that my doctor said it would take a little time for my eyes to adjust to the correction. Hopefully in a few days my vision will not be so shitty. Otherwise, these damn glasses have been a waste of $$$$. What's the good word Doc.

Cactus Jack 06 Jul 2018, 19:27

Bradley,

Not a Doctor nor do I play one on TV, nor do I pretend to be one here. My background is Electronic Engineering and Computers. Just had a lot of vision problems and was unsatisfied with the answers I was getting from ECPs. Read a lot and applied engineering principles to solving the problems. Did lots of industrial teaching and try to explain things so you understand.

I didn't mean to touch a nerve with the hair illustration about vanity and did not expect you to jump into the "deep end" with heavy black frames. BTW, I got a "haircut" today. White fringe around the edge and about 1/8 inch sparse brush on top. Been that way for about 15 years. Have to use sun screen or a hat to avoid UV exposure to keep from aggravating my actinic keratosis which can lead to much more serious things. As it is, my dermatologist sees me coming and gets out her liquid nitrogen "weapon".

You likely will not like wearing the +0.75 for distance until your Latent Hyperopia is resolved. We can talk about that after you get the glasses.

Bradley 06 Jul 2018, 15:08

OK, Dr. Cactus, I ordered a pair of progressive glasses today. Heavy, black plastic frames so that all will know that I am not trying to hide the fact I need glasses. BTW, a few years ago I shaved my head so the no one would ever think I was into to combovers. So, there goes Bradley, the old man with the "bifocals" and no damn hair on his head.

Bradley 06 Jul 2018, 15:08

Cactus Jack 04 Jul 2018, 09:56

Bradley,

Yes, really! It is true that you don't really NEED bifocals, yet, but they are VERY convenient and hard to misplace if you wear them all the time. They can be a little hard to find in stores, but you can get bifocal OTC reading glasses with no prescription in the distance part of the glasses and+2.25 in the reading segment.

You have got to get over this, very likely, vanity thing. Don't think for an instant that other people don't notice the constant glasses switching or holding things at arms length. In some ways, it is like a man who is loosing his hair, doing a "comb over" of his few remaining strands of hair, hoping no one will notice that he is becoming bald.

Bradley 04 Jul 2018, 04:56

OK, I will admit that keeping up with my reading glasses is not easy. They are not always in the right place when I need to see clearly, especially when using my phone. Oh well, what the hell, I might be admitting that wearing bifocals are the way to go. Bifocals Bradley----really?

Charlie_Delta 02 Jul 2018, 15:56

Mel,

The only thing I'd add is that low-to-mild farsighted eyes CAN absolutely adjust into focus in these "early presbyopia" years. Probably impossible to do somewhere in the age of 50s or 60s when the eye's lens has hardened to the point it's no longer able to change its geometry (and therefore, sharpness of image received) in order to focus. The rate by which this happen varies, from what I have read. If your sister forgot her glasses and drove the kids home, I'm nearly certain you have no need to be concerned, based on (a) prescription strength and (b) my own experience. I'll be 42 in less than half a year and have almost the identical Rx as your sister. There have been rare occasions where I drove to the office wearing Rx sunglasses, only to realize upon arrival that I left regular (progressive) glasses at home. It's never been a four-alarm emergency that required me to drive home to get them -- just very uncomfortable and annoying. I can reel-in focus if I have to -- albeit with headaches. I think the same would be true if your sister forgot glasses.

Based on the above, the other obvious bit is that it's impossible to compare the hyperopic eye to the myopic eye. Nearsightedness is definitive in terms of what the eye can or can't see clearly (from what I read anyway) whereas farsightedness (aka longsightedness) isn't like that at all (under the caveat that the farsightedness and presbyopic "add" are both relatively mild.

Like I said, this applies to someone in early 40s but probably not so much in early 50s or 60s. Hope that helps.

SC 02 Jul 2018, 11:09

Mel,

It is really a matter of time...

If the reading add is +1.25 then she'll need to accommodate another +1.25 to read and +1.75 for small print so she can still accommodate for the distance of +1.25 without glasses

If she has got progressives the brain will gradually switch off and the accommodation will be lost - how fast really depends on how often she wears them but the process is addictive - the more you wear them, the more you need them and so it gets worse.

Typically the problem will be that if she wears them a lot for reading during the day (eg computer use), then just the occasional looking through the distance lens will quickly take its toll and you'll see her struggling in the evenings but have no problem in the mornings. For me this period was around 3 months so no need to cajole her now.

01 Jul 2018, 23:08

Soundmanpuppet

I disagree with a +1.25 sphere in addition to any cyl, her distance vision is worse than 20/40. She NEEDS these glasses to drive.

Soundmanpt 29 Jun 2018, 16:51

Mel

Not knowing her complete prescription makes your question impossible to answer. A lot depends on what her astigmatism numbers are. Nt the axis numbers just the CYL numbers. If the +1.25 is just the SPH she has a slight need for reading glasses. Her distance should still be good enough that she should be able to pass the DMV drivers test without glasses. But if her CYL numbers are say -1.25 then that is effecting her distance vision enough to maybe cause her to need her glasses for driving. You really should have asked the optician to tell her that it would be advisable for her wear her glasses when she drives. They really should do that without you asking them to tell them.

Mel 29 Jun 2018, 14:57

Hello, I have a question about my sister's recent prescription -- whether she should be wearing them for distance, specifically for driving.

This is because we live near each other and take turns dropping and picking up our kids from school. I'm concerned about my kids' safety.

She just turned 42, first time in glasses, so I helped her pick them out. I saw her Rx, which I can mostly remember because the sphere and add numbers are all the same: +1.25. I can't remember the astigmatism numbers, but those boxes weren't empty.

When we went to pick them up, I quietly asked the optician whether she should wear her glasses for distance as my sister was walking around, trying them on for the first time. The optician said she really should, and specifically noted the astigmatism as well as the underlying farsightedness.

Any ideas? I've tried to encourage her to wear her glasses. They're actually quite stylish. Luckily she has succumbed to them for reading. I'm glad because earlier I would sometimes have to read things for her! However...I'm not seeing her keep them on consistently, not even for driving. She insists she can see fine.

I can't relate at all to her prescription because I'm pretty nearsighted. I don't have a choice--either glasses are on my face or contacts are in my eyes. I'm 39 and presbyopia hasn't yet arrived either. Our eyes couldn't be more different I suppose.

Bradley 28 Jun 2018, 19:17

Hey, right now the reading glasses are doing the job. I can see by the comments that I might soon bemwearing those damn bifocals----ok---I understand the day of bifocals might be coming soon. Check back with me in a few months and we shall see what the hell glasses I am wearing.

Boyce 28 Jun 2018, 07:58

Hi Bradley, I am a few years younger than you, but was also prescribed "bifocals" with a similar script. Had never worn glasses before. CJ is correct, presbyopia will make the bifocals/progressives a necessity. Let us know how it goes.

Cactus Jack 27 Jun 2018, 14:47

Bradley,

It is actually pretty common for the reasons I explained in my previous post. As long as you have enough Accommodation Range, you can do the +0.75 distance correction, internally, without being aware you are doing it. That is going to change as Presbyopia continues to creep up on you. Enjoy wearing the +2.25 OTC readers while you can.

Bradley 27 Jun 2018, 04:46

Thanks Mr. Cactus. So far, the OTC readers are working well. Print is so dark and sharp when wearing the glasses. Also, I can again see clearly when looking at my phone screen. Not happy about wearing glasses, but it is my reality.

Still not clear why I would be given a +.75 for distance----I can see fine for distance. Just wondering why so many people have posted here that they never wore glasses and came out of the eye doc visit with bifocals for hyperopia and presbyopia.

Cactus Jack 25 Jun 2018, 21:47

Bradley,

Thanks for the prescription. The +0.75 means that you have mild Hyperopia or Farsightedness and you may have more that your first prescription indicates.

Lots of people have Hyperopia, but don't know they have it. In fact, they often feel like they have better than average vision. The reason is that Hyperopia is the ONLY refractive error that you can correct internally, using your Ciliary Muscles and Crystalline Lenses. The Ciliary Muscles and Crystalline Lenses are the active parts of your "Auto-Focus" system.

Hyperopia and Presbyopia and how they interact with each other can be rather mysterious, but to make things more mysterious and confusing, there is also a phenomenon called Latent (or "hidden") Hyperopia.

It is very likely that these three things working together are going to cause you to need some prescription changes much sooner than you expect as you Ciliary Muscles get used to having some of their work done for them.

But first, lets talk about Latent Hyperopia. It is very likely that you have been using your Ciliary Muscles, which are very tiny muscles inside your eyes that squeeze your Crystalline Lenses to increase their PLUS power, to compensate for your Hyperopia. When you do that for a long period, maybe years, Your Ciliary Muscles can get to the point where they have trouble relaxing. When you start wearing PLUS glasses, that reduces the need to squeeze the Crystalline Lenses so much and your Ciliary Muscles can start to slowly relax. As that occurs over a period of weeks, two things will happen: 1. You may need stronger reading glasses and you may notice that your distance vision is not as good as it was.

If, at that point, you got another eye exam, it is likely that you would need more PLUS for distance and maybe a small increase in the reading prescription. You may wish that you had not started using the reading glasses, but honestly, that would not have worked, because Presbyopia is creeping up on you and there is absolutely nothing you can do about that. It may take a few months for everything to stabilize and you could need a prescription change or two until it does.

The good news is that it will stabilize and while your Distance prescription will increase, it probably will not go over about +2.00, unless you have a lot of Latent Hyperopia, and your reading Add will probably not go over about +2.50, unless you like to do some very close work. Even then it is unlikely to exceed +3.00.

I think you should consider ordering some glasses with your full prescription from an online retailer, such as Zenni Optical. I think you will be surprised at the low cost, high quality, and how easy it is. We'll be happy to help.

May I ask where you live and your occupation?

Bradley 25 Jun 2018, 14:33

Appreciate your thoughts Mr. Cactus. My prescription is +.75 add +1.50 for each eye. Not sure I understand fully why I need the +.75 for seeing at a distance.

Anyway, I picked up several pair of readers today-----+2.25.

Cactus Jack 25 Jun 2018, 09:39

Bradley,

Welcome to the club. Probably 99.9% of the human population of this planet have needed close focusing help at some point in their lives.

Bifocals were invented by Benjamin Franklin to solve the problem of misplacing reading glasses. If you are fortunate to be able to use Over the Counter (OTC) readers, you will need to find an inexpensive source. Ultimately, you will notice that you are constantly misplacing them or that they will never be where you are. The obvious solution to that is to buy many pairs and scatter them around your home and office. If you live in the US, many of the $1.00 stores offer very inexpensive OTC readers. If you need prescription readers, consider ordering from an online retailer such as Zenni Optical.

One nice thing about having reading glasses is that no one will notice that you can't see close things without them. Also, no one will notice that your arms have become too short for reading printed text. It will be your little secret. HA!

When you get tired of loosing your reading glasses or constantly swapping them, bifocals may begin to make sense for you. They are incredibly convenient, they are always handy and right where you need them. You might consider progressive "bifocals" if you are concerned about wearing a lined bifocal because of vanity issues. Both bifocals and progressives have pros and cons that depend to some extent on your visual environment. Some people have lined bifocals and trifocals for the work environment and progressives for social occasions.

Let us know if you have any other questions or comments.

Bradley 25 Jun 2018, 05:04

Sorry about the typos in the previous posts. Have trouble seeing the damn keyboard on my phone. Anyway, going to get some over-the-counter readers today.

Bradley 24 Jun 2018, 12:33

I have been resisting/denying my need for reading glasses the past several years. Finally at age 48, I gave up. Couldn't read my phone, struggling at work without bright lights, and in sim light---no way. Just went to the eye doctor for rendering glasses and he prescribed bifocals----what the hell? After reading this thread, it looks like this happens to many others. Bifocals----not ready for that; not yet anyway

Nora 20 Jun 2018, 18:55

Weirdeyes

Mom must look like an insect in those plussies.

Weirdeyes 20 Jun 2018, 16:59

My mom finally got a good prescription. People kept giving her too low prescriptions like +1.25 that didnt work for her. So she was forced to wear OTC reading glasses. She generally wore +2.00 for distance and +3.00 for detailed work. Her new prescription is +2.25 with a +1.50 add. The autorefractor was +3.25 with -0.75 cyl, but on the actual exam she had no cyl at all.

Boyce 19 Jun 2018, 11:41

Just an update. Have been wearing glasses for hyperopia and presbyopia for about two weeks now. No longer having problems seeing at a distance while wearing the glasses. Also, items on TV are now a bit fuzzy if I do not wear my glasses. Up close vision very sharp with glasses and nearly impossible without. No more asking my partner to read the menu for me.

Soundmanpt 15 Jun 2018, 08:35

Not so sure about being full of myself but I have only posted as myself.

15 Jun 2018, 08:25

nope - he didn't say that. Soundmanpt is so full of himself he only posts as himself

14 Jun 2018, 20:50

Soundmanpt

Are you saying that you did not make that previous post, and will continue to post at Eyescene, but that you have been posting as Carrie?

Soundmanpt 14 Jun 2018, 06:34

Not me and NOT going to happen. I will be here until there is no more eyescene.

Soundmanpt 13 Jun 2018, 21:51

My postings as Carrie, and tales of my sexual escapades with my perverted friends and our glasses will end. I have had it with eyescene.

11 Jun 2018, 23:27

I have one for you all. I think that Colin, and Carrie are the same person, as they both obsess over plus lenses.

Aubrac 09 Jun 2018, 05:37

Hello Boyce

My wife was prescribed glasses at age 38 and probably needed them much earlier so there is no need feel it is a 'getting old' thing, as it can occur at any age.

Her first prescription was lower than yours but a second test four months later was about the same as yours, and five months after it was +1.25 R and + 1.75 L.

Distance vision took a week or two to adjust to but was then much clearer and crisper, and of course the embarrassing 'can you read the menu for me' events were a thing of the past.

This was all ten years ago, and she has been a happy full time glasses wearer since.

Boyce 08 Jun 2018, 17:39

Soundmanpt, yes, I was surprised that I needed a distance correction, but that is the way it is---so I have been wearing my glasses constantly so that my eyes fully adjust to the correction. Also, no high heels here, but I do go down stairs and step off curbs, so I will be careful.

Charlie, much appreciate you sharing your experience. Like you, my close-up vision failed abruptly. 41 just seems young for this to happen. Oh well, am doing well with wearing the glasses full-time and my distant vision has become sharper. Will let you know if I need a prescription adjustment in the next few months.

Charlie_Delta 08 Jun 2018, 13:01

Hi Boyce,

After a long day at my office in front of a computer, I had a one-off incident where I couldn't see my phone, and needed it to input GPS info. Happened out of nowhere. This event, coupled with increasing instances of seeing blurry far away after sitting at a computer for hours, prompted an appointment. I didn't connect other symptoms to a refractive error: increasing sensitivity to oncoming headlights when driving at night, and massive headaches. All symptoms went away after glasses.

I didn't have trouble seeing far away with my first prescription.

I've found a lot of dialogue online from optometrists, saying that eyes don't get worse by wearing or not wearing glasses. I'm not sure this is true for hyperopia, as shortly after wearing glasses, my prescription went up +0.50 in both eyes, for distance, after only a month or so. It was a tough pill to swallow around this point in time, as glasses eventually became a necessity to see things up-close, in addition to driving. I wear progressive glasses full-time now and adapted pretty quickly.

Soundmanpt 07 Jun 2018, 05:49

Boyce

I'm assuming that you weren't too surprised to be prescribed glasses for near vision but were you surprised that you also need glasses to see distances as well? You didn't say if you're male or female but if you're female and wear high heels you should be very careful as you are going through the adjustment period because many women have taken bad falls because of their glasses. I'm sure that you have noticed that when you look down at the floor the floor now seems to much closer to your face than it really is. So be very careful on steps as well as curbs. The trick is not to look down when you're on steps or curbs. Your eyes seem to be making the adjustment pretty well for doing close work but you seem to still be adjusting to your glasses for distances? The best way to fully adjust is to wear your glasses constantly. You should start noticing that when you take your glasses off things should soon start looking more blurry to you without your glasses.

Boyce 07 Jun 2018, 04:40

Thanks Cactus for the information. When I ordered my glasses I chose progressives. So far the adjustment has gone fairly well. Working hard to get used to having the glasses on my face.

Thank you Charlie for sharing your experiences. Pretty wild that we are the same age and have almost the same prescription. So far, glasses have been great at work for near vision. A little more adjustment to the distance vision. At this point, not quite as sharp as I would like, but I understand their is a period of adjustment. Also, will consider your suggestion about reading glasses.

Charlie, I would be interested in what experiences/symptoms prompted you to get glasses.

Charlie_Delta 05 Jun 2018, 10:19

Boyce,

I'm also age 41 with your exact same prescription (including +1.50 ADD) in my right eye (slightly less sph in left). It hit me as a shock about 18 months ago.

If you started wearing progressives for the first time, Cactus Jack described what is probably most likely to happen. They call this bizarre phenomena "latent hyperopia." In a nutshell, your lenses will likely require additional power in a handful of weeks to again see clear at distance. Mine went up another +0.50 or so, to what yours basically is right now. The whole thing is incredibly weird and like yourself, it came out of nowhere (in my case, shortly after 40th birthday).

Another bit you've probably already realized: a single-vision pair of glasses for rear work (distance + your full add) is pretty essential if you work up-close a lot. I can see from around 15" to about 2.5-3' with this Rx. Distance is blurry with these glasses but at the office or on computer at home, or reading, it's much more comfortable than progressives.

Charlie

Cactus Jack 03 Jun 2018, 13:18

Boyce,

Almost everyone else has heard of this and millions (maybe billions) of people have experienced it.

Don't let the age thing get to you. All of us get to do it. I'm 80 and can do things my grandparents couldn't do in their 50s. With luck and the advances in medical science, you have a long way to go,yet. Hopefully, I have a few more to go also.

You have Hyperopia, which is the ONLY refractive error you can correct internally, using your Auto-Focus system (your Ciliary Muscles and Crystalline Lenses). Presbyopia actually stats in childhood, but does not typically become a problem until the late 30s or early 40s unless you do a lot of close work. These days, even Hyperopic teens often need focusing help to read the tiny text on smartphones.

You may also have some Latent (hidden) Hyperopia. That is a condition where your Ciliary Muscles have difficulty fully relaxing because they have been correcting your vision, probably for years. If you have some Latent Hyperopia. you may find that you need a bit more PLUS for distance. Deoending on how much Latent Hyperopia you have you may need 2 or 3 prescription changes before you distance vision is stable.

There is another thing that will happen is that your Add will increase as your Ciliary Muscles get de-conditioned and your Crystalline Lenses get stiffer because of Presbyopia. However, it is very unlikely that your will need more than a +2.50 add unless you need to or like to closer than a typical reading distance. The amount of PLUS you need to focus at a particular distance is easily calculated. Just divide the distance into 40 if you like to work with inches or 100 if you like to work with metric.. For example, if you like read at about 16 inches 40/16 = +2.50. 40 is not exactly 1 meter (39.37 inches), but it is close enough.

At some point, you may need trifocals or progressive focus lenses to help you focus at intermediate distances and at close distances.

The important thing is to not worry about it. Get and wear what ever vision correction you need. What ever you do, don't worry about what other people think. You wear vision correction for YOUR benefit, NOT theirs.

Welcome to the "club". Let us know if you have more questions.

Boyce 03 Jun 2018, 12:23

A few weeks back, I was in a restaurant and no matter how hard I tried to read the menu, it was a blur. My partner started laughing at me and telling me that I was getting old, as he read the menu to me. Old, I am only 41.

After a week of thought, I visited an optometrist. Yes, I did need glasses. Not only for reading close-up, but also for distance. Plus lenses for near and far. The doctor told me that I had been able to compensate for the farsightedness, but once presbyopia came along, I did not have enough focus power to overcome the farsightedness. Anyone else heard this?

Now I see the world through my right eye powered by +1.25 add +1.50 and my left eye +1.00 add+1.50. Yikes, my partner is right----I am getting old----but at least I can read menus.

Lou 02 Jun 2018, 11:13

Hi Cactus Jack

Thank you very much for taking your time to help me with the answer to my question.

With regards to whether I am familiar with the difference between absolute and relative values in the various elements of an ophthalmic prescription, probably not. I obviously understanding the meaning of the words absolute and relative. I also understand the difference between axial and latent hyperopia, but guess that you are talking about something different.

I live in England.

Cactus Jack 02 Jun 2018, 09:07

Lou,

I am working on a reply, but I have two questions.

1. Are you familiar with the difference between Absolute and Relative values in the various elements of an ophthalmic prescription?

2. May I as where you live (county)?

Lou 01 Jun 2018, 10:25

Hi Cactus Jack

I've been thinking about your post. I did realise that all the lenses in the eye system were plus. When I mentioned minus with regards to astigmatism, I was referring to single or compound myopic astigmatism.

I won't post his exact prescription without asking his permission and he is not at home, but my husband's prescription is approximately from memory, around:

R: -4.00 Sph -1.25 Cyl Axis 180

L: -3.50 Sph -1.00 Cyl Axis 180

My understanding is that he has compound myopic astigmatism. Although the cornea itself is a plus lens, owing to both meridians focusing in front of the retina, my husband requires minus correction in both meridans, differing by the amount of his astigmatism.

Going back to my question, I understand how the ciliary muscles can compensate for hyperopia, but wondered what would happen if the person had simple or compound hyperopic astigmatism rather than simply being hyperopic.

I fully understand that the ciliary muscles cannot correct astigmatism owing to them not being able to correct two different points of focus, but since they can compensate for hyperopia, I am wondering what happens in the case of someone who has either simple or compound hyperopic astigmatism.

For example in the case of someone with compound hyperopic astigmatism, since both axes are hyperopic, do the ciliary muscles tend to accommodate to try to improve the focus? I fully understand that the ciliary muscles can never correct for the actual amount of astigmatism, but what about the sphere component?

i.e. Lets say that a person has the following prescription:

R: +2.50 Sph -0.50 Cyl Axis 90

L: +2.50 Sph -0.50 Cyl Axis 90

My understanding is that they require a prescription of +2.50 at the 90 degree axis and +2.00 at the 180 degree axis. Although I understand that the eye can never correct for the +0.50 difference between the two axes, since both axes are hyperopic, can the ciliary muscles reduce the amount of plus needed equally for both axes?

What I mean, is that can the ciliary muscles provide a uniform +2.00 via accommodation in a young adult, leaving the difference between the axes as residual astigmatism.

i.e. Leaving a prescription as follows, which is basically reduced by the same +2.00 in both meridians, leaving the +0.50 astigmatism, since the eye cannot internally correct for astigmatism.

R: +0.50 Sph -0.50 Cyl Axis 90

L: +0.50 Sph -0.50 Cyl Axis 90

Hopefully this will make sense, and you will understand what I mean, even if I don't have this correct.

Lou 01 Jun 2018, 01:44

**** off

Lou 30 May 2018, 04:37

Here we go again with the troll who likes to re-post whatever greeting I put at the bottom.

Maybe you can put this one

**** off

You can chose what the asterisks stand for.

Lou 29 May 2018, 05:22

Best wishes

Lou 29 May 2018, 02:21

Hi Cacctus Jack

Very interesting, thank you very much.

Thank you very much for taking the time to write a long detailed reply, which was really appreciated.

Best wishes

Lou

Cactus Jack 28 May 2018, 18:44

Lou,

I saw it, but needed to think about your question. I believe you began with an incorrect assumption. Astigmatism where the curvature is steeper in one axis than it is in the other can only be PLUS. This is because the Cornea itself is a rather high PLUS lens with power that represents a significant percentage of the TOTAL PLUS power of the eye's lens system. NONE of the lenses associated with the eye are MINUS.

Remember, the "typical" (if there is such a thing) eye has to obey the laws of optics as codified by Sir Isaac Newton. The function of the eye's lens system is to focus images on the Retina, which, in a "typical" adult eye, is about 17 mm from the inset Crystalline Lens. Using Sir Isaac's formula: Len Power = 1000 mm / 17 mm or about +59 diopters, divided among 3 fixed or semi fixed power PLUS lenses and one variable power PLUS lens. The +59 is with the relaxed power of the variable focus, Crystalline Lens, for distance where the rays of light from distance objects are essentially, parallel. If an object is close, say about 40 cm from the eye, the light rays will be divergent and additional PLUS power will be required to converge the divergent rays of light to a focus on the Retina. In the instance where the target is 40 cm from the eye, an additional +2.50 diopters will be required from some source.

I started with an explanation of the lens system in an eye with no need for correction of any sort, because that is where the understanding of the optics of the eye start. It ideal eye has "perfect", distortion free lenses of the correct total PLUS power. Refractive errors are deviations from that ideal eye.

Hyperopia and Myopia are both caused by a mismatch between the TOTAL PLUS POWER of the eye's lens system and the distance from the back of the Crystalline Lens to the Retina. Either one can be caused by incorrect total power in the lens system OR the distance from the Crystalline Lens to the Retina. Myopia is caused by either too MUCH Total Plus or, more commonly, too MUCH distance from the Crystalline Lens to the Retina. Hyperopia is caused by either too too LITTLE Total Plus or, more commonly, too LITTLE distance from the Crystalline Lens to the Retina.

In nature, "permanent" Astigmatism is typically caused by uneven tension on the Cornea where the tension is greater on one side of the eyeball than on another caused by uneven growth of the eyeball. Astigmatism can also be caused by uneven development of the Crystalline Lens.

sThere can be other "temporary" causes of Astigmatism, such as uneven distribution of tears on the surface of the Cornea. Temporary Astigmatism can be caused by Dry Eyes, failure of the eye lids to completely seal when closed for sleeping and a few other things, which make if very hard to diagnose accurately. That is because by the time the ECP sees the patient, the situation has changed and likely the Astigmatism with it.

The Cornea is a very strong PLUS lens, somewhere around +40 in a typical eye. It is not possible to apply enough tension to significantly reduce its power to a MINUS value. All that happens is that uneven tension can reduce the Cornea's power some, but it will always be a PLUS lens. If Astigmatism is present, it will just reduce the PLUS power in one Axis (the long axis) without appreciably affecting its PLUS power in the short Axis that is 90 degrees from the long Axis that has reduced PLUS power.

The correction process is a combination of the Sphere correction and the Cylinder Correction done simultaneously, while keeping them isolated as much as possible.

The first Objective step is a general correction that considers both Sphere and to a limited extent Cylinder to get the prescription close. This step can be done with an Auto-refractior or by the ECP.

The second Subjective step is correction of any Astigmatism. Corrective Prescriptions and techniques are all human constructs that were created to facilitate accurate cylinder error determination and the subsequent making of external corrective lenses. It happened that two techniques were developed in determining the required Cylinder Power, one using PLUS Cylinder Lenses and MINUS cylinder lenses.

Remember that Sphere and Cylinder correction, while having two different causes are corrected simultaneously. That means if PLUS Cylinder is used, the final required Sphere correction will be reduced. If MINUS Cylinder is used, the final required Sphere correction will be increased AND the AXIS of the Cylinder correction will be different by 90 degrees.

Our current method of making lenses is to grind away unwanted lens material. The power of a lens is determined by the DIFFERENCE between the curvature of the front surface of the lens and the back surface of the lens. Lens makers typically start with a lens blank with a front surface curve already ground in of an appropriate Sphere value and then grind away the back surface evenly to achieve the Sphere Power. Then they grind away more lens material along the appropriate axis to form a MINUS cylinder lens. If the Lens maker has been supplied with a + Cylinder prescription, they will do a simple mathematical procedure that converts + Cylinder to - Cylinder and make the lens.

I hope this is helpful. I urge you to read up on how the eye is structured and the optical physics involved. How the eyes work and how vision works is truly amazing.

Lou 28 May 2018, 01:15

Hi Cactus Jack

I'm wondering whether you have seen my question.

Many thanks

Lou

Lou 26 May 2018, 05:12

Hi Cactus Jack

If you don't mind, I've thought of a question to ask you.

Regarding astigmatism, obviously it can be either hyperopic or myopic in nature, irrespective of whether a prescription is written in minus or plus cylinder form.

If a person has hyperopic astigmatism, either simple or compound, although the eye cannot accommodate to correct astigmatism, as it cannot accommodate the two different amounts required to correct the two different points of focus on the opposite axes, since the astigmatism is hyperopic in nature, can the eye accommodate to bring the less hyperopic axis in focus?

For example, lets say that someone has the following prescription when determined via dilation:

R: +2.50 Sph -0.50 Cyl Axis 90

L: +2.50 Sph -0.50 Cyl Axis 90

If I understand correctly, this person will have a refractive error of +2.50 at the 90 degree axis, and +2.00 at the 180 degree axis.

Could the eye provide +2.00 of accommodation to both axes, leaving as residule astigmatism, the difference between the two axes?

Making the prescription appear as follows?:

R: +0.50 Sph -0.50 Cyl Axis 90

L: +0.50 Sph -0.50 Cyl Axis 90

i.e. reduced by +2.00 on each axis

If so, the eye hasn't used accommodation to correct for astigmatism at all, and has merely used accommodation to correct for hyperopia, leaving residule astigmatism behind.

If this truly happens, could in the case of the example prescription above, the eye instead provide +2.50 of accommodation to both axes, leaving a residule prescription of:

R: Plano Sph -0.50 Cyl Axis 90

L: Plano Sph -0.50 Cyl Axis 90

i.e. the same residule astigmatism remaining, but this time appearing as simple myopic rather than simple hyperopic astigmatism, owing to accommodation this time correcting the most rather than least hyperopic of the two opposite axes?

Or in reality, does the eye just provide enough accommodation to get the least hyperopic axis emmetropic?

As a real life example, if memory serves me correctly, my mum has around -0.25/-0.50 astigmatism in each eye (I'm not sure about the axis). Again if memory serves me correctly, her first prescription for reading glasses at the age of 42, was something along the lines of

R: +0.25 Sph -0.25 Cyl Axis ?

L: +0.25 Sph -0.25 Cyl Axis ?

+1.00 Add

And now at aged almost 70, her prescription is around:

R: +1.25 Sph -0.25 Cyl Axis ?

L: +1.25 Sph -0.25 Cyl Axis ?

+2.50 add

It appears to me that she had +1.00 of latent hyperopia that was masked by accommodation, until owing to presbyopia she became unable to provide the +1.00 extra plus needed for distance.

Thanks very much

Lou 26 May 2018, 02:10

Hi Cactus Jack

Very interesting and informative, thank you very much.

Cactus Jack 25 May 2018, 17:47

Lou,

There is no way for anyone to compensate, internally, for Astigmatism. You can ONLY compensate for Hyperopia, IF you have enough remaining Accommodation, using your Ciliary Muscles and Crystalline Lenses.

Most Astigmatism is caused by uneven curvature of your Cornea. The exact cause is unknown because there appear to be several different things that cause uneven curvature.

Hyperopia is caused by a mismatch between the total optical power of the eyes lens system and the distance from the back of the Crystalline Lens to the Retina. The laws of optics apply here, as codified by Sir Isaac Newton, about 300 years ago. The typical emmetropic adult eyeball is about 25 mm in diameter. The typical total power of the eye's lens system is about +59 diopters and the distance from the back of the Crystalline Lens to the Retina is about 17 mm. The most common cause of Hyperopia is insufficient eyeball growth thru childhood and into adulthood. The actual amount of insufficient length is about 0.3 mm per diopter. If the total lens power is +59 in a Hyperopic eyeball, and the Retina is LESS than 17 mm, the image will focus behind the Retina. Additional PLUS is required to move the focus up to the plane of the Retina. That PLUS can be supplied by the Ciliary Muscles and Crystalline Lens or by external PLUS lenses.

Astigmatism presents a different problem. If Astigmatism is present the eye will have two different focus distances to the Retina, depending on the amount of Astigmatism and the Axis of the uneven curvature.

There are two ways to describe the uneven curvature, depending on the preferences of the ECP describing the corrective Cylinder lens. IF the ECP prefers - Cylinder, the Axis will be the Long Axis of the Cylinder Correction. If the ECP prefers + Cylinder, the Axis will be the Short Axis of the Cylinder Correction. The refracted Sphere number will differ depending on the Cylinder preferences of the ECP. There is a simple mathematical procedure for conversion between the two types of Cylinder description, but lens makers always use - Cylinder for making the lenses because they grind away lens material to create the power in the lens.

Your Focus Control System can attempt to compensate tor the blur caused by Astigmatism, but the effort is futile. The Ciliary Muscles can only affect the Sphere power of the Crystalline Lens by increasing its PLUS power from its very significant relaxed power value. The amount of the increase depends on the distance to the object and the constraints imposed by Presbyopia.

Hyperipia and Astigmatism are two very different refractive errors that have two different corrections that can be combined in 1 external lens.

Lou 25 May 2018, 15:28

Hi again

I also wonder where astigmatism comes into this. I have simple hyperopia astigmatism, so basically am emmetropic on one axis, and slightly hyperopic on the other, or at least present as such.

Considering what happened to both my parents and other older relatives, I expect to be revealed as having more hyperopia, when presbyopia starts and progresses.

If this is the case, and I do have a degree of latent hyperopia, since the eyes cannot fully correct for astigmatism, as they cannot accommodate two different amounts to make opposite axes both in focus, what is happening with regards to accommodation, or does no-one really know?

What I mean, is that if I do have latent hyperopia and no further masked astigmatism, what is happening with regards to accommodation? Without glasses, do my eyes accommodate to get the less hyperopic axis in focus, leaving the other axis hyperopic to the value of the astigmatism?

For example, if my parents are anything to go by, I probably have around +1.00 of latent hyperopia. If so, my true prescription would be revealed as:

R: +1.50 Sph -0.50 Cyl Axis 92

L: +1.25 Sph -0.25 Cyl Axis 85

If my eyes accommodate to overcome +1.00 latent hyperopia on each axis, it would result in my actual prescription of:

R: +0.50 Sph -0.50 Cyl Axis 92

L: +0.25 Sph -0.25 Cyl Axis 85

If this really was happening, would my eyes be accommodating to make the least hyperopic axis emmetropic, leaving the residule astigmatism behind, or does it not work this way?

Lou 25 May 2018, 14:43

Hi SC

Thank you very much for your post. All very interesting, thanks.

Yes, I imagine that I will turn out to be hyperopic, when I start losing the ability to accommodate. If not, I don't take after any of my relatives either side of my family.

I'm not sure whether society is developing more axial myopia or only more pseudo myopia. Regarding your idea that much of the recent surge in myopia is pseudo and will roll-off as presbyopia hits, I reckon that time will tell, and it would make an interesting study.

Lou 25 May 2018, 14:37

Hi Charlie_Delta

All very interesting, thanks very much.

I agree that hyperopia is often not diagnosed in the grey area to which you refer, and I believe that this is largely at least in the UK, owing to dilated exams not being routinely done. I have never had a dilated exam, and despite my son having been diagnosed with hyperopia at the age of four (he is adopted, so this is not owing to my family history), he has never had a dilated exam either.

I totally agree that myopes seem to have it much easier, owing to them not being able to accommodate over their refractive error.

Yes, I fully agree that hyperopes going to an eye exam for the first time in 15 years are probably extremely hard for an ECP to detect, and can leave with 20/20 (or better) vision and read lines the tiny text lines on the near card, without realizing they're under any strain at all.

My personal opinion is that if they are not feeling any eye strain that it doesn't matter, but that if a person is complaining of eye strain, that the ECP should consider and test for possible latent hyperopia.

Lou 25 May 2018, 03:42

Hi Charlie_Delta and SC

Thank you very much for your posts

Will reply properly when I have a moment.

Lou

SC 23 May 2018, 10:53

Lou, Charlie_Delta,

You've both hit on two key points: 1) brain; 2) genetics

The brain is very interesting - when I was first prescribed for hyperopia (+0.75 add 1.75) then within a few months I couldn't focus for distance and yet the effort required for distance (+0.75) was less than that for small print (+3 - 1.75 = +1.25) - so clearly the brain has a big part. This is also where varifocals come in - the impact on the brain is massive - you stop accommodating and start using different parts of the lens; you get used to things being in focus and stop tolerating blur. As I said before - if you try bi-focals after varifocals then they are difficult.

Genetics are also key - myopia has a lot of nurture but hyperopia seems mainly nature - my Rx is close to my mum's (before cataracts), my wife and both her sisters all have hyperopia - so Lou you can guess where you're heading. Your brain is probably happy with the +0.25 today - I know I quite happily used +1.25 for reading for almost 2 years even though this is less than my distance Rx today. So provided you feed the brain a bit then it is prepared to do much of the rest while it can.

I do wonder if as society gets more myopic then do we get less hyperopic. My son's teenage years were certainly myopia-friendly: lots of screen time, lack of sunshine etc but he has two hyperopic parents. Only have to wait 15-20 years to find out!! Personally I suspect that much of myopia is psuedo and it will roll-off as presbyopia hits - eg anyone under -2.0 could well end up without myopia.

Charlie_Delta 23 May 2018, 09:09

Lou et al,

An interesting topic indeed. And Lou, yes indeed. The simple terms are generally what is happening. As the delta increases between accommodation available and accommodation required, glasses etc. are generally required -- for (what I assume to be) the vast majority of the human race!

My point, which I want to clarify due to a botched sentence atop my previous post, is that it's actually rather interesting that we don't fully understand how the eyes/brain behave when that delta I speak of is still fairly small. That is to say, when natural accommodation is still available in spite causing discomfort, perhaps, at near.

In this grey area, hyperopia is often not diagnosed, I think, but after it is (and after refractive error correction is used), all sorts of changes seem to happen. It is these, that I don't think the medical research community fully understands. To clean up my botched sentence from my last post:

AFTER refractive error correction for the first time (in mid-age) -- particularly for the undiagnosed (lifelong) hyperope -- it seems as though refractive error correction precipitates varying degrees of physiological AND/OR neurological adjustment (for the "first-time wearer").

"Varying degrees" is a point frequently illuminated in the article posted by LT Lurker, which further draws to the overarching point I was making earlier: that here we are in the 21st Century *still* developing treatment methods/approaches based on new-ish discoveries concerning hyperopia -- especially early on in the presbiopic (is that a word?) process.

All in all, myopes sure seem to have it much easier. None of the above applies to the myope. As I understand it, in their case, a trip to the eye doc reveals a definitive and accurate prescription.

On the other hand, hyperopes going to an eye exam for the first time in 15 years are probably extremely hard for an ECP to detect, so they leave with 20/20 (or better) vision and read lines the tiny text lines on the near card, without realizing they're under any strain at all.

I for one never correlated the tension-type headaches with an eye issue. It was ultimately a few freak occurrences of total inability to focus on my phone in dim light that compelled me to schedule an exam about 15 months ago. Now OD +1.25 OS +0.50 ADD +1.50 and recently notice declination in naked-eye ability to focus at all, without correction. A weird journey to say the least.

Lou 23 May 2018, 04:01

Hi Charlie_Delta

All very interesting, thanks very much.

I believe that although appearing complicated, that optically it is very simple, and is dependent upon how much if any focusing effort is being used to see at distance, and that with regards to presbyopia, it will gradually effect progressively further distances, as the ability to naturally supply the extra plus needed decreases, until the point is reached when the eye can no longer supply any extra plus at all. At this point, your distance vision is totally dependent upon the level of hyperopia (I'm not talking about people with myopia) you have had throughout your adulthood. If you have always been emmetropic, you will not need distance glasses. If you have always been compensating for hyperopia, you will eventually need your full hyperopic prescription for distance.

I know what you mean about eyes not wanting to relax. I have a feeling if my family history is anything to go on, that I am compensating for hyperopia with regards to my distance vision.

As I've said many times, but to save anyone having to look it up if they are interested, my prescription is:

R: +0.50 Sph -0.50 Cyl Axis 92

L: +0.25 Sph -0.25 Cyl Axis 85

I used to wear my glasses for music, and long distance/night driving, but I had problems with my eyes relaxing.

My glasses would seem great first thing in the morning, but if I put my glasses on for the first time later in the day, I would sometimes experience slightly blurred vision in my right eye.

My optician said that my eyes were focusing over my prescription and not relaxing enough when I put my glasses on, and recommended full-time wear, especially since I also suffered from horrible eye strain. She was right. My vision is now very consistent, and my right eye has very sharp vision with my glasses.

My left eye which always consistently saw very well with my glasses, now seems a little under corrected. I don't think that my vision has really changed, probably that my left eye prescription has always been between +0.25 Sph -0.25 Cyl and +0.50 Sph -0.50 Cyl (I've historically varied between both prescriptions), hence why my left eye prescription still gave me very sharp vision with my eyes over focusing.

At 44, my near vision is starting to go, but I am holding on for now. I have a feeling however that the extra effort which I am using to focus at near, is keeping my ciliary muscles very strong, and that if I take after both my parents, especially my dad's side of the family, then once presbyopia really starts, my distance vision will also start to deteriorate.

With regards to younger people wearing an add owing to convergence insufficiency, if my own experience is anything to go by, this could be counterproductive. Owing to the relationship between convergence and accommodation, I need to be slightly under corrected at near, so that the extra accommodation required encourages convergence.

When after having my prescription increased from:

R: +0.50 Sph -0.50 Cyl

L: +0.25 Sph -0.25 Cyl

to:

R: +0.75 Sph -0.75 Cyl

L: +0.50 Sph -0.50 Cyl

my convergence insufficiency symptoms increased, my previous optician added 0.50 base in prism to my right eye, which tends to drift out.

Quite likely owing to the over accommodation issue which I mentioned previously, my prescription decreased back to:

R: +0.50 Sph -0.50 Cyl

L: +0.25 Sph -0.25 Cyl

and I opted to have the prism removed.

With the lower distance prescription, my eyes need to accommodate more at near, and I am experiencing very few convergence insufficiency symptoms. For this reason I am holding off getting a near addition. However, as my previous optician said, if I continue to rely on accommodation rather than prism to manage my convergence insufficiency, it will become rather a problem once my ability to accommodate decreases. I've decided to worry about it if/when it happens, and will wear prism then if needed.

Charlie_Delta 22 May 2018, 12:57

I find it interesting how little evidence-based research there is concerning hyperopia and its interrelation with presbyopia.

A rudimentary conclusion that mid-age eye changes, especially for undiagnosed lifelong hyperopes, are driven by a combination of neurological and physiological components.

Having said this, my own hunch is that hyperopic-presbyopes vary in the degree by which one, or both, of these components actually impact what they see (or dont see!).

As an anecdotal example that arrived by way of a friendly warning from username SC before I began experiencing it myself; it indeed does seem that my naked-eye vision is deteriorating, in spite Rx itself remaining steady. Thought it would be a fallacy to propose this noted declination is only in my head, I dont think this change is entirely physiological either. As example, without glasses now, I often see things initially out of focus, especially at near, but can sort of force-focus with effort. That, to me, sounds like a neurological change the brain doesnt need to flip on the auto-focus circuit akin to the torque of the jaws of life hydraulic life-saver tool.

In the physiological domain, its obvious that the root cause of presbyopia -- hardening of the lens its the catalyst that brings an unknown hyperope into the eye doc around age 40, but the neuro-physical interrelationship after refractive correction is used, seems to very much be a mystery.

Where it gets particularly interesting, for me, anyway, are the stories I read about on here involving persons in their 20s and 30s with bifocal adds of +1.50 or more. In these instances, my hunch is that lens pliability is not the cause nor catalyst. Eye muscles, more likely (e.g. convergence insufficiency diagnosis).

It all goes back to the remarkably complex brain-muscle relationship that we seem to not fully understand, and this, I believe, is what causes a LOT of life-long hyperopes to be miserable in front of a computer and not know the reason why. The headaches are totally normal. They go undiagnosed because their focus ability mirrors that of an olympic weight-lifter, and those muscles dont seem to want to relax at least not at first.

My annual intake of ibuprofen has decreased by 90% or more since figuring this out ;)

Lou 21 May 2018, 04:26

Hi LT Lurker

A very interesting article, thank you very much, especially the first section.

Lou 20 May 2018, 23:36

Hi Kris

Sorry, I didn't thank you for your post. Thank you very much.

Lou 20 May 2018, 16:21

Thanks very much, LT Lurker, I'll check out the article

Lou 20 May 2018, 16:20

Hi SC

To continue my previous reply.

Regarding the following from your post:

I agree with your idea, but not necessarily that you'll have an almost even chance of ending up needing glasses full-time for hyperopia, as a fair number of people seem to have near, intermediate (if they use a computer, read music or have other intermediate vision requirements) and distance prescriptions, and have separate pairs of glasses or bifocals/varifocals and still not wear them full-time. As I mentioned previously, my mum is a perfect example of this, wearing her bifocals for reading/knitting and driving/tv, and nothing in between, which leads me back to my comments on on middle-distance blur. Probably there is a big difference between needing and choosing to wear.

You are probably are right that people don't notice (or care), but I would have thought that people regularly using a computer/musicians reading music, would notice (and care), and I agree that without intermediate distance glasses, the middle distance from around 2m to 40cm is probably awful for older emmetropes. Since my almost 70 year old mum wears glasses of around +1.50 for distance and around +4.00 for reading, I imagine that she must complete all household tasks and eat all meals, in a relative amount of blur.

I'm not sure about further hyperopia progression as we age either.

Thanks very much again for your very insightful and interesting post.

LT Lurker 19 May 2018, 23:30

Hi Lou,

This article bears out what you have suggested regarding presbyopic hyperopes. The problem these laser surgeons had was in the area of latent hyperopia and how they were "surprised" at how much some patients over 50 had hidden.

https://www.ophthalmologymanagement.com/issues/2002/september-2002/hyperopic-presbyopia-weighing-the-surgical-option

I'm not sure that I would like to have these guys play around with my eyes!

A lot of people suggest the Donders scale of expected amplitude of accommodation is accurate.

Not at all if these anecdotes are to be believed.

Lou 19 May 2018, 12:25

Hi SC

Very interesting, thank you very much. Regarding your rule of thumb, I'm not sure if/how much it applies to me, since my small amount of hyperopia is simple hyperopic astigmatism rather than hyperopia overall, and as is the case with simple hyperopic astigmatism, I have a plano prescription in the opposite meridan.

I'm 44, and wear the following prescription full-time owing to eye strain caused by my eyes constantly trying to focus over my small amount of astigmatism:

R: +0.50 Sph -0.50 Cyl Axis 92

L: +0.25 Sph -0.25 Cyl Axis 85

I believe that my left eye prescription falls somewhere between +0.25 Sph/-0.25 Cyl and +0.50 Sph/-0.50 Cyl, as my prescription has switched between the two over the years.

I used to have a reading add, +0.25 from the age of 38, +0.50 from the age of 40, but my optician got rid of it when I was 43, as I got a separate pair of reading glasses with a +0.50 add, and only wore them once, as I found that they didn't even work for a distance as far as my lap top, which is the only the length of my fairly short arms away, and I found them too restrictive. She said that she could give me a +0.25 add, but she didn't feel that I needed it yet. Just lately, my close vision is starting to go, and I imagine that I will need an add when I am due to have my eyes tested next June, when I will be 45. As long as I don't hold small print too close, I can read it fine with my usual glasses and even without glasses, although it is slightly blurred, in the way that I find all distances slightly blurred without my glasses.

I agree that it makes sense, that if 25-30% of the population is myopic, a similar proportion will be hyperopic

To be continued

Kris 19 May 2018, 00:25

This hyperope only made it to 39 before needing progressives (and I was told at 38 I needed them, but ignored that information until I was desperate). I wore fulltime distance correction before getting the reading prescription. My most recent eye exam gave me the following prescription L+1.00, cyl -0.25, 5 BO and R +2.00, cyl -1.25, 5 BO with a 2.25 ADD. Ive just had a small astigmatism correction added to my L eye prescription and the cyl in my right eye just went up by 0.75.

Obviously Im not a straightforward hyperope, but many will have signs of presbyopia in their 30s. Its a fallacy that presbyopia only sets in after 40. Some peoples eyes have other plans.

Kris 19 May 2018, 00:25

Obviously Im not a straightforward hyperope, but many will have signs of presbyopia in their 30s. Its a fallacy that presbyopia only sets in after 40. Some peoples eyes have other plans.

SC 18 May 2018, 02:30

Lou,

Presbyopia impacts people with hyperopia different from emmetropes. People with hyperopia will suffer the impacts of presbyopia earlier the rule of thumb I use is that for each year before 45 that you first realise you need glasses to read indicated +0.5 hyperopia. I first realised when I was 41 so Im likely heading for +2.0, my wife was 43 & now +1.0 etc. Presbyopia isnt the cause it is the catalyst. It also isnt when you get the glasses either I manfully held out until I was almost 44 but it didnt benefit me in any way.

So most hyperopes will be discovered quite quickly in their mid to late 40s, others will hold out to later because they will still have 0.6-1.0 accommodation and so they can self-correct for distance problem of +0.5, say.

It makes sense to me that if 25-30% of the population is myopic, then a similar proportion will be hyperopic so the scary thought is that when you get to 40 and youre not short-sighted youve still got an almost even chance youll end up in glasses full-time for hyperopia! I know myopia rates are rising I wonder that will have a consequential drop off in hyperopia or whether a lot of it is pseudo and well have some myopes becoming hyperopes in later life.

I saw your comments on middle-distance blur I think the answer here is that people dont notice (or care). When my wife got varifocal lenses she hadnt realised how bad her middle distance was. It must be bad for older emmetropes too - perfect distance vision, great reading vision @40cm with glasses, but the middle-distance from around 2m to 40cm must be awful, I guess they dont realise it is a problem or that there are things they can do about it. For the same reason, as a varifocals wearer, when I tried bi-focals I found them very difficult distance was better, reading was better but what about all the stuff in between.

Lastly, I see people starting to wear glasses for distance when they are quite old my friends mother has just started with varifocals and she is around 70. They are weak, probably +0.5, but dont know whether this is due to some further hyperopia progression as we age, or just finally giving in to the problems shes had for the last 15 years

Cactus Jack 16 May 2018, 15:42

Meike,

It was just a thought.

At some point, you might consider Lasik, but think about that long and hard. At 18 it is possible that your prescription has not stabilized yet. For most people, their vision does not stabilize until they are in their 20s. It is typically NOT a good idea to have Lasik until after their vision has stabilized.

Have you experienced much of a difference in your prescription over the last few years?

Meike 16 May 2018, 08:56

JC, thanks for your information regarding US requirements.

@Cactus Jack thanks for your advice. I am not sure if I would want to experiment the way you described. Maybe I should let it go and just wear my glasses the way they are.

Lou 16 May 2018, 04:30

I have a question about Presbyopia, which I've thought of previously, and have been reminded about by a sighting, which I'll post later.

I fully understand how Presbyopia effects initially near vision then intermediate vision, but had not fully understood why both my parents and some of my older friends/band colleagues, initially started with reading glasses, then intermediate glasses, then distance glasses.

Following the sighting, I did a bit of research on google and found the following:

Will presbyopia affect my distance vision?

If you are emmetropic (perfect-sighted), presbyopia will only affect your ability to see close up (reading, for example) and middle vision (using a computer, for example). It does not affect your distance vision, so you will still be able to drive without glasses.

If you are hyperopic (long-sighted), as you get older and the lens stiffens, both your distance vision without glasses and your near vision will become worse. You will then need to wear separate glasses for both distance and near vision, or have bifocals or varifocals, to see clearly. Your optometrist will tell you which applies to you.

From:

https://lookafteryoureyes.org/eye-conditions/presbyopia/

Although not strictly stated in the article, if I understand correctly, which now that I think about it makes perfect sense, that before presbyopia starts, people who are long sighted to a small degree, are able to self correct it by using their ciliary muscles to provide the extra plus they need, which is greater at near, than at immediate than finally at distance, hence why they start needing glasses for these distances in this order, finally needing distance glasses, when their crystalline lens has become so stiff (possibly also their ciliary muscles so weakened), that they can no longer even provide the relatively small amount of plus that they need for distance.

In the case of my father, this makes perfect sense. He has three sisters, who all wore glasses for hyperopia as children, one full time and the other two for reading. The older two now wear glasses full-time, most likely varifocals. My Dad's mother wore glasses for hyperopia full-time from as far back as I have seen photos of her. My Dad didn't wear glasses at all until aged around 45, whereas my Mother started wearing reading glasses at around 42. My Dad's eyes deteriorated quickly, and he started wearing glasses for driving around aged 47, whereas my mum was around 52.

If I am understanding correctly, adults whose presbyopia has progressed to the point that they need glasses also for driving, have effectively spent their earlier adulthood with latent hyperopia, which has naturally been uncovered once their eyes are no longer able to provide the extra plus needed even for distance.

Considering the number of people I know who go on to need glasses for driving after starting off with them for reading in their early/mid 40s, is it truly the case that large numbers of people are self-correcting latent hyperopia, and it is actually pretty common, or is something else going on which I am not understanding?

To put it another way, if a person starts needing plus glasses for driving between around 50 and 60, did they always need this extra plus for distance and their eyes provided it (i.e. they had a degree of latent hyperopia), or do they start needing plus glasses for driving for another reason? If so, I can't optically understand this. Could it be owing to the start of cataracts for example, creating a refractive error? I have no real idea over and above someone with cataracts wearing glasses for near, owing to the glasses magnifying things and making them easier to see.

Oh, and to the troll, you have won in that I am not going to put my usual sign off greeting or name at the bottom, as I can't be bothered to see you impersonating me. I really hope that it makes you happy, to have stopped a 44 year old from being their usual polite self, and it makes you feel good about yourself.

JC 15 May 2018, 04:39

I work in the airline industry and am familiar with U.S. requirements. No (U.S.) airline I have heard of has any specific vision requirements now for flight attendants. I know some with very high prescriptions -- some with contacts and some with glasses. I even know a few with smaller prescriptions who don't wear anything at all and are seen squinting all the time. Really for an emergency evacuation it isn't an issue. I'm -4 myself and often do -9 GOC, and I think leading an emergency evacuation would be easy even at an uncorrected -9. One can easily open the emergency exits and know where passengers are to shepherded them out -- you don't have to be able to recognize their face or even identify their gender, just see there is a body there that needs to get out.

If anyone is curious about the pilot requirements, again just speaking for the U.S., it is 20/20 corrected at near, intermediate, and distance in each eye separately and together, along with a host of other things such as depth perception, color vision, peripheral vision, and strabismus. If flying in international airspace a pilot must carry spare corrective lenses but domestically even that isn't required. I know one pilot who wore -11 contacts and was also occasionally seen wearing her glasses flying -- and attractive too, defiantly worthy of the sightings thread when she wore glasses! As much as we might like to fantasize otherwise glasses and contacts are pretty reliable and for someone to start a flight with a pair of glasses in good working order to not finish it the same way would be unusual.

Cactus Jack 14 May 2018, 20:12

Meike,

This idea would be a bit of an experiment. I would not normally suggest it, but at 18, there might be a possibility.

Your prescription indicates that your Left Eye with the +3.00 in Sphere is Hyperopic. Your Right Eye with the -1.00 in Sphere is Myopic. Typically, both Hyperopia and Myopia are caused by a mismatch between the total PLUS power of each eye's lens system and the length of the eyeball from the back of the Crystalline Lens and the Retina. The distances involved are very small, about 0.3 mm per diopter. In your situation, it is likely that your Left Eye did not grow quite enough, by 0.9 mm and your Right Eye grew about 0.3 mm too much.

Your eyes develop independently as you grow from childhood. Typically, the eyes track pretty much together, but they don't have to. Because of your age I am wondering if you can Induce some Myopia in your Left Eye without appreciably affecting your Right eye.

You mentioned that you would like for both eyes to be Plus. Unfortunately, that won't work because it is impossible to Induce Hyperopia. That would require that the eyeball shrink. Eyeball growth, like bone growth, is a one way process.

If you want to try stimulating your Left eye to grow some you would need to order glasses with reduced PLUS in your Left lens.

You might start with +2.50 in Sphere to see if you can tolerate it. Then +2.00, +1.50, etc.as you get used to each reduction. If you feel very comfortable with a reduction, you might consider going down 1 diopter.

My suggestion would be to order inexpensive glasses and frames, online from an online retailer such as Zenni.

I frankly have no idea if it will work, but if you order low cost, identical frames, the changes will not be noticeable to others. Try to NOT increase the Minus in your Right Eye.

Soundmanpt 14 May 2018, 07:43

Interesting topic. I well remember when I was young and before the days of contacts lenses if a young lady wore glasses at all even very weak glasses she couldn't be an airline stewardess. Back then that is what they were called and only women were hired for that job. I think they even did yearly eye exams and if a stewardess went from having perfect to needing glasses she laid off or fired. The airlines thought it was safety concern because of how critical it would be for stewardess to be able to assist passengers in getting off the plane in an emergency. And if the stewardess glasses were to come off or get broken she could be too impaired to be of any help to passengers and need help herself with getting off the plane. They finally started to relax the rules a bit and stewardess were allowed to wear glasses as long as their vision without glasses was still considered as being good enough to see with helping others. So I would assume maybe something like being at least at 20/40 for passing your drivers vision test was used. Several months ago I had to fly out of town and I couldn't help but notice that 3 of the flight attendants were wearing glasses. I managed to get a pretty good look at all 3 of their glasses. Two of them I could tell wore glasses that were clearly not more than maybe -1.75. But the 3rd young ladies glasses were much stronger and i'm sure without her glasses she would have a difficult time seeing much of anything and would need help finding her way off the plane in an emergency. This was Southwest Airlines so they surely don't have any restrictions about wearing glasses.

By the way all 3 were quite attractive.

Meike 14 May 2018, 07:34

Crystal Veil

Yes I know, but did pay my 50 at Pearle to do the eye exam only.

I used the info to order my glasses online.

Leuk dat je ook Nederlands bent

Crystal Veil 14 May 2018, 00:25

Meike,

in my experience, most opticians in the Netherlands are reluctant to prescribe glasses to anyone with your prescription. They say that the difference between both eyes is above the limit to get a satisfactory result (vision wise). I have exactly the same prescription as yours and they always tried to talk me into contact lenses. Opting for one contact lens instead of two would solve the cosmetic problem and also give you better vision. Glasses of +3 on both sides give you a completely different look. You might even consider trying a +4 contact lens for the left eye and wear -1 glasses for a bit of variation. A longsighted or a shortsighted look, depending on the mood of the day. Ze zullen vast wel meewerken als je het op die manier uitlegt. Succes er mee!

Meike 13 May 2018, 04:33

Is there an indication that I wasnt positive? All major dutch airlines pretty much have the same requirements. I dont know if I should go the way Catus Jack suggests, but Id like to see his other option as well.

NNVisitor 12 May 2018, 23:09

It's important to be absolutely positive about an airlines vision restrictions if one desires to be a flight attendant. Keep in mind that different airlines have different requirements. Their key concern is that in an emergency where glasses may be broken or lost or contact lens have to be removed or pop out the flight attendant can still see well enough to save lives. An emergency situation may never happen however airlines always have to be ready in case they do.

Meike 12 May 2018, 22:28

Thanks again Cactus Jack. The KLM requires you to not have glasses over -5 or+5. That would still work. I do agree that wearing contacts may be a problem during long flights.

Cactus Jack 12 May 2018, 06:16

Meike,

Maybe, It depends on the optician. They might suggest contact lenses for both eyes. However, before you embark on this, you might want to check on the vision requirements of the airline.

Many years ago, airlines would not hire Flight Attendants who wore glasses. I don't think that applies today.

However, one consideration about wearing contact lenses is that cabin humidity in pressurized Jet aircraft is typically low. Often, contact lens wearers experience discomfort on long, high altitude flights.

May I suggest investigating the airline requirements before we go too far with this. I have an idea that does not involve contact lenses that might work at 18.

Meike 11 May 2018, 22:30

Cactus Jack,

Would any optician cooperate with this?

I have never worn contact lenses.

Cactus Jack 11 May 2018, 20:39

Meike,

If you wear a +4.00 contract lens on your Right eye, your glasses prescription would beL +3 cyl -025 110 R +3.

Have you ever worn Contact Lenses?

Cactus Jack 11 May 2018, 20:30

Will,

You still did not mention your age. That is important. Most people, who don't normally wear glasses find that as they reach 40, their arms get too short for them to be able to focus on the text. If they are trying to read the very small text on smartphones and tablets, it may happen before they reach 40. If they are a little Hyperopic (farsighted) it might even happen at an earlier age.

Vision actually occurs in the brain, the eyes are merely biological cameras. The +1.00 glasses will make text a little larger and blacker, but it also relieves you Ciliary Muscles of some of their workload. Your brain can also correct slightly blurry images, if it knows what something is supposed to look like.

If presbyopia is truly becoming a nuisance AND you wear the +1.00 glasses when you are reading AND you read a lot. Your Ciliary Muscles will begin loosing their tone pretty quickly. Probably in just a few months you will want to go up to +1.25 or +1.50.

Many people who don't need glasses for distance or have exceptional distance vision actually have what is called Latent (May or hidden) Hyperopia. Hyperopia is the ONLY refractive error you can correct internally, using your Ciliary Muscles and Crystalline Lenses, typically without your even being aware that you are doing it.

A clue that you may have some Latent Hyperopia is when you first put on the +1.00 glasses, everything beyond 1 meter or about 40 inches is a bit blurry. But, if you have been reading a while with the +1.00 glasses and you look at something in the distance, it is less blurry than it was earlier.

May I as a few specific questions?

1. What is your age?

2. What is your occupation?

3. Do you use a computer display in your work?

4. About how many hours per day do you read or use a computer?

5. Where do you live? (country)

Meike 11 May 2018, 09:17

Cactus Jack,

Thanks for your reply. I will do my best to answer your questions.

1. Id like both eyes to be plus

2. May I ask your age? 18

3. Your Occupation: stocking shelves in a supermarket, but go to school to become a flight attendant.

4. Where you live? (country) the Netherlands

5. Can you provide your complete prescription? L +3 cyl -025 110 R -1

Hope this helps.

Will 11 May 2018, 07:44

Thank you CJ for your response. Yes I have a lot of questions. I don't yet know what it is like to "need" glasses to read. Although I got the (+1.00) readers and they make the print a bit bigger and darker, I don't feel that I need to use them as I can see ok without..unless I wear them for a while and then I take them off. I can still read ok, but I notice the softer blacks and only slight blur (which I didn't have before)on very tiny print. So it seems, according to my friend, that if I continue to use them my ability read without glasses will go, I will NEED them. AND she says that over time, for her about 2 years and 2 increases later she went full time...distance too. I presume that if I don't use the readers I will eventually need help with close, but don't want to rush that. Is there any rule of thumb as to how long it takes for the muscles to "decondition" till I can't read without? Do readers cause worsening distance vision too? What to do? Thanks for enduring my rant.

Cactus Jack 10 May 2018, 23:02

Weirdeyes,

A while back, I devised a Simple Prism Test. I have posted it here and also on vision and spex on several occasions. The test is based on Sir Isaac Newton's definition of 1 Prism Diopter as that amount of prism, which will bend a ray of light 1 cm at a distance of 1 meter.

The test is fairly easy to perform, but it does take some preparation using some adding machine paper tape, a marking pen with a wide tip, a tape measure that is about 25 feet or about 10 - 15 meters, depending on which unit of measure you prefer, and some easily removable painter's tape.

You have to calibrate the paper tape to match the selected distance, from which you will be observing.

Here is he test. You might want to repeat it over several days as Ben did.

SIMPLE PRISM TEST

It is not hard to measure the amount of prism it would take for full correction. All it takes is some adding machine or cash register tape, a marking pen, some painters or masking tape (ideally with very weak "stick-um" for easy removal) and something to measure distances.

It is a little easier to work with metric measurements, but you can do it also with inches and feet. You just have to do a little more math for conversions between the two.

This test is based on the definition of 1 prism diopter as: "That amount of prism that will deflect a ray of light 1 cm at a distance of 1 meter (100 cm)".

Ideally, this test is done without any prism correction in your glasses, but you need to be able to see some calibration marks on the adding machine tape with reasonable clarity. If you can't see the marks without glasses, you can still do the test, but you must account for the prism in the glasses.

1. Select a fairly blank wall that you can attach the calibrated adding machine tape to, using the painters or masking tape.

2. Decide where you will stand or sit while doing the test. Between 3 and 4 meters or 10 and 14 feet works best. Measure the distance from that location to the wall selected in Step 1.

3. Calculate how much displacement 1 prism diopter represents at the distance measured in Step 2.

4. Using the marker, mark the adding machine tape with major divisions 5x the distance calculated in Step 3 and optional minor tick marks at 1 prism diopter intervals. The marks need to be big enough to see easily from the distance in Step 2. You might want to identify the major divisions as 0, 5, 10 etc. Note: Some large bold markers will bleed through the adding machine tape and permanently mark the surface you are using as temporary backing for the adding machine tape. Test and take appropriate precautions to prevent damage by the marker ink.

5. Attach the adding machine tape, stretched out horizontally, to the wall selected in Step 1.

6. On another short piece of adding machine tape mark an arrow lengthwise and attach that piece of tape to the wall, vertically, so the arrow is pointing at 0.

You are ready to do the test.

7 Place yourself at the location selected in Step 2, let your eyes relax so you see double and note where the "0" arrow appears to point in the displaced image. Try this test several times during the day and at varying degrees of fatigue. Make a note of your results.

8. If you are wearing glasses with prism, adjust the readings in Step 7 for the total prism in the glasses.

This test will work with horizontal prism (Base Out or Base In) or vertical prism (Base Up or Base Down) by the placement of the long tape and short tape. Often both horizontal and vertical prism exist at the same time.

Note: It is sometimes difficult, if small amounts of prism are involved, to tell if the prism correction needs to be Base Out or In, Up or Down. You may be able to tell by noticing which way the images are displaced when you block the eyes alternately. For example, if you cover the right eye and the image from the left eye is on the left, you probably need more Base Out.

Please Let me know if you have any questions and if this works for you.

Weirdeyes 10 May 2018, 19:46

Cactus Jack

How do you measure prism? A while ago people told me I have an exodeviation of 8 diopters. Right now I have glasses that are one prism diopter in each eye. I can still go without the prism. Im starting vision therapy very soon. They want me to wear glasses that have only half a prism diopter in each eye.

Cactus Jack 10 May 2018, 16:41

Ben,

I don't think there is any way to predict where your need for prism will wind up. 25 is reasonable.for this test. ECPs typically try to prescribe the least prism possible. The rule of thumb that many ECPs seem to use is to prescribe 1/2 the measured value. I would not get very excited about 6 or 7 BO in each eye. I am wearing 7/7 BO while I write this at 6:30 pm. However, if I get very tired, I may have to switch to some glasses that have more prism to not have double vision. There is such a thing as Fatigue Esophoria.

One of the problems you run into with prism is that making glasses with significant t prism seems to be a lost art. My experience has been that if when you get above about 10 prism diopters in each eye, Visual Acuity seem s to suffer a bit. It was this loss of VA that caused me to dig deeper into optics and vision. I have a theory about why the VA decreased, but have never been able to confirm it. Some people don't seem to notice it.

Ben 10 May 2018, 13:04

Hi Cactus Jack,

Thank you very much for your detailed response. The explanation of VT is helpful. I suspect that one would need to do it persistently to main fusion without prism correction, since they eye muscle would become "untrained" again?!

In any case, I followed your advice and did the prism test over a few days (in order to establish a somewhat reliable measure). In fact, most of the issues I have with visiting eye doctors is that they usually judge prisms based on a single test, as opposed to a series of tests.

I believe I did everything correctly, and the results of the test point to an eso deviation of around 25 prism diopters, so considerably higher than my current 6BO! In your estimation, is that realistic? I didn't believe this at the beginning, but repeating the measurement over multiple days did not make a difference (-/+ 2 dptr).

Looking at the results, my deviation is around 4x the current value. In your experience, would this roughly be the end of the journey, or is that likely to increase even further if I start to increase the current correction?

Thank you for your explanations! They are very helpful to get a better grasp of strabismus.

Ben

Cactus Jack 10 May 2018, 12:47

Meike,

There is a 4 diopter difference between your Right and Left eye. That can cause a difference between the two lenses in your glasses and a difference in image size on your retina. Unfortunately, there is no simple way to make the lenses in your glasses appear the same except by wearing a contact lens on one eye, if you prefer glasses or wearing contact lenses with different prescription for each eye.

May I ask a few questions?

1. If you decide on glasses, would you prefer both eyes to have + lenses or - lenses?

2. May I ask your age?

3. Your Occupation?

4. Where you live? (country)

5. Can you provide your complete prescription?

Answers to the above affect our suggestions.

I understand your desires, but a difference between the prescription in each eye is pretty common. Usually, if is less than 4 diopters, but sometimes it is even more than 4 diopters.

Meike 10 May 2018, 07:57

Hi, I recently got glasses L+3 and R -1. I love wearing glasses, but dont like the uneven look. Is there a way to make my glasses look more even?

Cactus Jack 09 May 2018, 21:59

Will,

Pretty typical starting place.

You did not mention your age. That is important, but it does not spell the whole story.

Probably 99.9999% of the human population develops Presbyopia (literally Old Eyes). Presbyopia actually starts in childhood, but does not typically become a problem until the late 30s or early 40s. The idea that 40 is the "magic" age is a myth. It depends very much on your genes and your vision.

Your eyes have a built in "Auto-Focus" system consisting of the Ciliary Muscles and the Crystalline Lenses. In childhood your Crystalline Lenses have the consistency of freshly made gelatin dessert. The very tiny Ciliary Muscles in your eyes can easily squeeze your Crystalline Lenses to increase their already considerable PLUS power even more to effortlessly focus very close. The amount of extra PLUS you need to focus close can easily be calculated by dividing the distance from your eye to the target book or display into 40 if you like working with inches or 100 if you like cm. For example, a typical reading distance of 16 inches or 40 cm requires an additional +2.50 to focus.

As you get older, the Crystalline Lenses get stiffer and at some point it is harder for the Ciliary Muscles to squeeze them and it is very tiring to squeeze the Crystalline Lenses for focusing close. At that point, you need a bit of external PLUS help. If your need +2.50 to focus at say 16 in/40 cm OTC readers can supply +1.00 and your Ciliary Muscles and Crystalline Lenses can supply the other +1.50. However, there are two downsides.

The most obvious one is that the +1.00 glasses have the optical effect of making your a bit Nearsighted or Myopic, which makes distant things blurry. The more important downside is that the OTC glasses relieve your Ciliary Muscles of some of their workload and they get less exercise than they normally would. For their size, they are the strongest, best exercised muscles in your body. Like all muscles, if you don't use them, they loose their strength and conditioning. Between the stiffening of your Crystalline Lenses and de-conditioning of your Ciliary Muscles, Presbyopia will seem to increase rapidly. The stiffening process occurs slowly, but the de-conditioning of the Ciliary Muscles happens much faster. As occurred in your co-worker.

I hope this helps, but I suspect you have more questions.

Will 09 May 2018, 07:13

So I did ok at my exam but the dr said if I use glasses when I do a lot of close work I would find it relaxing. Presently I When he put the card on the stick for the close test I could read the bottom line, but as he clicked the machine I remember the small print becoming more clear by the click. Although I can see close ok without glasses, I do tire easily while reading.

He said the downside to getting glasses for close is that they would blur everything far away, which what happened when he removed the card from the pole. He said for now I could use OTC but not from a $ store. He said to find a pair that say +1.00 or if I want +1.25. Is that a normal starting prescription? I used them mostly at home and he was right. When I took them to work a co-worker told me that when she started wearing readers but within 5-6 months she couldn't read without them, and that would likely be the case if I keep wearing them. Then she said within a year or two when I think I might need them stronger they will add in a prescription for distance. When she got hers, at first the distance wasn't clear but soon she was full time, and now can't live without them. How can I know if this is typical and if this is the road I am on.

Cactus Jack 06 May 2018, 18:12

Ben,

I did not answer all your questions.

With out your glasses, You will have better vision in your Right eye because it has the least refractive error and requires the least accommodative effort to compensate. Because of your Astigmatism and need for -2.00 Cylinder, your vision is probably pretty blurry without correction.

There are 3 muscle pair (6 muscles) on each eye, they move in opposition because fundamentally, muscles can only contract (pull) and relax. They have no ability to "push". One pari moves your eyes left and right, another moves them up and down, and the 3rd moves your eyes obliquely.

Eye position is controlled by what I call the Eye Position Control System (EPCS) in your brain. Signals from the EPCS travel to the muscles over the Cranial Nerves.

Eye misalignment can be cause by problems in the EPCS, the Cranial Nerves, or what is called Muscle Imbalance. Double Vision problems can be caused by any of the 3 or any combination. Muscle Imbalance is typically the "catchall" because it is rare to be able to locate the actual cause or causes, unless it is related to an obvious brain injury.

There are only 3 ways to correct double vision issues. Glasses with Prism, Muscle Surgery which may or may not work, or Vision Therapy which may or may not work.

Vision Therapy for double vision is pretty simple. you can even build the rig your self. It is typically a fairly long looped string with a small ball or large bead (target) attached. You loop the string around a "distant" drawer pull or similar object and move the target from close to away from you while tracking it with both eyes. You should have little problem fusing the images of the target when it is close, but as you move it away from you it will get harder to keep the target fused. The idea is to try to strengthen the Lateral Rectus (outside) muscle and weaken the Medial Rectus (inside) muscle.

Part of the problem you will have is that the difference in strength is small. The easy solution is to just wear prism in your glasses, but there are downsides that you have discovered and some you may not have realized.

Unfortunately, Prism tends to increase. I believe that there are two elements involved in this increase, but please remember that I am NOT an ECP. My background is Electronics and Computers, but I have been dealing with Double Vision and Prism for about 40 years and learning all I can about it. I have tried Therapy, Muscle Surgery, and Prism.

One of the two elements are that the EPCS seems to be very adaptable. Ideally, the EPCS is "happy" with the eyes pointing straight ahead for distance, but it is very easy for the EPCS to adapt to the eyes being converged or diverged when relaxed. The other is that when you wear prism that allows your eyes to turn inward, it soon become the relaxed position and when you focus close, your eyes have to converge more from there which strengthens the inside muscle and relaxes the outside muscle.

People who are Hyperopic sometime have a problem that further complicates the situation. There is an interconnection in the brain between the ECPS and the Focus Control System. This interconnection is beneficial because it causes the eyes to converge when you focus close, so you don't see double. A person with uncorrected Hyperopia may experience a tendency for their eyes to converge, even when they look at distant objects, because they have to add PLUS internally to clearly focus distant objects. This can be exacerbated by Astigmatism, because no matter how hard the Ciliary Muscles are commanded to focus the image, it can't

Vision Therapy is typically offered by Therapeutic Optometrist or perhaps Pediatric Ophthalmologists. They also work with adults who have Double Vision problems.

You asked about Double Vision when you look to the side. That can be caused by one eye "hitting the stop" before the other one. If the Central Axes of Vision is parallel, your eyes may reach the limit (the stop) of their side to side motion at about the same time. When the Axes are not parallel, one may hit the limit before the other.

Another thing to remember is that the EPCS is an amazing system. Think about what it has to do. In engineering terms, it is an Open Loop servo system. It uses the images from each eye as its primary input It appears to try to match vertical edges in the images for adjusting eye position, horizontally and horizontal edges for adjusting eye position, vertically. When it gets it right, the images are fused and the visual cortex can construct a 3D image in your brain. If it can't identify sharp edges to match up, the eyes either wander or the brain ignores one image by closing one eye. That is one reason sharp focus is desirable to minimizing double vision problems.

It is typically not necessary or desirable to fully correct double vision issues. All that is often necessary is to get the images into the ECPS's "range" and it will do the rest. A rule of thumb ECPs use is 1/2 the measured prism.

I hope I have not confused you too much.

It is not uncommon for people with Hyperopia to need some focusing help before they reach the mythical age of 40

Cactus Jack 06 May 2018, 16:57

Ben,

You can use your glasses with prism you just need to allow for for the prism you are wearing.

For example, if you do the test with a total of 6 BO and you measure 10. your total prims will be 16 BO.

Determining which direction the Base needs to be can be a little tricky. You know that you need a total of 6 BO. Try covering each eye individually and notice the relationship of the images. With BO prism, the image from the Left eye will appear to the Left of the Image from the Right Eye.

I hope this helps.

Josue 06 May 2018, 13:11

Don Lemon looks great in his lined bifocals

Ben 02 May 2018, 14:57

Hi Cactus Jack,

Thank for your explanation. This is quite helpful. I think you are right. My eyes tend to cross as far as I know (and can see without glasses).

Given the choices, I guess prisms in glasses is my current option. I find it hard to imagine, but how does Vision Training work? I know about the patching of one eye for younger people, but I don't think that is what you mean.

Regarding your questions, I will answer those in the same order:

1.) Prescription

The glasses I am wearing have the following prescription:

Left: +2.5 sph, -2.25 cyl, 3BO

Right: +2.0 sph, -2.0 cyl, 3BO

One observation: Even though both eyes nearly have the same prescription, my right eye has a better uncorrected vision if that makes sense. So, if without glasses, I always close my left eye.

2.) Country

Sweden

3.) Age

36 years

4.) Duration of prism wear

I have worn prisms for around 5 years now.

5.) Why is was prescribed prism

I was prescribed a prism in my right lens when I had trouble reading (problems focusing). Even though it was only addressing the reading problem, I quickly needed it at all distances, but could still function with contacts.

6.) Occupation

Teacher

7.) Sports

The sports involve jogging, swimming, diving and climbing. Especially for jogging and climbing depth perception is quite important.

8.) Head injury

I never had a concussion on my head. In fact, in the beginning I didn't have any double vision problems.

I hope that gives you sufficient detail about my situation. In the past I have seen a number of ECPs (I moved a lot), and many had different suggestions, but all prescribed prisms.

I found your prism test on this site. I will try to give it a go, but I need to see if I have some glasses without prisms that are somewhat useful.

Thanks,

Ben

Cactus Jack 01 May 2018, 21:23

Ben,

I am not an Eye Care Professional, my background is Electronic Engineering and Computers. I have been wearing BO prism in my glasses for over 30 years and have experienced what you described about double vision and studied the problem from an engineering point of view for many years.

Over Convergence can have several causes. It is often referred to as Muscle Imbalance, but it can have other causes.

Each eye has 3 opposing muscle pairs. One pari moves the eyes left and right, another pair move the eyes up and down, and the 3rd pair moves the eyes obliquely for a total of 12 muscles. There are nerves, called the Cranial Nerves that go from your Eye Position Control System (EPCS) (my name) in your brain to the Eye Positioning Muscles. If you think about how you can move your eyes and also how you CAN'T move your eyes, it becomes apparent that the EPCS is VERY sophisticated.

Strabismus, which is the general medical name for any condition where your eyes don't track properly. Over Convergence can have causes in the ECPS, the Cranial Nerves, or actual difference in the strength of each muscle in a muscle pair, which is true Muscle Imbalance. It is likely that you have a subset of Strabismus called Esophoria, where your eyes try to turn inward, but with effort and concentration, you can sometimes force them to track together and fuse the two images. Esophoria can be a nuisance and even a hazard if you loose fusion at an awkward visual moment, as it did for me on a dark night on a black top country road where there wear very weak visual clues. Scared me badly. It was not the first time my eyes broke fusion, but never before in a dangerous situation. As you did, I closed one eye and was able to navigate the road safely until I reached civilization and lights that allowed me to fuse the two images and keep them fused.

I believe I can help you understand what is happening and perhaps give you some ideas about what to do. However, there are really only three things that can help the situation.

Prism in your glasses

Vision Therapy

Eye Position Muscle surgery

If the problem is caused by the Cranial Nerves or the EPCS, the only "simple" surgery that can be done is on the muscles.

May I ask a few questions?

1. What is your complete prescription?

2. Where do you live? (country)

3. What is your age?

4. How long have you worn prism in your glasses?

5. What were you symptoms that prompted your ECP to prescribe Prism?

6. What is your occupation?

7. You mentioned sports, which ones?

8.. Have e you ever had a concussion or serious blow to your head?

I would also like to suggest a "Simple Prism Test" I devised. You can do the test at home with a few simple items, if you are interested I will post it. The test will give you an idea of how much prism you need and what to expect in the future.

I look forward to your response. If you would prefer to discuss this privately, you can contact me at cactusjack1928@hotmail.com

Ben 01 May 2018, 09:26

Hello,

I am farsighted and have 6BO prisms in my glasses and always wear some sort of correction due to considerable astigmatism. In summer I usually wore contacts for sports activities, but now this time after a long winter period during I had only worn glasses, I think I can no longer wear those.

While I still can pull my eyes straight (with or without correction), I can only do this consciously and for a short amount of time. So basically, my eyes are constantly falling back into double vision, which is even worse with contacts, because I now have two sharp images. When I look to the left or right I have constant double vision and cannot fuse the images at all. I don't have any glasses without prisms with my current correction, so I don't know if that is different.

I had been wearing this corrections for a few years now, but I pretty much have to close one eye all the time when not using the glasses. Knowing that I cannot even do basic things without glasses anymore makes me feel quite impaired.

Is that normal, given my low amount of prism correction? Is is possible that my somewhat latent deviation has become permanent?

I thought this would only be the case for stronger prescriptions...

SC 29 Apr 2018, 08:11

Onlooker,

The brain is very powerful. I can repeat this but with glasses - so left eye under corrected, right eye over corrected so can't see with either but crystal clear with both. Brain just seems to need enough info the construct the image.

Possibly suggests that your wife's eyes are uneven.

Onlooker 25 Apr 2018, 00:01

My wife was testing her eyes while reading a book. She noticed that she could see nothing with her eyes individually while she could see just fine to read with both her eyes open. I should mention that anneye test have that she needs +2.50 for close up vision while she can function fairly well without correction apart from difficulties with very small print. Any explanations ? Thanks

Onlooker 25 Apr 2018, 00:01

Lou 23 Apr 2018, 18:08

Best wishes to all genuine readers.

Lou 23 Apr 2018, 09:40

Here they go again.

What is wrong with people on here?

I've got better things to do than to just post either Best wishes or All the best.

Shame they haven't either.

Anyway, now that I've pointed out to genuine readers that these posts are not from me, I have no intention of feeding the troll/trolls any further.

Best wishes to all genuine readers.

Lou

Lou 23 Apr 2018, 06:09

Best wishes

Lou 23 Apr 2018, 04:50

It looks like someone has impersonated me, after my last genuine post, for what reason however, I cannot imagine.

Best wishes

Lou

Lou 23 Apr 2018, 01:00

All the best

Lou 22 Apr 2018, 23:19

Hi Brian

The following link shows that J2 is equivalent to 20/30:

https://spie.org/publications/fg04_p19-20_visual_acuity?SSO=1

All the best

Lou

Brian 22 Apr 2018, 18:41

I'll be 40 in a few months and when I went for my annual exam a few weeks back, the doctor suggested Anti-Fatigue Lenses which have a +0.60 add at the bottom. When they did the near vision testing I'm at J2, not sure what the equivalent of 20/20 is for that and when they tried a slight plus add, the whole near chart was easier to see an a bit bolder and brighter. I got them a few days ago and they were really easy to get used too.. The doctor thought by starting with these now, it will be easier to adapt to progressives in the near future. The near work is more comfortable, probably also a combination of the anti-fatigue lenses and the increase in my prism that went from 7BI to 8BI in each eye. Distance Script is -6.00 and -5.50.

Lou 21 Apr 2018, 11:31

Hi Maxim

Great story! Thanks very much for sharing. You make a very good point. As I've said quite a few times, my optician suggested wearing my very small distance prescription full-time, when I last visited her in June of last year, reporting that I experienced a lot of eye strain without my glasses, but that my glasses would sometimes seem too strong when putting them on for the first time later in the day. She explained that my eyes were straining without my glasses, and because they had been straining all day, they then found it difficult to relax when I did put my glasses on. She recommended full-time wear to stop the cycle of eye strain followed by eyes not relaxing sufficiently with my glasses, and it turned out to be very good advice. I now wear my glasses as soon as I get up until I go to bed (except obviously for in the shower), I've had no more eye strain, and more importantly, my vision is now very consistent with my glasses.

To get to my rather long point, I asked my optician what my uncorrected distance vision was, and she said 6/6 in each eye, which equates to 20/20. With glasses my vision. is 6/5 +1 in each eye, which she said is the whole 6/5 line + one letter from the 6/4 line. With 6/5 being equivalent to 20/17, and me being able to read one letter from the 6/4 line, which is equivalent to having 20/13 vision, I guess that with glasses I see around 20/15.

Now that my eyes are fully relaxed by wearing glasses full-time, I have a feeling that my worst eye (right) with the +0.50 Sph -0.50 Cyl may only barely manage 20/20 vision, or may not quite achieve it.

However, I am pretty certain that if I was to leave my glasses off for a few days, that I could be pretty certain of achieving 20/20 vision in each eye.

In terms of visual acuity, it could be deemed that my distance vision does not need correcting, but as my optician says, 6/6 is the minimum level of normal human distance vision, and there are some people (and she is one), who with best correction cannot see better than 6/6. I however am capable of seeing 6/5 with best correction, and suffer with eye strain when I am prevented from seeing as well as my eyes are able, by uncorrected astigmatism.

At least in my experience, a small amount of uncorrected astigmatism can cause a fair amount of eye strain, even if the uncorrected distance vision is 20/20.

All the best

Lou

----------------------------------------------------------

Hi all

Going back to Caitlin, all we know is that she was prescribed reading glasses with the following prescription:

R: +1.00 Sph -0.50 Cyl Axis 100

L: +1.00 Sph -0.50 Cyl Axis 100

We presume that her distance vision without glasses is 20/20, since she has not been prescribed glasses for distance, but since as my personal experience demonstrates, a person with a small distance prescription can have 20/20 distance uncorrected vision, it is entirely possible that even with 20/20 uncorrected distance vision, that Caitlin does have an albeit not prescribed distance prescription, and in fact we know that she does, since

the -0.50 Cyl Axis 100 components to her reading prescription will also be in her distance prescription.

What we don't know is whether her distance prescription has any value under the Sphere column, only that without her distance prescription, she apparently has 20/20 distance vision.

Best wishes

Lou

Maxim 21 Apr 2018, 07:37

Hello Lou,

I totally agree with you. And these intermediate distances (playing an instrument etc) are another issue.

Years ago, visiting one of our bigger cities, I came across an advertisement. A young couple of ambitious opticians would open their shop, and they offered vision testing for free. I went there, and to my surprise, the vision testing took nearly an hour instead of 3 or 5 minutes.

The result was a 20/10 (equal to 200 percent) vision.

How is that possible? I have mentioned this earlier in our discussion: I am lucky, that my eyes perform a very detailed resolution. All the other opticians were satisfied, when I had reached the 10/10 = 100 percent ratio.

Unfortunately, they proposed a complicated prescription, and the glasses they would make would cost more than 1000 $ - I shouldn't say that I couldn't afford them, but within a family their are other priorities more urgent than daddy's 200 percent vision. But, not surprising, those opticians would not give away the prescription, and I could not go to a cheaper shop then.

Caitlin might have something similar - a super vision, uncorrected still reaching 100 percent, but corrected, it might be at 110 or 120, avoiding stress caused by astigmatism etc.

Lou 21 Apr 2018, 03:06

To further complicate this issue, things aren't always as easy as they first seem.

I first visited an optician at the beginning of 2010 at the age of 36, after experiencing difficulties with reading music.

He diagnosed convergence sufficiency and prescribed prism in addition to the following prescription:

R: +0.50 Sph -0.50 Cyl Axis 90

L: +0.50 Sph -0.50 Cyl Axis 90

Add +0.50

Notice that this equates to Caitlin's reading prescription, but with an axis of 90 rather than 100.

I found this prescription useless for reading music at a distance of one metre, so he removed the reading add, and asked me to come back in 3 months.

This time he prescribed:

R: +0.25 Sph -0.25 Cyl Axis 90

L: +0.25 Sph -0.25 Cyl Axis 90

Add +0.25

I didn't like the prism either and wanted to try the prescription without prism, but he said that he wasn't able to do this.

I admit that I photocopied his prescription which was on white paper, tippexed out the prism and went to another optician and had glasses made.

I got on ok with the +0.25 add, but decided to try just my distance prescription without the add, telling the optician (which was true anyway), that I experienced a lot of eye strain, and would like a distance pair of glasses to wear when I had eye strain.

I found the distance pair better for music.

At my next eye test at my new opticians, my prescription was changed to:

R: +0.50 Sph -0.50 Cyl Axis 95

L: +0.25 Sph -0.25 Cyl Axis 80

Add +0.25

It was determined that my distance prescription, as I had already discovered, is better for reading music at a distance of 1 metre, and I have had only my distance prescription since, which I now wear full-time, owing to eye strain and my eyes finding it hard to relax with my prescription after not wearing my glasses.

I had to read without glasses a couple of days ago, since I was at the hairdressers and putting my glasses back on would have been difficult. Although I can read ok without glasses, it is not very comfortable, and it is surprising how much having a small amount of uncorrected astigmatism, blurs the text.

My current distance prescription is:

R: +0.50 Sph -0.50 Cyl Axis 92

L: +0.25 Sph -0.25 Cyl Axis 83

Although my glasses are distance glasses, if my prescription is written out in + cylinder form, it is:

R: Plano Sph +0.50 Cyl Axis 2

L: Plano Sph +0.25 Cyl Axis 173

In this form, it becomes more easily apparent that my prescription is only for astigmatism.

As I've found from personal experience, astigmatism affects vision at all distances, and was the explanation for my difficulties with reading music, in addition to convergence insufficiency which I have also had help with in the form of eye exercises.

Anyway, going back to Caitlin, since my first prescription was virtually the same as hers, but I had a small positive sphere in negative cylinder form, I believe that it is completely possible that she also has a +0.25 or +0.50 distance sphere, and that just like what happened to me in 2010, she was prescribed reading rather than distance glasses, owing to her reporting difficulties with reading.

Returning to me, I feel that since I was only 36 and reporting difficulties reading music at 1 metre (3.28ft), that the optician should have realised that this wasn't a near vision issue, and should have prescribed just my distance prescription, even though it is very small.

I'm not for one minute saying that the reading difficulties which Caitlin initially reported to her optician had anything to do with her having 0.50 of uncorrected astigmatism, but in my case, my music reading difficulties were.

In the case of my first optician, I feel that it would have been helpful if he had considered this possibility, rather than just prescribing a reading add.

All the best

Lou

Lou 21 Apr 2018, 02:12

Hi Soundmanpt

Re:

Soundmanpt 20 Apr 2018, 08:20

Lou

No, no, no You're not understanding that Caitlin did get her eyes examined and aside from a slight bit of CYL her distance vision is perfect.

I'm extremely sorry, but I don't see where Caitlin specifically says this. Sure, she has been prescribed glasses for reading and not for distance, but I'm again very sorry, but I don't believe that this necessary has to mean that her distance Sphere is plano.

I don't believe that Caitlin has posted again since her first post, and that the only way of solving this once and for all, is for her to ask her optician for her distance prescription which he has considered too small to prescribe. It would have been much easier in my opinion if her optician had given her her distance prescription plus reading add, rather than writing out her reading prescription in full.

All the best

Lou

Maxim 20 Apr 2018, 13:52

Caitlin's remark:

"..... however, I dislike taking them on and off when I need to see far ..."

".... when I need to see far ...." - how strong is that add?

Just not used to the slight blurr of a +1.00 add, or is the add stronger than +1.00?

Maxim 20 Apr 2018, 13:45

I am prepared, that some people would hate me, but I insist:

We don't know about her distance prescription - we only know the eye practioner's proposal for the reading / near vision prescription.

We don't know about her precise very low distance prescription - only the correction of the very low astigmatism is for sure - when for reading, it is usually the same value and axle as for distance vision.

You might have a very fine structured eye (like in photography, a 24 million pixel camera chip compared with a 10 million pixel chip, e.g.), that gives you still a 10/10 or hundred percent vision in spite of the small astigmatism, perhaps you might reach 12/10 or 120 percent with glasses, but for that they don't really care.

So, don't worry too much about these issues.

Maxim 20 Apr 2018, 13:32

1. The vision test is made for distance vision, not for near vision.

2. Prescribing near vision lenses is usually not a test of its own, it is an estimate of the eye practioner based on the result for distance vision correction.

After the test for distance vision been completed, he/she is asking for the typical distance for reading and near distance work, and takes in account the previous near distance correction, or, in the case of 'beginners' their complaining about near vision shortcomings, and observing (!) the patient/customer - e.g. what is his/her distance over the smartphone screen?

If this near vision distance is already not less than 65 cm (2 feet approx.) and there is no need for distance correction, a +1.00 or +1.25 add might reduce this to 40 cm approx., and the customer/patient is happy with this result.

Soundmanpt 20 Apr 2018, 12:18

By now with everyone telling her something different i'm sure she has no reason to believe me or anyone else in here. So we both can agree at this point she should ask her optometrist to write down the prescription for progressives so she can wear her glasses full time without effecting her distance vision. Then she can let us who was right and who was wrong.

JC 20 Apr 2018, 11:19

Soundmanpt:

The distance RX you are proposing, 0.00 -.50 X 100, has 0 power at an axis of 010 and -.50 power at an axis of 100, and a spherical equivalent of -0.25. Since she had no complaint about distance vision why would we expect a slightly myopic prescription? A better guess, which is still just a guess since we don't have enough information, would be +0.25 -.50 X 100, which would have a spherical equivalent of zero.

A though experiment: if she had come to us and said she had reading glasses with an RX of +0.50 +.50 X 010 and wanted a multifocal prescritpion what would you then have suggested?

Caitlin: Please realize that as far as I am aware there are no professional eye care providers here. Some are advocating one thing, some another, and some are suggesting you ask your doctor. In any case I don't think there can be any argument against asking your doctor.

Soundmanpt 20 Apr 2018, 08:20

Lou

No, no, no You're not understanding that Caitlin did get her eyes examined and aside from a slight bit of CYL her distance vision is perfect. And her CYL isn't bad enough that she would need glasses to correct. She only has a weak prescription for reading which is only +1.00. So even her reading prescription isn't very much but she doesn't want to be looking through +1.00 glasses when she is looking at something in the distance and at the same time she doesn't want to be taking off and putting on her glasses all day long when she is switching from reading from a book to looking at the board across the room. So she in my opinion is being very smart by by wanting to order a pair of progressives on-line. Her glasses shouldn't cost much more than around $55.00 depending on which site she uses and she will be able to wear her glasses full time comfortably. The top part of her glasses won't have ANY SPH just the CYL and axis. The add segment will have the +1.00 she needs for reading as well as the CYL and axis. The way I wrote out fro her to order her glasses the right way and all these other ways are wrong. The only correction that she would have in her glasses would be her CYL and axis. No SPH number at all because she doesn't have any need for SPH for distance.

Lou 20 Apr 2018, 05:48

Hi Caitlin

Your optician most probably first determined your distance prescription (which in your case is small enough not to be needed, but will have the -0.50 Cylinder 100 Axis part of your reading prescription, since astigmatism correction is the same for both near and distance), then added the extra Sphere which you need for near.

A reading prescription can be written out two ways, as your distance prescription with a + add value, which is the same for both eyes, or written out in full, with the add value already added to the distance Sphere, which appears to be the case with the prescription you have posted.

You need to ask your optician for your distance prescription.

For bi-focals to be readily available, especially in the UK where I am from, the reading prescription needs to have a Sphere at least +0.75 stronger than the distance Sphere.

If for example, your distance prescription was:

R: +0.50 Sph -0.50 Cyl Axis 100

L: +0.50 SPh -0.50 Cyl Axis 100

Add +0.50

Which would equate to a reading prescription as follows:

R: +1.00 Sph -0.50 Cyl Axis 100

L: +1.00 SPh -0.50 Cyl Axis 100

Since the reading Add is only +0.50, bi-focals would only be available from selected lens manufacturers.

However, without asking your optician, nobody here knows what your distance Sphere is. If it is +0.25, plano (which means zero if you are not over familiar with eye prescriptions, or a small minus value such as -0.25 or -0.50, bifocals or progressives will be readily available and a possible option.

I hope that this will help.

Best wishes

Lou

Soundmanpt 18 Apr 2018, 17:28

EyeTri Maxim and JC

Okay for the last time what Caitlin is wanting is very simple and you're all confusing the hell out of her. She is a school teacher and she recently had her eyes examined and was prescribed a weak prescription for reading glasses. Caitlin has decided that rather than getting her glasses made up as readers and either having to take them off every time she looks ups up from a book or other reading material or seeing things slightly blurry in the distance if she leaves them on, she would rather get progressives so she can keep her glasses on all day if she wishes. So she apparently doesn't have any prescription for distance at all. So she wants the top part of her glasses to be clear except for her slight CYL (astigmatisms) she has CYL effect vision at all distances including distances so she should still have that in her glasses. SPH doesn't mean plmno and never has. I have ordered hundreds of glasses and some with plano for the SPH. Every prescription slip I have ever seen shows that as SPH - plano

The way i wrote it out on 16 April 2018 08:07 is exactly right. and what she needs and wants for her glasses. What you wrote EyeTri what you wrote down isn't even possible to go into Zenni and order like you have it written. If you don't believe me try it. Try acting like your ordering glasses with the numbers you wrote down and you will see it won';t work.

Lou 18 Apr 2018, 15:34

Hi Maxim

Thank you very much.

Your statement, "" ... when you can read the little consumer protection paper in the 'Aspirin' box at two feet only (50 or 60 cm), than it is time for the first reading lenses - the beginners' glasses", sounds a good description.

My near point for small print unless the light is very good, as moved out to around 15 inches/38 centimetres, so not great, but manageable.

All the best

Lou

Lou 18 Apr 2018, 15:34

Hi Maxim

Thank you very much.

My near point for small print unless the light is very good, as moved out to around 15 inches/38 centimetres, so not great, but manageable.

All the best

Lou

18 Apr 2018, 12:48

I would say: buy them, try them out, and then you might decide not to use them every minute of near vision tasks.

A 20-second-look on the shopping list? No.

But:

hours and hours of office work (I don't know about your job) - then this is the border between using and not using a near vision correction, the glasses might be a relief, protecting against headaches and eyestrain, especially with the correction of the astigmatism component.

Good luck, best wishes!

Maxim 18 Apr 2018, 12:24

Hi Lou,

I agree with everything you're writing. Eyes and vision requirements are very, very individual.

I would concentrate my statement on this sentence alone - without the remark about the age - some have this experience at the age of 28, some can still cope with this task at the age of 48 or 50 - this is the central task of near vision (if not repairing a wrist watch):

" ... when you can read the little consumer protection paper in the 'Aspirin' box at two feet only (50 or 60 cm), than it is time for the first reading lenses - the beginners' glasses".

Sue 18 Apr 2018, 08:59

Hi Sue

I don't to be honest think that there is necessary any truth in what Maxim has told you (no offence meant to Maxim). I'm 44, and from March 2014 to February 2017, I had a +0.50 add as part of my prescription that I never had filled, finding my distance prescription as shown below, to be better for reading music at a distance of around 1 metre. When I had my eyes tested in February 2017, my optician gave me an option of a 0.25 add, that I again chose not to fill.

R: +0.50 Sph -0.50 Cyl Axis 92

L: +0.25 Sph -0.25 Cyl Axis 85

I therefore could have been wearing a prescription much the same as yours since March 2014, if I had a pair of glasses made up with the +0.50 add, especially since my left eye prescription was +0.50 Sph -0.50 Cyl at one stage.

I've however not yet felt the need, and it has been a lot longer than the six months that Maxim suggests.

If you don't mind saying so, I think that your age and what you reading add is (the prescription you give is your distance prescription (which you presumably do not need, but has a least a -0.25 cylinder and 100/150 axis component) would be of interest.

In my honest opinion, you'll know when you need reading help, and I'd hang on as long as possible, as wearing reading glasses tends to speed up the deconditioning of the ciliary muscles responsible for squeezing your crystalline lenses to focus up close, since the reading glasses take away some of their work load.

As I said, I'm 44. In the last few months, I've found that I need to hold small print further away, and there is a slight delay in my focus switching back for distance after reading for a short while.

I'm however hanging in there until it becomes a problem. Quite possibly I have the timescale progression which Maxim mentioned, but years down the line after first being prescribed a reading add, and you don't appear to have yet noticed any problems with reading close.

I get a lot of eye strain and other visual symptoms which mean I wear my very small distance prescription full-time. Possibly this is allowing me to hang on a little longer regarding needing reading glasses, but I'll address it when I need to.

If you have no symptoms, I'd recommend putting off wearing reading glasses as long as possible.

All the best

Lou

Maxim 18 Apr 2018, 08:12

Coming back to your question ...

"So, what are "beginner readers?" ..."

This expression refers to the fact, that most of us (or even all of us) develop difficulties with accomodation, that is the capacity of the eye, to adapt the vision to closer objects.

You are a 'beginner' now. A baby or a very young child can easily adapt to objects as close as four or five inches (10-15 cm approx.).

The age between 35 and 40 is regarded as a critical point for near vision, and when you can read the little consumer protection paper in the 'Aspirin' box at two feet only (50 or 60 cm), than it is time for the first reading lenses - the beginners' glasses.

These necessities increase, and a bit typical are the figures below:

at 45 yrs around +1.50,

at 50 yrs around +2.00,

between 55 and 60 rising to +2.50, +2.75 or +3.00 -

all these figures against the personal figures of uncorrected vision.

That means, a farsighted person wearing +3.00 might need a +6.00 correction for reading at 60 yrs.,

a nearsighted person wearing -3.00 could just read without glasses, etc.

Maxim 18 Apr 2018, 07:52

In 6 months' time, you will need a bit more in strength, no matter, if you use them or not. And in a year or in 18 months, you will be unable to read, or you can just read for ten seconds without the lenses' help.

The glasses of an optician's shop are better for your eyes, as they correct more precisely than those readers, you are buying in the drug store. They are a correction for astigmatism (the second figure in the prescription) and they are individually correcting each eye (the drugstore readers come equal for left and right, and without the astigmatism correction).

Sue 18 Apr 2018, 07:04

What are "beginner readers?" For the heck of it went for a special a local had on exams. After doing the distance part and close card, flipping a bajillion lenses, the Dr gave me a prescription for what he called "beginner readers". It says +1.00 -.25 100 for one eye, and +1.00 -.25 150 for the other. He said if wear them for reading I should find my close vision more comfortable. I got them, and when I put them on they really don't make much difference, till I take them off.

He suggested I come back for a re-check in 6 months or so. So, what are "beginner readers" and should I use them if I can read ok without them...or should I try for 6 months and judge then? Thanks.

JC 17 Apr 2018, 14:16

I agree with Maxim. With the given information we don't know the distance vision and the following three prescriptions would all have the same reading portion:

+0.25 - .50 X 100 add 0.75

0.00 - .50 X 100 add 1.00

-0.25 - .50 X 00 add 1.25

Incidentally "SPH" means spherical lens, or a lens with no cylinder component which is why you see it substituted for 0.00 in the CYL column only. For example on my left eye I wear a -4.25 SPH or a spherical lens of -4.25 diopters. In the case we have been talking about writing SPH in the sphere column would not be correct, as this prescription describes a cylindrical lens, not a spherical one.

EyeTri 17 Apr 2018, 12:43

Maxim,

I don't know if you've ever worn or bought lenses for a bifocal prescription , but I was not incorrect. What I put down is exactly how my optometrist would have written Caitlin's prescription as a bifocal.

To an optician SPH means plano (no prescription). On a prescription card this is followed by the cylinder correction value and then the axis for this cylinder correction. Then the ADD for near correction. This is what I did.

As she will be new to wearing bifocal or progressive glasses she should start with this modification of her doctor's prescription and see how that works for her. If it doesn't work well, she will have a stating point.

Maxim 16 Apr 2018, 16:41

To Caitlin:

Based on your prescription for reading

R- +1.00 -0.50 100

L- +1.00 -0.50 100

your bifocals or varifocals would be:

R sph 0,00 / cyl -0,50 100 degrees add 1,00

L sph 0,00 / cyl -0,50 100 degrees add 1,00

when your reading addition is 1,00;

R sph - 0,50 / cyl -0,50 100 degrees add 1,50

L sph - 0,50 / cyl - 0,50 100 degrees add 1,50

when year reading add was defined as 1,50;

or even

R sph - 0,75 / cyl - 0,50 100 degrees add 1,75

L sph - 0,75 / cyl - 0,50 100 degrees add 1,75,

when you did not complain about distance vision deficits and the optician is against wearing glasses.

So, from here we cannot decide what your distance vision requirements are. Ask the optician about that!

Maxim 16 Apr 2018, 16:24

EyeTri, I am sorry, but what you are writing is incorrect:

R SPH -0.50 100 ADD +1.00

L SPH -0.50 100 ADD +1.00

"SPH xx,xx 100" is just nonsense, as 'sphere' does not come with an axis.

Maxim 16 Apr 2018, 16:18

It is only a guess, that her reading prescription is just an add of +1.00.

It might be a +1.25, a + 1.50 or even a +1.75 (I don't think, that it would be a +1.75 for the first reading prescription).

But it would be a better idea to ask for the vision test for distance vision. On the other hand, many opticians here start with the distance correction, and ask then for the preferred reading distance, then making a + adjustment to the distance correction.

EyeTri 16 Apr 2018, 16:13

Soundmanpt,

What I put down for Caitlin is NOT incorrect. SPH means Plano. The rest is in the order they appear on a prescription card. Any optician worth his pay check could make the correct lenses from what I put down.

Maxim 16 Apr 2018, 16:10

Cathlin's glasses are not non prescription for distance, the astigmatism should be taken in account, and then they are prescription lenses.

It's a very low prescription indeed, but looking carefully you see the difference, e.g. grid structures on fences or tiles on roofs.

Soundmanpt 16 Apr 2018, 08:07

Caitlin

The prescription "Eye-Tri" is suggesting i believe is incorrect. Ypu're wanting the top part of your glasses to be non-prescription for distance and the bottom segment with your reading add. So it should be as follows:

O.D. SPH Plano CYL -.50 axis 100 ADD +1.00

O.S. SPH Plano CYL -.50 axis 100 ADD +1.00

EyeTri 16 Apr 2018, 01:49

Caitlin,

That bifocal prescription would be:

R SPH -0.50 100 ADD +1.00

L SPH -0.50 100 ADD +1.00

That could be made as either lined bifocals or progressives.

Kris 15 Apr 2018, 22:04

I think its a fairly easy prescription to get in progressives. If you dont have a distance prescription the optician just uses Plano lenses for the distance portion. I know several people whove gone this route after battling with the glasses on/glasses off/ where are my glasses routine.

Caitlin 15 Apr 2018, 16:45

I am a first time poster; I am a junior high teacher who was prescribed reading glasses; however, I dislike taking them on and off when I need to see far. The prescription is as follows:

R- +1.00 -0.50 100

L- +1.00 -0.50 100

Can I get this prescription made into progressive lenses?

Cactus Jack 15 Apr 2018, 08:40

adam,

Almost any time now, unless he is a bit Myopic. Low Myopia is like having built in reading glasses.

The idea that a person automatically needs close focusing help at 40 is a myth. Presbyopia, which is a gradual stiffening of the protein that makes up the Crystalline Lens, actually starts in childhood, but it typically does not become a nuisance until around 40. However, there are several factors that can affect when a person needs focusing help.

One thing that everyone should do in the late 30s or early 40s, even if they have "Perfect Vision", is get an eye exam. The eyes are windows into the body. Several "silent", age related, health problems are first detected on an eye exam while they are still easily managed and before they can do permanent damage.

Cactus Jack 15 Apr 2018, 08:39

adam,

Almost any time now, unless he is a bit Myopic. Low Myopia is like having built in reading glasses.

adam 15 Apr 2018, 05:27

My boyfriend is about to turn 40. When is he likely to start needing reading glasses?

Morgan 03 Apr 2018, 14:26

Thanks Jamie. Been wearing my glasses constantly as a work to get used to better vision and having glasses on my face. Distant vision has cleared and it has been really good to have the glasses while working. Computer viewing is much, much easier. With glasses and a shaved head, I was a big attraction at work yesterday. Maybe I should have tried this look earlier.

Jamie37 01 Apr 2018, 14:07

Hi Cactus Jack,

Thanks for the info. Definitely not a hyperope with my strong minus rx and strong astigmatism but glad to hear that it is likely everything is normal with adapting to the new add.

Know that at 41, vision is a bit of a game in terms of getting best rx and that it does fluctuate a bit daily for us all. Might have been having a bad night about that. Definitely do notice even my +1.00 add and the help it gives in relief of eyestrain and comfort!

And Morgan, biggest congrats. Sounds like the near vision is really good and thinking this guy agrees that especially with the new bold frames, bet you look amazing in glasses!

Morgan 01 Apr 2018, 13:26

M2 and CJ

Thanks for the encouragement. So appreciated. I picked up my glasses yesterday morning and so far have endured being a FT wearer. After getting the glasses, I noticed when driving home that my distance vision was slightly out of focus. According to my doctor, this would probably be the case until my eyes were fully adjusted to the correction. So I am keeping the glasses in front of my eyes. Near-point vision is very good---much easier now.

Also, I went for bold frames so that it was clear that I am not trying to hide from wearing glasses. And, just to shock the hell out of my friends, last night I shaved my balding head----so should get a quick reaction at work tomorrow.

Cactus Jack 01 Apr 2018, 12:38

Jamie37,

Probably not, but it may seem that way.

There are three factors at work in Presbyopia progression. They operate at different rates.

1. The primary cause of Presbyopia is the gradual stiffening of the protein that makes up the Crystalline Lens. That starts in Childhood, but typically, that does not cause a problem until your late 30s or early 40s, unless you have uncorrected Hyperopia.

2. De-Conditioning of the Ciliary Muscles. That can happen very fast when you start wearing bifocals, progressives, or use any close focusing help. The reason is pretty simple. The very tiny Ciliary Muscles (your focusing muscles) are the strongest muscles in the body for their size. They normally get plenty of exercise as they squeeze the Crystalline Lenses to allow you to change focus from distant to near and back, often several times per minute. When you start relieving them of that work with external PLUS lenses, they don't have to work as much or as hard and begin to loose strength. This happens with any muscle in the body.

3. If you have had uncorrected Hyperopia for a long time, your Ciliary Muscles have likely been correcting your Hyperopia for a long time, by using some of your Accommodation to correct it. When you start wearing external PLUS lenses of any type, that allows your Ciliary Muscles to very slowly relax. As they relax, your requirements for Distance PLUS will increase, which may restore some Accommodation, if your Crystalline Lenses are still somewhat flexible.

That is a somewhat long explanation of why, when you start wearing bifocals, it is not very long until you need a bit more PLUS in your bifocal Add. The laws of optics specify how much PLUS it takes to focus at a particular distance. That relationship was defined by Sir Isaac Newton over 300 years ago.

The amount of PLUS you need to focus at a typical reading distance of 40 cm or 16 inches is +2.50, period. That +2.50 can come from your Crystalline Lenses, external PLUS lenses or a combination of the two. At some point, you will need a +2.50 Add to focus at 40 cm / 16 inches and perhaps even trifocals to focus at intermediate distances, but take heart, it will not go higher than that, unless you like to read closer than that or need to focus really close for some occupational reason.

Jamie37 31 Mar 2018, 16:35

Does anyone here with bifocals think they were underprescribed in their 1st add.

Loving them for sure but wonder if i could do with a bit more than the 1.00 add i got.

Just curious all:)

Thanks!

M2 30 Mar 2018, 18:43

Morgan,

Rest assured, there are plenty of us who like seeing + glasses on a guy, no matter what his hairline looks like. Wear them as they suit your lifestyle and need and know that there are lots of us out there (both men and women) who really like seeing a guy with glasses.

Morgan 29 Mar 2018, 05:25

Much appreciate the information that you shared CJ. Very helpful. Will pick-up my glasses this weekend and plan to wear them all the time. I have been giving my co-workers and friends a heads-up that glasses will soon be on Morgan's face. Hey, maybe the glasses might distract them from my receding hairline.

Cactus Jack 27 Mar 2018, 19:11

Morgan,

I hope you found "How to Study . . . " helpful. Did you find the procedure pretty much as outlined?

Welcome to the confusing world of Hyperopia. The eyes are amazing. Fundamentally, they are simply "high end" biological cameras. They have a 4 element lens system, with an "auto-focus" mechanism and an iris to control the amount of light that reaches the Retina (film or image sensor). They have to obey all the rules of optical physics.

I am sure that you will have some questions when you get your glasses and you may be a little (or a lot) apprehensive about wearing them around your relatives, friends, and co-workers. Nearly everyone does. The secret is to just wear the glasses and get the comments over with. The will only last a day or two.

You might find Macrae's Story, now posted on the Vision and Spex website under Fantasy and True Stories about glasses. Here is a link that should get you directly to the story.

https://vision-and-spex.com/macrae-s-story-t618.html

I think you may find it humorous.

Morgan 27 Mar 2018, 15:30

OK CJ, below are my eye exam results from yesterday:

OD: +1.50 -0.25 005

OS: +1.25 -0.25 015

The doctor put drops in my eyes for the examination. Said that I was farsighted and would benefit from wearing glasses FT. Have ordered the glasses and looking forward to this new adventure --- and also some relief (I hope) they will bring.

Lou 27 Mar 2018, 06:48

Hi again Carrie

I'm now wondering whether I have misunderstood you, and that +0.50 Sph -0.50 Cyl and +0.50 Sph -0.75 Cyl is the prescription of Vicky's current glasses, and the change was not significant enough for her to have been issued with a new prescription this time.

Could you please clarify this.

Many thanks

Lou

Lou 27 Mar 2018, 06:41

Hi Carrie

Thank you very much for the clarification.

Without meaning to or trying to interfere, I'm very surprised that Vicky didn't get a new prescription this time.

I would have thought that her previous prescription change from +0.50 Sph to +0.75 Sph - 0.25 Cyl would have been less significant, since as you know, +0.75 Sph - 0.25 Cyl equates to a prescription of +0.75 on one meridian and +0.50 on the other, which is not very different to a prescription of +0.50 on both meridians.

As you again know, the new change however to +0.50 Sph - 0.50 Cyl and +0.50 Sph - 0.75 Cyl, equates to +0.50 on one meridan/plano on the other,and +0.50 on one meridan/-0.25 the other.

Presuming that the axis is similar to before, Vicky's old glasses have a +0.50 prescription on the meridian that now requires a plano/-0.25 prescription, and surely the change in her prescription on this meridan, at +0.50 and +0.75 respectively, is equal to the size of her whole prescription, and therefore very significant in comparison to the size of her whole prescription.

Presumably however Vicky feels that her current glasses are ok, or she would have chosen to update her prescription anyhow.

All the best

Lou

Carrie 26 Mar 2018, 13:49

My friend Danielle seems to be quite comfortable with her glasses now. She says her left focuses immediately when she puts her glasses on (which isn't surprising considering the left prescription is only +0.25 stronger than before) and her right eye is now only taking a second or 2. She says that everything does have a better contrast in shade and colour. Her eyes do feel more relaxed and this is especially noticeable when she takes her glasses off. She now understands why it was recommenced that she wore her glasses full time but might try going part-time again in a few weeks once she's got used to the prescription. (I think she'll go back to full-time pretty quickly)

I still haven't seen her wear the clear plastic frames. She hasn't bought contacts in her new prescription yet. I don't know if she's going to.

Lou - I searched for a post where I mentioned Vicky's prescription and I found when she got a new prescription last April. Vicky's prescription is L Sph +0.50, Cyl -0.50 and R Sph +0.50 Cyl -0.75. and previous to that it was Sph +0.75, Cyl -0.25 in both eyes and before that Sph+0.50 in both eyes. She didn't get a new prescription this time as she was told there was very little change. Maybe she'll need a new prescription next year.

Jamie37 26 Mar 2018, 05:26

I am moving this over from Post Your Prescription as more suitable for this thread. For those of you who have been reading the threads of late, you know that I was curious before my exam about possibly needing bifocals. And, then after having my exam and listening to my doctor, thinking that even though they were optional but still part of my new prescription that with the doctor saying that he wouldn't get full time at this point, that i just ordered single visions at JCPenney Optical and then ordered additional glasses online.

So zipping ahead in the story, I ordered glasses from Zenni as well and in that order, decided to order a pair of bifocals with the total rx just to see what my thoughts were about them. Over the weekend, I decided to test the bifocals out by wearing them grocery shopping. The experience went well enough I then decided to wear them to work at my retail job that afternoon and evening (i had not been going to do that) and was quite happy with what I was seeing.

For remembering, I only was prescribed a +1.00 add but found the bifocals to help a little with magnification and ease of reading but really found the difference in terms of reducing eyestrain and making more comfortable. I was able to be on my phone texting away and being online for a good deal of time and noticed I was not having the eyestrain that I used to endure.

I made the decision late last night that even though the doctor had made his recommendation that my own personal findings indicate that I feel I need to be wearing the bifocals now pretty much most of the time and that I want the comfort level that I get with them

This morning, going back to JCP Optical to take my new sweet Raybans that i had ordered to be re-fitted with lined bifocals. For me, I have found the lined bifocals to be super easy to get used to, love that I can look easily through them and because of only needing a 1.00 add that the line isn't that much of an issue for me.

I know several people on here have been super helpful through advice through this and in past when I talked about subject including Cactus Jack. Thanks gang!

:)Jamie

Morgan 24 Mar 2018, 15:49

Thanks CJ for the advice and guidance. Will let you know the results.

Cactus Jack 23 Mar 2018, 13:30

Morgan,

I suggest you review the following before the exam.

HOW TO STUDY FOR AN EYE EXAM

An eye exam is not like an exam that you might take in school and there is really no way to study for it. However, you can prepare for it and learn about your role in the exam. The best eye exams are a team effort between you and the Examiner (hereafter referred to as the Eye Care Professional or the ECP). Part of the preparation is to learn what to expect, particularly if this is your first eye exam. One important thing you need to keep in mind is that the ECP, has no way to experience what you are seeing. The ECP has to depend on your answers to important questions.

There are two parts to an eye exam. The first part is the Objective part. This part consists of: 1. Taking a Visual History where you describe your vision and the kinds of problems you are having. Please tell the ECP everything. In some ways the ECP must be a detective and every clue is important.

2. Checking the internal pressure in your eyes for symptoms of Glaucoma. This is one of the very few parts of an eye exam that is even mildly uncomfortable and the discomfort only lasts for a few seconds. There are two basic ways to do the pressure test.

A. Using a special instrument to lightly touch your Cornea. No real worry there. Before doing this type of test a drop of mild anesthetic will make sure you dont even feel it.

B. There is a new type instrument that uses a puff of air directed against your cornea. No anesthetic is required, but the puff will startle you. The puff of air is harmless. There are huge benefits to these simple tests to detect Glaucoma early, before it can do damage. Early discovery can save your eyesight.

3. The ECP will also get a preliminary estimate of your refractive error by using an Auto- Refractor or manually by using a small hand held instrument called an Ophthalmoscope or Retinoscope.

The Auto-Refractor is a relatively new instrument that was developed in conjunction with NASA to check Astronauts vision in space. You just look into the machine with each eye individually or in some machines both eyes are checked at the same time. When you look into the machine, you will see a scene or a pattern. The machine will adjust its internal lenses to focus the image you see, on your Retina. The Auto-Refractor only takes a few seconds for each eye and it then prints out your estimated prescription.

Some ECPs prefer to use manual methods that have been used for many years. Using an Ophthalmoscope or Retinoscope and a Trial Lens set or a Phoropter (a fancy machine with a built in lens set), the ECP will look into your eyes and select the lenses that allow him/her to see your Retina, most clearly.

This first part of the exam was to get to a starting place for the Subjective part of the exam where you have to describe what you see.

The second part of the exam is the Subjective part:

Typically the Subjective part of the exam starts with the Right Eye shutter open and the Left Eye shutter closed.

Step 1 is typically determining the Cylinder and Axis of any Astigmatism correction you need.

This is actually the hardest part of the exam because you will be asked to judge relative blurriness of two images rather than the relative sharpness of two images, which follows.

You will be shown a line of text and a supplemental lens will be rotated into place. This lens is a cylinder lens that is mounted on a 45 degree pivot. It can be flipped back an forth to bracket a trial axis or orientation of the long Axis of the Cylinder lens.

The thing that is confusing about this test is that the straight lines (strokes) of the letters will alternate in clarity as the lens is flipped back and forth depending on the direction of the stroke.

I suggest concentrating on an O if possible. Depending on your answers, the ECP will adjust the axis knob unit the image you see is equally blurry with the supplemental lens 45 degrees each side of the selected axis.

At this point the ECP will probably swing the supplemental lens out of the way and may change the Cylinder power, while asking you which lens is shaper and clearer.

Fine Tuning the Axis

If you have not had many eye exams, you may be uncomfortable asking the ECP to let you fine tune the Cylinder Axis. It is often beneficial to mention that you would like to Fine Tune the Axis at the appropriate point in the exam, before the exam starts. I have found that most ECPs will appreciate your wanting to actively participate in the exam.

The way this works is that the ECP will place your hand on the Axis control knob. This time, you move it back and forth a few degrees looking for the sharpest image. It is a bit like Fine Tuning an old Analog TV set or moving the tuning knob on an analog AM radio for the best signal. As you move the knob, you may notice that the letters appear distorted (an uncorrected Astigmatism effect), all you have to do is stop moving the knob when the image looks the sharpest and has the proper shape. It is that simple.

The next step is determining the Sphere correction.

This is an easy part of the exam because all you have to do is pick the sharpest image, but there is a tricky part. Your auto-focus mechanism will try to help, if it gets a chance. The ECP has a couple of ways to minimize the action of your Ciliary Muscles and Crystalline Lenses.

The ECP can sneak up on your Sphere prescription or the ECP can use drops to Dilate your eyes. Lets talk about sneaking up on your prescription first.

There are actually FOUR lenses* in your eyes lens system, but for our purposes we will only consider two of them, the Cornea and the Crystalline Lens. All of the lenses are PLUS lenses.

The total relaxed power of all the lenses added together is typically about +56 to +60 diopters. The only VARIABLE focus lens is the Crystalline Lens. The rest of the lenses are FIXED or SEMI-FiXED power. The PLUS power of your Crystalline Lens is controlled by your Ciliary Muscles. For distance, your Crystalline Lenses should be fully relaxed with a power of somewhere around +15 diopters. When you focus to read, your Ciliary Muscles squeeze the Crystalline Lenses to increase their PLUS power by the amount necessary to sharply focus the image on your Retina. The amount of additional PLUS needed, depends on the distance to the object. Typically around +2.50, but it can be a bit more, depending on how close you like to read. (See Presbyopia, below)

This will take a little thought to get your mind around, but if you are nearsighted (Myopic), your lens system has too much PLUS for the distance from the lens system to your Retina and you need MINUS lenses to neutralize some of that excess PLUS power. You ONLY have the ability to increase the PLUS power of your lens system. You have NO ability to reduce the PLUS power of your Crystalline lenses to LESS than that in the fully relaxed condition. (That is why people who are Myopic need external correction).

If you are farsighted (fHyperopic), your lens system does not have enough PLUS for the distance from the lens system to your Retina and you need PLUS lenses to focus images on your Retina. If Presbyopia does not prevent it, you have some ability to correct Hyperopia, internally.

To try to keep your Ciliary Muscles and Crystalline lenses from getting in the act, the ECP will start with NOT ENOUGH MINUS or TOO MUCH PLUS (optically. the same thing) and gradually increase the MINUS or decrease the PLUS, one or two steps at a time, while reducing the size of the line you are asked to read. ECP will not tell you what power lens or what line you are looking at. Eventually, ECP will reach the 20/20 line and a lens power that lets you read it with no mistakes.

The ECP will then follow the same procedure with your Left Eye.

When examiner has completed checking both eyes, he/she will open the shutters and you will likely see two separate images. This is intentional. This part of the exam is to check your muscle balance using some prisms that can separate the images both Horizontally and Vertically. ECP will probably ask you to tell him when the two images are aligned Horizontally and then Vertically.

While the images are separated, YOU have a very important check to make. Compare the sharpness of the two images. If they are not equally sharp, be sure and tell the ECP which image is clearer. If there is a difference, the examiner will likely reduce the sharpness of the clearest image until they match. The important thing at this point is that they match. That lack of sharpness will be corrected in the next phase with both eyes working together.

Next the ECP will fuse the two images so both eyes are working together and repeat the Sphere procedure by gradually increasing the MINUS or decreasing the PLUS simultaneously on both eyes until you see the 20/20 or sometimes the 20/15 line of letters, very clearly.

The final part of the exam is checking your near vision. This is done using a small chart about 14 to 16 inches or 35 to 40 cm from your eyes. The examiner will ask you to read the smallest

(lowest) line you can without straining. If you need some near focusing help, the Sphere PLUS will be increased until you can read the very small text easily.

That pretty much completes the exam.

Many people, who wear glasses, actually look forward to eye exams. Once you have become accustomed to having very good vision, you will probably find anything less, unacceptable.

Many times, after the exam, it will be suggested that you com back for another exam, some time in the future. Note that I used the word suggested. It is NOT a Command. If your detect a problem or if your vision seems uncomfortable, please DO NOT wait until the suggested date to seek an appointment to get your vision checked.

Morgan 23 Mar 2018, 09:18

CJ, thanks for the information on the test. Much appreciated. I have made an appointment with an optometrist, so am thinking I will forego this test for now. My appointment is this Monday.

Cactus Jack 18 Mar 2018, 11:01

Morgan,

Here are two simple tests. The first is for Astigmatism. Here is the link to an Astigmatism test chart.

http://hyperphysics.phy-astr.gsu.edu/hbase/vision/astigtest.html

The instructions are pretty clear. Please let me know the results of this test.

The next test is to estimate your refractive error, if any.

You will need the following items:

1. A pair of inexpensive Over-the-Counter (OTC) +1.50 or +1.75 reading glasses.

These glasses will actually simulate being mildly nearsighted. The purpose is to get the target's focus in to a conveniently measurable range (less than arms length).

2. A "target" which is a book or newspaper with small print.

3. A tape measure calibrated in either cm or inches (your preference). Unless your refractive error is very large, the OTC reading glasses will make the focus distance less than 66 cm or 26 inches, which is easy to measure fairly accurately.

Procedure with each eye individually.

1. In a location with good, but not BRIGHT light, put on the OTC reading glasses.

2. Hold the target close enough to see the text clearly (usually around (30 cm or 13 inches).

3. Slowly move the target away from your eyes until the text JUST begins to get fuzzy around the edges of the text.

4. Note the distance.

5. Repeat steps 2, 3, and 4 three times and average the distance.

6. Let me know the results for each eye and the power of the OTC reading glasses you used.

Note: Please do not use prescription reading glasses for this test. They could have some Cylinder correction for astigmatism, which would introduce unknown errors in the results. I don't know where you live, but you may be able to find some inexpensive OTC reading glasses in what we call "dollar" stores in the US. They may not be optically "wonderful", but they are good enough for this test.

Morgan 17 Mar 2018, 18:36

Sure CJ, am interested.

Cactus Jack 17 Mar 2018, 12:51

Morgan,

Quick answer. What you WANT to believe does not count. The idea that a person does not need close focusing help until 40 is a MYTH. It is common for a person with uncorrected Hyperopia (far or longsightedness) to have problems focusing close at an earlier age.

Hyperopia is the ONLY refractive error that you can correct internally, often without your being aware that you are doing it, using some of your ability to focus close.

The culprit is Presbyopia, which happens to almost everyone. Presbyopia is the gradual stiffening of your Crystalline Lenses. It starts in childhood, but typically does not become nuisance until the 30s or 40s, but if you do a lot of close focusing it can even happen to teens who spend a lot of time texting on smartphone.

There is a simple eye test you can do to get an idea of your refractive error, if any. All you need is a book or newspaper, some OTC Reading glasses (+1.50 or +1.75 preferred), and a tape measure. Interested?

Morgan 17 Mar 2018, 09:12

Quick question-----Recently, I have been having difficulties with focus when working on the computer, phone, etc. Am 34 years old and really don't want to believe that I need reading glasses. Any persons out there who needed readers at my age.

Lou 16 Mar 2018, 00:59

Hi Curt

Thanks very much, but the post on 3rd March gives Danielle's prescription, and I was enquiring about Vicky's.

Thanks again.

Lou

Curt 15 Mar 2018, 13:47

Lou: They are on this thread dated March 3.

Soundmanpt 15 Mar 2018, 09:53

Carrie

After Danielle had her eyes examined and was given her new prescription which is even stronger than your old glasses did she continue wearing your old glasses while her new glasses are being made or did she wear her own glasses? It would have helped her if she continued wearing your glasses since they were only slightly weaker than what her new glasses will be. But even doing that she still might notice that he right eye is a little bit blurry until her eyes adjust to her glasses. The assistant was correct in telling her that once her eyes adjust to her glasses she is going to notice the difference a lot more now whenever she takes her glasses off. Before she was seeing equally blurry with both eyes now the blur is going to unbalanced to her. So I guess the big question is she going to wear glasses or contacts as her main way of correcting her eyesight? I'm sure that you and Vicky are hoping that she decides to wear her glasses all the time and maybe saves her contacts for special occasions when she may not want to wear glasses. Recently she has been pretty wearing glasses full time since her contacts weren't strong enough for her unless she wore Vicky's old glasses over the top of them. So maybe she has finally gotten comfortable wearing glasses? Personally Clubmaster glasses are a favorite of mine on young women anyway so even with seeing Danielle i'm sure she looks amazing wearing those glasses.

I'm pretty sure that Danielle must be fine with Vicky wearing glasses full time or she wouldn't have left her borrow a pair of her glasses when she first started wearing glasses herself. and then when Danielle wanted her glasses back Danielle even went on line and ordered Vicky a pair of glasses. So even though Danielle has had a problem with accepting the fact that she needs to be wearing her glasses ore often and now full time she must like the way Vicky looks wearing glasses.

Lou 14 Mar 2018, 10:04

Hi Carrie

I don't remember Vicky's prescription details/history. If it is ok with her, would you mind posting her old and new prescriptions, as I am interested since I wear a very small prescription and changed my glasses in Feb 2017 owing to a +0.25 Sph -0.25 Cyl reduction in just my left eye, what sort of difference she has between her old and new prescriptions, which has meant that there is no need to change her glasses. Admittedly in my case, the reason I got new glasses with only a small change in prescription in just one eye, is that this small change was the reason I went for another eye test eleven months after my previous one, because I felt that my left eye was out of focus when driving at night.

Thanks very much

Lou

Carrie 13 Mar 2018, 12:37

Danielle picked up her glasses on Saturday. As the assistant handed over the first pair of glasses to Danielle she was told that she might find the vision through the right lens is a little blurry but she should soon see clearly. When Danielle put them on she did have a little blurriness in her right eye so the assistant suggested concentrating on a distant object. Danielle did this and she said it became clearer. Reading with them was "super HD". She asked the assistant why she needs to wear glasses all the time. Part of the reason is the difference between the prescriptions for each eye. Wearing the new prescription all the time will make her eyes work together properly, giving better depth perception and her eyes will feel more comfortable. It seems she has probably been straining her eyes for years but she is getting to the point where she can't compensate any more. Her prescription has been increased gradually to allow her to get used to it.

She decided to wear the Clubmaster style glasses in which she looks very sexy and I told her so. Vicky and Gemma agreed. I can tell the right lens is stronger but I doubt if most people will notice. Later on Danielle said her eyes were getting used to the glasses but it still felt a little strange in her right eye, especially if she takes her glasses off on puts them on again. A little dizzy for a few seconds and she can feel her eye focusing. I told her I got the same feeling every time i got a stronger prescription and she is probably noticing it more than previous increases because of the amount the right eye prescription has increased but the feeling will soon go.

She has reluctantly accepted that she should wear her glasses full time. The positive comments we gave her helped. She knows that I wasn't just saying it because we're friends.

I haven't seen her since the weekend but I am guessing she's getting on ok. I have no idea how she feels about Vicky continuing to wear glasses full time.

I hope to see Danielle wearing her clear plastic framed glasses soon. They looked really pretty on her when she tried them on in the shop.

Soundmanpt 12 Mar 2018, 16:09

Carrie

So how is Danielle doing with adjusting to her new glasses? Did she mention anything about getting a slight headaches after wearing her glasses for a short time? It wouldn't be that unusual for her glasses to cause her a slight headache as her eyes are trying to adjust to the change in prescription. I know that both you and Vicky would prefer her to wear her glasses full time and only wear her contacts on special occasions when she might feel more attractive if she wasn't wearing glasses. Carrie the best thing you could have f=done was constantly tell her how good she looks wearing her new glasses. Which you said you really do like the way she looked when she was picking them out.The more you boost her confidence the more likely she is wear them. I remember when you first started wearing glasses for the first time and even though you always wanted to actually need glasses and you were excited to finally be prescribed with glasses you said it was very helpful that your boyfriend supported you and didn't have any problem with his girlfriend wearing glasses full time. I'm sure he hadn't been as supportive that would have made it much more difficult for you to wear your glasses full time. Vicky's eyes didn't change enough for her to need new glasses, but were you surprised that she didn't get new ones anyway? She must really like the glasses she's currently wearing or they must be so comfortable that she is happy to continue wearing them. Even though Danielle isn't crazy about waving to wear glasses full time now she seems to like the idea of Vicky wearing glasses full time.

Weirdeyes 10 Mar 2018, 02:54

Carrie

I dont think she has to worry about a 1.00 difference between her eyes. My first glasses had a 1.25 difference which didnt have a visible difference. The difference wasnt visible until 3.25. Even then when I got high index only I could notice the difference.

Carrie 10 Mar 2018, 02:43

I just got a text from my friend Danielle asking if we would like to go with her when she goes to pick up her new glasses today. Obviously I said yes! I think she needs some moral support because despite being a very confident women I have detected some slight nervousness in her since her eye test. She hasn't said but maybe she's worried how her glasses will look with +1.00 difference between lenses.

09 Mar 2018, 09:57

2 Plus Tonys = ! +add

Plus Tony 07 Mar 2018, 15:00

I'm the real Plus Tony. I haven't posted recently because I haven't had anything interesting to say.

I certainly haven't got a bifocal add of +1.5...at least not yet.

Plus Tony 07 Mar 2018, 13:12

Great news---am finally wearing bifocals. Had my eyes examined last week and was given an add of +1.50 for each eye.

Weirdeyes 04 Mar 2018, 00:04

Carrie

Interesting that she got way more of an increase in one eye. How was it for you when you got more of an increase in your right eye? Was it temporarily more blurry? I have a lot of personal experience with one eye getting more of an increase. I found it wasnt that hard for me to get used to. I just enjoyed the more vivid vision. Recently I got some reading glasses that are .75 stronger than my regular glasses. I find my right eye can almost see perfectly at a distance with those glasses at times while my left eye has more distance blur. I wonder if this means Ill get more increase in my right eye for my next prescription. This would work in my favor because my left eye is worse.

Soundmanpt 03 Mar 2018, 11:47

Carrie

Thanks for the update about Danielle and Vicky. Interesting results with Danielle's eye exam. She only had a very slight increase in her left eye but a big jump in your right eye. So your old glasses were perfect for her left eye and only about half of what she needs for her right eye. So until she gets her new glasses and contacts she would be better ff wearing your old glasses than her own glasses. I looked back and found that her own glasses are only L +1.75 / R +2.00. So much better for her eyes to start adjusting to your glasses than staying with her glasses since they are way too weak for her now. I'm sure she wasn't happy being told that she now needs to wear either her glasses or contacts full time, but she probably was expecting to be told that so she wasn't surprised. It sound like the glasses he picked out are really cute. I know exactly what the Clubmaster glasses look like so I have a pretty good idea what they will look like being clear. I know you have always considered Danielle as being very attractive and even more attractive when she wears her glasses. I know that you're hoping she decides to wear her glasses more often than she wears her contacts. Maybe once she gets her glasses and people complement her enough on how good she looks wearing her new glasses she may just wear her glasses and save her contacts for special occasions.

I wonder if Vicky was disappointed that her vision only changed very slightly? So apparently the change must have only been +.25 in her SPH or -.25 in her CYL. So Vicky doesn't need new glasses. This will really be the longest that she has been wearing the same glasses. I'm sure that Vicky probably takes good care of her glasses so they are probably still in very good condition.Of course they will have whatever her new prescription is written on her chart in their files so if she were to decide that she wants new glasses in few months she can always have her glasses made with whatever the small change was if she wants. I'm not sure how Vicky feels about not having enough of a change in her prescription for her to need her glasses changed but her eyesight will never be perfect again, so she will still be wearing glasses when she dies.

Lou 03 Mar 2018, 10:56

Hi Carrie

Thanks very much for the update.

Best wishes

Lou

Carrie 03 Mar 2018, 09:55

We did go with Danielle and Vicky to the opticians, even though it is sooo cold outside! Vicky's sight has only changed very slightly. No new prescription needed. Danielle did get a new prescription. She showed me the print out and her prescription is now L+2.00 and R+3.00. It was recommended that she wears glasses or contacts all the time at least until she gets used to new prescription and continuing to wear her current prescription all the time until she gets new glasses or contacts will help her adjust to the new prescription. She already knew which frames she was going to pick as she had seen them a few weeks ago. She tried both frames on just to make sure. The same assistant as before was at the counter. I am now even more sure she fancies Danielle and Danielle was enjoying the attention! Difficult to explain but you can usually tell when one person finds the other person attractive. Obviously the assistant had to stay professional but some actions are made unconsciously. The frames Danielle chose were a Clubmaster style and a clear plastic style. The Clubmaster ones made her look very cool and sexy. The clear ones make her look more feminine than the Clubmasters and suit her very well. Her glasses will be ready in a week to 10 days.

She wasn't exactly pleased that she needed a stronger prescription or that she should wear it full time but she wasn't surprised. I don't know how much she knows about her prescription but she will certainly notice the +1.00 increase in her right eye and that will take some getting used to. The +0.25 increase in her left eye will hardly be noticeable.

Although Vicky didn't need an increased prescription I have a feeling she will be happy that she still needs glasses.

Danielle and Vicky have come over to our place and we are about to have some crumpets and some of Gemma's home made soup to warm us up. Yum!

Lou 03 Mar 2018, 08:18

Hi Carrie

I'm sure you will, but please let us know the outcome of Danielle and Vicky's eye tests. Thanks very much.

Best wishes

Lou

Hi Soundmanpt

I posted what I'm about to say in response to the last time you discussed Danielle's vision. I know that you understand this yourself, but without meaning to be critical, you never seem to clarify that when increasing a plus prescription for near, that the distance vision will only clear if the increase in prescription allows further latent hyperopia to be uncovered.

I can't quite remember Danielle's age. From memory, I believe that she is in her early 30s. If she does require an increase for near, it probably is a case of her still having some latent hyperopia, but it could be presbyopia, and if so, her distance vision will not clear past the point when all latent hyperopia is uncovered.

Like I said, I know that you know this, but without specifically saying so, your post implies that every time a near prescription is increased, the distance vision will clear in a short time, when in reality this is only the case if a person has latent hyperopia.

Anyway, I hope that you are not offended by me challenging you on this. I just feel that this is a subject that requires clarification.

Regarding your advice for Danielle to get progressives, if you don't mind me asking, I'd like to ask your opinion on something. I can fully understand why you are suggesting progressives, but if Danielle still has some latent hyperopia and her full distance prescription is really the same as she requires for near, although I can understand that keeping latent hyperopia masked would result in better distance vision without correction, in reality, surely this better distance vision would occur in association with over accommodation and quite likely eye strain, and what will happen when the eye becomes less able to accommodate with age? Won't the distance prescription then go up anyway, as the eye will be less able to accommodate over it?

I would have thought that a person would experience less eye strain and better eye comfort, if their latent hyperopia was uncovered, even if it resulted in a stronger distance prescription whilst they still had sufficient accommodation to accommodate over their hyperopia.

What please are your thoughts regarding this?

Best wishes

Lou

Soundmanpt 02 Mar 2018, 17:59

Carrie

I'm sure this time time Danielle is going to be told that she now needs to be wearing her glasses,or contacts, full time. But I think she probably already expects to hear that so maybe she will except it pretty well. You know Danielle pretty well over the past few months does she seem more accepting to the fact that really can't see very well without either her glasses or contacts anymore? I know her biggest fear was becoming dependent on her glasses and she has gotten to that point now where she is pretty dependent on her glasses or contacts if she wants to see clearly. Since she seems to be hating ta fact her distance vision is getting worse as well every time she needs new glasses, I wish she would consider switching to progressives so her distance vision wouldn't need to be effected each time she needs an increase in her glasses. Every time that you have gotten new glasses it has been because your eyes needed your lenses to be stronger for seeing close up, not because you couldn't see distances just fine. After you get your glasses your distance if usually a bit blurry for a few days until your eyes adjust to your glasses for distance. When Danielle gets her new glasses she is going to see distances a bit blurry for several days while her eyes adjust to her glasses. And of course her distance vision is going to be more blurry than it is now whenever she takes her glasses off.

As much as Danielle hates getting her eyes examined i'm sure Vicky totally loves having her eyes examined. With all the talk between you ladies it seems like Vicky ha been very quiet about her eyesight. I will interested to see if she needs her glasses changed or not. I wonder if Vicky will try and convince the doctor into giving her an increase? Didn't Danielle want you to go with her to help her pick out her new glasses? So are you and Gemma going with Danielle and Vicky tomorrow? I know you enjoy going to optical stores as much as kids enjoy going to a toy store. Maybe find the cutest glasses wearing optician to adjust your glasses for you. Are the temples just a bit tight on your glasses? haha!

Carrie 02 Mar 2018, 10:53

My friends Danielle and Vicky get their eyes tested tomorrow (Saturday). I asked them if they had thought about cancelling and rebooking for another day when it's not going to be so cold and snowy outside (we're having a late, hard winter at the moment in the UK). Danielle said she had thought about it but unless the weather gets even worse and the opticians has to close they are still going.

Lou 27 Feb 2018, 08:50

Hi Tom

My prescription is similar to yours.

Mine is:

R: +0.50 Sph - 0.50 Cyl Axis 92

L: +0.25 Sph - 0.25 Cyl Axis 85

My perception is that my eyes need a slightly weaker prescription as the day progresses.

I maybe wrong, but I have a feeling that the general trend is to need very slightly more minus/less plus in the evening than in the morning.

Since I'm a musician and do a lot of gigging at night, and hence a lot of driving at night, I always schedule my eye exams as late in the day as possible.

I suppose the best time to schedule an eye exam depends on your life style. I'd go at the time of the day, when you feel that optimum vision is most important to you.

I hope that this will be of some help.

Best wishes

Lou

Tom 27 Feb 2018, 01:58

Hi,

Wondering if there is a best time of day to have an eye test? Would wearing/not wearing glasses in the lead up effect the result?

I only have a weak prescription of +.5 in both eyes with a small astigmatism of -.25.

Tom

Lou 24 Feb 2018, 13:43

Hi again Weirdeyes

I meant to add, that I will of course refrain from discussing prescriptions. You'll have my email address when I reply. Please feel free to ask me any questions about the treatment I received, and I'll do my best to answer.

Take care

Lou

Weirdeyes 24 Feb 2018, 13:41

One thing I noticed is that not wearing glasses actually made my prescription increase in the past. It seems like not correcting my vision during non-visually demanding tasks kind of relaxes them. Maybe this is a sign of binocular vision issues.

Lou 24 Feb 2018, 13:40

Hi Weirdeyes

I don't mind sharing my experience of vision therapy. I'll email you over the next couple of days if it is ok with you, to give me chance to think what best to say.

Take care

Lou

Weirdeyes 24 Feb 2018, 13:22

Lou

How was your experience in vision therapy? I think it will help me because even at higher or lower prescriptions my eyes fluctuated weirdly. I also got consistently low prescriptions(under +2.00) in my left eye for a while even though my optometrist was perfectly competent. After that it suddenly jumped to +3.50. Before I got glasses I knew my vision was off, but I never remember experiencing all this weird stuff. I think correcting my left eye unmasked binocular vision problems. Lets try to keep discussions about prescription off limits. My email is weirdeyes96@gmail.com. Theres some things Im curious about that I want to keep more private.

Lou 24 Feb 2018, 13:00

Hi Weirdeyes

You are very welcome.

What you are saying all sounds very reasonable.

Please continue to post updates.

All the best

Lou

Weirdeyes 24 Feb 2018, 09:33

Jack and Lou

Thank you. For now Im going to try to stop focusing on getting the right prescription. Its obvious my eyes consistently want the same prescription I have now at the moment. It doesnt mean its correct, but what it means is it doesnt matter how many second opinions I get. Ill keep getting the same rx. Im going to focus on vision therapy. Theyll figure out why my vision is uncomfortable. Im pretty sure I have visual processing issues in general. They seem to run in my family. Im hoping theyll also make my vision more consistent. Im planning on rechecking my rx next year. I also want to get into more ebooks because thats a time I can rest my eyes and stop thinking about them.

Jack 24 Feb 2018, 03:00

Weirdeyes, I'm sure there are a lot of us here that would like to hear about your vision. Do not stop posting, as maybe we could stumble with a solution. Hope you get it solved soon.

Likelenses, I didn't know that you were a mental health expert. Maybe you could stick to talking about things you actually know or understand, instead of making assumptions about people?

Jack 24 Feb 2018, 03:00

Weirdeyes, I'm sure there are a lot of us here that would like to hear about your vision. Do not stop posting, as maybe we could stumble with a solution. Hope you get it solved soon.

Likelenses, I didn't know that you were a mental health expert. Maybe you could stick to talking about things you actually know or understand, instead of making assumptions about people?

Lou 24 Feb 2018, 01:49

Thank you everybody for your kind words of support. Yes, all is going well with me.

Thank you Weirdeyes for your apology. I'm not going to try to help anymore, as you were not finding it helpful. Regarding people not wanting to hear about your problems, I'd be happy to read the outcomes of your future opticians appointments, if you'd like to share them. Have a nice day also.

Take care everyone

Lou

Weirdeyes 22 Feb 2018, 22:44

Lou

Sorry about that post. You were very patient with me. Ill stop posting here since Im obviously not popular and people obviously dont want to hear about my problems. I dont think anyone can help me to be honest. You tried your best. Have a nice day.

Likelenses 22 Feb 2018, 22:33

Freud

I am entitled to my opinion, as you are to yours.

Enjoy your name calling !

NNVisitor 22 Feb 2018, 22:18

Lou

You gave plenty of your time to try and help someone who appeared to be having vision/glasses problems. I certainly noticed that you were responding out of kindness. I hope all is going well with you.

Freud 22 Feb 2018, 21:11

Likelenses

Just because someone struggles with mental health doesnt mean everything is in their head. How can you be such an idiot? Maybe you should spend more time with your fabulous high minus girlfriend instead of mocking people about their mental health.

Likelenses 22 Feb 2018, 21:00

Lou

I always thought that you were trying to be very helpful to Weirdeyes, and you were always patient, and understanding.

But at the same time I was suspicious of weirdeyes , due to the fact that she jumped all over the board regarding symptoms, prescriptions, doctors, and her own analysis.

My take on all of this is that,

1. She was seeking attention

2. Over analyzing her symptoms.

3. Projecting things that she had read into her own vision / correction.

Since she openly admitted that she has obsessive compulsive disorder, and other mental problems, I still believe that most of her vision problems are more in her head, than in her eyes.

Her rudeness to you, and others that were trying to be helpful, and her use of vulgarity, are some additional signs of her illness.

22 Feb 2018, 19:55

Why is Lou the problem?

spexfan 22 Feb 2018, 17:55

Sorry. Wrong thread....

spexfab 22 Feb 2018, 17:54

I use Dailies AquaComfort plus MF. They're +1.75 with a MED add. I agree with the comments below. Distance vision is not as good as I'd like. However I do find that my vision improves with them as they settle in, takes about an hour, and then continues to improve slightly throughout the day/night, I think it's because the brain adjusts to reading the image that the contacts produce (the optics of MF contacts are more complicated than standard MF glasses)

That being said, they are still never as good for distance as glasses. I did note, however (and my OD has heard this from other patients) that it's easier to adapt if you mostly wear the contacts. I guess switching between glasses and contacts all the time makes it hard to adapt to the compromised distance vision as your brain is always switching back and forth.

I've used them quite happily for driving and meetings. Would only really find the distance blur a problem and night and even then, I find that if I've worn them all day it doesn't really matter. Sometimes I even forget I'm wearing them late in the day.

So a tenatative thumbs up from me. Different brands are different also. see if your OD will do a free trial with the Dailies.

22 Feb 2018, 15:44

Lou is about 65-75% of the problem. He just doesn't realize it.

Lou 22 Feb 2018, 10:44

Ruenelle

I'm not sure why you feel you have to warn people against me. What have I done, other than patiently and kindly continue to reply to somebody who seemed very anxious regarding their eyesight and prescription?

I don't remember being rude, hostile or uncooperative.

Lou

Ruenelle 22 Feb 2018, 06:17

I warned everyone about Weird Eyes and Lou a few weeks ago. I just ignored their posts for the longest time.

Lou 22 Feb 2018, 02:34

Re.:

William 21 Feb 2018, 12:31

It is relief I read that the Weirdeyes dialogue with Lou has come to an end.

Hi William

I'm relieved too. I was spending my time out of genuine kindness and willingness to help, only for Weirdeyes to be ungrateful.

If you however don't mind me saying, if you were bored with our posts, why didn't you either stop reading them, or contribute to give another perspective and end the two way discussion?

Best wishes

Lou

Lou 22 Feb 2018, 02:31

Re.:

A 21 Feb 2018, 10:27

Lou, well you certainly were right, looks like it was the real Weirdeyes. How ungrateful and rude little brat. Sorry that you had to endure all of that.

Hi A

Thank you very much for your kind words of support.

Take care

Lou

William 21 Feb 2018, 12:32

Sorry should have read Weirdeyes in previous post

William 21 Feb 2018, 12:31

It is relief I read that the Wierdeyes dialogue with Lou has come to an end.

21 Feb 2018, 12:29

Any signs of Dan Harris of GMA wearing his glasses on air?

A 21 Feb 2018, 10:27

Lou, well you certainly were right, looks like it was the real Weirdeyes. How ungrateful and rude little brat. Sorry that you had to endure all of that.

Lou 17 Feb 2018, 04:41

Hi A

Thanks very much, but I do believe that the ungrateful post was from Weirdeyes herself, or she would have been on here saying that the post was not from her.

Anyway, it was not my intention to have a two way conversation with Weirdeyes on a public forum. She kept posting, and I seemed to be the only one replying.

I was trying to be kind, and since she clearly seemed to have a need, and very few other people were responding, I continued responding for her benefit.

Since she herself says that my replies have not been helpful, then I won't bother in future, and if she does decide to continue posting on here, others can reply instead of me. If nobody replies, then she'll have to find another forum, on which a greater number of people are likely to respond.

To reiterate, I was responding out of kindness, not because I have a desire or intention to hijack a forum. Since the person I was trying to help is being ungrateful anyhow, there will be no more replies from me.

Lou

A 16 Feb 2018, 17:55

Lou, to me it is pretty clear that the "ungrateful" post isn't from Weirdeyes. Looks like the work of one of our coward anon assholes.

16 Feb 2018, 17:13

Asshole anon. poster or not, I agree with his or her assertion that the Weird Eyes/Lou conversation (should it go on) is best had in email between the participants. For the rest of us, it's a snooze-fest.

16 Feb 2018, 17:13

16 Feb 2018, 17:03

It seems that we have an asshole anom. poster here.

Lou 16 Feb 2018, 03:26

Sorry, I misread the posts, and thought that someone was accusing me of being a fake again. No, of course that anonymous post is not from me, only the ones with the ES Nickname of Lou. Anyway I'm done trying to help Weirdeyes, as all she has done has thrown back my help in my face. She may not agree with me, but there is no need to be ungrateful to someone who has spent a considerable amount of time trying to help her. I don't care if she continues to post or not. I have decided to neither read or reply to her posts.

Lou

Lou 16 Feb 2018, 03:21

Actually that last post was from me, and Weirdeyes, I am very offended that I've taken all this time to try and help you, and you turn round and say the following:

Weirdeyes 15 Feb 2018, 18:50

Ill try to stop posting here anyways. To put it bluntly Lou isnt really being helpful anyways. No one will miss me anyways.

How ungrateful to someone who has posted many times to try to help you.

I will ignore your posts from now on.

Lou

Weirdeyes 15 Feb 2018, 18:50

Ill try to stop posting here anyways. To put it bluntly Lou isnt really being helpful anyways. No one will miss me anyways.

15 Feb 2018, 18:45

in case anyone wonders, that last anonymous post was from LikeLenses. his improper use of commas always gives him away like a flare in the morning sky.

15 Feb 2018, 18:18

People,maybe exchange emails or something because this has basically been a 2 way conversation with huge walls of text for weeks.

Lou 15 Feb 2018, 06:04

HI WEIRDEYES

TO MAKE THINGS EASIER, I'LL REPLY WITHIN YOUR POSTS IN CAPITALS.

Weirdeyes 14 Feb 2018, 10:29

Lou

Distance kind of goes in and out of focus. Hard to say what the overall vision is like since Im not used to them yet.

OK, I UNDERSTAND.

I do notice how bad my close up vision, depth perception and vision in my left eye is when I take them off.

OK, I AGAIN UNDERSTAND.

While I do know these things on an intellectual level, I kind of didnt see them. I also never really noticed blurry vision in my left eye unless I got double vision or closed my right eye.

THIS IS PROBABLY NOT SURPRISING, ESPECIALLY IF YOU ARE ADDITIONALLY RIGHT EYE DOMINANT.

These glasses also have no prism which I need to get used to.

IS THERE ANY PARTICULAR REASON, WHY YOU HAVE NO PRISM WITH THIS PRESCRIPTION?

I feel like my eyes are somewhat learning how to converge more without necessarily accommodating more. Ive heard spasm of accommodation can eventually cause exotropia when your eyes get very exhausted.

IF I UNDERSTAND YOU CORRECTLY, BECAUSE I'M NOT REALLY SURE WHAT YOU MEAN BY A SPASM OF ACCOMMODATION, YOU ARE SAYING THAT OWING TO HAVING UNCORRECTED/UNDER CORRECTED HYPEROPIA, THE EYES ARE HAVING TO ACCOMMODATE MORE THAN THEY SHOULD, AND EVENTUALLY BECOME SO TIRED THAT EXOTROPIA OCCURS.

REGARDING THIS, TO BE HONEST, I DON'T FULLY UNDERSTAND THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN ACCOMMODATION AND CONVERGENCE. MY UNDERSTANDING IS THAT ACCOMMODATION ENCOURAGES CONVERGENCE, HENCE WHY IN MY CASE, EXTRA PLUS LEADS TO A REDUCED AMOUNT OF ACCOMMODATION, WHICH EXAGGERATES MY CONVERGENCE DIFFICULTIES.

I ALSO HAVE BEEN TOLD ON QUITE A FEW OCCASIONS, THAT THE REASON FOR MY CONVERGENCE INSUFFICIENCY, IS THAT THE MUSCLES RESPONSIBLE FOR CONVERGENCE ARE WEAK AND I WAS BORN THIS WAY. BEFORE I HAD VISION THERAPY AND STARTED WEARING GLASSES TO CORRECT MY VERY SMALL REFRACTIVE ERROR IN EACH EYE, MY EYES WOULD EVENTUALLY GET SO TIRED, THAT I WOULD NO LONGER BE ABLE TO HOLD MY EYES IN, LEADING TO DOUBLE VISION. BUT IN MY CASE, THIS OCCURRED BECAUSE THE MUSCLES RESPONSIBLE FOR CONVERGENCE WERE TOO WEAK. IF THEY WERE NOT WEAK, THEN EVEN IF MY EYES BECAME SO TIRED THAT I WAS STRUGGLING TO MAINTAIN SUFFICIENT ACCOMMODATION, I PROBABLY WOULDN'T HAVE EXPERIENCED CONVERGENCE INSUFFICIENCY.

OR WHEN YOU USE THE TERM SPASM OF ACCOMMODATION, ARE YOU REFERRING TO LITERALLY THE OPPOSITE TO WHAT I DISCUSS ABOVE, AND TO AN INVOLUNTARY SUSTAINED CRAMPING OR TIGHTENING OF THE EYE MUSCLE FIBRES, EQUIVALENT TO CRAMP N THE CALF MUSCLES? IF SO, I HAVE NEVER HEARD OF THIS.

As a kid I had normal looking eyes, which is why I didnt get glasses until I was eleven.

SORRY I DON'T UNDERSTAND. ARE YOU SAYING THAT YOU EYES NOW LOOK ABNORMAL?

Weirdeyes 14 Feb 2018, 10:56

Another thing is that I notice that my left eye really makes my right eye look good to other people in comparison. Like the optician said theres nothing really wrong with my right eye. I dont think +1.50 -0.75 is a super low prescription. It is mild, but I normally dont think people would describe it that way. Most people at that prescription would get probably get glasses even if theyre only part time most of the time. I think it only seems very low because of the +5.00 eye. +5.00 seems to really be an emotional number for people.

IN MY OPINION, IT DEPENDS MORE ON WHAT YOUR DISTANCE PRESCRIPTION IS FOR YOUR RIGHT EYE THAN YOUR READING PRESCRIPTION. IF YOU HAVE NO LATENT HYPEROPIA, AND YOUR RIGHT EYE DISTANCE PRESCRIPTION IS TRULY +0.75 SPH -0.75 CYL, THEN I CAN UNDERSTAND WHY YOUR OPTICIAN SAID THAT THERE IS NOTHING REALLY WRONG WITH YOUR RIGHT EYE. IF YOUR RIGHT EYE PRESCRIPTION TRULY IS +1.50 SPH -0.75 CYL, THEN I WOULDN'T DESCRIBE IT AS YOUR OPTICIAN DID.

One optometrist guessed that my right eye is probably moderately farsighted until the dilating drops failed to relax my eyes. I think Ill just avoid those drops because it gives people false confidence. I think being moderately farsighted makes more sense with my symptoms. I even had some symptoms when I was nine years old, which I dont think someone low hyperopes or someone with only bad vision in one eye has.

SORRY, I JUST DON'T KNOW. I'M GOING TO BE BLUNT. PLEASE DON'T BE OFFENDED, I MEAN WELL. IN MY OPINION, THIS ONE OPTICIAN'S GUESS SEEMS TO BE ABSOLUTELY STUCK IN STONE FOR YOU. IT DOESN'T MATTER HOW MANY TIMES YOU ARE DILATED WITHOUT UNCOVERING ANY LATENT HYPEROPIA, NOW HE HAS SAID THIS TO YOU, IN YOUR MIND, YOU DEFINITELY HAVE LATENT HYPEROPIA, AND THE DROPS ARE FAILING TO RELAX YOUR EYES SUFFICIENTLY TO UNCOVER IT.

MAYBE THIS IS THE TRUTH, AND YOUR EYES ARE TOO STRAINED FOR THE DROPS TO UNCOVER YOUR LATENT HYPEROPIA. I HAVE NO PROBLEM WITH THIS, AND HOPE FOR YOU PERSONALLY THAT THIS IS THE CASE, BECAUSE THIS IS WHAT YOU HOPE FOR.

I JUST WISH TO RISK DISAPPOINTMENT AND FUTURE STRESS, THAT YOU WILL ACCEPT THAT THIS IS JUST THE GUESS OF ONE OPTICIAN, AND IS YET TO BE PROVED ONE WAY OR THE OTHER.

I DO TRULY BELIEVE THAT ALL IS NOT WELL AND YOU HAVE SYMPTOMS THAT NEED TO BE INVESTIGATED, BUT WITH YOUR BEST INTERESTS AT HEART, I HONESTLY WISH THAT YOU WOULD NOT MAKE PRESUMPTIONS BASED ON THE GUESSES OF ONE OPTICIAN, AND THE RESULTS OF YOUR PRIVATE RESEARCH. YOU APPEAR TO HAVE FOUND A GOOD OPTICIAN, HE SAYS THAT THIS IS NOT A ONE APPOINTMENT ISSUE, AND WANTS TO SEE YOU AGAIN IN A MONTH. PLEASE PLEASE FOR THE SAKE OF YOUR OWN HEALTH, LET HIM SORT THIS FOR YOU!

Weirdeyes 15 Feb 2018, 00:29

My eyes seem to see better in the distance when Im not worried about whether Ill adjust or not. It seems like my eyes relax more when Im more relaxed.

YOU MAY VERY WELL BE OVER ACCOMMODATING OWING TO ANXIETY OVER YOUR OWN EYESIGHT. THIS IS WHY I HAVE BEEN SO BLUNT WITH YOU, AND URGE YOU TO TRUST YOUR OPTICIAN TO SORT THIS FOR YOU.

What a shock! I need some distraction. Ill probably have to stop posting here. Not a whole lot of people will miss me.

I DON'T THINK THAT YOU NEED TO STOP READING OR POSTING HERE, BUT I DO STRONGLY BELIEVE THAT YOU NEED TO STOP ANALYSING YOUR OWN EYES. DO YOU HAVE LATENT HYPEROPIA? I DON'T BELIEVE THAT THIS HAS YET BEEN ASCERTAINED. RATHER THAN PRESUMING THAT YOU HAVE IT BASED ON SYMPTOMS SINCE YOU WERE NINE YEARS OLD AND ALL YOUR PRIVATE RESEARCH, LET YOUR OPTICIAN FIND OUT FOR YOU. YOU HAVE BUILT UP A RELATIONSHIP WITH HIM, SINCE HE IS YOUR PREVIOUS OPTICIAN, AND HE APPEARS PREPARED TO WORK WITH YOU. TELL HIM ABOUT THE GUESS OF THE PREVIOUS OPTICIAN, MENTION THE FAILED DILATIONS AND ASK FOR HIS PROFESSIONAL OPINION.

REGARDING YOUR IDEA THAT NOT A LOT OF PEOPLE WILL MISS YOU, I WOULD NOT LET ONE OR TWO RUDE POSTERS PUT YOU OFF CONTRIBUTING. THE SAME PERSON ACCUSED ME OF HYJACKING EYESCENE, WHEN I WAS POSTING IN ONLY A COUPLE OF THREADS.

LOOK AFTER YOURSELF

LOU

Weirdeyes 15 Feb 2018, 00:29

My eyes seem to see better in the distance when Im not worried about whether Ill adjust or not. It seems like my eyes relax more when Im more relaxed. What a shock! I need some distraction. Ill probably have to stop posting here. Not a whole lot of people will miss me.

Weirdeyes 14 Feb 2018, 10:56

Weirdeyes 14 Feb 2018, 10:29

Lou

Distance kind of goes in and out of focus. Hard to say what the overall vision is like since Im not used to them yet. I do notice how bad my close up vision, depth perception and vision in my left eye is when I take them off. While I do know these things on an intellectual level, I kind of didnt see them. I also never really noticed blurry vision in my left eye unless I got double vision or closed my right eye. These glasses also have no prism which I need to get used to. I feel like my eyes are somewhat learning how to converge more without necessarily accommodating more. Ive heard spasm of accommodation can eventually cause exotropia when your eyes get very exhausted. As a kid I had normal looking eyes, which is why I didnt get glasses until I was eleven.

Lou 14 Feb 2018, 07:47

Hi Weirdeyes

That is good to hear. How is your overall vision with these glasses?

Do you feel that you will be able to tolerate the distance blur full-time for around 2 weeks to a month, to see whether it will clear?

Best wishes

Lou

Weirdeyes 13 Feb 2018, 19:10

Just got my new glasses. The left lens doesnt show any thickness at all, while the old 1.61 lens did a bit. So my +5.00 lens is thinner than the +4.00 lens.

Lou 11 Feb 2018, 11:50

Hi Soundmanpt

You are very welcome.

Best wishes

Lou

Soundmanpt 11 Feb 2018, 11:24

Thanks Lou I didn't know how it works over their. i had a feeling it was different. I have heard of NHS just didn't know anything about it.

Lou 11 Feb 2018, 09:34

Hi Soundmanpt

Although obviously not Carrie, since I am also a Brit, I thought that I would answer this.

As you know, we have a National Health Service (NHS).

Some people who meet the qualifying criteria, are eligible for a free sight-test and optical voucher towards the cost of glasses:

https://www.nhs.uk/NHSEngland/Healthcosts/Pages/Eyecarecosts.aspx

https://www.nhs.uk/NHSEngland/Healthcosts/Pages/nhs-voucher-values.aspx

I don't believe that there is such a thing as vision insurance in the UK.

A lot of eye care chains, such as Specsavers, have offers for those entitled to an opticial voucher:

i.e. https://www.specsavers.co.uk/offers/nhs-deals

All the best

Lou

Soundmanpt 11 Feb 2018, 08:00

Carrie

I'm glad to hear that Danielle finally gave in and has decided to start wearing your old glasses all the time now. Even better that she now seems to have accepted the fact that she really needs to wear glasses full time. Walking around in familiar surroundings such as your house or her house without glasses is okay but not much other things. Carrie i'm sure if you wanted to you could get by without your glasses pretty well around your house also. But you have probably just gotten in the habit of putting your glasses on as soon as you get out of bed.

I'm sure that you're looking forward to helping Danielle and I assume Vicky as well check out frames for their new glasses. But since they won't be getting their eyes checked for at least a month to 6 weeks if they find frames they like they should probably have the store hold them. Frames often change in that time frame and they might not even find them when they come back. Do you know if Danielle and Vicky both have vision insurance? I dont't know how much insurance pays for glasses in the UK but in the US it pays about half or more and in some cases the full price. I think think this is the longest that Vicky has been wearing the same pair of glasses. Besides hoping that she needs a stronger prescription i'm sure she is probably looking forward to getting new glasses anyway.

Carrie 10 Feb 2018, 04:15

I forgot to say that Danielle wants to have a look at some glasses frames today and would like us to go with her to help her choose some that will become her new pairs. I could hardly contain my excitement when she asked! Her and Vicky are getting their eyes tested next month.

Carrie 10 Feb 2018, 04:06

Vicky and Danielle stayed over last night. Danielle wore my old glasses (the ones slightly stronger than her current prescription) to drive and kept them on all evening. She said she is used to them now and while it's more noticeable close up that she can see slightly clearer her eyes feel slightly more relaxed when looking at distances although the improvements are quite small.

When we got up this morning Danielle spent the first hour without glasses but after she had to read something her glasses stayed on.

Carrie 10 Feb 2018, 04:05

When we got up this morning Danielle spent the first hour without glasses but after she had to read something her glasses stayed on.

Likelenses 08 Feb 2018, 19:23

Weirdeyes

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4840060/

http://www.reviewofoptometry.com/article/the-case-of-the-blinking-girl

http://www.visiontherapystories.org/add_adhd_drug_free.html

http://www.covd.org/?page=adhd

08 Feb 2018, 10:19

Hi Weirdeyes

I do understand all that you say. Regarding you saying that you get higher contrast without the +1.50 glasses, in my opinion this sounds like the +1.50 is too strong, and you are possibly finding it easier to see not because it is clearer and sharper, but because it is magnified and therefore larger. I don't know because I can't see what you see, but since you were prescribed around +0.75 stronger for reading at your last eye appointment, I imagine that +1.50 is probably technically too strong. However that you are comfortable is what matters.

Regarding you finding it hard to know what an under correction or too little plus is like, as nobody can see through anyone else's eyes, this is a difficult concept.

I suppose for a hyperopic young person with no astigmatism or proportionately very little astigmatism compared to their hyperopia, too little plus may primarily result in eye strain from over accommodating. Since my whole refractive error is astigmatism, I see the smaller lines on a snellen chart as smudged without my glasses. An o for example does not look round and clear, there is a directional blur to it, which is slightly different in direction in each eye owing to my slightly different axes, and the blur is greater in my right eye with the +0.50 Sph -0.50 Cyl prescription than my left eye with the +0.25 Sph -0.25 Cyl.

I don't see things as small, or with less contrast, just very slightly blurred when I take off my glasses. Unless I'm looking at something with detail or letters, either near or in the distance, my vision seems ok, but if for example I'm looking at someone across a room or large table during a meeting, even though I feel I can see their face ok, I can feel my eyes straining and burning, and I get the perception that I'm having to stare intently to keep their face in focus.

My eyes just seem to be working too hard, and since I have astigmatism, however much I strain, I cannot get rid of the mild directional blur.

Carrie will have to clarify, but since her distance vision cleared, and her prescription has gradually increased, I presume that her prescription increases have gradually been uncovering latent hyperopia.

As you know, once all latent hyperopia is uncovered and corrected, additional plus will just blur the distance vision in the same way as having myopia, as too much plus effectively makes the person myopic.

Pseudo CI is something which you can presumably discuss with your optician at a future appointment, once your primary concerns have been addressed.

Although I know I have CI, if I'm not having to quickly correct images that have become double, or feeling that I'm working hard to keep images fused, I don't give it a seconds thought.

All the best

Lou

Weirdeyes 08 Feb 2018, 09:07

Lou

That makes more sense. I was kind of like that at first with the +1.50 glasses, but I was sick of my eyes going out of focus so I got used to them. Now I see better with them. While it seems a bit higher contrast without them, I also get headaches. When I start to get CI symptoms most of the time adding more plus gets rid of them. When Im on my phone in my room I like to wear +2.50 instead. I know Im not deconditioning my eyes too much because Im often on my phone without any add when Im in public. With me its hard to know what an undercorrection or too little plus even is. The user Carrie started with +0.75 +1.00 and is now in the +3.00 range. She reported blurry distance vision with her +1.00 glasses at first, so as you can see blurry distance vision isnt really a reliable sign. Theres also a chance I have pseudo CI.

Lou 08 Feb 2018, 04:02

Hi Weirdeyes

You may be right about CI making a +0.50 reading add blurry for the computer. It wasn't that I couldn't see the computer with it, but I could see it better without.

It is my right eye predominantly that will drift out, although they will both do it to a certain extent, but it has barely happened at all since wearing my distance prescription full-time.

I'm not sure really if your exophoria is behaving unexpectedly. My CI really started becoming a problem for the first time in my mid 30s, when I started doing a lot more orchestral playing. I was finding the music difficult to see, owing to what I now believe was simply my small amount of astigmatism not being corrected, my eyes were getting very tired, and I was finding it difficult to keep the images fused with both eyes together. Therefore since tired strained eyes without correction was causing CI symptoms in me, I can fully understand why no correction is worse for you.

I believe that it works both ways, and that there is a fine balance. Since there is a relationship between convergence and accommodation, as we have discussed before, a previous optician said to me, that people with CI often see better with slightly too little plus, because the extra accommodation required to see at near, encourages the eyes to converge.

On the other hand, if the eyes are too under corrected, and become very tired and strained, keeping the eyes converged may just be too much effort.

I therefore really think that with CI, it is a case of wearing adequate correction as much as needed to avoid eye strain, and for no extra plus to be prescribed, as the eyes still need to accommodate sufficiency to encourage convergence.

Thanks very much for the clarification regarding your mum. I would have thought that she would have benefited from bifocals or varifocals at her age, but obviously your mum and her optician know the answer to this.

All the best

Lou

Weirdeyes 07 Feb 2018, 22:14

Whats with all the anon weirdos?

07 Feb 2018, 17:35

Weirdeyes

You need to have your optician install a retaining cage on the left side of your glasses, to catch that eye in the event that it drifts out too far,

Weirdeyes 07 Feb 2018, 11:13

Lou

I think you found your +0.50 reading add blurry for the computer because of CI. Mathematically it should be clear for anyone, but CI complicates it. Since I apparently dont have true CI, I can see the PC fine with +1.50. My problem is that my left eye drifts outwards. This problem is worse when I wear no correction. Glasses and contacts help. Apparently wearing stronger plus up close helps as well. So I have exophoria that seems to not behave how people expect.

My mom got lasik which wore off. No one really knows her distance prescription. I believe its somewhere around +1.50 to +2.50. She has multiple pairs of OTC readers. I definitely think she needs bifocals, but having multiple pairs of readers masks that.

07 Feb 2018, 10:58

All the best to everyone

Lou 07 Feb 2018, 09:56

Hi Weirdeyes

Wearing your new prescription when most comfortable, sounds pretty reasonable.

That you could see the TV ok with your +1.00 readers is interesting. I once had a +0.50 reading addition on my prescription and got a pair of separate reading glasses. Talk about restrictive. Even my lap top at less than arms length away was blurred. I switched to my current optician for my next eye test. She removed the reading addition. She said that she could reduce it to +0.25, but neither her or me saw the point of two pairs of glasses with a difference of +0.25 sphere.

I've never been able to focus super close. I presume that it is my convergence insufficiency, as I've never been any different.

I presume that your mum wears her distance glasses full-time and hence for reading, and am surprised that now she is on her 50s, she doesn't find that she needs a separate prescription for reading, or to hold her reading material slightly further away. As you say, maybe it is owing to image size, as I believe you said that your mum's prescription is around +5.00.

Obviously when I refer to holding reading material further away, I mean in reason, as obviously too far away makes it too small. Sorry I have no experience of having a +5.00 prescription and how it affects image size, and you have no practical experience of my eyes. On paper your right eye seems similar in prescription to mine, but I am a lot older and convergence insufficiency has moved out my near point of focus. To give you an example, I play the cornet as well as trumpet. My cornet has a lyre holder to read music whilst on the march. I don't march so don't use it, but when I tried recently to use a lyre for a march sized copy of the Last Post and Reveille (along the lines of taps), I found that whereas the lyre holder puts the music in front of the bell, I need the music behind the bell to see it in focus. My optician says that this is owing to insufficient convergence rather than presbyopia, and although I will eventually need a reading add, since I can't read very close anyhow and extra plus makes my convergence insufficiency worse, than continuing with just my distance prescription makes sense for now.

I'm very glad to hear that you are getting your eye problems sorted.

All the best

Lou

Weirdeyes 07 Feb 2018, 07:10

Lou

Ill wear it when its most comfortable, which Ill decide when I actually get them. Ill most likely wear them full time at home. Even for distance tasks. Even the +1.00 glasses were okay for tv. In my case I found removing the +1.00 glasses when I get OCDish about my distance vision actually helped my eyes relax more than forcing myself to wear them full time. So youve never been comfortable with focusing super close? Apparently I have CI as well, but Ive always held things a bit too close. Maybe I have pseudo CI which can be caused by eye strain. My mom is 50 and even now she doesnt find it easier to see stuff held further away. She finds that idea as counterintuitive as me.

Lou 07 Feb 2018, 04:26

Re. Weirdeyes 06 Feb 2018, 17:20

Hi Weirdeyes

I really wouldn't recommend doing both, as it will lead to variations in accommodation and probably variations in vision.

Did you ask your optician when he recommended you to wear the new glasses you have on order?

If so, I'd go with what he recommended. If he didn't, since I don't believe you drive and you are only 21, you could try the new prescription for a month, to see whether your distance vision clears. I fully appreciate that you tried wearing the +1.00 readers over your contacts and your distance vision didn't fully clear, but it looks like you have a +0.75 reading addition in your new glasses. I know that this is only +0.25 difference, but you never know.

As you no doubt know, you'd have to wear this new prescription full time from the moment you get up to the moment you go to bed (apart from things like the shower), so that you eyes become as relaxed as possible.

If your distance vision doesn't clear, then even if you do have latent hyperopia, it is unlikely to be easily uncovered, and it will probably be a case of having separate distance and reading prescriptions from now on.

Obviously I'm not an eye care professional and your optician is the one to ask.

Regarding your prescription now being described as high, maybe since your new prescription is stronger since it has been prescribed mainly for reading, and is now +5.00 in your left eye rather than +4.25, maybe this is the reason. Maybe +5.00 is at the threshold of being considered high. More likely it just depends on the opinion of the eye care professional, whether a prescription of this magnitude, is moderate or high.

Thank you very much for the explanation regarding near vision with hyperopia and presbyopia. Although I do have hyperopia, since mine is simple hyperopic astigmatism rather than hyperopia per sec, my prescription is very small, and I also have convergence insufficiency, maybe this is why I have never held things close to read. Ever since I was a child, although of course not at arms length, I still read at a pretty typical distance even at 44, I've never been able to see particularly close. I presume that this is owing to convergence insufficiency, which my optician says that I have always had.

I'm very glad to hear that you are getting things sorted, and have another appointment in a month.

All the best

Lou

07 Feb 2018, 00:50

Glass lenses

Fuck off

Glass Lenses 06 Feb 2018, 23:30

The fiddleing has begun again.

Weirdeyes 06 Feb 2018, 17:20

Lou

I think Ill do a bit of both. One interesting thing is that at this prescription people are starting to call it a high prescription. While people still recommended high index for +4.25, they didnt show as much of a reaction.

Hyperopia and presbyopia both cause issues with near vision. One big difference is what improves the near vision. With presbyopia moving things further away helps, but with hyperopia its the opposite. This is because accommodating minifies things. This isnt too bad for most people, but it can be bad for hyperopes. Moving things closer kind of magnifies them. I can focus pretty close. Even with my left eye, I never get anywhere short arm syndrome. My mom relates to moving things closer to see them better.

Lou 06 Feb 2018, 16:39

Hi Weirdeyes

Great news! Glad it's turned out well. It is good that you are going back in a month, and he recognises that this is not a one visit issue.

If you don't mind me asking, are you planning on wearing your new glasses just for reading until you return in a month, and swapping to your existing pair for distance, or are you planning to wear you new ones for the whole month, to see whether they relax your eyes and reveal some latent hyperopia?

It is interesting that you could see to the bottom of the near chart this time even without correction. I'm surprised that you need to move it closer, but then again I'm 44. Since I have convergence insufficiency, my near point of focus has never been particularly close, and age has not moved it closer.

I'm glad that things are getting sorted.

All the best

Lou

Weirdeyes 06 Feb 2018, 14:07

Lou

Hes just someone I used to go to. He even remembered me. I stopped going because I moved. Im pretty happy with it. He just gave me a reading only prescription for now. I assume the distance prescription was just way too close to the current rx I have. Which makes sense since my eyes are probably strained in a consistent-ish way. With the reading chart I could see to the bottom even without the add. I think the other chart might have just been too far away. I can see pretty small print, I just need to hold it closer than normal. He told me this isnt a one visit only issue, which I completely agree with.

Lou 06 Feb 2018, 13:23

Hi Weirdeyes

If you don't mind me asking, how did you choose this optician, and are you happy with his findings?

Sounds a good idea to concentrate on reading for now. Could you see to the bottom of the near eye chart with this new reading prescription?

When you go back in a month, if all is going well, I presume that he will issue you with a new distance prescription, since your current one I believe has a -1.50 cylinder in your left eye.

Or did he give you a new distance prescription with a reading add, and you've added the reading add to your new distance prescription, for the purpose of posting your prescription?

Best wishes

Lou

I just got a regular eye exam. I told him my concerns and he decided to just focus on reading right now. He gave me this prescription for reading and told me to buy separate reading glasses. He told me to come back a month later. Ill still wear contacts, just not as often. Ill decide when to wear each pair of glasses when I get my readers.

Weirdeyes 06 Feb 2018, 13:15

Lou

Lou 06 Feb 2018, 12:46

Hi Weirdeyes

Re.:Weirdeyes 06 Feb 2018, 11:56

I got a new prescription. Its mainly for reading, but distance wasnt actually too bad.

R +1.50 -0.75 165

L +5.00 -1.25 013

This seems pretty similar to the one that you got from your lasik consultation (which you gave as R +0.75 -0.75 168 L +4.50 -1.25) in terms of the cylinder and axis, but +0.75 stronger in the right eye sphere, and +0.50 stronger in the left eye sphere.

If you don't mind posting a bit more information, it would be interesting to hear whether you are planning to wear this prescription also for distance, whether you are planning to switch between this new prescription and your previous one, with the new for reading and old for distance, and if so are you going to predominantly wear glasses rather than contact lenses, how you obtained this prescription, and whether you are now happy with your prescription.

Many thanks

Best wishes

Lou

Weirdeyes 06 Feb 2018, 11:56

I got a new prescription. Its mainly for reading, but distance wasnt actually too bad.

R +1.50 -0.75 165

L +5.00 -1.25 013

Lou 01 Feb 2018, 11:21

Hi again Weirdeyes

I meant to add that I believe these fluctuations in vision occur more greatly with hyperopia than myopia, owing to hyperopic eyes being able to accommodate to some extent to self-correct their refractive error.

My advice to you would be to either go with the prescription obtained at the lasik consult, if one was or could be issued, or to take the lasik refraction result and your current prescription to a well respected optician, ask them to determine which is most accurate, and go with their recommendation.

I would then stick to glasses for the time being, wearing your new prescription glasses from the moment you get up to the moment you go to bed everyday for at least 2 weeks, preferably a month, only taking them off for the shower/bed etc, and try not to do any close vision tasks without your glasses.

I would resist all temptation to compare different pairs of glasses, and just stick to the one prescription for all distances. I would also resist the temptation to analyse your vision for the same time period, forget about your eyes and glasses, and see how things are after a month.

Good luck with solving this.

Best wishes

Lou

Lou 01 Feb 2018, 10:59

Hi Weirdeyes

Re: Weirdeyes 31 Jan 2018, 21:58

Maybe I just need vision therapy. All glasses prescriptions Ive tried drive me crazy for various reasons. Or maybe my eyes are just impossible to test. My username is Weirdeyes because of how hard my eyes are to test. Not just because of them being different prescriptions. Im sure a lot of people with my kind of rx are far easier to test than me. Even my right(good) eye has fluctuating and inconsistent vision and struggles to see 20/20 at times. They still all just say my left eye is lazy. Maybe both my eyes are lazy. Which is weird because my right eye prescription is so low.

It don't believe that it is possible for both eyes to be lazy. Although of course not an eye care professional, I

believe I have an idea what is going on.

I asked a question about fluctuating vision via the Specsavers UK Ask the Optician service, and received the following response:

I think your analysis is very accurate. The problem is that the refraction of the eye does alter very slightly during the day for many people. There are a number of factors, including tiredness, light level (and hence pupil size) and very slight changes in the shape of your eye. So your prescription may change very slightly from morning to evening. You could have an eye test in the morning that could be slightly different than if you had an eye test in the late afternoon. There is no real answer to this issue - either accept the variation or have another eye test to see if there is a prescription that will be acceptable more of the time.

As I have said already, I solved my fluctuating vision, by booking a re-test with an optician in which I had confidence, ensuring that my appointment was as late in the day as possible, as I felt that my prescription sometimes seemed too strong in the evenings. When I chose the exact same lens for each eye as in my previous eye test three months previously, and my optician explained that her objective findings via retinoscopy agreed with my subjective lens choices, I felt a lot my comfortable in my prescription. Since I was experiencing severe eye strain without glasses, and after straining all day without them they sometimes seemed too strong when I wore them for the first time later in the day, she recommended full-time wear. It took a while, but the variations in my vision went as my eyes relaxed with full-time wear.

I discussed the Ask the Optician reply with my Optician, and she said that everyone experiences these variations in vision, and they become more noticeable if/when you become anxious about them, which I believe is happening to you.

Another thing I'm wondering, is how soon after removing your contact lenses, you are having your eyes tested. If it is only a matter or minutes or hours, your contact lenses may be temporarily slightly altering the shape of your cornea, and when you remove them, your corneas gradually return to normal, with fluctuations in vision whilst this is happening. If this is the case, having your eyes tested whilst this fluctuation is still occurring, may be leading to the varying prescriptions.

I hope that this will help.

Best wishes

Lou

Likelenses 01 Feb 2018, 02:18

01 Feb 2018, 01:32

So where is your name, or shall I just call you coward?

01 Feb 2018, 01:32

wow. if this isn't the biggest case of pot calling the kettle black, i don't know what is. likelenses is well known for having caused more problems in this forum than all members combined with his ridiculously strong opinions, nasty racist comments, and fake account names. now he's saying someone else has mental issues???????

Likelenses 01 Feb 2018, 01:21

Weirdeyes

Perhaps you need therapy for your mental issues.

Sounds to me as though you have exhausted all of the vision problems that you perceive, so in my opinion the next logical step is the mental aspects.

Weirdeyes 01 Feb 2018, 01:06

NNVisitor

Im not too worried about struggling with the 20/20 vision line at times. I think its mainly from overwearing contacts which is a problem I can fix. Im more frustrated that people are so quick to label it as amblyopia. Even though my right eye has the same exact issues. I just notice people blame all my issues on this very mild or possibly nonexistent amblyopia. Its frustrating when Im trying to get help for eye strain and people just call me amblyopic.

NNVisitor 01 Feb 2018, 00:02

Weirdeyes

Your vision between 20/25 and 20/20 really is great vision. There is a multitde of reasons why someone will sometimes see 20/20 corrected and sometimes somewhat less. Microchanges of the cornea's shape will affect one's vision. Some people can only see 20/30 corrected. Others not even that. In my case when I see anything on the 20/20 line with contact lenses I feel like I have excellent vision. Even if I can identify one or two letters on the 20/20 line. We all have different eyes. I have been told that my eyes are different from each other. Eyes are complex and yes vision isn't always perfectly clear all the time. You've certainly tried hard to obtain the right prescription and hopefully your latest prescription is the best fot you at this time.

Weirdeyes 31 Jan 2018, 21:58

Lou 31 Jan 2018, 07:53

Hi Runelle

Thanks very much.

Best wishes

Lou

Ruenelle 31 Jan 2018, 07:03

Lou,

I understand and accept your explanation.

Lou 31 Jan 2018, 03:34

Hi Weirdeyes

I'm going to be firm again. Like you say, the 168 axis of your right eye is likely to be correct, and you admit that +0.75 Sph -0.75 Cyl is the prescription that keeps coming up in subjective refractions. Since you have been dilated twice recently and latent hyperopia has not been found in your right eye, and it wasn't found when it was looked for previously, I believe that you should be prepared to accept that this may just be your full prescription, and there may not be any latent hyperopia to find.

Regarding your left eye, if this latest refraction is correct, then your left eye needs +4.50 on one meridian and +3.25 on the other, compared to +4.25 on one meridan and +2.75 on the other. If this latest refraction is more accurate, then having your left eye under corrected by +0.25 on one meridian and +0.50 on the other, and having a -0.25 too strong cylinder axis, could explain your eye strain and near vision difficulties, especially since you currently have a right eye axis of 180 and your previous axis history suggests that the 168 found in your latest refraction is likely to be more accurate.

In my opinion, things are much easier for you now, and you have two options, the first if the gentleman doing the lasik consultation is able to provide a prescription, to go with that, or if he isn't able to provide a prescription owing to the exam being carried out for a different purpose and therefore not following all the regulations necessary to be able to provide a prescription for dispensing purposes, or you just want to discuss the difference between your current left eye prescription and the one found at the lasik consult, you have the very easy option of taking both prescriptions to a recommended optician, and ask them to ascertain which is the most accurate.

Regarding dry eyes, unless you have been diagnosed with this, I wouldn't think about it.

Yes, I would suggest reducing contact lens wear, as I've frequently heard of contact lenses leading to fluctuating vision in the hours after they are removed, making refraction difficult.

Good luck with solving all this.

Best wishes

Lou

Glass Lenses 31 Jan 2018, 00:25

And Weirdeyes just continues to fiddle.

Weirdeyes 30 Jan 2018, 17:44

I also remember my right eye had to strain to see smaller lines with +0.75 -0.75. So I do believe this is the prescription my right eye prefers right now on subjective refractions, but I dont believe it's necessarily prefect. Ill just take care of my dry eye issues and keep on talking to different optometrists.

Weirdeyes 30 Jan 2018, 17:40

Lou

I still dont have much confidence. I guess Im more confident about the axis in my right eye, but not much else. It currently is very close to 168 and its always been. I think dry eye is contributing to fluctuating vision, so Ill cut down on wearing contacts.

Lou 30 Jan 2018, 17:24

Hi Weirdeyes

You said the following on the lenses thread:

Weirdeyes 20 Jan 2018, 12:34

Lou

Im currently wearing R +0.75 -0.75 L +4.25 -1.50.

You also said the following on this thread:

Weirdeyes 27 Jan 2018, 21:40

I think I know why my left eye failed. -1.50 cyl is just too strong. It looks darker and bolder, but it sees better with -1.25.

Weirdeyes 30 Jan 2018, 17:01

Just came back from my lasik consultation. Im not a candidate because of prism in my glasses. I didnt get a cycloplegic refraction. My manifest refraction was R +0.75 -0.75 168 L +4.50 -1.25 ???

Looks like you are right about your left eye preferring -1.25 cyl. Have you been given a prescription that you can use to try glasses/contacts with this latest left eye prescription?

Although it wasn't a dilated exam, hopefully this has given you confidence that your current right eye prescription is basically correct (I believe that you said that your current prescription has a 180 axis whereas quite a few previous ones have been 170).

Please let us know what you plan to do.

Best wishes

Lou

Weirdeyes 30 Jan 2018, 17:01

Just came back from my lasik consultation. Im not a candidate because of prism in my glasses. I didnt get a cycloplegic refraction. My manifest refraction was R +0.75 -0.75 168 L +4.50 -1.25 ??? I remember the autorefractor gave my left eye -1.75 cyl. During the test both my eyes fluctuated A LOT. Both eyes got moments of fuzzy vision and moments of very clear vision. They both got to around the 20/20 - 20/25 range. My right eye struggled with 20/20 as well. They still labeled me as amblyopic even though my BCVA was pretty symmetrical. I dont blame them with the difference in my prescription.

Lou 30 Jan 2018, 09:43

Re.: Glass Lenses 29 Jan 2018, 21:06, It does seem as though Weirdeyes is playing Lou like a fiddle.

Glass Lenses, if that is really a case, that would be a shame, since I have only been trying to help. I believe that rather than trying to play me like a fiddle, Weirdeyes is only simply anxious.

Best wishes

Lou

LOu 30 Jan 2018, 09:40

Re.: Runelle 29 Jan 2018, 19:49,Lou and Weirdeyes have highjacked Eye Scene.

Runelle, I'm sorry you feel that way. I have been posting on just a couple of threads, and my motive was simply to help a young person with eye problems which were causing her anxiety. My reason for helping Weirdeyes in particular, is that although to a far lesser degree, I also am long-sighted and have astigmatism (technically I have just long-sighted astigmatism, as my prescription is zero at the opposite meridian). As you know doubt know, hyperopia differs from myopia, in that the eye can use its own accommodation to self-correct some or all of the refractive error. Again to a lesser degree, I've also experienced eye strain, fluctuations in vision and prescriptions going down whilst eye strain increases, owing to my eyes over accommodating and not easily relaxing. Now that I've solved my own difficulties, I was trying to help someone else, because I am a kind and caring person, not because there is anything in it for me. If you are not interested in my posts, please ignore them. It is not, and has never been my intention to highjack a forum. I was simply trying to participate.

Lou

Lou 30 Jan 2018, 01:05

Re.: "Lou" was arguing with WeirdEyes. Suddenly LikeLenses is arguing with WeirdEyes and trying to explain what he said eariler. But the earlier postings he references as his own were posted under the name Lou, not LikeLenses.

Either LikeLenses was impersonating another poster or the other poster is impersonating LikeLenses.

Explain that, please.

IF YOU'D LIKE TO TAKE THE TIME TO COPY AND PASTE THE EARLIER POSTING WHERE LIKELENSES REFERENCES AS HIS OWN POSTINGS ONES WHICH WERE POSTED UNDER MY NAME, MAYBE HE'LL GIVE YOU AN EXPLANATION.

I'VE GOT NOTHING TO EXPLAIN. I'M LOU, I POST ONLY AS LOU, AND RATHER THAN ARGUING WITH WEIRDEYES, I WAS TRYING TO BE FIRM WITH HER TO HELP.

LOU

NNVisitor 29 Jan 2018, 22:53

Likelenses

You're not being helpful but you are being antagonistic. If you're concerned about mental health than deal with your own issues. Such as why someone would assume the the screen name Likelenses.

Glass Lenses 29 Jan 2018, 21:06

It does seem as though Weirdeyes is playing Lou like a fiddle.

29 Jan 2018, 20:56

"Lou" was arguing with WeirdEyes. Suddenly LikeLenses is arguing with WeirdEyes and trying to explain what he said eariler. But the earlier postings he references as his own were posted under the name Lou, not LikeLenses.

Either LikeLenses was impersonating another poster or the other poster is impersonating LikeLenses.

Explain that, please.

Runelle 29 Jan 2018, 19:49

Lou and Weirdeyes have highjacked Eye Scene.

Runelle 29 Jan 2018, 19:49

Lou and Weirdeyes have highjacked Eye Scene.

Runelle 29 Jan 2018, 19:49

Lou and Weirdeyes have highjacked Eye Scene.

Lou 29 Jan 2018, 10:08

I see these accusations of fake posters and people posting under multiple names has started again.

I'm Lou, not anyone else. I don't post as anyone else. Sometimes I admittedly forget to input my ES Nickname, but since I always sign off with my name, it is obvious anyhow that the post is from me.

Best wishes to all the Eye Scene community

Lou

29 Jan 2018, 09:44

Why did you start posting as a fake guy named Lou to WeirdEyes and then forget and switch to your regular name Likelenses? How many different names do you post here under?

Likelenses 29 Jan 2018, 02:13

Weirdeyes

First off what makes you think that I have a fetish? and second, I do not have ongoing vision, or mental issues,such as you have admitted to having.

Weirdeyes 29 Jan 2018, 01:30

Likelenses

But seriously? Does your optometrist know about your fetish?

Likelenses 29 Jan 2018, 01:27

Weirdeyes

Ah Ha, I see you have anger issues as well.

Weirdeyes 29 Jan 2018, 00:55

Likelenses

Does your optometrist know you jerk off to young girls wearing thick glasses or bifocals? Does your girlfriend know? Probably not. So my mental health is no ones business.

Likelenses 29 Jan 2018, 00:41

Weirdeyes

I am not blaming EVERYTHING on your OCD, but if you are ever going to resolve your vision issues you must address it.

I think that a good starting point would be to have your mental health doctor communicate with the eye doctor that you feel most comfortable with. If there is any sexual arousement. or gratification regarding eyesight, or glasses he must know about that.

Between these two TRAINED medical professionals, they can work together to determine what is taking place with your eyes, and what is taking place in your head.

Other than that, I believe that you will just continue to bumble your way through, and nothing will change.

Weirdeyes 28 Jan 2018, 15:08

Maxim

I dont really want to become dependent on prism.

Maxim 28 Jan 2018, 14:36

That's info from Europe. I don't know, if you are left alone in Canada and the US.

http://www.ivbs.org/information-in-english/

Lou 28 Jan 2018, 10:51

Sorry, I meant to say on my last post that I can think of no other way.

Re.:Lou, I did say my left eye has seen 20/20 before, but he didnt believe me. Thank god I didnt pay for that appointment! He seemed nice, but he didnt know crap about refractive error like a lot of other ophthalmologists. Ill ask around for an optometrist that doesnt rely on autorefractors or make appointments too fast. Im also also thinking of going with this younger guy who the vision therapy clinic recommended.

Not believing you is no good at all, and it is good that you didn't have to pay for that appointment. Yes, I agree that you don't want an optometrist who is too reliant on autorefractors. Whatever prescription an optician determines for you, I'd ask them to show it to you compared to your existing prescription, one eye at a time, so that you are confident that the new prescription will be an improvement over your old.

Best wishes

Lou

28 Jan 2018, 10:42

PLEASE EXCUSE THE CAPITALS. I CAN'T THINK OF NO OTHER WAY OF SHOWING WHAT WEIRDEYE'S ORIGINAL TEXT AND MY REPIES

HI WEIRDEYES

Re.: Lou

My OCD is getting the better of me. Trying to find explanations for my problems and self checking my vision are some bad compulsions I have.

I UNDERSTAND. I'D TRY NOT TO KEEP SELF CHECKING YOUR VISION. I WENT THROUGH A STAGE OF THIS WHEN I FELT THAT I WAS EXPERIENCING FLUCTUATING VISION, AND IT DOESN'T ONLY CAUSE STRESS, BUT I BELIEVE THAT IT LEADS TO EYE STRAIN AND OVER ACCOMMODATION.

Also seeking reassurance that my eye problems are real is a bad compulsion I have. I get very pissed off when people think Im a hypochondriac.

I DON'T THINK THAT YOU ARE A HYPOCHONDRIAC, NOT AT ALL, AND I BELIEVE THAT YOUR EYE PROBLEMS ARE REAL. I'M JUST WORRIED THAT THE ANXIETY ABOUT YOUR EYES COULD AFFECT YOUR HEALTH, AND THAT ALL THIS ANALYSING MUST BE VERY TIRING AND NOT HEALTHY.

Im trying to calm down those compulsions. I dont think my OCD is creating my symptoms or making me imagine them, but it does make me think too much about them. I am reading resources on OCD to calm down about this. What makes it worse is when people like likelenses blame everything on OCD and invalidate any eye issues I have. I think my OCD obsession exists because I feel like no optometrists can solve my problems, so Im forced to solve them myself. Ive never had OCD about my teeth because theyre simple and I can rely on the dentist to know what theyre doing.

I FULLY AGREE AND UNDERSTAND.

BEST WISHES

LOU

Maxim 28 Jan 2018, 10:05

To Weirdeyes:

Canada:

Enquire at the University of Waterloo, Ontario,

Drs. Alhassan, Hovis, and Chou.

Do I remember right, that you are living in Canada?

Maxim 28 Jan 2018, 09:54

to Weirdeyes:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hans-Joachim_Haase_(optician)

Some people find help with this, others not.

1) The test takes 60 minutes, not 60 seconds

2) I had it done one, and they reached a visual actuity of 200 percent instead of 120 percent, that I have reached.

Only I did not buy these glasses, as they would have been tailor-made (otician-made) and cost me 1000 $ approximately.

But I had learnt about this fine tuning of the eyes.

Have a look, if there are optometrists doing this MKH ('Haase') in your country!

All the best for you.

And, PS.: there are many people suffering from problems like you do in the moment. You're acting with responsibility, not more, and not less.

Weirdeyes 28 Jan 2018, 09:30

Lou

I did say my left eye has seen 20/20 before, but he didnt believe me. Thank god I didnt pay for that appointment! He seemed nice, but he didnt know crap about refractive error like a lot of other ophthalmologists. Ill ask around for an optometrist that doesnt rely on autorefractors or make appointments too fast. Im also also thinking of going with this younger guy who the vision therapy clinic recommended.

Weirdeyes 28 Jan 2018, 09:23

Lou

My OCD is getting the better of me. Trying to find explanations for my problems and self checking my vision are some bad compulsions I have. Also seeking reassurance that my eye problems are real is a bad compulsion I have. I get very pissed off when people think Im a hypochondriac.

Lou 28 Jan 2018, 04:54

Hi Weirdeyes:

Re.: I think I know why my left eye failed. -1.50 cyl is just too strong. It looks darker and bolder, but it sees better with -1.25. When I actually try to read letters with my left eye it sees better out of my old glasses. I bet most people wouldnt believe it because everyone assumes my left eye must have terrible acuity based on my prescription. It could just have a mild form of amblyopia where its capable of seeing 20/20, but the slightest mistake pushes it to 20/25 or 20/30. Since my right eye might be capable of 20/15 it has a higher tolerance for mistakes in the prescription.

When you write about your left eye failing, are you referring to you not being able to see the 20/20 line at your recent opthalmologist appointment?

On 18th January on the lenses thread, you said the following: Since they tested my corrected acuity as my drops were starting to work my left eye couldnt see the 20/20 line. I know it got 20/20 before.

A simple way of checking this, is to ring up the optician you saw on 19th December who said that there was no change, and ask what your corrected visual acuity was in your left eye. If it was 20/20, then you know that you didn't achieve 20/20 at the opthalmologist owing to the dilation drops.

Regarding the cylinder value of your left eye, you said the following on 14th Jan on this thread: Lou, Yes I wear toric lenses in both eyes. My right eye has always stayed at -0.75, but the axis keeps changing. With my left eye the cylinder was -1.25 for a while, but recently switched to -1.50. -1.50 seems sharper, but my left eye also seems sharper in contacts which only come in .50 increments so it could also be related to axis. Ill let him know my left eye looks sharper to me. He can figure figure out if its astigmatism or a balance issue. Since astigmatism axis is harder for lower cylinder it might be astigmatism.

It seems that on 14th Jan, you thought -1.50 cylinder seemed sharper, and that your left eye looked sharper than your right.

I'm going to be firm with you, please do not be offended. Since around September, you have considered latent hyperopia, wrong axis, too much cylinder, too little cylinder, dry eyes, pseudo CI, that you have the accommodation of a ten year old etc. You are doing way way too much self analysis, and are making yourself more anxious. I don't blame you at all. You have a reasonably big difference between your eyes, which adds to the difficulties, and have had a few unsatisfactory eye appointments with varying prescriptions and no answers to your questions.

I really truly believe that this is what you need to do, and that is to give up on the idea of dilated exams to find things which may not even be there. What you need is a good, caring old school optician, who is more concerned with talking to the patient and ascertaining their needs, than relying on autorefractors. I'd get recommendations from friends and colleagues, and when you think that you have found someone, ask whether you can make an initial appointment just to discuss your concerns and what you are looking to happen during the eye exam appointment, or at least whether you can email or telephone the optician in advance.

What I think you need is a good eye exam to determine your uncorrected visual acuity for each eye, the best corrected visual acuity possible for each eye, and whether you get the most comfortable and balanced vision with each eye corrected to obtain its bcva.

Regarding whether you can for example see better with a -1.50 or -1.25 axis, any difference in bcva will demonstrate this. It may be very well that you get the same bcva with each, and it will be a case of going with what you feel that you can see better with. I'd personally go for finer lines with greater definition, rather than darker or bolder, and check that the different orientations of the lines which make up the letters, are equally fine and defined.

I honestly feel that if you put all you ideas and theories to one side, and simply say that you are not confident that your prescription is correct, as you have eye strain even at distance, and can't see to the bottom of the near chart at only 21, when you have been told that you have good accommodation, that you should be able to achieve a good outcome.

You need to go to the appointment determined to get the answers to your questions, and without being at all forceful or rude (which I am not for one moment suggesting that you would be), you need to show that you are not willing to accept just a quick eye test, and that you are there to get to the bottom of things, are going to ask questions and are going to expect answers.

You appeared to have come out of your last two appointments with no answers why. They were the eye professionals, not you, it was up to the ophthalmologist to determine why you were not seeing 20/20 in your left eye at your last appointment, not you. If I had been in your situation, I would have pointed out that my left eye has previously been corrected to 20/20, and that if it isn't seeing 20/20 with my current prescription, then my current prescription isn't right, and would insist that they did a full refraction.

What sort of ophthalmologist does a quick eye test with the patient's existing glasses, remarks that the patient is not seeing 20/20 and does nothing to see whether they can improve the patients vision?

I don't know because I wasn't there, but it seems to me like an ophthalmologist who is doing the minimum they can to get their money.

No offence, but you have to insist that they do the job right. Not forcibly or rudely, but by taking an active part in the appointment, asking questions, expecting answers, making it clear what you are looking for from the appointment, and making it obvious that you are not the sort of patient who is going to be rushed or fobbed off.

Good luck with solving this.

Lou

Weirdeyes 28 Jan 2018, 00:26

Glass lenses

I doubt I do. Ive had many health checks for my eyes. I think its just latent hyperopia/spasm of accommodation.

Glass Lenses 27 Jan 2018, 23:53

Weirdeyes

From many posts that you have written about your fluctuations in acuity, I strongly suspect that you may have glaucoma.

Weirdeyes 27 Jan 2018, 21:40

I think I know why my left eye failed. -1.50 cyl is just too strong. It looks darker and bolder, but it sees better with -1.25. When I actually try to read letters with my left eye it sees better out of my old glasses. I bet most people wouldnt believe it because everyone assumes my left eye must have terrible acuity based on my prescription. It could just have a mild form of amblyopia where its capable of seeing 20/20, but the slightest mistake pushes it to 20/25 or 20/30. Since my right eye might be capable of 20/15 it has a higher tolerance for mistakes in the prescription.

Lou 26 Jan 2018, 10:39

Hi Weirdeyes

Re.: Lou, Im researching which optometrist I should go with. One option is the one I went to when I was younger. The con is that at the time he didnt give me a satisfactory rx. But he could definitely tell my eyes werent relaxing. He offered to give me cyclo drops, but someone refused for some reason. I really wish I did. Even back then I knew my glasses werent strong enough and I was frustrated. I barely wore my glasses because I made a bad frame choice and I was an insecure middle school student. Dont know if hed still offer them to me as an adult. A lot of people think its pointless. Im also thinking of two of the optometrists the vision therapy clinic recommended. I have a good gut feeling about one, but its only based on his photo and the website. How do you find a good optometrist?

I think that regarding achieving a satisfactory outcome, will as much about the communication between you and the optometrist during the appointment, as it will about the ability as such of the optometrist, as long as they are fully competent. I like mine, because we communicate well. She says that I'm very easy to test because I am very definite in what lens choices I like and why. She seems to trust that I know and understand my own vision, takes my concerns seriously, and is willing to take the time to explain things from her own perspective.

She is happy for me to email her my concerns in advance, and will take care to answer all the points I raise. She also tailors the eye examination accordingly.

It generally takes the form of her going through my email, discussing more fully some points, and saying that we can look at that, we'll check this etc. It gives her an indication of what to concentrate on in particular.

Since getting my prescription sorted last June, I'm hoping my next eye test in June 2019, will be a straight forward affair.

I think that you need the same sort of appointment as I've been havinh, one in which an optometrist can help you to not only get an accurate prescription for each eye, but one that is balanced for you. I'm not saying that this is the case, but if for example one eye was capable of a better bcva than the other, it could lead to less eye strain and greater comfort, to reduce/alter the prescription in the other eye, to make both eyes see more equally, even if is achieved by lowering the bcva a fraction in the eye with the best bcva. Alternatively this could just lead to eye strain/blurred vision in the eye capable of the best bcva.

Some people may prefer the difference in prescription in both eyes to be minimalised, to make the image size more similar, whereas others prefer each eye to be corrected as well as possible, even if this increases the difference between the prescriptions for each eye.

Quite possibly the patient doesn't know themselves what they prefer, unless the options are shown to them.

I believe that you and the optometrist need to work out which balance works best for you, since your eyes require quite a large difference in prescription.

I hope that this is of some use to you.

Best wishes

Lou

Weirdeyes 26 Jan 2018, 02:19

Lou

Im researching which optometrist I should go with. One option is the one I went to when I was younger. The con is that at the time he didnt give me a satisfactory rx. But he could definitely tell my eyes werent relaxing. He offered to give me cyclo drops, but someone refused for some reason. I really wish I did. Even back then I knew my glasses werent strong enough and I was frustrated. I barely wore my glasses because I made a bad frame choice and I was an insecure middle school student. Dont know if hed still offer them to me as an adult. A lot of people think its pointless. Im also thinking of two of the optometrists the vision therapy clinic recommended. I have a good gut feeling about one, but its only based on his photo and the website. How do you find a good optometrist?

Lou 26 Jan 2018, 02:04

Hi Weirdeyes:

Re. Lou

What I meant is that the right eye saw better up close compared to the left. The balance was off. I think I need cyclo drops to balance my eyes properly. I find the way they accommodate is unpredictable. Even though I wont go with the full cyclo rx right away, Ill go with the same balance.

Sounds a good idea. I still however think that you need to look for a good optician, who will work with you to achieve this.

Best wishes

Lou

Weirdeyes 25 Jan 2018, 13:34

Lou

Lou 25 Jan 2018, 13:15

Hi Weirdeyes

Re. Lou

Even if I do have latent hyperopia, I think at the moment only a small increase in distance is appropriate. I can just gradually increase it like everyone else. I think it was actually my left eye overaccomodating based on that autorefractor that went from 5.50 to 4.50. The +1.00 glasses do clear up, but not completely.

Just to clarify the situation for other readers of this thread, since you previously posted your autorefractor readings on the lenses thread, owing to me initially posting on the wrong thread.

With a +3.25 contact lens in your left eye, the autorefractor result from several years ago was equivalent to the following without glasses/contacts:

R +2.25 -0.75

L +5.50 -1.50

This dropped to +4.50 -1.50 in your left eye when you removed the +3.25 contact lens, and I agree that this could be owing to your left eye accommodating.

Re. Lou

When I had my old glasses I did notice my right eye saw better up close. I didnt mention it because I thought that would be too OCD. I wish I had. When I was a kid I thought it would be terrible to have different prescriptions in each eye since it would be impossible to get symmetrical. I think my eyes try to balance themselves out when my glasses make my eyes see more equally, but not quite symmetrical.

This is a difficult one, because even though I could see better close up with a +0.25 add, she didn't prescribe it, saying that most people say that they can see better at near with extra plus. I could however see to the bottom of the near chart, which if you can't do, suggests that you do need more plus at near.

I'm not sure about your eyes trying to balance themselves out, but think that it is important that you have the right prescription for each eye, even if that results in quite a difference between the prescription for each eye.

Best wishes

Lou

Weirdeyes 25 Jan 2018, 12:02

Lou

Weirdeyes 25 Jan 2018, 11:10

Lou

Lou 25 Jan 2018, 03:23

Hi Weirdeyes

I really do understand your concerns. As you know, being long sighted is complicated by the eye being able to accommodate whilst a person still has sufficient accommodation left, to self correct all or some of the hyperopia.

As I said previously, all my small refractive error is astigmatism. Going off at a tangent for a moment, I often hear people say that they are neither long sighted or short sighted, they just have astigmatism, owing to having plano for the sphere component of their prescription, but they don't seem to realise that their plano sphere is only owing to whether their prescription is written in plus or minus cylinder, and that even if they have simple astigmatism in which one meridian is focused on the retina, the other meridian must either be focused in front of the retina in the case of simple myopic astigmatism, or behind in the case of simple hyperopic astigmatism, which I have.

Anyway to get to my point, although my whole refractive error is astigmatism, which is supposed to be a refractive error which the eye cannot accommodate over owing to the two points of focus at opposite meridans, my eyes accommodate in some manner if I don't wear my glasses, presumably because I am hyperopic in one meridian.

I find that my eye sight is worse in the mornings and it improves slightly during the day. I've heard myopic people say the reverse, so maybe this is something reasonably common.

This affect is noticeably amplified if I don't wear my glasses, hence why I've worn them full-time since June. Before I started wearing my glasses full-time, I would get eye strain, and my glasses which would noticeably help in the morning, would sometimes help to a smaller extent if I put them on later in the day, sometimes I felt that I could see equally well but differently with glasses later in the day, and sometimes my glasses would make the digital clock on the tv look distorted later in the day, and I'd see better without them.

This drove me mad, because I'd have eye strain all day, put my glasses on to relax my eyes whilst watching telly in the evening, only for them to sometimes only make my vision look different or even for them to make the tv clock look distorted. The more close work I had done during the day, the more likely it was for this to occur.

In June, I scheduled another eye exam as late as possible in the day, and told my optician that I was concerned I could be choosing too much plus. I chose the same prescription as in February, and she said that her objective findings via retinoscopy agreed with my subjective prescription choice, and since I was getting eye strain without glasses, and variable vision later in the day after not wearing glasses, to wear them full-time.

The incidents of seeing a distorted digital tv clock in the evening gradually reduced over a few weeks of full-time wear, until after a couple of months, I realised that it hadn't happened at all lately.

I tried a couple of weeks ago to start leaving my glasses off for a few social occasions, only for it to start happening again. The only way that I can ensure that my vision keeps clear into the evening is not to focus on anything close or intermediate without my glasses for any extended period during the day.

Now this may be because I am 44, and although I still have sufficient accommodation left and don't yet need a reading addition, maybe it is a combination of my eyes working harder at near, and not being so good at relaxing after accommodating for long periods

This is my long winded way of saying that in my personal experience, when a person's refractive error is long sighted, accommodation is a further complication, which short sighted people don't need to contend with.

You say the following: My experiment with the +1.00 glasses has been weird. I tried wearing them full time for a while, but the distance vision didnt clear up. I wore them more part time and it cleared up more. Now I try to avoid wearing them when I think I need clear distance vision. But then my eyes end up being strained. It doesnt seem to clear up much, but if I dont wear them enough they go more blurry.

I've been thinking of your situation, and my guess from my own personal experience, and it is just a guess, is that you don't need an extra +1.00 for distance, or your distance vision would be gradually clearing. I feel that you do however need more plus for near than you have with your current prescription, and without, your eyes start to over accommodate and don't easily relax again. I believe that while your eyes remain accommodated, your distance prescription temporarily becomes too strong, giving you slightly blurred distance vision. I believe that having over accommodated for such a long period, is the reason why your right eye prescription keep decreasing, as your right eye is now so strained that it no longer fully relaxes. I believe that the reason your left eye prescription is not going down and seemed to respond better to the dilation drops, is because having a big difference between your eyes, your right eye is more dominant, and you may naturally be right eye dominant anyhow, leading to your right eye becoming more strained.

I may be wrong, but this is my guess. I also have a feeling that rather than a reading addition, that you what you really need is probably a smaller than +1.00 overall increase in your distance prescription, maybe only +0.50 or even +0.25, just enough to reduce the eye strain at near and stop the over accommodation.

In a nutshell, I think that you are over accommodating. You said previously that self tests suggest that at 21 you have the accommodation of a ten year old, and I believe that you are probably right, and the cause is a slightly too weak distance prescription, leading to over accommodation at near /intermediate. Possibly anxiety over blurred vision is leading you to accommodate even more.

Anyway, you say that you have a consultation for lasik. I really hope that this will go well. If you are probably not looking to go ahead, and are just hoping that latent hyperopia will be found, have you considered reducing close work in the lead up to the consultation and avoiding it completely on that day, to try to reduce your accommodation in advance? If you are planning on having lasik, I feel that you should use your eyes normally, so your eyes on the day reflect how they normally are.

Anyway, good luck with solving all this.

My very best wishes

Lou

Weirdeyes 24 Jan 2018, 20:01

While tropicamide doesnt do shit to show latent hyperopia for me I think it would be useful if I used tropicamide eye drops every night to relax my eyes.

Weirdeyes 24 Jan 2018, 19:59

My experiment with the +1.00 glasses has been weird. I tried wearing them full time for a while, but the distance vision didnt clear up. I wore them more part time and it cleared up more. Now I try to avoid wearing them when I think I need clear distance vision. But then my eyes end up being strained. It doesnt seem to clear up much, but if I dont wear them enough they go more blurry. Maybe I should just wear them whenever my eyes feel strained which and only really remove them if Im getting OCDish about my distance vision. I need to find a happy medium. Hopefully Ill get a cycloplegic refraction at lasik that will answer my questions. Hopefully it will relax my eyes enough for people to take my concerns seriously. Tropicamide really doesnt relax my eyes. All it does is make my left eye prescription worse. I know my right eye has at least some hyperopia.

Cactus Jack 22 Jan 2018, 23:29

Ricky,

I suspect you have some Hyperopia (farsightedness) and are pretty close to needing to wear glasses or contacts, full time. Hyperopia is the only refractive error that you can internally correct partially, or sometimes completely, using your Ciliary Muscles and Crystalline lenses. Often a person who is Hyperopic does not realize that he does not have perfect vision until Presbyopia starts creeping up hin and begins to rob him of the ability to correct his vision.

You should probably should get an eye exam soon, preferably dilated), after reading How to "Study for an Eye Exam". Eye exams do more than check for refractive error. Many silent health problem are first detected on an eye exam.

Before you decide to get an eye exam, I would like to suggest this simple test.

You will need a book or newspaper with normal size print (target), a short tape measure that is calibrated in inches or cm depending on your preference, and your +2.00 glasses with the +2.50 add.

1. While looking through the distance part of your glasses (+2.00) .

2. Hold the target just close enough to your face so that the text is fuzzy. Don't strain to focus or look through the progressive part of your glasses.

3. Move the target away from your face until the text just becomes clear. If it does not become clear looking through the distance part, tilt your head so that you are looking the reading part and not the transition part of the lens. Repeat step 2.

4. Measure the distance and write it down.

5. Do this 3 times with each eye individually and with both eyes together.

6. Average the distance for each eye individually and both eyes together and tell me the resulting distances.

This test works best for people who are nearsighted, but it may be possible to get fairly close if your Ciliary Muscles and Crystalline Lenses don't get in the act.

This test uses the most basic formula of optics. Lens Power = 1 meter / Focal Distance. ! meter for the purposes of this test is 100 cm, 1000 mm or 39.37 inches. Of course the divisor needs to be in the same units of measure as the 1 meter.

Once we have an idea of your actual refractive error, I can offer some suggestions.

If you have any questions or something does not seem to work, let me know.

There can be some conditions that make this test hard to do, such as Latent Hyperopia. More about that when we have more information.

May I ask where you live and your occupation?

Also, have you had an eye exam recently?

Ricky 22 Jan 2018, 22:25

Hi this is Ricky..i am 37 years of age. Of late i have begun to notice that if i hold things close to my eyes its difficult to read. Since i like glasses i got my self a pair of progressive glasses with strength of L and R eye +2.0 with a add of +2.5. I have been wearing these glasses for 4-5 hours in a day when at home and multifocal contacts with a high add when at work and i can see very clearly with them at least near and intermediate.When i remove my glasses/contacts my vision goes back to normal in some time. question is how soon will i be completely dependent on the glasses?

Carrie 22 Jan 2018, 17:12

My friend Danielle told me that she has been wearing Vicky's old glasses (the +0.5 ones) over her contacts all day at work since going back after the Christmas break but has only got enough contacts for a couple more weeks. She has accepted my offer of my old glasses to use as necessary until she gets her new glasses. She feels she can see slightly better with my old glasses than with the glasses and contacts combination. My old glasses are of equal power in the right lens and +0.25 weaker in the left lens than Danielle's combination. This makes me think that her left eye might only need a +0.25 increase or even no increase at all and it's just her right eye that will need a little more. She can see all distances with my old glasses. She can't really notice a difference for distance between her current glasses and my old ones but it is better with my glasses for reading. Not a huge difference but definitely sharper.

Weirdeyes 22 Jan 2018, 14:27

Can someone explain why latent anisometropia happens? I understand latent hyperopia, but why does latent anisometropia happen? I heard about this girl who complained of headaches. When she first got refracted she pretty much had no prescription. When she got a cycloplegic refraction she was +2.50 in one eye. I have a similar experience. It looked like my anisometropia was only 1.25 when its really a bit above 3.00.

Weirdeyes 21 Jan 2018, 00:52

Is there any reason my left eye blurs more than my right eye when I get tropicamide drops? I feel like thats the reason I got worse acuity.

Weirdeyes 20 Jan 2018, 10:51

Mike

At my age I think bifocals would look weirder than a difference of 3.00 between the eyes. I like the convenience of contacts anyways.

Mike 20 Jan 2018, 07:29

Weirdeyes

Have you ever considered a Glasses/Contact combination? Not with over the counter readers but actual glasses from Zenni or some other place online. I recently tried toric contacts and was not happy with the visual acuity. I think with your situation you might be able to achieve better visual acuity and get glasses with prescription lenses that are closer in prescription to each over to address your concerns of them looking weird. What I would suggest is a sphere only contact for your left eye, then correct your astigmatism in both eyes with the glasses, and get an bifocal add of +1 to +1.5 to address your visual strain from close work.

So your glasses prescription would be something like this, plus one Sphere only contact in your left eye.

R +0.75 -0.75 166 Add +1.5

L +1.50 -1.50 16 Add +1.5 Sphere only contact +2.75

I don't think Vertex distance plays a big role at this prescription, but if it does hopefully someone with more GOC experience will chime in.

Let us know your thoughts...

Weirdeyes 19 Jan 2018, 23:21

I think one reason I cant adapt to the +1.00 glasses is because of OCD and trying to increase by too much. I might be perfectly happy increasing by 0.50 or something. Too bad they dont sell +0.50 reading glasses over the counter. I would have tried those if I could.

Weirdeyes 17 Jan 2018, 22:55

Its amazing how much my prescription affects my binocular vision. When my left eye was undercorrected I felt like I had some weird eye tracking issues I didnt have before. This new more balanced prescription fixed that issue. No vision therapy or prism needed. I feel like people overcomplicate things when they fixate too much on binocular vision.

Lou 17 Jan 2018, 03:03

Hi Weirdeyes

Re.: Seeing better with +1.00 than nothing at all, I believe that this could suggest that your right eye prescription is too weak. It is quite a difficult thing to be definite about, as +1.00 is only one step higher than your current right eye sphere of +0.75, and if you had no astigmatism, it would be obvious that +1.00 would be better than nothing. However since you also have a cylinder of -0.75, meaning that your current right eye prescription varies from zero to +0.75 as you move between the axes, since zero to +0.75 averages out at +0.375, which is less than half of +1.00, I would presume that you would probably see better with no prescription at all than +1.00. As I said above, it is probably difficult to determine and could vary from person to person.

Although this is a different topic completely, I am thinking along the lines of what is generally done when people with small levels of astigmatism try sphere only contact lenses. My understanding is that half the cylinder is added to the sphere, with a prescription such as +1.00 Sph -0.50 Cyl becoming +0.75. The difficulty in your case, is that -0.75 cyl is probably over the threshold where you can compensate for no cylinder by reducing the sphere by half the cylinder value, which is probably why toric contact lenses generally start at a -0.75 cylinder.

Anyway, seeing better with +1.00 than nothing could suggest that your right eye prescription is too weak.

Re.: I think very its pretty simple. The astigmatism makes letters look smaller on one axis while farsightedness makes things smaller in general. Having letters look smaller on one axis does make the too small effect worse. Im guessing things dont look the same for you because you dont have latent hyperopia while I probably do.

I see your point, but no offence, but I don't think that you can categorically say that having the letters looking smaller on one axis will make the too small effect worse. Maybe it does for you, and not others. I however agree that having letters smaller on one axis than the other would contribute to them being harder to see. Thank you very much anyhow for clarifying what you meant.

Regarding also you last post to NNVisitor, I at one stage had a right eye prescription of +0.75 Sph -0.75 Cyl. I never thought that this was right, and that I could see more sharply with my previous right eye prescription of +0.50 Sph -0.50 Cyl. After my eye test, my optician showed me my new right eye prescription (which was a return to +0.50 Sph -0.50 Cyl) compared to my old right eye prescription. The letters were just as easy to see with both right eye prescriptions, but I saw the letters with +0.75 Sph -0.75 Cyl as slightly larger with thicker lines, whereas with +0.50 Sph -0.50 Cyl, I saw the lines as finer, which at least for me, I feel means the focus is sharper.

I fully appreciate that this is a whole prescription rather than the cylinder or axis of the cylinder, but in my opinion rather than darker, I'd look for finer lines and that the lines are equally focused at all orientations. My axis is opposite to yours at around 90 degrees, and with too little cylinder, the horizontal strokes of the letters stand out as more focused than the vertical. I aim to have the horizontal and vertical strokes equally focused with the lines as fine as possible. Whether or not that is any help to you with fine tuning your cylinder axis I don't know, but it may be useful in assuring that you have the right amount of cylinder. I'm not trying to make out that I know better than you what image to choose, just telling you what I look for, in case that it is any use to you.

Anyway hopefully this will be of some help, and I'm not sure what time it is at yours, but it is a minute past 10.00am on 17th Jan here, so presumably it is already the 17th at yours, and your eye appointment is tomorrow.

I look forward to hearing what he finds.

Best wishes

Lou

Weirdeyes 17 Jan 2018, 01:05

NNVisitor

I think I just selected the wrong axis because it looks smaller and darker. The axis closer to 180 isnt as dark, but its easier to see things with. Axis is just hard to guess. I probably have an easier time with the left eye because the cyl is higher.

NNVisitor 16 Jan 2018, 23:45

Weirdeyes

Rigid contact lenses such as gas permeable lenses can reshape the cornea. I don't know if that happens from wearing soft contact lenses.

Many years ago I had my vision tested by an opthalmologist. I had been wearing rigid contact lenses and with the new prescription I got new glasses. It seemed that the new glasses were too strong so I called up the doctors office. An appointment was made with another opthalmologist who was the father of the one I had previously gone too. At the appointment the elder doctor was going over different letters to get the astigmatism correction right. What the doctor did was change the axis of the astimatism just in one eye. That had been the problem and it may have been due to the effect of a contact lens reshaping my cornea.

Weirdeyes 16 Jan 2018, 16:36

One thing I notice is that I now see better with +1.00 than no correction at all.

Weirdeyes 16 Jan 2018, 15:50

Lou

I think very its pretty simple. The astigmatism makes letters look smaller on one axis while farsightedness makes things smaller in general. Having letters look smaller on one axis does make the too small effect worse. Im guessing things dont look the same for you because you dont have latent hyperopia while I probably do. My left eye prescription used to be +1.25. I still had terrible reduced image size. I assumed everyone at that prescription had the same issue and instantly notices an improvement. But I later learned the real prescription is way worse.

Lou 16 Jan 2018, 13:42

Hi Weirdeyes

I fully appreciated that I am commenting on a post that you made to NNVisitor, but I hope that you don't mind.

When you say: I think farsighted people without astigmatism perceive their vision as razor sharp, people who have mixed or nearsighted astigmatism perceive their vision as blurry and people with farsightedness and astigmatism perceive things as too small to see but not necessarily blurry.

I'm just not sure about this, obviously not being able to see how others see. I would describe my prescription as being just farsighted astigmatism, as like with your current right eye prescription, I have zero prescription in each eye at one axis, and +0.50 in my right eye and +0.25 in left eye at the opposite axis.

Admittedly my prescription is very small, but my right eye prescription is just one step below your current right eye prescription, which admittedly could be found to be too low when you have your dilated exam on 18th January, and without my glasses, things look slightly smudged/blurred to me, especially in my right eye with the stronger prescription, and I have never seen things as smaller.

If however you are just referring to people whose prescriptions have a much higher sphere in comparison to their cylinder, such as your prescription for your left eye, I have no idea whether you are right, as my prescription has never been higher than +0.75 Sph -0.75 Cyl.

Regarding your suggestion that astigmatism makes things look small when you are farsighted, I'm just not sure how this can be the case. Sorry, I'm not meaning to be argumentative, I'm just trying to work this out.

Lets say for example that a person has a +5.00 Sph prescription with no cylinder correction for astigmatism. I understand that their glasses will magnify the image, and believe (please correct me if I am wrong), that the image will look smaller than normal without their glasses.

Lets now take another person with the same +5.00 Sph, but this time -1.00 Cyl at 90 degrees. My understanding is that their prescription will effectively be +5.00 at 90 degrees and +4.00 at 180 degrees.

I'm very sorry, but I just can't see why the second person, whose prescription ranges from +4.00 to +5.00 at the opposite axis, would see a smaller image size than someone with a +5.00 prescription throughout the whole lens.

Or are you not saying this, and mean that in both the cases above, the person would see the image size as small, but in the case of the person with astigmatism, they just wouldn't notice the lack of sharpness just the small image size, whereas the person with no astigmatism would see the same small image size but more sharply owing to having no astigmatism? If so, I can fully understand what you mean.

Regarding image size changing when varying the axis, If I remember correctly, your axis in your right eye has changed from 180 to 160. I'm trying to get my head round how things could really look bigger when rotating your glasses just 20 degrees, since although your left eye has a moderately strong Sph value, your astigmatism values are not particularly high. If you had a prescription such as +5.00 Sph -5.00 Cyl, which I shouldn't imagine is very common, and the axis was 90 degrees out, I can understand how the axis which requires +5.00 Sph could get zero Sph, and how the axis which requires zero Sph could get +5.00 Sph, which if I've got my head round this correctly, would leave the person still requiring +5.00 Sph at the axis which has always needed it, and effectively now needing -5.00 Sph at the opposite axis, to compensate for having a +5.00 Sph on the axis which needs zero correction. Again trying to get my head around this, the image size would be too large at the axis which incorrectly has +5.00 Sph when it actually requires zero.

If I have this right, I can see your point, but I think that taking off glasses and rotating them, would effect the vertex distance, centralisation of the lens etc., which could be contributing to the change in image size, or are you rotating toric contact lenses on your eyes? Sorry, never having worn contact lenses, toric or otherwise, I have no idea if it is possible to hold them still at the wrong axis. I would have thought not owing to them both being weighted, and it being difficult to work out at what axis you are holding them.

Regarding what I say above however, since it is your right eye which you think has an incorrect prescription, and your current prescription, whether right or wrong, is only +0.75 Sph -0.75 Cyl, which is only one step higher on both values than my right eye prescription, I would have thought that your right eye prescription would be too low for vertex distance and centralisation of the lens to make much if any difference, but also, for rotating the lens to make much if any difference to the image size. I imagine that rotating your glasses would make the image more or less blurred, but I just can't see that it could make much difference to the image size. I'm really sorry. I'm genuinely trying to help rather than be argumentative.

I'm also not sure how extra plus with the correct amount of cylinder can result in ghost images.

I completely believe you when you say that the image of your left eye looked really small when you were first tested, but I believe that this is owing to your relatively high + Sph value for this eye in my opinion, rather than the amount of astigmatism, but I could of course be wrong.

It is also possible that the astigmatism axis of your right eye is causing a lot of your issues.

If you don't mind me saying, you (and I'm also guilty of this through trying my very best as a non eye care professional, to help you) are probably greatly over analysing this, making the issue more complicated than it maybe has to be.

You have an appointment in 2 days. With the nicest intention, I'd suggest trying not to worry about this too much, and seeing what the specialist finds. Since he also does laser eye surgery, he should be more than capable of determining whether your current astigmatism axis is inaccurate.

I wish you all the very best.

Lou

Weirdeyes 15 Jan 2018, 23:29

While my right eye cyl definitely isnt 1.50, I think I do see better with 1.50 cyl than no cyl.

Weirdeyes 15 Jan 2018, 23:29

NNVisitor

I think the astigmatism axis is causing a lot of issues. I think it also makes me perceive things as too small to see, which I think is how astigmatism tends to look when youre farsighted. When I rotate the lens to be closer to a 180 axis I notice things look bigger and easier to see, but maybe not as dark. When I wear extra plus over my prescription I notice ghost images in the distance, especially in my right eye. I think farsighted people without astigmatism perceive their vision as razor sharp, people who have mixed or nearsighted astigmatism perceive their vision as blurry and people with farsightedness and astigmatism perceive things as too small to see but not necessarily blurry. When they first tested my left eyes acuity the first line I couldnt read looked impossibly small to read, but not obviously blurry. I think it was the 20/40 line or something. So I have the about the same reduction in visual acuity as anyone else with my level of astigmatism, but it doesnt look as blurry. I wouldnt be surprised if my right eyes axis changes or even gets a bit more cyl. The cyl correction has always been wonky in my right eye and Ive always struggled to read fast food menus until I got it corrected.

NNVisitor 15 Jan 2018, 00:36

Weirdeyes

I've had small changes at times in my prescription. Some times the amount of astigmatism and the axis changed or just the axis changed. I checked one prescription where both eyes that were -10 and astigmatism both went to -9.50 and astigmatism which also changed in one eye only so I understand that small changes do happen and can make a difference in vision clarity.

The opthalmologist will listen to your main complaints, test your vision and hopefully solve the vision problems you have. No need to worry about appearing anxious. Just relax and don't worry. Many people are anxious about their eyesight and the opthalmologist will not be looking for anxiety but will deal with your eye issues. Best of luck for a positive outcome.

Lou 14 Jan 2018, 10:52

Hi Weirdeyes

Thank you very much for the clarification. I believe that the axis in your right eye keep changing, could be some of the problem.

Yes, I agree that it will be a good idea to let him know that your left eye looks sharper to you, and to let him figure out if it is an astigmatism or balance issue.

I agree that astigmatism axis is harder for lower astigmatism, but on the flip side, in some ways it is not so critical. After having had an axis of 83 in my left eye for some time, one optician changed it to 88, saying that I kept switching between which I preferred but seem to choose 88 most often.

When I started seeing my current optician, she said that I am really easy to test as I am very definite what is better and make the same choices over and over again. One of the later tests she did the first time I saw her, was to show me two lenses which I really couldn't tell apart, and asked her if there was any difference, as I couldn't see one. She laughed and said that she would have been very surprised if I could tell the difference, as the difference was my -0.25 cyl for my left eye with an axis of 83 and 88 respectively. She said that she would split the difference and give me 85.

Whereas my current prescription is:

R: +0.50 Sph -0.50 Cyl Axis 92

L: +0.25 Sph -0.25 Cyl Axis 85

I still have a couple of pairs of glasses with my 2012 prescription of:

R: +0.50 Sph -0.50 Cyl Axis 95

L: +0.25 Sph -0.25 Cyl Axis 80

I haven't specifically compared them to look for a difference, but I can happily wear both prescriptions, with no noticeable improvement with one prescription over the other.

Since, as you no doubt aware, there are tolerances for glasses lenses, which allow a larger deviation from the prescribed and quoted axis for smaller cylinder values, it is quite possible that my 2012 pairs fall within the tolerance for my 2017 prescription. If not, they are close enough for me not to notice.

This is a tolerance chart that I saved:

Cylinder Power Axis Tolerance

≥0.125 and ≤ 0.25 ± 16

>0.25 and ≤ 0.50 ±9

>0.50 and ≤ 0.75 ±6

>0.75 and ≤ 1.50 ±4

>1.50 and ≤ 2.50 ±3

> 2.50 ±2

If I understand it correctly, there is a ± 16 axis tolerance for my left eye, and ±9 for my right, whereas there is a ±6 axis tolerance for your right eye.

You've previously seen this before, but I've posted it in case it is of any interest to you.

All the best

Lou

Weirdeyes 14 Jan 2018, 10:09

Lou

Yes I wear toric lenses in both eyes. My right eye has always stayed at -0.75, but the axis keeps changing. With my left eye the cylinder was -1.25 for a while, but recently switched to -1.50. -1.50 seems sharper, but my left eye also seems sharper in contacts which only come in .50 increments so it could also be related to axis. Ill let him know my left eye looks sharper to me. He can figure figure out if its astigmatism or a balance issue. Since astigmatism axis is harder for lower cylinder it might be astigmatism.

14 Jan 2018, 05:02

Hi Weirdeyes

Am I right in believing that your contact lenses are toric lenses with a +0.75 Sph -0.75 Cyl? Regarding your old +1.75 glasses, how much cylinder did you have for your right eye?

I'm basically trying to ascertain whether you have more cylinder correction in your old +1.75 glasses than you do in your current contact lenses and +1.00 reader combination. Or is it owing to the difference in axis? I have a feeling that you previously had an axis of 180 now it is 160 or vice versa. Could you please clarify this?

It is good that your left eye prescription is the most sharp on your most recent pair. I wouldn't mention specifically comparing old glasses, but I would make sure to tell the ophthalmologist that you feel that your latest left eye prescription gives you sharper vision than your prescriptions previous to it, as you wouldn't want him to alter your left eye prescription, if it is already very good.

I have no idea regarding over minusing masking astigmatism, sorry.

Yes, I do feel that considering that you have a big difference between your eyes, that you should tell the ophthalmologist that your left eye hates to be under corrected, and you want your left eye fully corrected even though that will result in a fairly large difference between the prescriptions of both your eyes.

Take care

Lou

Lou 14 Jan 2018, 04:31

Hi Likelenses

Very interesting, thanks. Thanks very much for posting the link.

Best wishes

Lou

Weirdeyes 13 Jan 2018, 23:41

I can see better out of my old +1.75 glasses than my +0.75 contact and +1.00 reader combination. It seems like this is astigmatism related like I suspected. A lot of the blur Ive experienced with the reading glasses actually looked pretty cylindrical to me. I seem to like different axises depending on the test. I also compared my left eye prescription on each pair of glasses and its definitely the most sharp on my most recent pair. Even though it didnt go more minus. It seems like refracting is a lot more complicated than people admit. Im starting to learn that overminusing masks astigmatism a lot. So theres a chance I could get quite an increase without my vision getting much more blurry in the distance. I also notice how confused my eyes feel when I wear my old glasses. I guess my left eye really hates to be undercorrected. I wonder if I should let people know this. Some people with large differences in their prescription like to be undercorrected in their worst eye.

Likelenses 13 Jan 2018, 16:37

Weirdeyes and Lou

This could be a benefit for either of you.

http://vtworks.wordpress.com/2014/04/02/vt-and-lenses/

Lou 13 Jan 2018, 05:11

Sorry, there are some editing issues with my last post, and I have mistakenly left at the bottom of my post, some of Weirdeyes' post, which I copied and pasted for reference whilst I replied.

All the best

Lou

Lou 13 Jan 2018, 05:09

Hi Weirdeyes

Our last posts crossed. It does seem that the place you were getting your eyes tested does seem biased towards making latent hyperopes wear bifocals instead of treating the latent hyperopia. I had a previous optician who seemed more biased in prescribing prism that referring to an Orthoptist for exercises to strengthen the muscles responsible for convergence.

You may very well be right that refractive error caused all your binocular vision issues, and anyone with

your rx would probably have them, as you have quite a difference between your vision and image size in each eye.

I agree that your binocular vision issues are secondary, and that they are something which you can look into getting treated once you have determined that your prescription is as good as it can be, and is not contributing to binocular vision issues.

Best wishes

Lou

Im still open to treating binocular vision issues, but I think theyre secondary.

Lou 13 Jan 2018, 04:59

Hi again Weirdeyes

I meant to say, that after reading your explanation on pseudo CI and Accommodative Insufficiency, I googled both briefly. I found the following:

Accommodation and convergence are coupled physiologically.

Through this coupling, when the eyes accommodate, they also

converge.

Source: Accommodative Insufficiency Is the Primary

Source of Symptoms in Children Diagnosed

With Convergence Insufficiency

LYNN F. MARRAN, OD, PhD, FAAO, PAUL N. DE LAND, PhD, and ANDREW L. NGUYEN, PhD

Optometry and Vision Science, Vol. 83, No. 5, May 2006

This concurs with what a previous optician told me, and explains why my convergence insufficiency symptoms were worse, with my previous prescription which was +0.25 Sph -0.25 Cyl too strong in each eye.

With my current prescription, which I feel is very accurate, I am barely having any convergence insufficiency symptoms other than a reduced near point of convergence, which does not bother me.

All the best

Lou

Weirdeyes 13 Jan 2018, 04:29

Lou

The place I was getting my eyes tested seems biased towards making latent hyperopes wear bifocals instead of treating the latent hyperopia. When I asked to get my eyes dilated they looked at me weird and told me they only dilate for health. My sister with a different OD at the same clinic was told she needs bifocals as well. It seems like my OD just blames my eye strain on binocular vision and ignores refractive error. I think in my case refractive error caused all my binocular vision issues. Anyone with my rx would probably have them. Im still open to treating binocular vision issues, but I think theyre secondary.

Lou 13 Jan 2018, 04:09

Hi Weirdeyes

Thanks very much for your explanation of pseudo convergence insufficiency. Yes, I agree that it is best to let the doctor decide regarding convergence insufficiency. Just mentioned symptoms which will help with testing sounds a good idea, and I agree that he should take close up vision complaints in a young farsighted patient seriously enough.

I'm obviously not an eye care professional, but I was surprised that your previous optician was happy to tell a 21 year old to wear over the counter reading glasses over their contacts, with no explanation why they should need to do this.

Good luck with your appointment.

Best wishes

Lou

Weirdeyes 12 Jan 2018, 10:24

Lou

Pseudo CI is when your accommodation muscles are exhausted. That could be due to accommodative insufficiency, but based on my self tests I dont have it. That will mimic CI symptoms since your eyes also go outwards. Plus lenses are more likely to help for this. I might still have some real CI as well. Ill let the doctor decide. Maybe something completely different is going on. Ill try to only mention symptoms that will help with testing. So Ill probably just mention trouble seeing computer screens, trouble concentrating on reading books and eye strain looking into the distance sometimes. I think hell take close up vision complaints in a young farsighted patient seriously enough.

Lou 12 Jan 2018, 03:34

Hi Weirdeyes

I haven't personally heard of pseudo convergence insufficiency. I know that I have true convergence insufficiency, although it is now largely resolved and intermittent. In my case, I have been told that it is caused by the muscles which are responsible for eye movement and convergence, being weak. I agree that wearing too much plus makes things worse, which probably explains why I hate being slightly over corrected. A previous optician explained it in simple terms as convergence occurring when the eyes accommodate to focus close up, saying that if you have a tendency for convergence insufficiency, being slightly under corrected and having to accommodate more greatly, helps your eyes to converge.

He says that you have two options, prism or being slightly under prescribed in terms of plus.

In my case, since my prescription is so small and I can't really be under prescribed, I think that it is a case of simply not being over prescribed.

All the best

Lou

Lou 12 Jan 2018, 03:16

Hi again Weirdeyes

I think that you have probably hit the nail on the head when you mention farsightedness masking the astigmatic blur, until most of the farsightedness is corrected and the image size is large enough to notice the astigmatic distortion.

I agree that it will be best if you keep complaints simple and answer the doctors questions.

I have been thinking about all this, and I believe that your real concern is whether you are under corrected for distance, since you are experiencing eye strain even for distance with your current distance prescription, and at only 21 years old, despite being told that you have good accommodation, you need reading glasses over your contacts for close work.

I know that you are also concerned that you right eye prescription keeps decreasing, but if you mention this initially, he could just think that you are seeing your prescription going down and imagining that this is making you uncorrected.

I think if I was in your shoes, I would write the following down, and take it with me to the appointment:

I am concerned that my distance vision may not be fully corrected, as I am experiencing a lot of eye strain even for distance, and although I am only 21 years old, and have been told by my optician that I have good accommodation, I am finding that I need to wear +1.00 reading glasses over my contact lenses for close work.

I would then say that you are listing your most recent prescriptions for reference purposes, and list enough to show him that your right eye prescription keeps decreasing. In this way you are bringing it to his attention in a way that is not directly suggesting that your concerns regarding you possibly being uncorrected are linked to you noticing your prescription decreasing.

He may think that you are linking the two, since they are on the same piece of paper, but unless you specifically say so or make a more definite suggestion, he will have no evidence to back up his thoughts, and will have to take what you say at face value.

I think that it is quite possible that over accommodating owing to eye strain is the cause of your prescription decreasing, since it happened in a way to me, although in my case, it took the form of my glasses seeming too strong when putting them on for the first time later in the day. What I believe was happening in my case, was that my eyes were accommodating to see without my glasses, causing my eyes to ache and burn, and after accommodating all day, it was difficult for my eyes to relax fully for distance. It was solved by wearing my very small prescription full-time, to prevent the over accommodation in the first place.

If your eyes are very strained and over accommodating, this may artificially make your prescription seem less than it is. This sounds like I am describing latent hyperopia and I probably am, but in my case, I don't think it was latent hyperopia per sec (I suppose it could be considered as temporary latent hyperopia owing to over accommodation over the course of the day, which disappears overnight). Since I wasn't wearing my glasses, I was simply over accommodating to see.

I'm wondering whether you could have entered a cycle of being under prescribed on one occasion, which led to eye strain and over accommodation, to the point that your eyes weren't sufficiently relaxed for your next eye exam, so your prescription went down again, only for your accommodation to increase even more and so on. I suppose that this is a description of latent hyperopia starting and progressing.

It will be interesting if he finds any latent hyperopia.

If he doesn't, you need to accept his prescription and consider a referral to look for another cause.

Good luck

Lou

Weirdeyes 12 Jan 2018, 02:43

I think have pseudo convergence insufficiency since wearing more plus helps with it. When you have true convergence insufficiency plus makes things worse. Ill just avoid mentioning convergence insufficiency and let the doctor decide whats going on. Unless he asks.

Lou 12 Jan 2018, 01:45

Hi Weirdeyes

Sorry, I forgot to also respond to the second part of your post. Will do this later.

Best wishes

Lou

Lou 11 Jan 2018, 16:45

Hi Weirdeyes

Since I find it very difficult to see to thread a needle and also have to enlarge text to read it comfortably, although I can read small text, just not very easily, and my ability to do both is variable, whereas my overall eyesight is very stable, I think that in both our cases, this is probably caused by convergence insufficiency.

Regarding reading music, which I remember you find very difficult to see, I struggle when the print is small and things are very close together. It starts off hard to see and often improves as the rehearsal goes on, as if it takes a while for the muscles which turn my eyes in, to get going. Sometimes it is worse than others. Last night we were playing a small copy which I could relatively easily see the week before, but last night I felt that I was really straining to see it, and asked the conductor if he had any of the large print copies left. It was one of the first things we played, so the situation may have been different later.

I don't believe that I have any latent hyperopia, and although 44 years old, my eyes have always been like this, and I don't yet have or need a reading add (I was given the option of a +0.25 add, which my optician didn't feel was necessary, so I didn't bother with it). For someone who has a very small distance prescription and no real need for a reading addition, at times I find it incredibly difficult to see well enough to thread a needle with my distance prescription, which makes me think it must be my convergence insufficiency.

I know I have it, as does my optician, so since I have always been concerned with getting my distance prescription right, I have never discussed my near issues. As I said above, they are intermittent, inconsistent and not in my opinion prescription related, so I don't bother to mention them.

I therefore think in your case, since you also have convergence insufficiency that you should wait until you are happy that you have been given an accurate distance prescription before mentioning specific near issues, other than you are concerned that your distance vision may be under corrected since you are struggling sufficiently at near to need a +1.00 reading addition at only 21 years old, even though you have been told that you have good accommodation.

What I am trying to say, is that I believe that you are interested specifically in whether your near issues are caused by your distance prescription not having sufficient plus (although I wouldn't mention this at your appointment), and I would say no more than that your distance prescription doesn't seem strong enough even for distance, and is inadequate at near to the point that you are having to wear +1.00 reading glasses over your contacts, which will hopefully result in the ophthalmologist considering whether your distance vision is fully corrected with your current prescription.

Best wishes

Lou

Weirdeyes 11 Jan 2018, 12:36

Lou

Ill tell him I have trouble with threading a needle and seeing the computer screen since I was a kid. I also have to magnify text to see it comfortably. I think this makes it more like a visual issue. I think its best to not focus too much on binocular vision issues. I feel like thats distracted people in the past. I think when farsightedness is bad enough it kind of masks astigmatism. When my left eyes farsightedness wasnt corrected the letters just looked too small to read when it was actually a pretty big line. When it had a +3.25 lens it had the usual smudged astigmatism look and it didnt look super small like before. When I read text through my left eye with no correction it looks like theres too much contrast and the text vibrates. That could be interpreted as a binocular vision issue, visual processing issue or over sensitivity. But since glasses help I know its refractive error. My mom has the same issue. I think it will be best if I keep complaints simple and answer the doctors questions.

Lou 11 Jan 2018, 04:25

Hi Weirdeyes

Thank you very much for clarifying the date of your appointment, and letting us know that you are female, so that we can refer to you as she/her. I wouldn't see it as a worse or best outcome, rather as the first step in solving your vision issues. Even if he finds your prescription to be the same as your last undilated appointment, you at least have the opportunity to query why your correct full distance prescription gives you eye strain even for distance, and why at only 21 years old and when you have been told that you have good accommodation, that you need to additionally wear +1.00 readers over your contacts for close work. Hopefully he will be willing and able to give you an explanation, or be prepared to look into your concerns further. You can also ask if he thinks that there is any particular reason why your right eye prescription keep decreasing whilst your left is remaining pretty constant. I'm sure that he will consider this to be a reasonable question.

I fully appreciate that it would be reassuring if your symptoms can be explained by latent hyperopia being present, but if it is not found, you need to politely insist that your eye strain is so uncomfortable, that you really need to get to the bottom of it, and would ask what other tests he can do, and if there are no further appropriate tests, whether he can refer you for some type of vision therapy or to another type of eye care professional who specialises in helping patients with eye strain. As long as you are genuinely experiencing eye strain symptoms such as aching, burning, or other discomfort, I'd be inclined to exaggerate to some extent how bad these symptoms are, so that something is done about them, and would not mention headaches or migraines, only the symptoms which you have which are directly related to your eyes, so that they are put down to being eye related and not to another cause.

If you are suffering from headaches rather than actual eye symptoms, I'd suggest keeping a diary of what you have been doing visually, to see whether they definitely appear to be caused by eye strain, as as much as you want your problems solved and want an accurate eye prescription, if they are only considered as a primary eye problem, and they do in fact have another or other causes, this could lead to these other causes failing to be diagnosed or more importantly treated.

I know my last paragraphs seem contradictory, but as greatly as I personally believe that you do have genuine eye problems that are contributing to your already underlying anxiety, I feel that it is very important not to self diagnose and to find the true cause of your symptoms. In my opinion, if the eye strain symptom are occurring in the eyes, this is suggestive of it being an eye problem. If you are primarily suffering from headaches, it could be owing to eye strain or it could be another cause, and I personally would want to see a pattern between specific visual tasks and headaches, to be confident that they are definitely eye sight related, as you don't want to see the wrong specialist or have the wrong type of treatment.

I wouldn't mention having previously had a failed dilation, as you will appear to be self diagnosing that there was previously something to find and the dilation failed to find it. I believe that if latent hyperopia is not found this time, that you need to accept that this isn't the cause, and it is now the case of asking for further tests/referrals to ascertain what is causing your symptoms.

I shouldn't think that eye colour is a factor. If your pupils are small, the ophthalmologist will not only notice, but fully understand what affect if any, having small pupils, would have on your vision/eye comfort.

Additionally, regarding the 20/20 line looking small, the problem is that neither you or me either in that regard, really know just how small it is supposed to look. As you already know, a visual acuity of 20/20 is the minimum level of normal human vision. To have 20/20 vision rather than 20/15 or even 20/10, the 20/20 line must be the smallest one you can read. This suggests to me that people with 20/20 vision are supposed to see it as the smallest line they can possibly see, with in turn means that it must have to look small. That you can read it means that you have 20/20 vision or better.

I fully appreciate that there are two reasons why somebody can't read a line, the first is that they have a refractive error which is blurring/distorting the letters, and the second is that the letters are just too small to see at that distance. However in practise, the two probably rather go hand in hand, with the better the focus, the smaller the minimum letter size which you can see. This makes sense in that if the lines of the letters are very sharp and well defined, the individual lines of the letters remain distinct at a smaller size, than if there is any fuzz or distortion to them.

You mention that the letters do not look blurred or distorted only very small. If you were simply long sighted with no astigmatism, I can fully understand this being the case. You however have more astigmatism than me, and with my very small amount of astigmatism, I see blur and distortion rather than a small letter size. Why is this? Maybe it is simply because you are a different person and it is simply how your brain interprets what it sees? I don't think that I would mention image size, as I believe that the laws of optics determines image size, and the image size you see, should be consistent with your prescription.

Since you are unhappy with your current prescription and feel that it may not be correct, I would explain to the ophthalmologist that you are worried about giving the wrong responses during the subjective part of the test, as your last few prescriptions haven't seemed quite right when worn on a daily basis, and would they mind objectively determining your prescription via a retinoscope, to see whether you choose the same prescription as they would prescribe if you were unable to communicate. My optician did this for me, when I told her that I was worried about ending up with a wrong prescription owing to not responding accurately, and it enabled me to relax in the certainty, that my subjective prescription choice agreed with the objective prescription determined by the optician. I feel that you too will probably be more confident in the accuracy of your prescription, if you feel that you and the optician have come to the same conclusion.

Regarding how to act, I would suggest being calm, and demonstrating that you are willing to listen, and have trust in the professional. I don't think that there is any need to appear particularly anxious, as this is just a routine appointment. You however obviously need to show that you are interested in being at the appointment, and in getting to the bottom of your problems.

I really hope that all of this will help you.

Best wishes

Lou

Weirdeyes 10 Jan 2018, 12:13

I do try to use laymen terms. I just notice they misunderstand me a lot. I guess Ill just look at my notes where Ive written down my most concrete symptoms like eye strain at the distance, my unstable right eye prescription and trouble seeing my computer screen and small details.

Lou 10 Jan 2018, 10:08

Hi Weirdeyes

I will still reply properly later, but for now a quick answer.

I wouldn't mention any self-testing, or appear to have any knowledge over that of a lay-person, as the Opthalmologist could dismiss your concerns as those of someone who has been reading up on the subject and self diagnosing.

I would simply act normally, as it is only a routine appointment, not overly anxious, but not too laid back either. I would make polite conversation, answer what you have been asked, but otherwise appear interested in listening to his findings (I'm not for one moment suggesting that you wouldn't do any of this).

I would simply said that you are experiencing eye strain even in the distance with your current prescription, you cannot understand why at only 21 years old and after having been told that you have good accommodation, why you have to wear +1.00 readers over your contacts, and query whether this could mean that for some reason your eyes are not accepting your full distance prescription, meaning that you need to wear additional glasses for reading. Putting it in these layman terms and not mentioning latent hyperopia or needing extra plus etc., should in my opinion give you the best chance of being taken fully seriously.

I'll reply properly tomorrow or Friday.

Take care

Lou

Aaron 10 Jan 2018, 08:01

Cactus Jack, thank you so much for the information. Most helpful. I last had my eyes examined 5 years ago, so am not surprised by the changes. Anyway, I like wearing glasses.

Lou 10 Jan 2018, 06:50

Hi Weirdeyes

Thank you very much for your detailed reply. I'm short of time today, so will take the time to reply properly either tomorrow or Friday.

Best wishes

Lou

Weirdeyes 10 Jan 2018, 02:35

Lou

My appointment is on Jan 18th. Im trying to prepare for the worst and hope for the best. For me the worst case scenario is not finding significant latent hyperopia and just having lazy eye muscles and being a neurotic female. The last time I got my eyes dilated it didnt reveal any latent hyperopia besides my left eye being +4.75.

Another weird thing is when I was wearing a +3.25 contact lens in my left eye I think the autorefractor said I was +2.25 in both eyes. I wasnt even dilated. But with that dilated exam I remember +1.75 was less than sharp in my right eye. I didnt notice any vision changes besides not being able to focus up close. Im hoping they used those weak dilation drops that often dont work for people. I really hope cyclo drops work well for my eyes. Should I mention the failed dilation or will that just prove I dont have latent hyperopia? Maybe this happened because of my brown eyes. I also think I have pretty small pupils compared to other people.

Im mainly scared of being seen as neurotic which is why I avoided mentioning my symptoms before. Im still trying to work out which symptoms are worth mentioning. Should I even mention I find the 20/20 line tiny and almost impossible to read or that I stick my head forwards a lot of the time to try to see better? Should I even mention migraines or will all my symptoms just be blamed on migraines?

Should I even mention some experiments/tests I do at home. I know that testing is a classic OCD compulsion. But I do have genuine interest in eyes. Ive been interested in eyes and vision long before I even got glasses. I bet Id be on this site asking a bunch of people what its like to need glasses if I had perfect vision. Im just worried my interest in eyes will make me come across as a hypochondriac.

I dont even know how I should act. Should I try to be calm and matter of a fact? Or should I let a bit of anxiety and emotion show? I know acting too emotional causes problems, but Ive heard not acting emotional enough also causes problems. Being an OCD female going to the doctor is the worst. I think everyone here is tired of my OCD, which is why Im not too popular. It seems like Likelenses hates me because I have OCD. OCD really sucks.

Lou 10 Jan 2018, 02:05

Hi Aaron

Thank you very much for confirming your age.

Hi Weirdeyes

Did you see my couple of questions?

Best wishes to you both

Lou

Weirdeyes 09 Jan 2018, 21:22

It seems like overminusing/underplussing masks astigmatism. When I wear the +1.00 glasses I notice how inconsistent my toric lenses really are. Often times it gets more fuzzy when my eyes feel dry. When Im just wearing the lenses I dont notice as many changes in clarity. I guess this explains why my right eye has always been more inconsistent.

Cactus Jack 09 Jan 2018, 20:46

Aaron,

I suspect Presbyopia is beginning to happen and you may have a little Latent Hyperopia.

Presbyopia happens to almost everyone. It actually starts in childhood, but typically does not become a nuisance until the late 30s or early 40s. It seems to happen a little sooner to people with Hyperopia.

Hyperopia is the ONLY refractive error that you can correct internally, using your Ciliary Muscles and Crystalline Lenses. People with low Hyperopia often correct it, without their being aware that they are doing it. When your Ciliary Muscles squeeze your Crystalline Lens to correct Hyperopia, for a long period of time, the Ciliary Muscles have difficulty relaxing completely for distance vision. That difficulty is called Latent or Hidden Hyperopia. When you correct Latent Hyperopia with Plus glasses, your Ciliary Muscles will very slowly relax and your need for external Plus will increase. Depending on many factors, complete relaxation may take weeks or months. As it happens you will need more plus in your glasses. It probably won't be a very large number.

At some point, you will probably need either Bifocals or Progressives. As your Ciliary muscles relax, that will make more close focusing accommodation available, which in turn may delay your need for Bifocals or Progressives, but it will inevitably happen.

When all this happens depends on your Visual Environment and requirements.

Hope this helps,

Aaron 09 Jan 2018, 18:48

I am 37

Lou 09 Jan 2018, 15:27

Hi Aaron

Would you mind saying how old you are.

Many thanks

Lou

Aaron 09 Jan 2018, 14:27

Been wearing low plus lenses since I was in college. Primarily have used my glasses when reading, studying and computer work. Went to the eye doc last week and received a new prescription---+1.25 (r) and +1.50 (l). An increase over previous prescriptions. The doctor recommended that I wear these glasses full-time now. I still see well at a distance w/o glasses, but have been trying diligently to comply with the doctor's recommendation. Is this need for full-time glasses wear just part of the old eyes process? Are progressives on the near horizon? BTW, so far the glasses are working well for me, at all distances.

Lou 08 Jan 2018, 05:45

Hi Weirdeyes:

Re.:

-----------------------------------------------------------

Lou

I definitely think my personality/OCD is playing a role in my vision issues. Just not in the way a lot of people think. A lot of people think being OCD makes my issues less legit. But I think in a way its the opposite because Im more likely to compensate harder. So my problems are harder to catch. So it looks like Im exaggerating to people. So I avoid mentioning symptoms to not seem neurotic. The positive to this for me is no amblyopia. My left eye can be corrected to 20/20 or even 20/15 in some lighting. I also remember asking to get my eyes tested at five years old and no one finding any problems. This extends to other health issues as well. Doctors dont tend to believe I have certain health problems because I dont look sick enough.

--------------------------------------------------------

I fully agree with what you say, and think that your eye worries are adding to your anxiety rather than being caused by anxiety. This is the reason that I strongly feel that you shouldn't mention anxiety unless you are specifically asked, and even if/then, make it very clear that your visual worries are contributing to your anxiety and NOT the other way round.

Just for interests sake, would you mind saying whether you are male or female. Not that it makes any difference, but it would be nice to accurately say either he or she, or his or her, when referring to you.

Also, would you mind letting us know the date of your appointment. I'd like to wish you luck the day before, and look out to see how you got on. One of the issues with the style of this forum I find, is that you cannot receive notifications when someone posts to a thread that you are following.

Best wishes

Lou

Likelenses 08 Jan 2018, 01:12

Weirdeyes

It would not surprise me if the doctor would put you on a cycloplegic for several weeks to months, to keep your accommodation paralyzed while getting used to the new glasses, which would be needed full time, and perhaps be bifocals.

After this period of time on these eye drops,you will be totally dependent on glasses,

Here is an article describing the process.

Hyperopia

E. Harb, in Encyclopedia of the Eye, 2010

Examination Techniques of Hyperopia

Optical correction should be based on both static (normal accommodation) and cycloplegic (e.g., 1% cyclopentolate) retinoscopy, accommodative and binocular assessment, and AC/A (accommodative convergence/accommodation) ratio. The correction should then be modified as needed to facilitate binocularity and compliance. Plus-power spherical or sphero-cylindrical lenses are prescribed to shift the focus of light from behind the eye to a point on the retina. Accommodation plays an important role in determining the prescription. Some older patients with hyperopia do not initially tolerate the full correction indicated by the manifest refraction, and many patients with latent hyperopia do not tolerate the full correction of hyperopia indicated under cycloplegia. However, young children with accommodative esotropia and hyperopia generally require only a short period of adaptation to tolerate full optical correction. Patients with latent hyperopia who prove intolerant to the use of full or partial hyperopic correction may benefit from initially wearing the correction only for near viewing; or alternatively, trial use of a short-acting cycloplegic agent may enhance acceptance of the optical correction. Patients with absolute hyperopia are more likely to accept nearly the full correction, because they typically experience immediate improvement in visual acuity.

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NNVisitor 07 Jan 2018, 23:40

Weirdeyes

I've gone to several opthalmologists over the years and I don't recall any time I had to fill out forms. They would thorougly check my eyes and my vision. This is what opthalmologist's do.

Let's leave anxiety and related issues out of this important appointment. Lots of people are anxious. The opthalmologist is an eye specialist. Not a psychologist etc. It's better not to divert attention away from the vision issues which are the reason for the appointment.

Best of luck for a positve outcome from this appointment.

Weirdeyes 07 Jan 2018, 18:36

Lou

Lou 07 Jan 2018, 14:51

Hi Weirdeyes

I fully understand, and agree that it would be nice to know if you have latent hyperopia, and whether this is causing your symptoms. I can fully understand why you are concerned regarding having eye strain at distance with your current rx.

Sorry, I have no idea regarding depth perception. As well as seeing an Orthoptist regarding convergence insufficiency, I also saw somebody else regarding my eye tracking, which has always been poor. When I was twenty, an optician queried how I was able to read at all.

The lady I saw regarding my eye tracking, said that I had eye tracking difficulties consistent with having dyslexia, but I did not appear to be dyslexic. She was also surprised that although having poor eye tracking, two dimensionally I am able to complete tasks such as finding an x in grids of o's (or vice versa, I forget), not only within normal timescales, but on the quick side of normal. I put this down to having sight read music from a young child, and having read a lot as a child. The conclusion was that although I have eye tracking difficulties, they do not particularly cause me problems two dimensionally.

Three dimensionally however, I didn't do particularly well on the tests, which is not surprisingly as I am a terrible tennis player, as I cannot line up a bat and ball, have terrible aim (I once played Quasar as an adult, a group shooting game with laser guns and sensors on players vests, and they thought that my gun was faulty, as my score was consistent with a four year old. I don't think that it was!), and can only catch small objects, if I turn my head and use one eye. Since I do not enjoy ball sports, probably because I am useless at them, can do what I enjoy and have successfully driven a car for many years, I have never worried about or considered my depth perception. It is either normal, or normal for me, to the extent that I know how to deal with it, in much the same way as in spite of my eye tracking difficulties, I can read music, and perform well on 2D eye tracking tasks.

I had to cancel my next eye appointment owing to personal difficulties, and when I went to re-appoint, funding had been withdrawn for people over the age of 14. I couldn't afford to pay, and didn't feel that it was worth it for something which wasn't bothering me, so I never got a diagnosis, other than the initial one that I have a developmental condition which has the symptoms of weak eye muscles, eye tracking difficulties, and weak thumbs. I have never been particularly good with my hands either, struggling to peel veg for example, even though I successfully play the trumpet and flute. Although neither bother me, I would say that I have extremely minor coordination issues with my hands (probably owing to having weak thumbs) and not great hand eye coordination. Since I was born this way and manage perfectly well except for ball sports, which I don't do, I don't worry about it at all.

Hopefully this will be of some interest to you.

Best wishes

Lou

07 Jan 2018, 14:13

Hi Soundmanpt

Yes, it has turned out to make good sense to wear my glasses full-time and has solved all my symptoms. Although it is corrected rather than natural vision, since I wear my glasses all day from the minute I get up and wear single vision glasses, my vision seems natural, if that makes sense. I'm having no eye strain, and there is not that adjustment period in which my tired and strained eyes are having difficulty relaxing sufficiently when I put my glasses on for the first time later in the day.

I'm not sure whether many other optometrists would have come up with the same conclusion as her. I don't remember any previous opticians even suggesting when I should wear my glasses. I initially started wearing glasses with a small prescription for music because I had also been prescribed prism. I believe that I was prescribed 2.50 base in prism in each eye. I just couldn't get on with it, and he reduced it to 1.25 base in prism in each eye and referred me to an Orthoptist. I still couldn't get on with the prism, but felt that the prescription would help me otherwise. I did rather a naughty. My old optician used plain white card for his prescriptions, and I simply photocopied it, tippexed out the prism, photocopied it again on similar card and took it into a different optician, who did not notice that it was a photocopy. I had new glasses made up and found that they really helped.

Subsequent opticians simply asked me when I wore my glasses, and since I knew when they were of benefit and my prescription is small and not legally needed for driving, I believe that they left it up to me, since my prescription was a general purpose distance prescription.

I had not previously seen my optician wearing glasses, but I noticed that she was wearing them when she called me into her room for my last eye test. She took them off to test me. I therefore believe that she wears glasses part-time, and that her advice is therefore not owing to personal experience.

She did however mention her own vision when I asked her why my right eye seems to correct better than my left. She said that although I may feel that my right eye is clearer than my left with best correction (which is nothing to worry about, and just the way my eyes are), my corrected visual acuity for both eyes was exactly the same at 6/5 +1, which she explained was all the letters correct on the 6/5 line and one letter correct for each eye on the 6/4 line. She said that even with best correction, she cannot personally see any of the letters on the 6/4 line, and she may have said that she cannot see all of the letters on the 6/5 line. I can't quite remember what she said, only that she was telling me that my best corrected visual acuity is better than hers.

Regarding prism, Opticians other than the gentleman who originally prescribed prism, have accepted that I don't like prism, have found that it doesn't help me to see any better, and usually mention that my convergence isn't very good and I should start my eye exercises again, which I finished when I was discharged from the Orthoptist in 2010. Since my convergence insufficiency hasn't bothered me lately, rightly or wrongly I haven't yet taken notice of this advice.

Best wishes

Lou

Weirdeyes 07 Jan 2018, 11:23

Lou

I understand my new prescription wont be my full prescription because my eyes probably cant adjust right away. It would just be nice to know so ODs will take my symptoms more seriously. I just notice I have eyestrain at distance with my current rx which is why I got concerned. Id understand if I only got computer or phone related eyestrain. I also have depth perception issues which are fixed by adding more plus. I just hope the ophthalmologist Im going to actually has good listening skills instead of just considering my issues run of the mill.

Soundmanpt 07 Jan 2018, 08:28

Lou

I haven't commented to you for some time now but I do read your comments. I remember in your very early comments about the time you started wearing your glasses full time even tough your prescription seemed to be quite weak and thought it was interesting that your optometrist had prescribed full time wear. But after reading your most recent comment I now see why and it actually makes very good sense when you think about it. I wonder if many other optometrist would have came up with the same conclusion as her? By any chance doe your optometrist wear glasses full time? maybe she found the same sort of thing with her own eyes? Whatever it seems that wearing hour glasses full time has solved your problem.

07 Jan 2018, 06:32

Hi Weirdeyes

Thank you very much for the further clarification. I'm not sure what is going on at the moment. I feel that anxiety may be causing a lot of over analysis, and sometimes things are not as you seem.

I'll give you a personal example.

I was completely happy with my 2012 eye prescription. I went in 2014 for my two year check, and they put up my prescription from:

R +0.50 Sph -0.50 Cyl Axis 90

L +0.25 Sph -0.25 Cyl Axis 80

to:

R +0.75 Sph -0.75 Cyl Axis 90

L +0.50 Sph -0.50 Cyl Axis 80

I didn't feel that this was as good as my previous prescription, and I felt that anything circular looked taller than wide with this new prescription, perfectly round with my previous prescription, and wider than tall with no glasses.

I went back for a re-test which consisted simply of comparing my old prescription in both eyes with my new in both eyes, without me knowing which was which. I chose the new one as better. It however continued to feel too strong.

I went back around five months later, the optician tweeked the axis for each eye, and added a small amount of prism to my right eye, as he felt that my eyes were so well corrected that they no longer needed to over accommodate, and without over accommodating, I was no longer fully self-correcting my convergence insufficiency, as convergence goes hand in hand with accommodation.

Around another five months later, I felt that my distance vision was blurred in my right eye, and another test reduced my prescription to:

R +0.50 Sph -0.50 Cyl Axis 92

L +0.50 Sph -0.50 Cyl Axis 83

Seven months or so later, my left eye seemed blurred, and my prescription was reduced again to:

R +0.50 Sph -0.50 Cyl Axis 92

L +0.25 Sph -0.25 Cyl Axis 85

Which was back where I was comfortable in 2012. My optician could give no explanation, other than maybe that previous opticians had bumped up the plus. If so, why did I chose my new prescription during the re-test in 2014?

Anyway, I was in the situation as you, prescription kept going down, but eye strain and feeling that I was always acommodating kept going up.

Last June, I felt that my right eye was blurred again, and thought that my prescription could have gone down again, but this made no sense, as my eye strain without glasses was increasing. Specifically I felt that my right eye prescription was right in the day but blurred sometimes at night, mostly on days in which I put my glasses on for the first time during the evening.

I did the following, I emailed my optician in advance of my appointment with details of my concerns and scheduled my eye test as late in the day as possible. I also asked her if she could objectively refract me as I was worried about making the wrong choice.

She said that my prescription of:

R +0.50 Sph -0.50 Cyl Axis 92

L +0.25 Sph -0.25 Cyl Axis 85

was correct and thought that the blurred vision later in the day was owing to intermittently wearing glasses and my eyes getting so used to accommodating that they were not relaxing when I put on my glasses, and effectively accommodating over my prescription.

She suggested full-time wear. My eye strain went almost immediately, but it took almost a month for the slowly disappearing blurred right eye vision with my glasses later in the day, to almost completely disappear to the point that it only happened when I was very tired or had done excessive close work, and only now just over six months later, for me to have not noticed it at all during the last few weeks.

I have spoken to my optician since all my symptoms went away (I have however sent her an email explaining the outcome, saying that I don't need a reply, but could she please add it to my records for reference purposes), but it seems to me that my prescription kept reducing as my eye strain increased, owing to my eyes getting increasingly strained and not relaxed.

I believe that the same is happening to you. I believe that eye strain and over accommodating is leading to your prescription going down, and that visual anxiety is adding to this.

I feel that two things need to happen for you, one to find an accurate distance prescription for your eyes as they are now (even if you have latent hyperopia, you probably couldn't wear your full prescription right away), and two for this prescription to be from an optician you trust.

I then feel that you should wear this new distance prescription full-time from the moment you get up, without trying more plus over the top, and let your eyes really get used to it. I feel that you should also stop thinking about your vision, unless you are really struggling to see or have bad eye strain, and just trust that you have the right prescription for you.

Regarding your near vision, I would take the opthalmologist's advice regarding if you need additional plus for reading, and if so, only wear it for reading.

I really hope all this will help. I wish you good luck and best wishes for your upcoming appointment.

Hi Likelenses

Yes, I think that anxiety is very relevant regarding Weirdeyes' symptoms, but I think that he/she is simply anxious regarding his/her prescription being correct, and once he/she receives a prescription from an eye professional they trust, and stop worrying about their eyes, I think that a lot of the symptoms will disappear. For this reason, I don't think that there is any need to mention anxiety at an appointment primarily made for the reason of obtaining an accurate refraction, as the appointment itself should be enough to relieve the anxiety.

I am not suggesting lying on a form if it specifically asks whether the person suffers from anxiety, I'm just suggesting not mentioning it until after the eye prescription has been determined, so that Weirdeyes' prescription concerns are taken at face value, and not disregarded as being the concerns of someone who is possibly over anxious regarding their eyes. I fully appreciate that medical professionals should be completely objective, but they are only human, and if they think that the patient may be imagining or exacerbating their symptoms owing to anxiety, they may not take them seriously enough.

Best wishes

Lou

Lou 07 Jan 2018, 05:23

Hi Likelenses

I was not suggesting lying on medical forms or withholding information, only not volunteering extra information which may not be required and which could actually confuse the issue.

Best wishes

Lou

Weirdeyes 07 Jan 2018, 03:23

Likelenses

Ill mention anxiety if they ask about it specifically on the form. I have thought in the past that I was imaging symptoms, but a lot of the time it was proven I wasnt. I once thought I was imagining my need for glasses since one OD said I didnt need them. I also thought I was imagining having distance vision issues when they said my right eye was perfect and my left eye was farsighted. Im actually not imagining those issues since my right eye actually needs -0.75 cyl. Not a huge number, but bad enough to notice less than sharp vision. Since Im going to an ophthalmologist Im sure hell check for optic nerve issues or other diseases.

Likelenses 07 Jan 2018, 00:21

Weirdeyes

Most likely when you go to the ophthalmologist you will be required to fill out a medical history.

It will include listing any previous medical, or mental conditions, and any prescribed medications.It will also require your family doctors name.

I would advise you to truthfully give all the answers not only for your exam., but for legal reasons, especially if insurance is paying for any of the exam..

From your posts it appears to me that you project yourself into MANY various eye related symptoms, whether actual, or imagined.

While you, and Lou seem to think that suppressing certain medical history will result in you getting an accurate prescription,I believe that you will not be pleased with the doctors findings.

If you think that him doing a wet refraction is going to make a huge difference,you are mistaken. Revealing all of your medical history will allow him to consider many other possibilities.An example is that due to the fact that you think images are too small, could indicate macular degeneration, or retina / optic nerve problems.

In your best interests, I hope you consider this.

Weirdeyes 06 Jan 2018, 15:24

Lou

Maybe I am visually sensitive. I definitely notice this with my depth perception. I still have a bit of stereopsis without correction. As a kid I actually loved 3D movies because of the exaggerated 3D effects. I could also easily pass the depth perception test for driving even though my prescription wasnt properly balanced.

Weirdeyes 06 Jan 2018, 11:10

Lou

What I mean is that my eyes accommodate more with the +1.00 glasses sometimes because they see a blur. Thats counterproductive, but my eyes are so used to accommodating to clear things up. When Im not feeling as neurotic my eyes dont do that and I end up seeing somewhat better with the +1.00 glasses. Sometimes my vision spaces out with my distance prescription, so wearing the +1.00 glasses ends up being more comfortable despite the slight distance blur.

Lou 06 Jan 2018, 06:22

Hi Weirdeyes

You may feel that your eyes are trying to accommodate over the distance blur with your +1.00 reading glasses, but in reality your eyes can only accommodate to add extra plus. No doubt you already know this.

It sounds to me that you have rather active accommodation owing to being very visually sensitive. I'm also very visually sensitive, and will also try to accommodate to see as well as possible all the day, hence why I wear a very small prescription full-time.

My advice to you would be to relax knowing that you have your appointment imminent, wear your existing distance prescription full-time if you are not already (from the moment you wake to stop your eyes from accommodating as soon as you get up), and your +1.00 readers only for reading.

I really wish you well.

Lou

Lou 06 Jan 2018, 06:22

Hi Weirdeyes

I really wish you well.

Lou

Weirdeyes 05 Jan 2018, 16:41

Im noticing more moments of nearly perfect distance vision with my +1.00 glasses. Im also noticing flashes of blurred distance vision without them. I definitely feel like my eyes are getting more relaxed. Im no longer forcing myself to wear the +1.00 glasses full time. I find my eyes try to strain to see the distance and that only makes them accommodate more.

Lou 05 Jan 2018, 02:18

Hi Weirdeyes

Sounds a very sensible suggestion. If you do go for Vision Therapy, that is definitely in my opinion, the time to raise all your other issues. Please let us know how you get on with your initial appointment.

Best wishes

Lou

Weirdeyes 04 Jan 2018, 21:19

Likelenses

Im thinking of trying vision therapy. If I do Ill mention ADHD and anxiety or whatever. Just not when I need a new prescription.

Cactus Jack 04 Jan 2018, 09:06

Lance,

Yes, but it depends on several factors. I doubt your wife will ever need much, if any, significant amount of + for distance.

I suspect the change has been caused by a reduction in Pseudo or False Myopia.

There are two kinds of Myopia with two completely different causes. Axial or True Myopia is caused by a persons eyeballs having grown two long fo the total PLUS power their eye's lens system. Axial Myopia is considered permanent.

Pseudo or False Myopia is caused by the Ciliary Muscles and Crystalline Lenses having difficulty fully relaxing for distance. Pseudo Myopia is considered to be temporary, but temporary can be a long time.

Pseudo Myopia is really the same phenomenon as Latent Hyperopia. Pseudo Myopia is on the - side of 0.00 and Latent Hyperopia is on the + side.

It is likely that your wife had/has some Pseudo Myopia and it is slowly resolving. I suspect it is close to stabilizing with very low - sphere. Her Add will probably increase to about +2.50 or maybe +3.00 if she likes to do very close focusing and Presbyopia makes it impossible to focus close. When that happens the amount of Add is based strictly on focus distance. You can calculate the Add by dividing the focus distance into 100 cm or 40 inches to get the amount of + needed.

Soundmanpt 04 Jan 2018, 08:40

Lance

I can't give you the technical reason why your wife is becoming less and less nearsighted while at the same she is becoming more farsighted. I will leave that for Cactus Jack to do.

But I can tell you what is happening to your wife is perfectly normal. Her eyes are in fact changing just as you're noticing based on her glasses prescriptions since you met her 17 years ago. Ap 29 she was wearing single vision glasses to correct her moderate nearsightedness. Almost on schedule in her early 40's she was prescribed with her first progressives. That's because her eyes were loosing the ability to read small print with her single vision glasses anymore. She likely started to find it much easier on her eyes to take off her glasses when she needed to read smallish print. Of course that was fine to do but i'm sure she didn't like having to take he glasses off just to read something. her add is on the very weak side. The weakest add you can get progressives is only +1.00So her add is really very much like her taking her glasses off to read. The CYL in one eye has changed quite a bit over the past 17 years. her other eye only changed by -.25 in that time.

Lance 04 Jan 2018, 07:37

Is it possible for a person to change from nearsighted to farsighted?

My when I met my wife she was moderately myopic (-2,00 and -1.75) with moderate astigmatism. (-.75 and -1.00)

In the past 17 years her eyes have changed a lot. She is 46 now.

2 years ago her prescription was

-.75 -2.25 100

-1.25 -1.25 72

ADD +1.75

Yesterday she had an exam

-.5 -2.25 100

-.75 -1.25 72

ADD +1.75

As you can see her sphere keeps decreasing. I looked at her zenni account and saw her prescription from 4 years ago (first progressives) and her sphere was -1.25 in each eye.

Is it possible for her to become farsighted? Her doctor isn't concerned but I find it very interesting.

Lou 04 Jan 2018, 07:36

Hi Likelenses

No offence meant, but I really think your advice risks at best the appointment becoming confused with issues not directly related to the eyes, and at worse, for Weirdeyes' concerns to be put down as being owing to anxiety or ADHD.

Weirdeyes simply wants to know whether she (I believe Weirdeyes is female, but apologise if I am wrong, it makes no difference anyhow) has latent hyperopia and why her right eye prescription keeps decreasing.

I would honestly recommend keeping to the point until an accurate prescription is determined, and how to proceed is decided if latent hyperopia is found, before confusing the appointment with things which aren't directly related to her eye prescription.

Best wishes

Lou

Likelenses 03 Jan 2018, 23:20

Weirdeyes

Here is why you need to tell the Ophthalmologist abut your ADHD, and other problems.

http://adhdrollercoaster.org/myth-busting/adhd-eyeglasses-and-stigma-part-3/

http://www.thevisiontherapycenter.com/what-is-vision-therapy/adhd

Weirdeyes 01 Jan 2018, 22:42

Based on some crude focal length calculations my right eye could accept an increase of +0.50 while my left eye can accept +0.75.

Weirdeyes 01 Jan 2018, 15:18

If I end up going to vision therapy Ill mention my anxiety and adhd. Since Im mainly looking for latent hyperopia I wont mention it unless he asks. Most people can probably tell Im obsessive and have anxiety anyways. So I dont really need to say anything.

Lou 01 Jan 2018, 04:49

Hi Likelenses

Thanks, but I do know what an Ophthalmologist is. I however agree with NNVisitor that it is best not to confuse the issue. Weirdeyes seeks an accurate prescription, and I feel that this is best achieved by keeping things very simple and related to the eyes.

All the best

Lou

NNVisitor 01 Jan 2018, 00:20

Weirdeyes

You are trying to find a solutions to your vision problems and migraines. The opthalmologist is an eye specialist and the worst thing for you would be to go off topic as Likelenses suggests. Ignore him so that the opthalmologist can focus on your vision problems and to find a solution for them.

Likelenses 31 Dec 2017, 18:22

Weirdeyes, and Lou

An Ophthalmologist is a highly trained medical doctor, and eye surgeon, unlike an Optometrist that only measures vision, and prescribes glasses.

Some of the training includes mental problems.

There are some mental conditions, that affect the physical functions of the body.Weirdeyes has posted some things that indicate that this could be a factor in what is going on with his eyes

So yes, it is very important for this doctor to understand what he is dealing with, both mentally, and physically in order to help.He also needs to know what medications you may be on,or need to be on, for physical, and or mental conditions.

You are paying him to help you get to the bottom of your problems, so you need to tell him everything.

Weirdeyes 30 Dec 2017, 11:56

NNVISITOR

I definitely think a lot of my headaches are caused by things that arent my eyes. But I do think that eye strain does make them worse. Even if my migraines arent due to my eyes, it doesnt mean eye strain cant be a trigger. One thing I notice is when I wear +1.00 glasses over my rx I dont notice as much fluorescent light sensitivity. I always thought that was a neurological issue, but now Im not so sure. I used to think my depth perception issues were neurological as well, so I didnt bother telling anyone since one OD said I didnt need glasses.

But Ill try to focus on visual symptoms like struggling to see the computer screen and having a bad habit of leaning my head forward to see better. Ill definitely mention my right eye prescription constantly dropping as well. One visual symptom Im not sure I should mention is that even my distance vision feels like it has reduced image size. Im worried that will make me sound neurotic.

My left eye definitely has reduced image size/details at all distances that is helped by glasses. When I look through my left eye without glasses and accommodate it looks a lot like neurological/migraine issues. I feel like both my eyes with glasses have these symptoms to a lesser extent.

NNVisitor 30 Dec 2017, 10:12

Weirdeyes

It's very important that you stick to vision problems when communicating with the opthalmologist. Mention the headaches, migraines and dizziness as they may be related to your latest prescription. It's the job of the opthalmologist to find out or otherwise refer you to another opthalmologist or migraine expert for your migraines.

I have light sensitivity and sometimes get opthalmic migraines. In my case it was determined that the migraines had nothing to do with my eyes. In your case you don't know for certain what the cause is. It's important for you to find out for sure. Alcohol is not the answer to headaches. Relying on alcoholic drinks will cause more problems later in life unless you limit alcohol use to no more than one or two drinks maximum per day. Best of luck to you. I hope you.

Lou 30 Dec 2017, 03:59

Sorry, I completely disagree with Likelenses' suggestion. Weirdeyes is looking for an accurate eye prescription, and the things you mention are not linked to her eyes, and will only confuse the issue, and may even lead to her concerns not being taken seriously and possibly being put down to anxiety.

All the best

Lou

Likelenses 30 Dec 2017, 00:40

Weirdeyes

I think that it is very important to tell the doctor about your ADHD, and other mental health issues you have.

Weirdeyes 29 Dec 2017, 23:31

I mismeasured it. Its about 10.5 like youd expect.

Weirdeyes 29 Dec 2017, 22:38

It seems like my accommodation is actually good. I measured it and its about 14D. Still cant see small details well. They dont look blurry. Just small.

Soundmanpt 29 Dec 2017, 10:06

Carrie

Seeing family and friends is really what Christmas is all about. I'm glad you and Gemma were able to see those family members that you don't see often. And doing a few parties is nice as well. I don't have much family anymore i'm sorry to say. Really just a cousin. every tear she invites me to her house with her family. i went a few times but as much as she tried to make me feel welcome somehow I just felt out of place.So the past few years I always thank her but make excuses why I won't be their. To be honest Christmas isn't one on my favorite times of the year. I don't bother even putting up a tree anymore and I haven't for the past 15 years or so. but I am getting better. I now do enjoy watching all the Hallmark Christmas movies. For a number of years I couldn't even do that.

Being away from work should be a temporary help to Danielle's eyes. but as soon as she goes back to work she will be needing to go back to wearing her contacts along with Vicky's old glasses. I'm a little surprised that she is wearing her glasses while on break and not wearing her contacts. but it's better for her eyes that she gives her eyes a break from the contacts since she must have been wearing them daily so she could wear Vicky's glasses over them. Have you noticed that he seems more open and willing to talk about her eyes and glasses recently? The fact that she asked you if she could try on your current glasses is a clear indication that she has accepted the fact that she needs stronger glasses and is already considering what frames might look good on her. Since she likes your glasses which i'm sure was considerably less than what she usually pays for her glasses at a local optical store do you think she will order her glasses on line when she gets her eyes examined? Now that she has been wearing Vicky's glasses which she ordered for Vicky on line so she could get her own glasses back from Vicky which she had been borrowing for months. She should know that on line glasses are just as good of quality. You still need to make sure the next time that you're going to see Danielle that you simply hand her your old glasses and make her understand that they are completely useless to you anymore. She probably fears that she might break them or loose them and you might want them back. You said she looks really nice wearing your current glasses, how does she look wearing your old glasses?

I really wonder if she is going to be able to hold off as long she wants to before getting her eyes examined and new glasses? When is she planning on going back? has Vicky said anything about her glasses needing changed or any problems with seeing properly? if she hasn't then I would assume that her eyesight is still perfect with her current glasses. But i'm sure she is hoping that she needs her glasses changed and made stronger. I wish I could be in the exam room when she gets her eyes examined. I'm sure when the optometrist asks her if her glasses seem to be working okay she will say that she thinks their too weak for her eyes. She knows that will get her an increase in her glasses. Do you agree or do you think she happy with the glasses she has and doesn't want an increase?

Carrie 29 Dec 2017, 08:55

Soundmanpt - thanks for asking. Yes we did have a lovely Christmas. Busy seeing members of both our families we don't see often enough. Also saw friends and went to a couple of parties. I hope you had some company over Christmas. You should have blamed autocomplete for the miss-spelling of my name! 😊

I did see Danielle and reminded her that she was still welcome to use my old glasses. She's on Christmas break until Tuesday so isn't spending all day looking at a screen. She's just wearing her glasses during the holiday. She wanted to try my current glasses on (the round ones I bought online) as she likes how they look. It's one of the styles she is considering for when she gets new ones. The last time she tried them on she didn't see how they looked on her. I gave her my 2nd pair in the same style so I could still see perfectly. She couldn't see very far with them and commented that what she could see was bigger. I pointed out that someone with perfect eyesight would notice how her glasses magnified things but she doesn't notice because she is used to it. She got close enough to the mirror to see herself and quite liked how she looked in the round glasses. I also liked how she looked and got aroused but thankfully nobody noticed! She put my old glasses on for a short time but soon went back to her own glasses but did confirm that she could see just as well with my old glasses as she could with her own.

Lou 29 Dec 2017, 06:05

Hi Weirdeyes

I think that your first draft is absolutely fine.

Best wishes

Lou

Weirdeyes 29 Dec 2017, 01:27

First draft of the write up I though of. Anything irrelevant or missing?

"I'm having a lot of eye strain with my latest glasses prescription. Even when I'm not doing close up work. The left eye stayed about the same at +4.25, but the right eye went from +1.25 to +0.75. As soon as I tried contact lenses in my new prescription the fluorescent lights started to bother me more. I also noticed a bit of dizziness. I started getting a lot more migraines as well, but that could be a coincidence.

Even though things look more equal between my eyes I have issues with depth perception as well. Putting on +1.00 glasses on top of my contacts helps with all these symptoms. My right eye used to be +1.75 while my left eye was still +4.25.

When they tested my near vision I couldn't see the whole chart. I also struggle to see my computer screen. I often move my head forward to see the screen better. I did this since I was a child. I also don't enjoy books like I used to and I struggle to study. I was never able to learn to read music. It's just too hard to see. "

Soundmanpt 28 Dec 2017, 16:14

Carrie

Yes I just noticed that I misspelled your name. Trust me it's hell getting old. The brain just doesn't work as well anymore.

Soundmanpt 28 Dec 2017, 16:12

Carry

First of all I hope that you and Gemma had a great Christmas and that you also have a great new year. If you're going out be safe.

Have you seen Danielle recently? I was curious if you did what I suggested and pretty much forced her to take your old glasses? I'm sure she is going to say no to you if you only ask her if she wants them. But i'm sure if you insist that she take them and just make her understand that those glasses are of no use to you anymore, which their not. Once she has them I am sure she will put them to use because i'm sure putting contacts is a pain and them wearing Vicky's old glasses over them even more of a pain. Much easier to just wear one pair of glasses. Isn't your old glasses about the same as her contacts and Vicky's glasses combined as for as prescription goes?

Weirdeyes 28 Dec 2017, 12:22

Another symptom I have is leaning my head forward to see the computer screen better. This is one reason my dad suspected I needed glasses when I was around nine years old. After that I got my eyes checked and they considered my vision perfect. I find I have the forward head posture to try to see things in the distance better. I might not mention this to avoid sounding like a neurotic.

Lou 28 Dec 2017, 12:16

PLEASE EXCUSE THE CAPITALS, I AM USING THEM TO DISTINGUISH BETWEEN MY POST AND THAT OF WEIRDEYES.

HI WEIRDEYES

Re. Lou

I think I'll do a write-up, remove any irrelevant fluff and maybe post it here first.

SOUNDS A GREAT IDEA.

Another issue I'm having with this prescription is that sometimes my right eye gets blurry distance vision with +0.75. So I'll just tell him that my right eye prescription keeps dropping, while my left eye rx stays relatively the same.

YES, WORTH TELLING HIM, BUT I'D ALSO ASK WHY IN HIS OPINION THIS IS HAPPENING.

My mom thinks it's due to sinus issues, but I find lying down and closing my eyes helps a lot of these headaches. I know I also get genuine sinus headaches as well. I find drinking alcohol gets rid of my headaches and pain in general, but that might not be relevant. I have other health issues and I don't want to confuse him.

I AGREE THAT IT IS WISE NOT TO CONFUSE THE ISSUE WITH OTHER HEALTH ISSUES, WHICH COULD LEAD TO WASTED APPOINTMENT TIME. I'M OBVIOUSLY NOT SURE WHICH/IF ANY OF YOUR HEADACHES ARE CAUSED BY EYE STRAIN, BUT IF YOU MENTION EYE STRAIN RATHER THAN HEADACHES, THEN THIS WILL KEEP THE OPHTHALMOLOGIST'S ATTENTION ON THE EYES. IF YOU ALSO GET EYE BURNING OR EYE ACHE, I WOULD MENTION THIS INSTEAD OF HEADACHES, AS IT IS AGAIN KEEPING THE FOCUS ON THE EYES.

I also don't know too much about his views.

YOU PROBABLY DON'T NEED TO KNOW ABOUT HIS VIEWS. I WOULD REALLY TRY TO KEEP THE APPOINTMENT AS BEING ABOUT DETERMINING AN ACCURATE PRESCRIPTION.

The OD that gave me my most recent rx practically doesn't believe in latent hyperopia.

REGARDING LATENT HYPEROPIA, IF IT DIDN'T EXIST, THEN THERE WOULD BE LITTLE POINT USING DILATION AGENTS DURING REFRACTION IN MY OPINION. AS YOU KNOW, THIS IS OFTEN DONE WITH CHILDREN, BECAUSE THEY HAVE VERY ACTIVE ACCOMMODATION AND CAN FOCUS OVER BEING LONG SIGHTED. IF CHILDREN CAN DO THIS, WHY NOT ADULTS WHO STILL HAVE PLENTY OF ACCOMMODATION?

ONE THING TO BEAR IN MIND IS THAT IT IS LESS RELEVANT WHETHER YOU HAVE LATENT HYPEROPIA THAN WHETHER YOUR ACCOMMODATION CAN EVER BE RELAXED OVER IT, AS THERE IS ABSOLUTELY NO POINT HAVING A TECHNICALLY CORRECT DISTANCE PRESCRIPTION, IF YOUR DISTANCE VISION NEVER CLEARS. I THEREFORE SUGGEST THAT IF LATENT HYPEROPIA IS FOUND, YOU NEED TO DISCUSS WITH THE OPHTHALMOLOGIST HOW YOU CAN GRADUALLY START TO RELAX YOUR ACCOMMODATION SO THAT YOU CAN PROGRESSIVELY WEAR A DISTANCE PRESCRIPTION NEARER TO THAT OF YOUR FULL DISTANCE PRESCRIPTION.

I REALLY HOPE THAT THIS WILL HELP.

BEST WISHES

LOU

Weirdeyes 28 Dec 2017, 11:20

Lou

I think I'll do a write-up, remove any irrelevant fluff and maybe post it here first. Another issue I'm having with this prescription is that sometimes my right eye gets blurry distance vision with +0.75. So I'll just tell him that my right eye prescription keeps dropping, while my left eye rx stays relatively the same. My mom thinks it's due to sinus issues, but I find lying down and closing my eyes helps a lot of these headaches. I know I also get genuine sinus headaches as well. I find drinking alcohol gets rid of my headaches and pain in general, but that might not be relevant. I have other health issues and I don't want to confuse him. I also don't know too much about his views. The OD that gave me my most recent rx practically doesn't believe in latent hyperopia.

Lou 28 Dec 2017, 09:30

Hi Weirdeyes

Firstly, I would put what you want to say concisely in writing, so that it cannot be misheard or misunderstood. I would ask if it would be possible to email your ophthalmologist in advance, so he is already aware of your concerns prior to your appointment, and your whole appointment time can be spent trying to resolve them.

I would keep things very simple, as what you are basically looking for is simply an accurate prescription, and I feel that in this regard, it is very important to let a good ophthalmologist determine what you objectively need rather than what you subjectively think that you need. This is not meant as a criticism of you, rather a general observation that what we think we need and actually need are not necessarily the same thing.

I would say that you are concerned that you may have some latent hyperopia resulting in you having previously been prescribed less plus than you actually need, and that your reasons for thinking this are as follows:

1. At only 21 years old, even though you have been told that you have sufficient accommodation, you still struggle to read the near chart with your full distance prescription.

2. That you feel that your eyes are straining both at near and distance with your current prescription.

Since you are having a dilated exam, hopefully the dilating agents will be strong enough to reveal all of any latent hyperopia you may have.

Even if however latent hyperopia is found, since it took dilating agents to reveal, you would then need to discuss with your ophthalmologist the best way of relaxing your accommodation so that you will be able to see clearly in the distance with your full distance prescription. It may be that although only 21 years old, you may have been over accommodating for so long, that it may be a case of being only able to wear your full distance prescription at near, and needing a reduced distance prescription in separate glasses, or as bifocals/progressives. Or since you appear to prefer contact lenses to glasses, wearing a reduced distance prescription in contact lenses, with reading glasses over the top.

I've never had a dilated exam. Does the ophthalmologist do an undilated refraction first, so that he knows what distance prescription you require with your eyes in their undilated state? If not, how does he know how much latent hyperopia he has uncovered?

I really hope that your dilated exam will go well.

Best wishes

Lou

Weirdeyes 28 Dec 2017, 03:55

When I see the specialist how should I describe my symptoms? I find a lot of my symptoms could be caused by stuff unrelated to my eyes, so it's hard to know what's relevant. Like I noticed a lot more migraines and headaches after my rx changed. By my mom thinks it's because of me having a cold. I also struggle a lot with reading books and getting schoolwork done. At least in middle school and high school. But maybe it's just due to ADHD or mental health. How do I know what eye issues are in my head or even caused by other health issues? My neck and shoulders are pretty tense. How do I know it's not just that? What's even relevant to mention during an eye appointment?

Presby Tony 23 Dec 2017, 14:46

Just to be safe, I have ordered another pair of glasses that will stay at work.

Cactus Jack 20 Dec 2017, 16:21

Presby Tony,

That is how it works. It is amazing how fast your Ciliary Muscles can get de-conditioned.

Presby Tony 20 Dec 2017, 10:30

OK, after one month of wearing glasses my eyes have truly "bitten the dust". Was at work yesterday and fairly quickly realized that I was not wearing my glasses. I seriously could not read any small print. Spent my workday squinting, squinting, squinting. Today, I made sure the glasses were on my face before I left home. Guess I am too old to fake it.

Weirdeyes 20 Dec 2017, 07:24

Lou

I'm definitely waiting for the appointment. I'll only use the super strong reading glasses at home, so I don't think I'll recondition my eyes. I'm hoping to just unspasm them.

Lou 20 Dec 2017, 05:29

Hi Weirdeyes

Re.

I honestly wouldn't do this. You are 21, you don't want to start weakening your ciliary muscles by not giving them enough to do, since you will be supplying the extra plus you need to read up close with glasses rather than allowing your ciliary muscles to squeeze your crystalline lenses to supply the extra plus.

I am glad that you are visiting an ophthalmologist in January, who will dilate your eyes, as if not I would suggest asking for a referral, since a 21 year old with fully corrected distance vision and plenty of accommodation, should be able to see a near chart sufficiently well with just their full distance prescription. If they can't, the reason needs to be determined why. I'm sure that there is nothing sinister going on, it just needs adequately diagnosing and a solution found. My guess is that you have latent hyperopia, hence the eye strain even at distance, and like the doctor on that other website suggested, after years of accommodating over it, even though you are only 21, it might already be too late for your eyes to ever become sufficiently relaxed to wear a full distance prescription determined by dilation, if the dilation agents are even strong enough to relax you eyes fully in the first place

If you do have latent hyperopia, I believe that the way to proceed would be to determine your true distance prescription via a dilated exam, prescribe this for near (in this case, what I said above about potentially weakening your ciliary muscles by wearing extra plus would not apply, as you would not be wearing additional plus above that needed to bring your distance prescription effectively to zero, and your eyes would still need to supply the rest), weaken this prescription until your distance vision clears, and try gradually increasing your distance prescription until it clears each time. When it never clears, it is time to go back a step to the last point it stayed clear in the distance.

It may be that your eyes have been over working for most of your life, will never relax enough to give you clear distance vision with what should be your full distance prescription, and you may need progressives, bifocals or separate reading glasses.

That is my uneducated guess regarding what is going on. Hopefully it will help.

Take care

Lou

Lou 20 Dec 2017, 05:01

Hi Weirdeyes

Re.:

He didn't give any explanation beyond farsightedness being weird. He just said to continue using my +1.00s for reading. I got tested with my distance prescription. My accommodation is fine, the chart just looked ridiculously small to me. Even my left eye without correction can see relatively clearly up close. I have the same problem with the distance chart which is why I find subjective testing. It's hard to know if it's better or worse when the chart is so tiny. I'm glad I'm going to an ophthalmologist who will dilate my eyes. He does lasik, so I think he'd be good at refracting.

I'm not sure what he means about farsightedness being weird. I wouldn't have thought that an optician would see it as weird. Maybe he meant that it is weird that he cannot find any explanation other than farsightedness, and that although you should at only be 21 be able fine up close with your distance prescription, you can't. It is good that you accommodation is fine, and even your left eye without correction can see relatively clearly close up (this is no doubt owing to your age and your accommodation still being good). I can read to the bottom line without correction, or I could last time I had my eyes tested, but the smaller lines do not look clear really close. I'm not sure why you find the chart so tiny. Is it equally tiny with both eyes fully corrected? If so, maybe everybody sees it this small. Since we never see how anyone else sees, it is difficult to say what size it should be. I suppose in a way it should look rather small, or anyone would be able to see it, and it would be no good for helping to determine the final prescription. Sorry for not being more helpful.

Take care

Lou

Weirdeyes 20 Dec 2017, 01:09

I'm thinking of ordering various strengths of reading glasses on zenni optical in my actual prescription. So I'll have a +1.00 add pair for relaxing my distance, a +1.50 pair for computer use and a +2.50 pair for when I want to spend a lot of time on my phone. You be no one in public will ever see me wear the +2.50 pair which will be +3.25 and +6.75. If my true prescription actually gets to that level I'll probably take extra care with frame choice and lens material.

Weirdeyes 19 Dec 2017, 20:09

What makes me feel better about this bad prescription is putting things into perspective. When I first got glasses the prescription on my left eye didn't even make it past +2.00 even though I felt my glasses were too weak. My OD knew my eyes weren't relaxing and got frustrated with me.

Weirdeyes 19 Dec 2017, 18:12

Lou

Lou 19 Dec 2017, 17:54

Hi Weirdeyes

It is really late here, so please excuse my brief reply. I'm really sorry to hear that he found no change, even though you feel that you eyes are straining even in the distance.

As a matter of interest, did he give you your corrected visual acuity for distance. If it is 20/20 or better, then it appears that he needs to ascertain what it happening with your near vision.

You say that you couldn't read the near 20/20 line. I'm not aware that there is a near 20/20 near, since the 20 is 20 feet. In the UK, the near vision lines are marked with a N, presumably for near.

Whatever the nomenclature, did the optician test your near vision with or without your distance prescription. If without, this would explain your difficulties. If with, did the optician give an explanation for you not being able to read sufficiently far down the near chart?

Best wishes

Lou

Weirdeyes 19 Dec 2017, 16:18

Test went as badly as I thought. He said there was no change. When he asked me to read the close up card I could not read down to the 20/20 line. It wasn't blurry for me. Just ridiculously small. This is not early presbyopia. I'm glad I'm getting a second opinion.

Mike 19 Dec 2017, 16:13

Weirdeyes, Good to hear you are getting a retest, I have been following your posts. One thing I have noticed from my experience is that the quality of lenses in over the counter readers is not the best for distance, meaning even if you needed an additional +1.0 to fully relax for distance they may never be super clear.

Hopefully your appointment is early in the day before your eyes get stressed, this will help get the most accurate results. If it is later in the day try and avoid close work as much as possible.

Last, I always found myself picking the blackest boldest image during the subjective test, resulting in too much minus or not enough plus.

Good Luck!

Soundmanpt 19 Dec 2017, 09:48

Carrie

I'm sure she can see small print better wearing your old glasses than can with her own glasses anymore. But I bet things at a very far distance is slightly blurry with your glasses. And if she were to start wearing your glasses as her everyday glasses her eyes would rather quickly fully adjust to your glasses and she would be more comfortable wearing your glasses than he own anymore. The same way if she starts wearing Vicky's old glasses full time along with her contacts. I would bet that she is wearing Vicky's glasses more and more each day because her eyes are getting more and more comfortable wearing them with her contacts. She probably has Vicky's glasses on the whole time she is at work and I bet she keeps them on when driving now as well. I would suggest the next time you're with her and Vicky that you simply give her your old glasses. They are useless to you and if you make her take them she is likely to start wearing them if their in her house. It would be much easier for her than putting on contacts everyday and wearing glasses over the top. That way she can just put your glasses on and go. Does she look good wearing your glasses? I'm sure she probably does.

I feel like I almost know Danielle because of how much we talk about her. I totally agree even though she really should make her appointment now to get her eyes checked we both know she isn't going to do that even though she knows she is struggling wit her eyes and not seeing properly. But by either wearing her contacts with Vicky's glasses or by wearing your old glasses she should be able to hold off until march. If she didn't have those options it might cause her to go early. I'm sure if it was you or Vicky having the same problems as her you would both be calling for an eye appointment to get your eyes examined and stronger glasses.

Weirdeyes 18 Dec 2017, 20:00

I have my retest tomorrow. I'm not too nervous because I'm getting a dilated exam by an optomologist in January. Still can't see perfectly through the +1.00 glasses. Whatever. I'll probably get a .25 or no increase. Won't affect me too much. Hopefully I won't get judged for wearing +1.00 glasses that I can't see perfectly out of. I'll probably be far more nervous tomorrow.

Lou 18 Dec 2017, 17:03

Sorry, I meant to explain that I am asking, because there is one near vision task I am struggling with (reading music from a lyre at closer than normal reading distance), but am overall managing ok. At my last eye test in June, my optician did say that she could give me an extra +0.25 for reading, but we didn't think that there was really any need. I have a feeling that at almost 44, my near point of focus may have moved out a bit recently, as I am finding that I am having to hold my phone a little further away. It isn't bothering me. I measured my near point of focus to be around 15 inches with my R: +0.50 Sph -0.50 Cyl Axis 92 L: +0.25 Sph -0.25 Cyl 85 distance prescription.

Many thanks

Lou

Carrie 18 Dec 2017, 16:59

Soundmanpt - I know she can see distances just as well with my old glasses as she can with her own glasses or contacts. I don't know if she wears Vicky's old glasses over her contacts every afternoon at work or just occasionally. She didn't give the impression that she wants an eye test any sooner than when it's currently booked for. I think she is in two minds - she knows that she almost certainly needs a stronger prescription (definitely for reading and possibly for distances) and that not having an eye test sooner is just delaying the inevitable but she still hopes that there is a chance her eyes might improve by the time she has the eye test.

Lou 18 Dec 2017, 16:57

Just a couple of simple questions really.

What approximately would most people consider to be normal reading distance?

What distance would an optician consider to be an acceptable near point of focus?

Many thanks

Lou

Soundmanpt 18 Dec 2017, 13:12

Carrie

What Danielle isn't saying is that she is straining to see with her current glasses and contacts. She is needing her glasses increased by that +.50 in Vicky's old glasses for seeing close up. You need to ask her if her distance vision seems to still be okay with just her glasses or contacts? I am sure it is. That's exactly why she should really consider getting progressives in March. That way her distance vision will or should remain the same as it is now. She only needs the added help for reading and doing other things close up. I think she may not be able to hold off getting her eyes examined until March. It seems like where she goes for her glasses and contacts are fully expecting that she is going to be needing an increase in her glasses based on her last visit with them. If she doesn't want her distant vision to be worse she really should start wearing progressives. If she only gets stronger single vision glasses they are going to make her distance vision worse again. Really when she needed her very first increase after she started wearing glasses she should have gotten progressives then. If she had she probably wouldn't need her glasses to drive like she does now.

Weirdeyes 18 Dec 2017, 12:09

Carrie

I'm doing a similar thing. My current prescription is really straining my eyes, so I wear +1.50 glasses when I'm doing close up work and +1.00 for distance. It's not 100% clear for distance, but I notice my eyes are even strained for distance with my current rx. Hopefully my retest tomorrow can sort this out. I hope he doesn't just say I need bifocals. I'm only 21!

Carrie 18 Dec 2017, 11:53

Interesting confession from my friend Danielle at the weekend. She has been taking her girlfriend's old glasses (the ones with +0.50 prescription that Danielle bought her) to work to wear over her contacts as her eyes have been feeling a little bit tired towards the end of the working day. She hasn't been wearing the glasses all day, just when her eyes feel tired. I reminded her that she was welcome to borrow the old pair of my glasses that are a similar strength to the glasses and contacts combination if she wanted a break from contacts. She said she might borrow them in the new year as she will run out of contacts before her eye test and will probably still get tired eyes late in the day. Hopefully a new prescription will sort out the tired eyes. Her eye test will be in March.

Jim H 17 Dec 2017, 08:00

So I had an eye exam yesterday and had my eyes dilated which was only the second time Ive had it done. Last time was 4 years ago. This time I really noticed the affect it had on my accommodation to focus up close. Quite enjoyed the 2 hours of not being able to focus up close and having to pull my phone further away to read it and actually experience what presbyopia is like. Also an interesting encounter I will post in sightings.

Weirdeyes 17 Dec 2017, 03:16

One thing that's definitely true is that farsightedness makes your eyes feel sharper. When I have no glasses my left eye is actually higher contrast. Before I got glasses I might even mistake my left eye for being better. When I failed the eye exam with my left eye the chart didn't seem too blurry for me. It just seemed impossibly small. I thought I was being asked to read the bottom of the chart. I think my left eye sees about 20/50, but that 20/50 looks a lot more sharp than a nearsighted 20/50. It also has moderate astigmatism, but the farsightedness kind of masks it. I actually noticed the astigmatism more when my left eye wore a +3.25 contact lens. I just mistook it for the lens being too strong.

Weirdeyes 17 Dec 2017, 02:59

Why do some hyperopes have better than 20/20 vision? I'm personally not one of those since I have astigmatism. My vision has always seemed less than sharp, but still good enough to see the board and stuff. Which made me think I needed a very low prescription that doesn't need glasses.

Lou 15 Dec 2017, 02:09

Hi Weirdeyes

I'm not surprised that a big difference between your eyes, and not feeling that your prescription is correct, is giving you anxiety, and if you overall have a tendency for OCD, I cn fully understand why is making it worse.

I'm very pleased to hear that your Mom has offered to let you see another doctor and that is making you feel calmer. Hopefully you GP can also help you, but probably not in direct relation to your eyes.

Please let us know how it all pans out.

Take care

Lou

Weirdeyes 14 Dec 2017, 11:29

Lou

You're right. My OCD is ruining a lot of things. I should get some help for it as well. OCD is the worst when you have eyes like me. Even though I'm sure I'd be OCDing if I was -1.00 in both eyes. My mom offered to let me see another doctor. Now I'm way calmer. Today I'm seeing my GP. I'll ask her about my issues as well. Maybe she can help.

Lou 14 Dec 2017, 02:54

Hi Weirdeyes

I fully understand what you are saying, but I'm not really sure. Since you have an eye test next week, if you don't mind me saying, I really think that it would be best not to try to self diagnose. When we try to self diagnose, it is easy to misinterpret things owing to us not having a professional understanding, and our subjective emotions. I play the trumpet and a lot of the technique becomes automatic like walking and breathing. If you try to analyse what you are doing to much, it can affect your technique, as rather than playing naturally and letting everything fall into place like you subconsciously know how to do, you start manipulating things, and often what you are actually doing is different to what you think you are doing, and your technique suffers. I'm sure that if you started concentrating on your breathing, you would start breathing more or less deeply, at a quicker or slower pace, just because it is becoming conscious rather than subconscious. Musicians often call it paralysis by analysis. I know that it is not quite the same with the eyes, but if you are always concentrating on your focus, this could affect your accommodation.

Please as someone who has been there done that and is over twice your age, believe me when I say that there is not much point in having a dog and barking yourself. You have a eye test scheduled. Email all your concerns in advance and try to trust their opinion.

Take care and please understand that I mean well and am trying to help you to be less anxious about all this.

Best wishes

Lou

Weirdeyes 13 Dec 2017, 18:17

Lou

I think my issue is dry eyes. They can induce irregular astigmatism which can be masked by overminusing. When I remove my +1.00 glasses I can sometimes see objects that are around arms reach clearer, especially in poor lighting. But I no longer have a "distance blur". It just seems like astigmatism/dry eyes at this point.

Lou 13 Dec 2017, 16:45

Hi Weirdeyes

Sorry, I previously typed you a long reply, but must have mistakenly closed down the webpage before posting it.

Your current prescription is:

R +0.75 Sph -0.75 Cyl

L +4.25 Sph -1.50 Cyl

My understanding is that your right eye has a prescription of +0.75 at one meridian and plano at the other, which averages out at +0.375, and that you left eye has a prescription of +4.25 at one meridan and +2.75 at the other, which averages out at +3.50. I know that prescriptions don't really average out, but I am doing this just to find an average spherical difference between your eyes, which I calculate to be +3.125.

I am very pleased to hear that you are getting a re-test next week.

If possible, I would suggest asking if you can email your optician in advance, to give you a chance to clearly explain all your difficulties. Not only will this hopefully give him a greater opportunity to more fully understand your concerns, but also an opportunity to tailor your eye test accordingly

Since you are getting eye strain, even at distance with your current prescription, he shouldn't find your request for a re-test unreasonable.

Since you have previously had the option of a separate prescription for reading with a +1.00 add, I think what particularly needs to be determined considering I believe that you are only 21, is whether you have latent hyperopia, and if so, whether your eyes will be able to fully relax for distance with your full prescription, within a few weeks. If your eyes are not be able to relax fully for distance with your full distance prescription owing to them having been strained for so long, it may be a case of increasing your distance prescription as much as possible for now without blurring your distance vision, and having a separate pair of glasses with a reading addition, until all your latent hyperopia is resolved by gradually increasing your distance prescription and reducing your reading add.

Whatever happens, hopefully you will get a new prescription which will make sufficient difference to you.

Please let us know how you get on.

Take care

Lou

Lou 12 Dec 2017, 16:59

Hi Weirdeyes

Sorry, I did post you a reply, but it doesn't seem to have been loaded correctly to the thread.

I'll try again tomorrow, as it is late here.

Sorry, again.

Best wishes

Lou

Weirdeyes 12 Dec 2017, 14:51

I once tried this uncomfortable pair of monthly torics. I could almost see 20/10 with them. So maybe I do have some irregular astigmatism.

Weirdeyes 12 Dec 2017, 14:45

It seems like the +1.00 glasses no longer blur specific distances when it's light out. I do feel like I have irregular astigmatism for whatever reason.

Weirdeyes 11 Dec 2017, 10:13

Lou

I think another thing that complicates things is the lack of amblyopia. I don't think people with amblyopia try to make their non-dominant eye see better with accomodation. I might have even had this going on when I first got glasses. I actually had good enough binocular vision to enjoy 3D movies. Just not sports.

Weirdeyes 11 Dec 2017, 09:53

Lou

I mean spherical equivalent 3.50 difference. The left eye has a higher cyl, so you can't just calculate with the sphere. Back when both my eyes were -0.50 in cyl you could. I am getting my retest next week. Maybe by then my distance with the +1.00 reading glasses will be clearer. It's not completely clear right now, but I think it's clearer than it used to be. I hope he doesn't find me too difficult for wanting a retest. I really feel my eyes straining, even at the distance with my current prescription. He most likely won't prescribe +1.00 more. Hopefully whatever change he makes will make enough of a difference for me.

SC 11 Dec 2017, 02:55

Onlooker,

Did your wife get the new prescription?

Your wife has a very similar Rx to my wife - my wife is older and has given in and got varifocals.

Does she spend a lot of time on a computer? If so this may begin to affect her distance vision. From your posts she has been wearing 0.00 add +1.50 so her muscles have never had to relax - effectively she has +1 permanently jammed on. When/if she gets +2.25 then to use a computer (@66cm) then her eye muscles will need to relax, so she'll effectively be wearing +0.75 Add +1.50.

This had a big impact on my wife - if she spent all day on the computer then she couldn't see distance in the evening. I'd see her trying to see the TV and even seeing what it was like with her reading glasses on.

Lou 11 Dec 2017, 02:51

Hi Weirdeyes

I'm trying to get my head around all what you are saying. I can understand that the difference between your two eyes would be less with +1.75 for your right eye than +0.75, if your left eye stayed the same.

You say earlier in the thread that your current prescription is:

R +0.75 Sph -0.75 Cyl

L +4.25 Sph -1.50 Cyl

Considering only the sphere, this does give you the +3.50 difference between each eye, which you say that you feel you need.

Are you saying that you think the difference between both eyes is correct, but that you need more plus in both eyes to maintain this difference of +3.50, and that specifically you feel that your left eye is uncorrected causing you to accommodate, which since your eyes accommodate together, is also causing your right eye prescription to go down.

This would make sense.

As I said previously the only way to ascertain this, is to increase the plus equally in both eyes and see what happens. You have tried this with +1.00 reading glasses over your contact lenses, which would replicate the +1.75 you felt was previously ok for your right eye, and your distance has not yet become clear. You said on 28th November, "With my over the counter readers over my glasses I notice my left eye can see a bit further. I guess R+0.75 -0.75 L+4.25 -1.50 still doesn't leave my eyes balanced." When you say that your left eye can see a bit further, I believe you mean compared to your right. If so, this may suggest that your left eye prescription is low compared to your right, and that you may need a difference between both eyes of greater than +3.50. Depending on which eye prescription is most accurate, this could mean a decrease in the right eye or increase in the left eye. Since your feel that your right eye is already too low, maybe your right prescription needs to go up a little, and your left even more.

I know you say that it is a matter of having sufficient funds, but I would really urge you to have another eye exam from someone highly recommended, as I believe this will end up causing you unnecessary stress and worry.

I hope that this will help.

Best wishes

Lou

Weirdeyes 10 Dec 2017, 14:26

Lou

I'm pretty sure I'm not wearing my full prescription. I think I used to see fine with +1.75 in my right eye. One autorefractor even said my right eye is +2.25 and that was without dilation. What wasn't properly corrected was the difference between my eyes. Back when I was wearing the +1.75 glasses he difference between my lenses was only about 2.25 or so. I actually need 3.25 or even 3.50. When I accidentally got a +3.50 contact lens for my left eye, I noticed things look incredibly vivid and 3D compared to +3.25. My eyes were accommodating based on my left eye, so that's probably why the right eye prescription kept going down. Maybe the difference not being corrected is causing CI issues. Since I have no amblyopia I tend to get pretty bad double vision without glasses.

Lou 10 Dec 2017, 08:44

Hi Weirdeyes

I'm not sure regarding, "I know a lot of ODs don't like prescribing too much plus when eyes tend to diverge."

I remember when I visited a previous optician a few years back, saying that I felt that I could seen better with my previous prescription than current prescription, that he felt that it was owing to my convergence insufficiency. Although I believe that the muscles that move the eyes are completely separate from the ciliary muscle that controls focusing, he said that he felt that my eyes were so well corrected, that since they weren't having to do any extra work to focus, they weren't also correcting my convergence sufficiency. He said there were two options, either to slightly under correct me or give me a little prism. He added 0.50 prism to my right eye, as he felt that since I was over forty it would be wrong to under correct me.

Personally, I think that he had it wrong, and that I wasn't very well corrected but actually had too much plus, as the prism made absolutely no difference and when I saw my current optician, her objective refraction via retinoscopy and my subjective lens choices, all confirmed that my previous weaker prescription (without any need for prism) was right for me, and she felt that my previous opticians had bumped up the plus. Bumping up the plus did seem to make my convergence insufficiency worse, so maybe even if I feel that my previous optician was wrong regarding my prescription, there is something in this, and there is a link between the eyes correcting a small amount of residual long-sightedness and working to hold the eyes sufficiently converged in a person who has convergence insufficiency, as too much plus did result in convergence insufficiency for me.

I suppose if additional plus does increase a tendency for convergence insufficiency, the relevant point, is whether is only occurs if additional plus is prescribed over a person's actual prescription, meaning that an optician should be careful to not over prescribe plus, or whether it is actually necessary to prescribe a little less plus than actually needed.

I believe that which of the above is the case, if this idea is even true at all, is relevant particularly to yourself, as I imagine that you are interested in whether your optician has been deliberately prescribing less plus than your actual prescription to keep convergence insufficiency symptoms at bay, or whether you are wearing your full prescription already and you are simply more comfortable with a little extra plus.

Best wishes

Lou

Weirdeyes 10 Dec 2017, 01:49

Wearing the +1.00 glasses full time has had its ups and downs. I've had panic attacks about blurry distance vision and people noticing I'm wearing glasses that aren't my prescription. But by the end of the day it was way better. I noticed my convergence insufficiency symptoms got a lot better. I had better depth perception and no more double vision. I still had a bit of a distance blur, but it doesn't drive me crazy like it did earlier on. When I took my contacts out I noticed my CI symptoms were A LOT worse. I really noticed the double vision and left eye drifting. Maybe during my retest my OD might notice my improved binocular vision and not be as scared of plus. I know a lot of ODs don't like prescribing too much plus when eyes tend to diverge. For me it seems like too little plus just makes my eyes drift more.

08 Dec 2017, 05:56

Hi Rob

An add of +6.50 does seem extremely high, but if you are doing extremely close work with your electronics stuff, this may explain it. I have long-sighted astigmatism, so no actual direct experience, but my 59 year old husband who is myopic and has a distance prescription along the lines of yours, has a reading add of only +2.00, making the reading section of his progressives effectively around -2.00. Yes, you are right when ignoring the astigmatism part of your prescription, your reading prescription equates to +2.50. When you say that you are struggling to see well close when removing your distance glasses, I presume you mean that you are having to hold things further away, which suggests that you need more plus, and since taking off your glasses is roughly equivalent to already wearing +4.00 reading glasses over your distance glasses, an add of +6.50 which gives you a further +2.50 over no glasses at all, is likely to be correct.

If like my husband however, you can see very well up close without your glasses, but only if you hold things impractically close, which he has to do, since without glasses he is effectively wearing +4.00 reading glasses, which only allows him to focus very close up, then there could be a mistake with your prescription, and your optician may have meant to prescribe an add of +2.50, taking your reading prescription to around -1.50. I'm however sure that an optician wouldn't make such a mistake.

I hope that this will help.

Best wishes

Lou

rob guest 08 Dec 2017, 02:09

I have -4.00 both eyes for distance, and up until now Ive always just removed my glasses for close work, reading etc but recently I noticed that i'm struggling to see well close up. I do a lot of close work on electronics stuff and I just cant focus on the parts im trying to solder etc. Even reading the iphone text has become difficult.

I went and got an eye test and they said I need reading glasses for close work, I came away with a prescription of RE -4.0 -0.50 @ 165, LE -4.00 -0.75 @ 60 ADD +6.50 both eyes.

This add seems incredibly high, Does it mean I need +2.50 reading glasses, is this correct, if so I will try some and see how I get on.

thanks

Weirdeyes 06 Dec 2017, 18:24

I spent two whole days wearing the +1.00 glasses. I have so much anxiety about it. I worry that the distance blur means I'm doing the wrong thing. But I do notice times when my vision is almost completely clear in the vision. I find my eyes feel strained when they try to clear my distance vision. But when I think of the big picture I think my eyes feel better overall. They seem to relax a lot when I use the +1.50 glasses to see up close.

Weirdeyes 04 Dec 2017, 17:04

I finally bought some +1.00 readers. I also bought a +3.00 pair for my mom as a Christmas gift. I just said both pairs were for my mom. I wonder if they believed me. The +1.00 pair was way clearer than the pair I had before. So I guess I was wearing +1.50. Hopefully I can adjust to distance with the +1.00 pair.

Lou 02 Dec 2017, 03:48

Hi Oranges

I believe that I have indirectly answered the same question from a poster with another name, who appears to be in the exact same situation. I suggested to the other poster that if they keep being prescribed what they consider to be insufficient plus, that it may be owing to their responses in the subjective part of the exam. I suggested explaining to the optician that they feel that for some reason that they may be choosing a lens with too little plus, and ask whether they could objectively verify their prescription via a retinoscope, as if they were unable to communicate, and see whether the findings correspond. This other poster said that they were given the option of a separate reading prescription. If the retinoscope findings correspond with your subjective responses, and your distance prescription ends up similar to what you have been prescribed previously and what you consider to be too little plus for reading, I would discuss the option of having a separate reading prescription. You mention that you have better depth perception with over the counter reading glasses, but not clear distance vision. I suppose this depends at which distance that you have better depth perception. If it is at near where the focus is also better with the over the counter readers, maybe it is just a case of greater focus meaning greater depth perception. If you don't have this greater depth perception at distance with your distance prescription and are also experiencing eyestrain, as I suggested to the other poster, this could be an indication of latent hyperopia. I believe that a retinoscope examination can uncover this, especially if done in association with cycloplegic eye drops to relax the accommodation. My advice would be to ask whether you can email the optician in advance of your test, with your concerns, so that they are fully aware of all the difficulties you are experiencing in advance. I really hope that this will help.

Best wishes

Lou

Oranges 01 Dec 2017, 19:12

Does anyone have any tips for a getting a good retest when you're farsighted? My new prescription feels too weak. Should I just say I think my prescription is too weak? I currently use reading glasses on top of my rx for close up work and when I want to reduce eyestrain. I just don't have clear distance vision like this, but I do notice better depth perception. What should I mention at my restest? I'm hoping he doesn't just think I need bifocals. I have eyestrain with my distance vision as well.

Presby Tony 29 Nov 2017, 09:21

Appreciate hearing from others. Yes, the doctor did use drops for the examination so that the ciliary muscles were temporarily inactive. Anyway, I am not only presbyopic but hyperopic. Yes, I should have probably been wearing glasses before presbyopia struck. Oh well, vision is not clear for Presby Hyper Tony.

Lou 29 Nov 2017, 04:48

Hi LT Lurker

I agree that wearing glasses specifically for reading can make you look old, especially when you are around or over forty.

I wear glasses full-time for long sighted astigmatism. I initially started wearing them for music, then also long distance and night time driving before I graduated into full-time wear.

Since I can see better with my glasses at all distances, and since they after all are not age related since I am almost 44 and still do not have a reading add, when I first started wearing them at age 36 after decades of meaning to have my eyes tested (My eyes are still within the legal limit for driving, so I was never being unsafe), I'd drive to and from my orchestras and keep them on all the time, so that owing to my age of 36, people didn't think that they were reading glasses owing to advancing age.

I'm not at all vain, and accept that I will need a reading add probably in the not so distance future, but I didn't want people to incorrectly presume that I needed a prescription especially for reading at the age of 36.

All the best

Lou

LT Lurker 29 Nov 2017, 01:09

Maybe this should be on the psychology page. Presby Tony mentioned that glasses are a sign of ageing and I think it is amusing in a way that so many 40-50 somethings wear specs on the end of their nose or whip them off to look afar.As if to say "I am not that old as I don't wear them all the time!".

Tony, by being full time is actually not a showing a distinct ageing sign as who knows,other than friends family etc. when he got his specs? It could have been any age.

Because generally if you are presbyopic you are of a certain age.

Tony is actually PresbyHyperTony but did not know this until his hyperopia manifested.

A question for Tony...did you have a eyedrops for the test?

Weirdeyes 28 Nov 2017, 22:22

With my over the counter readers over my glasses I notice my left eye can see a bit further. I guess R+0.75 -0.75 L+4.25 -1.50 still doesn't leave my eyes balanced.

Weirdeyes 27 Nov 2017, 17:59

Charlie_Delta

In my experience the higher the plus gets the higher the cyl gets as well. When I first started wearing glasses that were only R 0.00 L +1.25 I had no cyl at all. Now that I'm at R +0.75 L +4.25 my cyl is now R -0.75 L -1.50. It definitely makes a huge difference and my left eye is no longer classified as a lazy eye. Unfortunately this prescription feels too weak and I have to wear reading glasses to avoid a terrible headache.

Charlie_Delta 27 Nov 2017, 17:01

Tony,

Happened to me too at, ehem, age 40. High five for seeing clearly now. Damnit, now that cheesy Johnny Nash song is in my head!

Some things I learned from others on this board and ended up experiencing myself: your distance prescription might need to increase a tad in the coming few weeks/months. Lookup "latent hyperopia." You'll know this is happening if/when you start seeing distant objects more clearly in the middle/lower part of the lens. Most glasses makers will re-lens free of charge if this happens, from what I've read anyway.

Also wanted to point out, I learned the hard way that polycarbonate lenses aren't for me -- way too much chromatic aberration on the edges of distant objects, i.e. edge of road signs. I say this only to point out that if you're seeing the same; there are other lens materials available. When I addressed this with a different material, the problem disappeared.

I too have -0.25 astigmatism and will say this: most opticians and many labs won't even fill a cylinder that low. My initial prescription didn't have astigmatism correction, but subsequent one did, and the result was honestly a bit spellbinding. I'm not sure I ever saw this clearly at distance before!

If you use a computer a lot, single vision glasses adjusted just for up-close work are absolutely worth getting, along with Rx sunglasses. You could get both pretty cheaply online through companies like Zenni etc.

Charlie

Presby Tony 27 Nov 2017, 09:11

At age 47 and after much harassment from my partner, I finally agreed to have my eyes checked. Have never worn prescription glasses and been using OTC readers sporadically for the last 4 or 5 years. The doctor gave me a prescription and said I would benefit from full-time wear and really should have been wearing glasses much earlier. I was shocked at how little I could read on the close-up test and some fuzziness on the vision test. Oh well, like many, I did not want to give in to the most visible sign of aging and hadntried not to become dependent on the OTC readers. Oh well, I have been wearing the progressives FT for the last two weeks. Really sharp vision.

OD; +1.00, -0.25, 005, +2.25

OS: +0.75, -0.25, 015, +2.25

Well, Antony is now facing his middle years "clearly".

????? 26 Nov 2017, 14:04

What the hell does this shit have to do with farsightedness????

26 Nov 2017, 12:53

Please describe treason. If you have the mental capacity to do so, that is. If not then you need to STFU and crawl back under your rock.

You voted for the old lesbian criminal and she lost. That should be your just reward.

26 Nov 2017, 08:57

Anyone who likes Der Fuhrer Drumpf should be shot for treason.

Liberity Frost 25 Nov 2017, 11:39

Anybody who uses the asinine concoction "trimpazee" is a sick fucking moron who get's off sniffing Hitlery's rancid roastbeef twat.

Liberity Frost 25 Nov 2017, 11:39

Anybody who uses the asinine concoction "trimpazee" is a sick fucking moron who get's off sniffing Hitlery's rancid roastbeef twat.

25 Nov 2017, 09:10

To the Trumpanzee who posted at 00:48 -- Go kiss your beloved Fuhrer's portrait; that is, if you can find it in your trailer.

25 Nov 2017, 00:48

TO THE DOUCHEBAG BITCH WHO POSTED THIS FUCKING SHIT:

"Nobody" 23 Nov 2017, 03:51

"Is really 21 and sitting around on this site! It is a bunch of weird creepy old men licking glasses and jerking off. Which one of you creeps is "Gman"? How would you like it it someone stole your pics from Instagram and posted it to a bunch of ugly old women diddling themselves? How do you feel to know you disgust the women you stalk?"

YOU NEED TO GET THE FUCK LOST BITCH AND GO JOIN HITLERY ROTTEN CUNTON ON HER MANIACAL MISERY TOUR. NOW HIT THE ROAD, SKANK!

Lou 24 Nov 2017, 02:50

Hi Weirdeyes

If you don't mind me saying, I think that anxiety is adding to your issues. I don't blame you, I've previously also had anxiety regarding getting my prescription correct. I'm not sure how small the 20/20 line should look. That you can see it clearly without blur is probably what is important. Can you read any letters off the line below? I honestly feel that you need to see an understanding optician, who can not only accurately ascertain your prescription, but who is willing to answer your questions and explain everything properly to you. Has an optician used a retinoscope to objectively verify your subjective lens choice via the active part of the test, when you choose which lens is better or worse? I felt more reassured that my prescription was correct, when the optician explained that I had subjectively chosen the same lens for each eye as her retinoscope objectively demonstrated, and what she would prescribe if I was unable to communicate.

I really hope that this will help.

Take care

Lou

Weirdeyes 23 Nov 2017, 23:04

I find switching between reading glasses and my too weak distance is just causing more headaches. Maybe I should just find a +1.00 or +0.75 pair of glasses to wear full time. I just have too much anxiety about it.

Weirdeyes 23 Nov 2017, 13:57

I think my distance is too weak as well. I have reduced image size in both eyes. The 20/20 line is "clear", but it looks ridiculously small to me. Back when my left eye was uncorrected I had the same issue with the 20/40 line. It didn't look super blurry, but it did look tiny.

Lou 23 Nov 2017, 12:35

Hi Weirdeyes

I'm really sorry to hear that money has to be a factor. There are many bad points to living in the UK, but at least we have the NHS, and it is only the case of paying for an eye examination, which is around £20-£25 GBP. Referrals to specialists are then free but there is admittedly often a long wait.

My only suggestion to you, is since you haven't long had an eye test, to see whether you could have a re-test free of charge, for the reason that you prescription is not strong enough for reading/intermediate.

Take care

Lou

Weirdeyes 23 Nov 2017, 10:57

Lou

I don't think I can afford it. I think what's throwing off my OD is eyestrain and my eyes tendency to drift outwards. I've heard a lot of ODs undercorrect plus when eyes drift outwards.

Nobody 23 Nov 2017, 03:51

Is really 21 and sitting around on this site! It is a bunch of weird creepy old men licking glasses and jerking off. Which one of you creeps is "Gman"? How would you like it it someone stole your pics from Instagram and posted it to a bunch of ugly old women diddling themselves? How do you feel to know you disgust the women you stalk?

Lou 23 Nov 2017, 03:02

Hi Weirdeyes

I honestly don't think that you should be or have to be doing this alone. Is it not possible to visit another optician, and explain that since at only 21 that you can see better at near/intermediate distances with +1.50 glasses over your contacts, that you feel that you have some latent hyperopia still to correct.

Take care

Lou

Carrie 23 Nov 2017, 02:51

I'm such a busybody, because I have no life which is why I obsess about why "Daniella" and other people are doing with their glasses. But I know whats best for my masturbation, I mean for other people's needs. i know best, because "Carrie" is a fake and I'm actually Soundmanapt.

Weirdeyes 22 Nov 2017, 22:31

Lou

It's definitely seeming more like latent hyperopia than needing an early add or avoiding eyestrain. I originally planned to just wear this when I would do heavy close work to avoid eyestrain. But I notice the more I wear them the more my eyes hurt without them and the more I catch myself squinting. Even when I look at distant objects. I still don't have entirely clear distance vision with them, but I do find the intermediate zone clear. Based on the usual strengths the brand seems to offer I suspect they're actually +1.50. I've ruled out +1.00 and +1.75.

I feel like I should start wearing them full time soon, but I just feel weird about it. I'm also not sure about the pair. I could buy another pair, but it feels weird to do that at 21. I'm kind of self conscious about wearing reading glasses in public, but I'm guessing not much people pay attention to me. It just reminds me of my middle school days when I first got glasses and only wore them for reading and watching tv. I was known for wearing reading glasses and it made me self-conscious. I guess I'm getting to experience what it's like to be a low hyperope getting their first glasses. With my first glasses I never went through the blurry stage.

Lou 21 Nov 2017, 17:31

Hi Weirdeyes

If the distance keeps increasing, then you surely must have latent hyperopia to correct.

I have a +0.50 add on a previous prescription and got both reading and distance glasses. I never wore the reading pair, as I use a lap top, with as expected the keyboard joined to the screen, which when tilted slightly back is only a little over arms length away (and I don't have particularly long arms), and the focus with the reading pair didn't even extend as far as the lap top screen.

Admittedly I didn't try them long enough to see if it would improve, but in my case, there is no suggestion that I have any latent hyperopia.

Subsequent prescriptions have had no add.

Take care

Lou

Weirdeyes 21 Nov 2017, 15:32

Lou

The distance keeps increasing, so I don't think there's any point in measuring it.

Anna 21 Nov 2017, 14:19

I think Lou is 100 % right in what she say regarding Danielas vision.

Im sure bifocals in not the solution to her problems only full time wear and correct rx ( may be some more strengt when her eyes fully relax)

Anna 21 Nov 2017, 14:16

I think Lou is 100 % right in what she say regarding Danielas vision.

Im sure bifocals in not the solution to her problems only full time wear and correct rx ( may be some more strengt when her eyes fully relax)

Lou 21 Nov 2017, 14:11

Hi Weirdeyes

Re:

Weirdeyes 20 Nov 2017, 07:20

Lou

I find I can still see my PC with my +1.25 glasses. I'll still try different strengths. It really does seem like intermediate is my worst distance. When I'm on the computer I have a bad habit of moving my head forward. I also magnified the text a lot.

I've always found intermediate to my worst distance too. If you don't mind checking, could you please post how far away you can see with your +1.25 readers, before your vision starts to blur.

I don't yet have a reading add, but my husband, and most of my colleagues who do, have an intermediate add for music, which most commonly seems to be +0.75 less than their reading add.

I read music at a distance of around 1 metre.

Take care

Lou

Lou 21 Nov 2017, 12:56

Hi Soundmanpt

Without meaning any offence, although I am sure that you understand this better than me, what you never make clear, if you aren't offended by me saying, is that if Danielle's distance vision is able to gradually improve with an increase in her plus prescription, then this must be a sign or her either having or having had latent hyperopia.

If she is beginning to struggle at near with her current prescription, in my opinion, an optician needs to ascertain whether she still has some latent hyperopia left to correct, or whether all her hyperopia is now fully corrected, and she is starting to need a reading add owing to presbyopia, earlier than she would have done owing to the close vision demands of her job.

I can fully understand what you mean when you say that wearing bifocals would stop Danielle's distance prescription increasing. It probably would, simply because keeping to a weaker distance prescription would encourage latent hyperopia to remain.

I'm not so sure that this would be a good idea. Firstly, it most probably would lead to unnecessary eye strain, as her distance vision would remain under corrected, and secondly she would artificially be needing bifocals/varifocals before she genuinely needs them, with the added complications that come with them.

I cannot remember, but if Danielle only needed to wear glasses for driving after a couple of prescription increases, if she had started off with bifocals with a plano prescription in the distance sector, so that she never looked into the distance through the prescription she needed for near, she possibly could have prevented needing glasses for distance, but at the cost of her eyes working too hard in the distance, and her possibly suffering from tired eyes and eye strain.

To get to my point, as far as I understand it, if a person's distance vision gradually improves with a plus prescription that originally gave them blurred distance vision, then this gradual improvement is owing to the resolution of latent hyperopia, and once all latent hyperopia is resolved, any further plus will just make them myopic, and their distance vision will never improve. I therefore believe that wearing a plus prescription for near vision can never cause a person's distance vision to deteriate, it will just reveal the extent of their masked true distance prescription.

Therefore my advice to Danielle would be that since she is already wearing her glasses full-time, that if she is struggling at near and her optician offers her an increase at her next test, to ask whether she can continue wearing her existing prescription for driving and outside of work, whilst he gives her a stronger single vision prescription for work, which if she isn't able to see clearly in the distance through after around a month, she can swap for a pair of bifocals/varifocals at no extra cost.

If she hasn't already had a dilated eye exam, this may be worth having done first, to predict the possible success of the above. What I mean, is that if is shows no further latent hyperopia, then the above probably isn't worth trying.

All the best

Lou

Weirdeyes 21 Nov 2017, 12:17

Is it normal to feel like everything looks smaller than average when you're farsighted? I feel like the 20/20 line looks tiny, but still vaguely clear when I wear correction. When I first got glasses and they were testing my left eye the line I couldn't read wasn't all that blurry. It just looked like one of those tiny lines no one is really supposed to be able to read. Turns out it was probably the 20/40 line. At first I got the tiny correction of +1.25 for that eye. Now that it's more relaxed and has +4.25 ,-1.50 the detail level and image size is way better. Unfortunately I still notice image size issues with both eyes. I can't really call my left eye lazy because it now has the same detail level as my right eye when it's corrected. I've heard this issue only happens with high amounts of farsightedness. But my right eye prescription is only +0.75, -0.75 and still has this issue. I kind of feel like this issue is all in my head at the moment. But I did think I needed glasses when I was a kid and ended up getting an eye exam that said I didn't need them.

Soundmanpt 20 Nov 2017, 17:10

Carrie

I'm sure she thinks that by going to bifocals/ progressives it would mean making her glasses even stronger. She needs the opticians to explain to her why bifocals / progressives might really be better for her and keep her distance vision the same instead of constantly getting worse every time she gets new single vision glasses. Her real reason for needed glasses has always been due to her job reading small print. Her distance vision has only changed because she wears her glasses so much at her job. Her eyes over time has adjusted to seeing distance with her glasses and now she needs her glasses for distance as well. But it isn't her distance that keeps changing.

When you were trying to put in a fake order for bifocals and progressives you did it wrong. You put in her current distance rx and then you put in the add as being +2.25. Now they might either need to reduce her distance rs to +1.75 in both eyes are increase her to +2.00 in both eyes.

Carrie 20 Nov 2017, 15:32

Soundmanpt - Danielle is still against the idea of bifocals. If her optician strongly recommends them she would only go for no-line ones. She would still rather just get a stronger non bifocal prescription. She's fairly sure she will need a slightly stronger prescription going by what her optician said a few weeks ago and trying my old glasses at the weekend.

I think Danielle may just avoid bifocals. I did a little experiment with an online glasses store this evening. I entered a prescription for bifocals. I discovered that the lowest add on that company's site for regular lined bifocals was +0.50 and the lowest add for no-line/varifocals was +0.75. I only looked at the one website but I would guess that they are all pretty much the same when it comes to bifocals. If she only ends up needing a 0.25 or 0.50 increase that might be too little for an add and as she could see distances clearly with my old glasses she might just only get a stronger single vision prescription.

I did offer her my old glasses but she said not just yet but would keep my offer in mind.

Vicky was very interested watching Danielle compare the glasses but didn't say much. Obviously she knows Danielle much better than I do and was possibly not saying much about glasses and eyesight because Danielle doesn't want to talk about it much.

We'll have to wait until Danielle gets her eyes tested in the spring to find out exactly.

Plus Tony 20 Nov 2017, 11:29

Hi Younglady,

I don't think anyone is to 'blame' for genetics. We just have to make the best of what we've got. It sounds like your oldest is setting a good example for his Mum! If your youngest has got a lazy/turning eye it can be treated quite effectively if it is done while he is young and there is no certainty that he'll even need glasses. If he does need glasses and/or patching there is no guarantee that he would need glasses forever.

Soundmanpt 20 Nov 2017, 09:46

Carrie

So your old glasses are only L +.25 / R +.50 stronger than Danielle's own glasses. I'm not really surprised after wearing your glasses for a short time that her eyes were able to adjust to your's so well. If anything your glasses would have seemed a bit strong for her right eye when looking in the distance. Maybe even slightly blurry. Danielle needs to understand if she does need a stronger prescription or bifocals it won't be because of her distance vision, it will be because she needs the added power for reading. The reason for bifocals would be to NOT increase her distance vision anymore but increase her reading vision. By staying with single vision glasses if she does get an increase it is only going to make her need her glasses even more for distance than she does now. The idea of bifocals is to keep her distance vision from getting any worse. I think Daniele will be able to see the distance eye chart just fine with her current glasses when she goes in the spring. The whole idea of fitting Danielle with bifocals is to keep her distance vision from continuing to get get worse when she needs an increase for reading. What they probably want her to wear is bifocals with the same +1.75 / +2.00 for her distance but a little stronger reading add. You need to ask her how her distance vision is with her current glasses? She should be able to test her own eyesight with her glasses just by how well she can read signs in the distance. Did you offer to let her keep your old glasses? As you know they are useless to you anymore? Was Vickie their? Did she enter into any of the glasses conversation with you and Danielle?

Weirdeyes 20 Nov 2017, 07:20

Lou

Lou 20 Nov 2017, 07:04

Hi Weirdeyes

I've definitely found that best correction for the specific distance is the way to go for reading music. Bearing in mind that you are probably viewing it from a distance which is greater than your normal reading distance (more along the lines of viewing a pc), since I believe that you are trying +1.25 readers for close reading, I'd see if you can try a pair of +1.00 or even +0.75 readers if available in your neck of the woods, over your contacts, to see whether this helps.

Take care

Lou

Weirdeyes 20 Nov 2017, 06:25

Lou

My issues with reading music seem to be caused by lack of detail(farsightedness.) I just can't easily orient the notes and everything looks shaky. It just looks too small for me. I notice those symptoms are worse when I look through my uncorrected left eye. My left eye can still focus on things up close without an obvious blur. It just gives me those weird symptoms. So maybe I'll try to read music with reading glasses or enlarge it.

20 Nov 2017, 05:49

Hi Weirdeyes

Thank you very much for the further clarification. I understand what you are saying, but am unsure whether correcting your vision so that you could use both eyes fully could have caused your CI symptoms. Rather than disagreeing with you, I just honestly feel that this goes beyond my knowledge of CI.

I'm not sure about your difficulties with reading music. All I can suggest is enlarging the parts, splitting multiple parts on the same stave into separate parts via re-creating the parts with music software, and becoming proficient enough, so that you can read far enough ahead to have time to deal with the moving notes. I know that this is not very helpful, but I don't really know what to suggest.

I get this too to some extent, in my case the music swings to the right and comes back. I deal with it with a combination of correcting my eyes as well as possible, good light, careful stand height, looking straight at the music rather than to one side, never sharing a stand, enlarging music if necessary, and splitting parts with too many lines on one stave. I do a lot of sight reading and have done since a small child. I believe that I have just learned to compensate.

The eye tracking specialist could just not understand how someone with eye tracking as poor as mine, can not only find the o amongst the x's without too much difficulty, but even more quickly than average. Sadly my 2D reading

ability does not extend to 3D ball skills, and and I have no ability to play tennis at all.

I think the explanation is a life time of reading music but sitting out of tennis since an early age, owing to nobody wanting to partner me.

With my very best wishes

Lou

Weirdeyes 19 Nov 2017, 10:34

Lou

I think what caused the CI symptoms at first was the tiny bit of plus and my brain acknowledging I have two eyes. One OD actually estimated that my rx is about R +3.00 L +6.00. The eye drops I got didn't prove it though. But I think my eyes are too strained for them to really work. Based on how well my right eye can actually see up close it does make sense that my right eye is closer to the 2.00 to 3.00 range rather than 0 to 1.00 range. One issue I'm hoping to solve is my inability to read music. I feel like the notes just move around too much and it kind of vibrates. When I try to read stuff through my left eye I notice that effect gets worse and improves when I put glasses back on. Part of me never bought that my right eye has good or perfect vision.

Carrie 19 Nov 2017, 06:06

Danielle's prescription is L+1.75 R+2.00. I wasn't sure which eye had which prescription until yesterday when I asked her which was her worse eye and she said "Definitely the right. It's more difficult to read with that eye than the other without glasses."

Later on she tried on my old glasses. She kept swapping between them and her glasses to compare them. She admitted that things at reading distance did seem a bit sharper. I asked her how distances were with my old glasses on. She said if she could see about as well as with her own glasses, although she could feel her right eye adjusting to focus. I suggested she kept my glasses on for a little while to see how she got on. After a couple of hours she had forgotten she was wearing my old glasses until she saw her own glasses on the table but kept mine on for a bit longer before putting her glasses back on.

She was a bit disappointed that she could see slightly better with a prescription slightly stronger than her own but wasn't that surprised. She's now quite sure she will be able to see the distance eye chart when the optician tests her with stronger lenses at her next eye exam and therefore avoid bifocals.

I asked her if she thinks she will still need to wear glasses all the time after that eye test. She sighed and said "Quite likely. It's just getting more and more comfortable with glasses on and feels more uncomfortable without. Everything is just sharper and has better contrast."

Lou 19 Nov 2017, 05:23

Hi Weirdeyes:

Re.:

Weirdeyes 17 Nov 2017, 08:31

Lou

What I mean by helping me is that my eyes never crossed when I was a kid. I've heard that crossing eyes is more likely to cause amblyopia than a difference between your eyes. I think since my eyes were lined up my brain could still used my left eye for depth perception even though it was pretty blurry and undetailed compared to my right eye. Getting corrected kind of messed things up and caused CI. I don't think I remember CI as a kid, but I did remember issues seeing my computer screen and seeing some details far away.

Thank you very much for the clarification. I understand and agree with the first part. I'm not sure however what you mean by getting corrected causing CI.

Re.:

Weirdeyes 18 Nov 2017, 03:46

My reading glasses are really helping. I've finally been able to focus on and enjoy a long essay. I haven't been able to do that in several years. I'm also noticing I'm able to see further with them than I used to. I'm hoping I'll be able to get an increase on my distance prescription. My OD doesn't seem too keen on plus. I'm sick of my reading issues. I also noticed that when I was starting to get tired I didn't get as much double vision as I normally do. Looks like I might not be needing prism.

Having CI myself, I do believe that you can avoid or reduce the need/prescription for prism by preventing eye strain, as at least in my case, I tend to get it when my eyes are tired. It definitely does sound like you do need more plus, and if you are gradually being able to see further way with reading glasses, then you must have some latent hyperopia, as if not, your distance vision would simply not improve and would remain restricted. I am very glad to hear that you are enjoying reading more.

Take care

Lou

Soundmanpt 18 Nov 2017, 09:36

Carrie

Since Danielle has pretty much been wearing her glasses full time for the past few months I would expect that her vision without glasses is about what your vision was when you were wearing about the same prescription as her glasses are. She can still see things without her glasses but not nearly as clear as she can wit them. Once you get used to seeing everything clearly with glasses it becomes much more uncomfortable without glasses. Hard to say why she feels she made the comment about possibly needing stronger glasses in the spring. I doubt she feels she needs stronger glasses for distance. She may feel like she is still straining her eyes at work doing close work? I think having her try a pair of your previous glasses is a really good idea. I know you said what Danielle's prescription is but I don't recall. So how much difference is there between your previous glasses and her current glasses?

I'm actually surprised that Vickie hasn't gone along with Danielle to get her eyes checked before this. She's had her current glasses for well over a year now. I would think she would be jumping at a chance to get new glasses. I wonder if Vickie gives any reason why she is getting her eyes examined when she goes? If she wants her glasses made stringer she should tell the optometrists that her glasses don't seem like their strong enough anymore. That should get her at least a small bump in her glasses.

Having Danielle try your previous glasses should at least open up a bit of conversation about glasses. If Vickie is their as well it will give you a chance to ask her if her glasses are still good or if she thinks she might need her glasses changed? I think Vickie enjoys talking about glasses.

Weirdeyes 18 Nov 2017, 03:46

Younglady 18 Nov 2017, 03:33

Hi,

Tony - yes, my children have been tested. My oldest also has astigmatism and eyes turning inwards slightly. I didn't know until he started school and struggled with board work. He's happy with his glasses and seems to have adjusted really well; no more headaches, eyes straight and no school issues. My youngest might/seems to have a lazy eye but he's young and will recheck in folllow-up. I can only pray about that. So, seems genetic and all my fault.

Carrie, is your friend happier now? Did she become "dependent" on them? I guess, that's my fear but time to get over that I guess. And I am getting over it, I think.

Thank you for your help and understanding.

Carrie 17 Nov 2017, 13:20

Soundmanpt - Danielle hasn't said in detail what her vision is like without glasses just they make her eyes feel more comfortable. I presumed her comment about needing stronger glasses in the spring was based on what her optician said a few weeks ago. Maybe she has found that her current prescription isn't quite strong enough for her any more, I don't know. I think Vicky will probably get her eyes tested around the same time as Danielle.

I have got an idea I want to try with Danielle. I have dug out one of my old pairs of glasses from a few years ago. I'm pretty sure that the prescription in them is L+2.00 and R+2.50. I am going to ask Danielle if she wants to try them as they are only slightly stronger than her own glasses.

Danielle and Vicky are coming over tomorrow.

Weirdeyes 17 Nov 2017, 08:31

Lou

Plus Tony 17 Nov 2017, 06:39

Hi Younglady,

Good to hear that it is going better with the glasses.

I'm not sure that taking breaks from wearing your glasses will help in the long run. If your eyes are going to change they'll do it anyway whether you wear the glasses or not but there is no getting over the fact that when you take them off things will not look as clear as you think they looked before you started wearing them.

Whether you wear them all the time is ultimately up to you. It isn't going to do you any harm to take them off now and then if you feel more comfortable in certain situations but from my own experience I just find it easier to put them on in the morning and forget about them. If you decide not to wear them you may find that the period between taking them off and discomfort starting gets shorter though (but there may be days when you can manage just fine).

When I first got glasses it was a real effort not to snatch them off my face if I met someone who hadn't seen we wearing them before. The funny thing is I'd always liked the idea of wearing glasses but was quite self conscious about actually wearing them. So when I finally bit the bullet I worked myself up to the point where I decided that the best thing to do was just to wear them immediately and keep them on. Initially it was hard but I forced myself to leave them on even if I felt a bit uncomfortable. There is an inevitable sense of "everyones looking at me because I'm wearing glasses" but I reckon I got over that after about 3 weeks by which time I felt good about wearing them and was so happy not to have any headaches. I got lots of positive comments from female friends too which for an average guy in his early 40s was a definite bonus! I'm actually overdue for my eye test now and I'm definitely going to buy a new pair this year even if my prescription doesn't change so hopefully I might get a few more positive comments - we live in hope :-)

Just one thing I meant to mention to you before. You said you were a stay at home Mum. I don't know how old your children are but get their eyes tested as early as you can. Don't wait for school vision screening. Eyesight issues are often hereditary so getting them checked out early is sensible. Take care.

Lou 17 Nov 2017, 03:16

Hi Weirdeyes

I am not sure what you mean about convergence insufficiency possibly helping you as a child, or helping you to avoid amblyopia. Since you have a significant difference between your two eyes, I would have thought that convergence insufficiency could have encouraged you more greatly to use just one eye. I suppose it would depend on whether both or one eye tends to drift outwards at near. If your stronger eye drifted out, I suppose that it could encourage you to use your weaker eye, but I imagine that your weaker eye would be the one likely to drift out, especially if a difficulty focusing at near owing to being long sighted, was a contributory factor in developing convergence insufficiency in the first place.

My convergence insufficiency was not diagnosed until my mid 30s, when I was struggling to keep the two images fused together whilst reading music.

I had however been told at my first optician's eye test at age twenty that my eyesight was borderline (I have no idea of my rx at the time) and my eye tracking was very poor. The optician was very surprised that I was able to read at all. I could and I can. He wanted to refer me to an eye specialist. He really scared me, and I said that I didn't want to be referred as I could see ok.

Although I passed all school eye screening tests, I noticed at aged seven that there was something not right about my close vision. Everything looked slightly out of focus, words seem to jump around on the page and I used to lose my place a lot. I was however a good reader and did well academically. When we tested our own close and distance vision in science when I was around 11, the starting point for testing our close vision, was 10cm, and the idea was to move in the text gradually closer. I couldn't see the text at the starting point. I never have been able to read particularly close. For as long as I remember, when I look closely in a mirror (without glasses since I have worn them), I can see my right eye squinting. This is my eye with the stronger prescription, although my prescription for each eye is very small.

Anyway, when it finally got to the stage that I was only using my left eye to read music, I went to the opticians. I was diagnosed as having very mild long sighted astigmatism in both eyes, and referred to an orthoptist, who diagnosed convergence insufficiency and referred me to a specialist regarding my eye tracking. The specialist said that I have eye tracking issues consistent with being dyslexic, but I have no signs of being dyslexic. She said that it is definitely a developmental condition, because I also have weak thumbs and mild coordination issues with my hands. I hold a pen strangely and am not particularly dexterous. For example, I find things like peeling potatoes difficult, but I play the flute and trumpet, touch type and have no obvious difficulties, so it is obviously very mild. I never did get a diagnosis owing to a change in the NHS funding system, and funding being withdrawn for those aged 14. I could have continued privately but there seemed no point, as apart from playing ball sports (and believe me I have always been absolutely terrible), my eye tracking issues are not bothering me.

Eye exercise for convergence insufficiency have improved it to the point that my eyes rarely drift, and I can manage it myself with regular breaks from close work. Regarding the cause of my convergence insufficiency, a previous optician said that all the muscles that move my eyes are weak, and I would have been born this way. I am not sure about this, as I read at a later date, that the same muscles are responsible for both focusing and eye movements.

My guess is that I was significantly long sighted as a child. In my late teens/early twenties I started using computers for the first time, and studying business administration for two years, I spend most of my time doing close work and looking at computer screens. Quite a few of my friends became near sighted at that time, and I noticed a change in my vision from having really good distance vision to ok distance vision, and no longer seeming to struggle as much at near. My guess is that I became less long sighted at this point.

I however don't really know, as although I noticed issues with my close vision as a child, and presumably also had convergence insufficiency, since as long as I can remember, I've occasionally seen double at near and have been able to quickly fuse it, it only became a problem in my 30s. Since I don't yet have a reading add at nearly 44, it wasn't linked to presbyopia either. I presume it was owing to starting to do a lot more orchestral trumpet playing, and spending whole days at a time reading sheet music.

Anyway, I've gone on for far too long about myself, when I'm meaning to try to help you. I don't know what is going on with your eyes, but I feel that rather than guess, that it is the time to find a good optician, and see an orthoptist/eye specialist if possible. Even if you can't solve all your issues, hopefully greater understanding will help you to manage them more successfully.

I really hope that some of this will help.

Take care

Lou

Weirdeyes 16 Nov 2017, 12:08

Sorry about that. My latest prescription is R+0.75 -0.75 L+4.24 -1.50. I really do think convergence insufficiency was caused by not wearing glasses as a child. I did a lot of close work and I avoided having crossed eyes. I also think my depth perception was good for what my prescription is. I could still watch 3D movies and no one could really identify me as having poor depth perception. But I did do terribly with ball sports and people often accused me of being careless and clumsy. So this convergence insufficiency helped me out in my childhood and I think it also helped me avoid amblyopia. But now it's just throwing off my ODs. If I had crossed eyes I would have gotten glasses at a young age. I only got glasses when I was eleven and they were the extremely weak prescription of R 0.00 L +1.25.

16 Nov 2017, 11:27

Hi Weirdeyes

Regarding your latest prescription, I presume that it is

+0.75,-0.75 and +4.50, -1.25, as you posted on 7th November. Although you do mention previous prescriptions in your earlier posts, to save me searching, can you please confirm whether your astigmatism correction is similar in the older

+1.75 and +4.25 prescription you are trying. If so, and your distance vision is improving in your right eye with wearing +1.25, it would suggest that you do have latent hyperopia.

With regards to convergence insufficiency being a response to not having enough plus, rather than it being as simple at this, I have a feeling that having insufficient plus especially during childhood, could be a contributory factor in developing convergence insufficiency.

Take care

Lou

Weirdeyes 16 Nov 2017, 11:17

When I wear the +1.25 glasses for all distances I do notice my distance gets a bit clearer.

Weirdeyes 16 Nov 2017, 09:09

Lou

At the moment I do wear +1.25 ish reading glasses over my contacts for reading. After I wore them for a while I did notice my distance vision through my +1.75 glasses was more clear. I just find those reading glasses lower the contrast for whatever reason. Maybe they're poor quality. I'm thinking of either buying an over the counter pair I like or just ordering one on zenni along with some full strength reading glasses. One problem with my +1.75 glasses is that my left eye was only corrected to +4.25. It was my request since having my 3D difference corrected feels weird. But I actually have more equal vision and depth perception when it's fully corrected, so now I think that's correct despite the weird sensations. One issues I noticed with my +1.75 and +4.25 rx is that things actually look bigger through the right eye. I believe I was overminusing myself. As counterintuitive this is to optometrists I suspect my convergence insufficiency is a response to not having enough plus. When I cover my right eye it seems like my left eye actually turns outwards. I think someone on YouTube had the same experience as me. She had latent hyperopia and also got labeled with convergence issues.

16 Nov 2017, 03:05

Hi Weirdeyes:

Re.:

Lou

Yeah. I believe I do have some latent hyperopia and serious eye strain. I just don't know of any good ODs for that. The one I currently go to overminuses. I also had some issues where my left eye was underplussed compared to my right, so that probably caused issues as well. I told my mom my issues and she understood. So she gave me one of her weaker readers to wear over my contacts. The distance is obviously pretty blurred, but my close up vision and depth perception is way better. I think that's a sign of latent hyperopia rather than needing an add at a young age. I think I'll temporarily wear some kind of add until my eye strain improves. It may be a one time thing, but I noticed my double vision was pretty much gone as well. Something fishy is going on.

Regarding your current OD over minusing, without meaning to risk offending you, is he/she over minusing or are you subjectively over minusing yourself?

When I last had my eyes tested, my optician felt that I may have been previously been over plussed. I was completely happy with my 2012 prescription of

R: +0.50 Sph -0.50 Cyl Axis 90

L: +0.25 Sph -0.25 Cyl Axis 80

I went for a routine eye exam in 2014, and they put my prescription up to:

R: +0.75 Sph -0.75 Cyl Axis 90

L: +0.50 Sph -0.50 Cyl Axis 80

I didn't think that this was right, so I went back for a re-test. When I was shown both my old and new prescriptions without knowing which was which, I chose my new one.

I still continued to think it was wrong, and went for another test around five months later. The optician thought that my prescription was too good and that because my eyes were not having to work to focus, they were not working to correct my convergence insufficiency. He added a small amount of prism to my right eye and fine tuned the axis of each eye to 92 and 83 respectively.

Four or five months later, I was convinced that my right prescription was either too strong for distance or the prism was causing me problems for driving, as I kept finding that I was focusing on the heater elements of my car windscreen, making my distance vision blurred.

They reduced my right eye prescription and removed the prism. i.e.

R: +0.50 Sph -0.50 Cyl Axis 92

L: +0.50 Sph -0.50 Cyl Axis 83

Another four or five months later, and I was convinced that my left eye prescription also needed reducing. The optician didn't agree and changed the left eye axis to 88.

I still didn't think my prescription was right, and went back again, probably 6 months or so later. I saw a very good optician this time. She used retinoscopy to determine my prescription, as if I was unable to communicate. She agreed that my 2012 prescription was right for me, and gave me:

R: +0.50 Sph -0.50 Cyl Axis 92

L: +0.25 Sph -0.25 Cyl Axis 85*

* She went in the middle of the two previous axis readings as I couldn't tell the difference between 83 and 88 with a -0.25 cylinder.

She remarked that she didn't know why I was so worried as I was very easy to test, and consistently chose the same lens each time, which agreed with her retinoscopy findings.

If this is the case, I simply cannot understand why when my 2012 prescription worked well for me for two years, and is working well for me again, that I consistently seemed to be choosing one step higher in eye exams.

Although she wondered if I had been over plussed, and had put a note on my record that this must not be done in the future, I know that on the one occasion I went in for simply a retest, which consisted of simply comparing viewing an eye chart with both my old and new prescription, it was me who chose the new one out of the two, which ultimately turned out to be wrong.

At least some of it must have been me. Whatever happened my subjective choice and the opticians objective choice now agree, and are what worked for me well in the past, and I will be very wary of any future increases to my distance prescription.

I can only advise that you ask around for recommendations of a good optician, and ask whether you can email him/her in advance of your appointment, so that you have a chance to clearly explain in advance, all the problems which you are having. This is what I did, and the optician already understood my issues before even meeting me.

Eye strain is probably a major factor in your case. If your eyes are so strained, they are probably not relaxing enough during your eye examinations, and you are probably choosing too little plus. I know that you have already had a dilated exam, but I believe that you could do with another in combination with a really understanding optician.

If you are only 21 and really struggling at near, you possibly are uncorrected. I was once given a reading add of +0.50, and I did also get a pair of reading glasses. Talk about restrictive, they didn't even cover the distance to my lap top screen, which is only the length of my arms away, and were useless to me, who rarely reads particularly close, and I was around 42 at the time, so twice your age. This time I was given the option of a +0.25 add, but the optician didn't recommend it, as I can read fine with my distance prescription.

If you are not finding a reading add restrictive at only 21, then you possibly do need more plus, but I would guess also for distance rather than just for reading.

I hope that some of this will help. Don't give up, it can be sorted, it is just a case of finding an understanding optician.

I have one possible self help remedy, which I would like other more experienced posters on here to confirm is ethical/advisable, before you try it if you think it is a good idea, and that is to try wearing a a pair of +1.00 reading glasses over your contact lenses full-time for around a month, other than when you are driving or in a situation (such as a university lecture) when you need good distance vision. Your distance vision will start off blurred, but if your do have latent hyperopia in one or both eyes, the distance vision in one or both eyes should start to improve as your eyes become less strained. If it never does or does to only a certain degree, you can determine that you either have none or less than +1.00 latent hyperopia respectively.

Even better would be to discuss the possibility of having latent hyperopia with a good optician, and if they agree that it is likely, doing something like the above in association with the optician.

Best wishes

Lou

Soundmanpt 15 Nov 2017, 14:51

Carrie

Maybe Danielle has finally realized that her eyesight isn't improving like she hoped. I'm sure now whenever she takes her glasses off everything is noticeably more blurry to her. Also because she has been wearing her glasses so much in the past few months she should be starting to feel more comfortable wearing her glasses now. Remember for you and Vickie it was much easier for you to become comfortable wearing glasses because you both wanted to wear glasses. Danielle clearly hasn't been as comfortable wearing glasses. Her worse fears were becoming dependent on her glasses and like it or not that is exactly what has happened to her. She really can't function as well anymore without her glasses for not only reading but also for things like driving her car. Bases her comment to her friend she must already be noticing that her glasses aren't quite as strong as they need to be now if she thinks she is going to need stronger glasses in the spring. I'm really surprised that Vickie sin't getting the urge to get her eyes checked in hopes that she will need stronger glasses as well.

Cactus Jack 15 Nov 2017, 09:52

Pat,

You did not mention your age or your wife's age. Typically, Presbyopia does not become a problem until the late 30s or early 40s. However, that is not a hard and fast rule. Everyone is different and has different visual needs.

Presbyopia is normally caused by the slow stiffening of the transparent protein that makes up the Crystalline Lens. Your Ciliary Muscles and Crystalline Lenses are the active part of the "Auto-Focus" system in your eyes. While the stiffening of the Crystalline Lenses is the primary cause of Presbyopia, the secondary cause is reconditioning of the Ciliary Muscles. For their very tiny size, they are the strongest and best conditioned muscles in the body. When you wear reading glasses to help you focus, you relieve your Ciliary Muscles of some of their work load. and that helps them become weaker.

Wearing the reading glasses is not particularly harmful, but they will speed the onset of the symptoms of Presbyopiar sooner than they will, inevitably, naturally occur.

The key for deciding when to wear readers or not wear readers is visual comfort when reading. The time difference between the readers being optional and naturally mandatory is probably just a few months. If you have any underlying Hyperopia, it will happen faster.

If you or your wife has not had an eye exam recently, it would be a good idea to get an exam to establish a base line and also check for lurking diseases whose presence is often first discovered during eye exams.

Weirdeyes 15 Nov 2017, 09:16

Lou

Pat 15 Nov 2017, 08:06

My wife got glasses for close about a month ago, and is getting used to wearing them more and more, mostly for reading. She says her reading is much more comfortable. When she first got them I tried them but they didn't do anything for me. She got a spare pair, and has encouraged me to use them for reading, which I have. While at first they made no difference in my close vision when I put them on, if I wear them for a longer time (20 min?) I do notice a difference when I take them off. Small print blurs a bit until my eyes re-adjust and then I can see ok. (For reference she says that when she takes hers off the small print does not clear up.) She likes to see me wearing them, but will I do irreversible harm if I continue wear these glasses?

Lou 15 Nov 2017, 06:13

Hi Weirdeyes

I'm in the UK, and I don't know if there is a minimum age limit to buy ready readers, but an adult could definitely buy them. If however you don't mind me saying, I feel that since you are only 21, that it would be better for you to visit an optician, getting a second opinion if necessary. You say that you feel that your existing prescription is not strong enough. Do you mean overall or just for reading? I personally feel that a 21 year old who is long sighted for distance shouldn't really need an additional reading prescription, and it could be a sign of latent hyperopia artificially reducing their distance prescription. If I remember correctly however, you have already considered this and have had a dilated eye exam. Possibly the dilation agent wasn't sufficient, and your eyes could relax sufficiently with a stronger distance prescription to see clearly in the distance, over time. My understanding is that once all latent hyperopia is corrected, long sighted eyes cannot relax any further, and too much plus will then result in blurred distance vision, as it will effectively make the person myopic. Therefore if your eyes were able to gradually relax into a stronger distance prescription, this would be evidence that you do have more hyperopia left to correct.

If I was in your situation, I would ask for recommendations from friends/family of the name of an optician in which they have a lot of confidence, and ask them to check both your near and distance vision, and if you do need a stronger prescription for near, whether they feel that it is just a case in helping your eyes to relax into this prescription full-time, or whether you do need a reading addition.

I hope that this will help.

Best wishes

Lou

Weirdeyes 14 Nov 2017, 19:13

How can I discretely buy some over the counter glasses? I'm 21 and I just don't think my hyperopia prescription is strong enough. My OD doesn't believe me. I'm thinking of buying some glasses that are +1.25 or +1.50 to wear over my contacts for close up work. Is it normal for 21 year olds to buy readers?

Carrie 13 Nov 2017, 14:07

I think my friend Danielle has admitted that she does need her glasses full time. We were in town at the weekend and a colleague of hers came over to say hello. She noticed that Danielle was wearing glasses and commented that she thought Danielle only wore glasses occasionally and mainly for work. Danielle told her that she was sort of correct and that she used to only wear glasses for reading and close up but her eyesight has got worse and she now wears glasses or contacts all the time. She also told her colleague that she might need a stronger prescription in the spring.

It was interesting to hear her talk about her glasses without saying that full time wearing was a temporary thing. It was also interesting to hear her tell her colleague that she might need stronger glasses next year.

Soundmanpt 13 Nov 2017, 13:55

Younglady

Yes you're going to get more reliant on your glasses if you wear them all the time like you were told, but the upside is that you won't be bothered by headaches. Wearing your glasses full time isn't going to make your eyesight any worse if that is your fear.

Lou 13 Nov 2017, 06:33

Hi Onlooker

My suggestion would be for your wife to get a second opinion.

If it comes out much the same again, she could query with the optician why they she is comfortable with +1.50 readers. It could be simply down to her preferring to read further away, and the optician not taking this into consideration.

I hope that this will help.

Best wishes

Lou

OnLooker 13 Nov 2017, 04:54

Thanks all for your reactions.

The thing is that she is not convinced the optometrist gets it right that she needs +2.75 for close up as she feels she is fine with +1.5 readers. She tried +2.00 readers and says they seem too strong.

Younglady 13 Nov 2017, 03:43

Hi Tony,

Yes, feeling a lot better. But I'm not sure if I should have time away from using them as to prevent becoming too reliant? But, no headaches or eye pain when wearing them. Only come back after not using after a few hours.

Thank you.

Plus Tony 11 Nov 2017, 23:50

Hi Younglady,

It can seem like that but it is basically just your eye muscles relaxing. Effectively they're saying thanks for the extra help. Your vision hasn't changed it is just that your eyes aren't as strained having to do all the work.

How are you getting on with your glasses? Headaches gone I hope?

Younglady 11 Nov 2017, 23:06

Hi all,

Sorry just another question if that's ok? Does wearing glasses all day make your sight worse? Eg... do you rely on them more? I feel like my sight has got worse but might be my imagination. Thanks.

Willy 09 Nov 2017, 10:57

OnLooker -- Just to pull the reins in a bit, just because your wife has been given a distance prescription, does not necessarily mean that it would be illegal to drive without glasses. Plus prescriptions work a bit differently from minus (for myopia). A -1 distance prescription would be definitely necessary for driving but I'm guessing your wife is still able to compensate well enough at distance so that she does not yet really need the +1 to see clearly at distance. But that will come...

Soundmanpt 08 Nov 2017, 16:13

OnLooker

At her eye exam the doctor must have found that she doesn't just need glasses for seeing close up, but also for seeing distances. Now the doctor has reduced her to a little weaker prescription but he clearly wants her to wear her glasses for distance as well as reading. She would be much better off getting the progressives with the weaker distance prescription because her eyes would be much more able to adjust to the weaker distance prescription then something stronger. Like the others have said, at first her distance vision might still be slightly blurry but after wearing her glasses for a week or so her eyes will adjust to them. I assume that your wife still drives? Because she has been told by a doctor that she needs glasses for distances if she continues to drive without glasses she is breaking the law.

Charlie_Delta 08 Nov 2017, 13:34

OnLooker,

Cactus Jack did a superb job breaking this all down. Of everything he said, though, this is the simplest line he wrote to sum it all up:

"The Add of +1.75 in the reading segment of your wife's prescription corrects her Presbyopia AFTER the underlying Hyperopia is corrected and you are right that the total is +2.75."

Reason she's been struggling with close-up vision, simply put, is because she was wearing, effectively, +0.50 strength reading glasses. Given her age, and your both having learned she's slightly hyperopic in general (a general refractive error that isn't related to aging of the eye), she's effectively canceling-out the intended strength of her reading glasses by one diopter (+1.00).

This nonsense happened to me earlier in the year. What I can tell you is that an additional +0.50 added to my own refractive error (also +1.00) makes everything blurry at distance, but +1.00 makes everything almost shockingly clear.

If she DOES opt to correct for distance, the second most important line Jack wrote about concerns "latent hyperopia." I experienced this -- the Rx went up another +0.50 a few months later, and a bit of astigmatism emerged. I filled that Rx and honestly am not sure I've ever seen this clearly before. It was worth it. Hope that helps!

Charlie_Delta

Willy 08 Nov 2017, 12:22

OnLooker -- You may want to encourage your wife to rethink her reluctance to get bifocals or progressives. From her prescription and age (i.e. her relative youth) I would think it very likely she will have another change or two in the next couple of years (both distance and near) to the point where some distance correction is really necessary, for comfort at least if not clarity/safety/driving. Bifocals and progressives are easier to get used to at lower prescriptions. Let us know how it goes.

Cactus Jack 08 Nov 2017, 09:37

OnLooker,

If your wife does start wearing +1.00 for distance, it is likely that her distance vision will initially be blurry. Over a week or so, her distance vision will clear as her very likely Latent Hyperopia gradually resolves. This may happen several time, depending on how much Latent Hyperopia she has, but it will ultimately settle down and there will be very few prescription changes after that.

Cactus Jack 08 Nov 2017, 09:31

OnLooker,

Presbyopia and its causes!

There are really two factors in the onset of Presbyopia. The primary factor is the very slow stiffening of the Crystalline Lenses. The other factor is the very rapid de-conditioing of the very tiny Ciliary Muscles that squeeze the Crystalline Lenses to increase their PLUS power for focusing close.

For their size, the Ciliary Muscles are the strongest muscles in the body, because the work constantly to focus the images as you look at things at different distances. Wearing reading glasses of any type is actually a two edged sword. They let you focus close again, but at the same time, they do some of the work for the Ciliary Muscles. If you don't exercise a muscle, it gets weak. That can happen very quickly. When the Ciliary Muscles get weak, they have more trouble squeezing the stiff Crystalline Lenses and your Presbyopia seems to suddenly require more correction than it did.

It happens to almost everyone and there is nothing you can do about it except get stronger glasses until you reach your limit. That is why OTC readers are typically offered powers from about +1.00 to +3.50 or +3.75. Many people go thru all the powers.

You are not really doing your wife any favors by not ordering bifocals for both distance and reading. As you get older, Presbyopia reduces your Accommodation Amplitude. At 43, she is very fortunate to have much Accommodation left.

There are 3 formulas that are used to calculate estimated Accommodation Amplitude.

Minimum Amplitude 15 - (0.25 * age in years) 15 - (0.25 * 43) = 4.25 diopters

Average Amplitude 18.5 - (0.30 * 43 ) = 5.6 diopters

Maximum Amplitude 25 - (0.40 * 43) = 7.8 diopters

Remember everyone is different and those are just estimates or averages.

In your wife's case, she is using up some of her precious Accommodation Amplitude to correct her +1.00 measured Hyperopia and an unknown amount of Latent Hyperopia. The rest is what she has to focus close using her internal resources. Those resources will be disappearing faster than anyone wishes and she will need more focusing help. Don't be surprised when that happens.

OnLooker 08 Nov 2017, 08:47

Cactus Jack

Thanks a lot for all this explanation.

Well her age is 43, and no she could not wear her +1.5 readers for distance. We are talking of close up vision, like reading especially. For now she opted not to have glasses for distance so she will just have glasses the reading prescription which the optometrist lowered to 2.25 to allow her some distance vision which the 2.75 would not allow.

She is puzzled by the fact that her +1.5 readers were working fine and that all of a sudden she is told she needs +2.75. What is the explanation for that, if any?

OnLooker 08 Nov 2017, 08:47

Cactus Jack

Thanks a lot for all this explanation.

She is puzzled by the fact that her +1.5 readers were working fine and that all of a sudden she is told she needs +2.75. What is the explanation for that, if any?

Mike 08 Nov 2017, 07:39

Weirdeyes

I find this Red Green chart to be easy to tell if you need more or less + or - Just need to open it on a big enough screen that you can view from 10 feet away or more.

http://www.digitaleyechart.com/graphics/Chart_redgreen.jpg

I messed around with a few pairs of old glasses, and I could tell the difference right away. With +0.5 the green was a little sharper, with +1.0 they are the same in the morning and the red is a little sharper when I tested at the end of the day.

Cactus Jack 08 Nov 2017, 07:25

OnLooker,

It appears that your wife has two separate, common, problems. The separate problems have different causes, but both require correction with PLUS lenses. Unless you really understand Optics and Vision work, the two together, can be very confusing.

Hyperopia or Farsightedness is the fundamental problem. Hyperopia is typically caused by a mismatch between the TOTAL PLUS power of her eye's lens system and the size or length her eyeball. She may also have some Latent or Hidden Hyperopia. It is very common for a person who has had Hyperopia for a long time to also have some Latent Hyperopia.

You did not mention her age, but I strongly suspect she also has the second problem. Presbyopia creeping up on her.

The first problem, Low Hyperopia, is corrected by the Sphere +1.00 component in her prescription. Hyperopia is typically caused by the eyeball not growing quite enough from childhood to adulthood. Hyperopia is unique among the different types of refractive errors because it is the ONLY refractive error that can be corrected internally using some of their built in focusing power that is normally used for focusing close, when you are young, provided Presbyopia has NOT limited that ability. Often the person with Hyperopia is not even aware that they are internally correcting it. They just think that they have exceptional distance vision. However, at some point, usually in their late 30s or early 40s (not a hard and fast rule because varies with the genetics of the individual and can even happen in the teens) Presbyopia rears its ugly head and their ability to correct their Hyperopia and also focus close, begins to diminish.

Presbyopia is the gradual stiffening of the gelatin dessert like protein that makes up the Crystalline Lenses. The Crystalline Lenses and Ciliary Muscles are the active part of your Auto-Focus system. it actually starts in childhood, but usually does not become a nuisance until the 30s or 40s. The Add of +1.75 in the reading segment of your wife's prescription corrects her Presbyopia AFTER the underlying Hyperopia is corrected and you are right that the total is +2.75.

I suspect that your wife has been wearing the +1.50 reading glasses for both distance and reading and if she tried to wear +2.00 or +2.75 for distance, they would be too strong because things in the distance would be blurry. With glasses that are that strong for DISTANCE, she would actually have become Myopic, but she would probably be OK for reading.

Confused Yet?

If not let me add a little bit to the confusion. Your wife's prescription will probably change a bit over the next couple of months. There are two culprits. Latent Hyperopia and increasing Presbyopia. The good news is that this new prescription is pretty close to the limit on how much her prescription will increase.

Latent or Hidden Hyperopia is caused by a person using their Ciliary Muscles and Crystalline Lenses to correct their Hyperopia for a long period of time, sometimes years. The Ciliary Muscles get used to doing that correction and have a lot of trouble relaxing. Imagine that you held even a small weight at arms length for month or years. After some time, you would have trouble lowering your arm because your arm muscles would have trouble relaxing. The same thing happens to your Ciliary Muscles in your eye. When you get glasses that initially only correct part of your Hyperopia, your Ciliary Muscles will gradually begin to relax and the distance Sphere correction will need to be increased a bit to make up for the extra PLUS the Crystalline Lenses are no longer suppling. It can sometimes take months and 2 or 3 prescription changes (increases) to resolve all of the Hyperopia. At the same time, Presbyopia is increasing and the Ciliary Muscles are probably getting weaker, which will require an increase in the Add. The good news again is that the Sphere increase will probably not exceed an additional +2.00 and the Add will probably not exceed +3.00 unless your wife likes to do some very close work or read in bed. At some point your Auto-Focus system can no longer help with focusing (it happens to almost everyone) and the amount of focusing help you need is strictly related to the distance to the object, AFTER the underlying Hyperopia is completely corrected. The formula is easy to understand and use. If you like to work in inches, divide the distance from your eyes to the object and divide it into 40. If you like cm, divide the distance into 100. The result is the required PLUS power to focus at that distance.

I know all this seems very complex, but in some ways dealing with these complex changes is like eating an Elephant. One bite at a time.

OnLooker 08 Nov 2017, 01:33

Hi all

My wife has just had an eye exam. She has been struggling with close up vision for some time and used to wear +1.5 readers especially for reading. At the optometrist's it turned out that she needs a +2.75 for close up. Her prescription reads Sphere : +1 Add: +1.75

Can someone explain why she has been fine with jus +1.5 readers and that whenever she did try +2,5 or even +2 she found those too strong??

Weirdeyes 08 Nov 2017, 01:04

I got a pretty bad headache today. Not sure if it's eye strain or just a headache.

Weirdeyes 07 Nov 2017, 18:48

I just got my new trial lenses. They are +0.75,-0.75 and +4.50, -1.25. When I tried the red green test on my iPhone I did see the green side better, but I don't know if that means much since I was focusing up close.

Soundmanpt 07 Nov 2017, 10:07

Younglady

You can certainly try wearing contacts if you want but I think you will find that it isn't as simple as you seem to think it will be to wear them. You seem to think you simply stick them on your eyes and forget about them. First of all you're going to need to be fitted with special contacts because of your astigmatisms. They are called "toric lenses" and they cost about 4 times more than contacts that correct nearsightedness. Also in many cases they really aren't very comfortable to wear. They are weighted so they won't spin around on your eyes. But they do tend to rock back and forth and that will cause things to look out of focus to you until resettle in position on your eyes. Contacts must be cleaned every night and you can't get by with only wearing contacts. You will still need glasses so your eyes can get a break from the contacts at least one to 2 days a week. I think in the long run it is much easier to wear glasses because you do simply put them on and go.

NNVisitor 06 Nov 2017, 21:29

Younglady

Contact lenses can correct astigmatism in two ways at the same time. The natural tear layer of the eye together with the prescription of the lens can correct the astigmatism. The contact lens specialist will examine the cornea of each eye to decide which contact lenses work best. Depending on the shape of the cornea some or all of the astigmatism is corrected by properly fitted contact lenses. For many people it can be partly by the lens and partly by the natural tear layer under the contact lens working together to provide the visual correction. If you see better with glasses you should be able to see better with contact lenses which offer more peripheral vision than eyeglasses are able to do.

Lou 06 Nov 2017, 04:39

Hi Younglady

Re:

Hi,

Lou- I guess I kinda have to now, I can't cope with severe headaches constantly. I don't think frames is really an issue, it is just the fact of having to wear them. I'd prefer contacts that I could "forget" about. Thanks for your help Lou. Good luck, what instruments do you play?

I fully understand and you are very welcome. I don't see anything wrong with inquiring about contact lenses

I play trumpet in orchestras and cornet in a brass band.

Take care

Lou

Lou 06 Nov 2017, 04:39

Hi Younglady

Re:

Hi,

I fully understand and you are very welcome. I don't see anything wrong with inquiring about contact lenses

I play trumpet in orchestras and cornet in a brass band.

Take care

Lou

Weirdeyes 05 Nov 2017, 17:51

Younglady

You never know what your full prescription will be. My first optometrist never warned me I'd need +3.00 or +4.00. He said I had a mild prescription I only needed for reading probably to make me and my parents feel better. But looking back on things I think he did know I'd be around that prescription. When I had +1.75 in my left eye he told me to start wearing them full time. Since I made a bad frame choice I was very stubborn about wearing them. I was also stubborn about wearing them because they hardly made any difference. But I did get good results from wearing both of my glasses at the same time. I should have told my eye doctor that. But on my next exam with a different doctor I got about the same prescription anyways. So don't be stubborn like me and wear your glasses when you feel the need. Even if you feel your prescription is mild. That doesn't mean your vision problems are actually mild.

Younglady 05 Nov 2017, 15:40

Hi,

Weirdeyes- your story sounds similar but more severe. The optometrist said my right eye needs further correction so you're probably correct on that too. Ahhhh....

Thanks

Weirdeyes 05 Nov 2017, 14:13

Younglady

Mainly because your prescription is pretty low and your left eye is -0.50 cyl which might be high enough for you to notice, but not enough for contact lenses to correct. But I strongly suspect both the sphere and cylinder correction will get stronger. When I got my first glasses I was R 0.00 and L+1.25. Pretty weak glasses. But my optometrist knew I didn't just have a mild vision problem. My left eye noticeably didn't see as well as my right eye and I'm guessing it was around 20/50. It was like things were shrunken. So the 20/40 line looked like the 20/10 line through my left eye. My left eye was considered lazy. Eventually I got -0.50 cyl in both eyes and +3.00 ish in my left eye, that was when I was about 13. My left eye could still only see 20/30. Right now my prescription is R +0.75,-0.75 L +4.25, -1.50. Both my eyes can now be corrected to 20/20. So there might be a chance you can get better correction in your right eye one day.

Lou 05 Nov 2017, 13:06

Hi again Younglady

No, your realise that you were simply being reluctant regarding wearing your glasses, and that they are stopping your headaches, are you now planning on wearing them full-time?

If so, if you don't mind me asking, did you spend the time choosing a pair that you really liked, or were you originally planning on only wearing them for driving, so chose a reasonably priced pair which wouldn't have been your choice if you expected to wear them all the time.

If the latter, and you have the money to hand to change your glasses, I feel that you are more likely to feel comfortable wearing glasses, if you have a frame that you are happy wearing.

Take care

Lou

NNVisitor 05 Nov 2017, 09:40

Younglady

If you decide to get contact lenses you will need to go to a qualified contact lens specialist. If you know people who wear contact lenses you can ask them if they know of one that they have confidence in them. You can also contact your optometrist office and ask them. Fitting contact lenses is different than fitting glasses as your cornea's shape will be examined. Both gas permeable and soft lenses are used for astigmatism. You should inquire about which would give you the best vision. If you do get contact lenses there will be an adaptation period with a timetable for the hours of use per day just to adapt to them. I have worn gas permeable lenses for over thirty years. In the adaptation period one can feel them on the eyes. With regular daily wear most of the day there may be an awareness that they are on the eyes. For me I feel them when I put them on my eyes then I typically don't even feel them. Not everyone's experience is the same however millions of people wear contact lenses. It's one option for dealing with vision correction and of course it enables people to see clearly without wearing glasses.

Soundmanpt 05 Nov 2017, 09:01

Younglady

I'm glad you wore your glasses as suggested by a number of us and that you didn't have any "hassles" Even better you were headaches free until later that evening when you took your glasses and the headache returned. If you look back to Nov 2 2017 21:09 you will see I tried to tell you then that your headaches was due to your astigmatisms and I think proves it. So now that you have found out that by wearing your glasses full time will keep you from getting headaches do you plan on wearing your glasses full time now?

Lou 05 Nov 2017, 03:15

Hi Younglady

A randomn search result from Google to explain Convergence Insufficiency:

https://www.aapos.org/terms/conditions/38

All the best

Lou

Younglady 04 Nov 2017, 21:50

Weirdeyes- Can I ask why?

Weirdeyes 04 Nov 2017, 21:28

Younglady

With your current prescription I don't think you're a great candidate for contact lenses.

Younglady 04 Nov 2017, 15:08

Thank you all,

I actually wore them all day yesterday without any hassles. I felt good by the end of the day which is a surprise as I usually get a headache by lunchtime. I stopped wearing before dinner and within a couple of hours my eyes were hurting again. So, yes you're all correct and I'm just being reluctant.

Lou - can I ask what is convergence insufficiency?

I think I'll look into contacts but then I need to face the optometrist again!

Sorry for being a pain but I appreciate your understanding.

Carrie 04 Nov 2017, 09:22

Younglady

My first prescription was +0.75 in one eye and +1.00 in the other. I got that in September 2010 when I was 17. Distances were slightly blurry with my glasses at first but within a few weeks I noticed I could see distances with them without a blur and wore my glasses all the time by choice not because I needed to. By the early part of 2011 I noticed that all distances were better with glasses. When I got my eyes tested in that autumn I got a stronger prescription and was told that I should wear my glasses for distance as well as close up but the optician wasn't surprised that I was going to wear them all the time. It was at that eye test, I think, that I discovered that I had latent hyperopia and there was a possibility of needing stronger glasses in the future. That prediction came true and my prescription has gradually been increased. I got the astigmatism correction for the first time a couple of years ago and that got increased slightly at the following eye test.

I feel I have actually needed glasses all the time since I first got them, it just took a little while to realise. With that first prescription it was just more comfortable to wear my glasses all the time as they didn't make a huge difference.

NNVisitor 04 Nov 2017, 09:05

Younglady

I had a girlfriend years ago who got glasses because she was having headaches which the glasses relieved. She was farsighted and I don't know whether she had astigmatism. If your glasses relieve your headaches then the headaches are related to visual strain. You can try and see if they alleviate the headaches. Eye strain and tired eyes is different from eye pain. When you say eye pain did you mean discomfort and perhaps some burning? If so the glasses may relieve it but you can only find out by wearing the glasses to see if that makes it go away.

Eye pain is really painful and if that's the case you need to see a doctor about it to find out the cause.

Lou 04 Nov 2017, 05:16

Hi Younglady

Fair enough that you probably wouldn't wear glasses in my case.

If you feel that your glasses are stupid, is it a case of you not really liking your frame style. Have you considered looking around for a pair that you feel really suit you. I've worn glasses for years, everyone has seen me in them, and I think the frames I have chosen suit me. I only started to feel really comfortable with wearing glasses once I started to understand what frame styles suit me.

Regarding you not understanding the other thing I mentioned, I'm not sure what particular thing you mean. If you post again quoting what you'd like me to clarify, I'll try to explain what I mean.

I'm not sure about holding books close or tilting your head, sorry.

The consequences of not wearing your glasses for anything other than driving are what you are already experiencing, pain behind the eyes and headaches.

My uncorrected eye sight does not give me headaches, but eye pain and burning.

The reason that someone with stronger lenses only requires them for certain activities is possibly owing to them having no or less astigmatism. If you were just long-sighted, you may possibly find that you'd only need glasses for reading. You however have astigmatism, which blurs your vision at all distances.

Also different people have different levels of blur tolerance. My mum has two prescriptions, one for driving/tv and the other for reading. Since she likes to knit in front of the tv, she has bifocals. Since her glasses work for driving the car and reading, it would make sense that they would improve her vision for distances in between. Why then does she not wear hers all the time, personal preference I presume, and she either doesn't get the eye burning I experience, or it doesn't bother her.

Additionally, how visually sensitive a person is probably important. My optician says that I notice very tiny differences. A person like me who notices a tiny amount of blur and wants to see as well as possible all the time, is going to subconsciously give themselves eye strain by trying to correct the image all the time, whereas somebody who doesn't notice or care about the difference, will not subconsciously keep trying to sharpen the focus. This is probably the same thing as blur tolerance, with in my opinion, blur tolerance being how much you are able to tolerate blur, and visual sensitivity also encompassing additional aspects such as eye strain.

If it has been recommended that you wear glasses all the time, you can see better with them at all distances and get eye pain/headaches without, I feel that you should find a frame style you really like and wear them.

Take care

Lou

NNVisitor 03 Nov 2017, 22:20

Younglady

It's unclear why you are getting eye pain and why you are getting headaches. You can make an appointment with a doctor to get an opinion and a referral to a specialist physician. The eye pain may or may not be occuring due to your vision. Your headaches may or may not be related to your eyesight.

I need to bring things close to read but I am very nearsighted plus I have astigmatism. I understand that you are somewhat farsighted with astigmatism as well. Another option for you if you really don't like wearing glasses is to get contact lenses. You'd need to get them fitted and then learn how to insert and remove them. Also how to care for them using the proper solution(s) as different types of contact lenses have different care regimens. It's totally up to you what you do. You will not harm your eyes by not wearing your glasses when you are not driving. If it is your vision that's causing your headaches then glasses or contact lenses should solve that problem. I've never had headaches due to my vision. I had headaches due to other causes including stress. Your headaches could be caused by stress too but for your own benefit and peace of mind it certainly is a good idea to see a doctor so that you can find out why you are having the headaches and eye pain and to find a solution.

Soundmanpt 03 Nov 2017, 17:01

Younglady

I hat to tell you, but you're sounding more like a grade school girl getting her first glasses. You don't sound like a young mother in her 30's. You're an adult. You're certainly not showing yourself as a very good example to your kids if they even have to wear glasses. Apparently you have had your glasses already for a short time and so far you have only wore them for driving. I'm glad you're at least doing that. There are no glasses police so if you don't want to wear your glasses, then don't. Just understand that your eyesight isn't going to be nearly as good and you can expect frequent headaches. If the headaches are better than being seen wearing then continue doing that.Not wearing your glasses ins't going to cause your eyesight to get worse because that could happen no matter if you wear your glasses or not.

I'm sure you probably know a number of people that wear glasses and wear them full time. You should talk to some of them and ask them how they became full time glasses wearers od any other questions you want answers to.

Younglady 03 Nov 2017, 16:28

Thanks,

Lou- I understand that reading music sheets would be very difficult. However, I probably wouldn't wear glasses but I'm not in your situation.

Apparently, I don't pass the driving assessment requirements without these stupid glasses so I'm stuck; I think. I don't understand what the other thing was that you mentioned.

Someone (Weirdeyes)? mentioned holding a book really close, and I actually do that ALL the time! So that's interesting to me. I thought it was a bad habit. I have always tilted me head slightly too, which I was constantly told off about during school and growing up. Now, I think it's all related? But maybe not.

Just so I know... what are the consequences for not wearing them? Future... worse eyes?

Why does someone with stronger lenses, only required to wear for certain activities? The more I wear them, the more I need them?

Cheers

Lou 03 Nov 2017, 04:17

And to add to my previous post, since I only have a small prescription I don't know, but I would imagine that whether to prescribe glasses and for what, depends less on the actual prescription than the difference in visual acuity between without and with glasses, and the patient's life style and symptoms. Obviously glasses would need to be prescribed if needed to meet the visual standard for driving. I suppose there is also a common sense approach, and glasses are going to be prescribed for a prescription over a certain level whatever the patient's life style and symptoms, but that in the case of small prescriptions it depends on the patient. I have 6/6 (equivalent to 20/20) vision without glasses. If people knew, they would probably query why I chose to wear glasses which correct my vision to 6/5 + 1 in each eye, which equates to one more line on the test chart, plus one letter from the line below. The answer is that I am very visually sensitive, I differ from somebody whose eyes/visual system are only able to be corrected to 6/6, by having eyes/a visual system which are capable of seeing at 6/5 and are not owing to a correctable refractive error, which I not only notice but gives me eye strain, and that since I am an orchestral musician who has to read often small music with multiple parts on one stave in often poor lighting conditions, and do a lot of long distance night driving, my lifestyle makes glasses useful. If I was less visually sensitive and had a different lifestyle, I probably wouldn't wear glasses.

All the best

Lou

Lou 03 Nov 2017, 04:02

Hi Younglady

I understand exactly what you mean. I'll give you a little history about myself. My prescription is tiny:

R: +0.50 Sph -0.50 Cyl Axis 92

L: +0.25 Sph -0.25 Cyl Axis 85

I also have convergence insufficiency, in my case owing to the muscles that converge the eyes being weak. Not only do I find it difficult to converge my eyes fully, but I find it hard to keep my eyes converged, and they want to drift out. I originally had prism in my glasses to correct this, and after a fairly long period of eye exercises I was able to go without the prism, but I kept the rest of my prescription because I found it useful.

My whole prescription is for astigmatism, and written in positive cylinder form is:

R: Plano Sph +0.50 Cyl Axis 2

L: Plano Sph +0.25 Cyl Axis 175

I find that this prescription helps me equally at all distances. My optician says that I am extremely visually sensitive, and I always choose the exact same lens for each eye, however many times she shows them to me, and that my choice agrees with her objective refraction of what she would choose for me if I was unable to communicate.

For years, I wore my glasses for music, long distance and night-time driving, sometimes tv, reading and the computer. Because I found that they improve my vision at all distances, I used to notice the difference once I put them on, and then wear them for the rest of the day, with the result that I wore them all the time some days after doing something which resulted in me wearing them in the first place, and not at all on other days.

I did this for years, but recently starting experiencing two issues, the first was that my glasses sometimes seemed too strong when putting them on for the first time later in the day, when they seemed great when worn for the first time during the morning. My optician said that this is owing to the difference between my eyes being relaxed in the mornings and strained later in the day. I additionally was getting very bad eye strain when not wearing my glasses, burning like a red hot poker being through the middle of my eyes, and headaches.

She recommended putting my glasses on as soon as I wake up in the morning and leaving them on all day. It has had two positive results, firstly no more eye burning or headaches, and my glasses now seem the right prescription throughout the day rather than too strong when wearing them for the first time in the evening.

The more consistent vision with my glasses has definitely been worth it, and no more eye strain a big bonus.

I really hope that this help. Obviously it is up to you, but since your prescription is higher than mine, I can fully understand why you are getting pain behind the eyes, and since you are also getting headaches, I would suggest trying your glasses from the moment you get up until you go to bed (obviously not in the shower lol) for a couple of weeks, and seeing what happens with regards to your vision, eye strain and headaches. I have a feeling that your vision will be more comfortable and your eye strain and headaches will either disappear or be greatly reduced.

And you are at all unusual at seeing better in the distance with plus lenses. This is just the nature of your refractive error and pretty common. The difference is that whereas people with myopia cannot use their eye muscles to focus over their refractive error, depending on the type and magnitude of their refractive error and their age, people with hyperopia can to varying extents, and their glasses allow their eyes to relax.

Since I have astigmatism, I notice a difference in vision with and without my glasses. I know people with similarly small prescriptions to me, but just a small plus sphere and no astigmatism, and they report that they don't notice a difference in vision, only in comfort and that their eyes feel more relaxed.

Since you also have astigmatism and say that you can see better with your glasses at all distances, I believe that it makes sense to wear them, especially if your are getting eye strain and headaches without.

Take care

Lou

Younglady 03 Nov 2017, 01:04

Thank you all for chatting with me. Thank you for your understanding. It's obviously a little bit difficult for me to get my head around it and I don't want my friends to know either.

Does anyone else suffer from headaches due to longsightedness/ astigmatism? Pain behind eyes?

Is there a standard measurement for when glasses are really necessary? Eg. When you reach .5 or 1.0 or 2.0 etc?

I've probably asked too many questions now, so please ignore me if you wish.

Once again,

Thanks.

Younglady 03 Nov 2017, 00:28

Hi Carrie,

Do you remember when you needed to start wearing them full time?

My script is heaps lower than yours - around 1.00 plus astigmatism. This is why I'm surprised that I need to even use them! I have more trouble with distance than reading. (I currently use for driving only). My right eye is often troubled and occasionally has a slight turn. Besides that, I just get headaches and eye pain. But clearly only a minor script compared to others, which is so confusing.

Carrie 02 Nov 2017, 23:47

Younglady

I wear glasses full time my prescription is L+3.25 and R+3.75 and -0.50 L&R; for astigmatism). As you can see I am more long/far sighted than you. I need to wear my glasses full time mainly because of my longsightedness. The small astigmatism correction does sharpen things a bit more. I can see without my glasses but it makes my eyes feel uncomfortable, I can't read anything at normal reading distance and far distances are a bit fuzzy.

One of my cousins also wears glasses full time for longsightedness. Her prescription is similar to mine but with no astigmatism correction. My friend Danielle has fairly recently began wearing her glasses full time and she is around +2.00. Both my cousin and Danielle were reluctant to go full time but soon noticed the benefits of doing so (although Danielle is hopeful that she might be able to go back to just needing glasses for reading and close work, eventuly. I don't think that will happen)

Any, just embrace your need for glasses and wear them with pride. Wearing glasses is really fasbionable now.

Soundmanpt 02 Nov 2017, 21:09

Younglady

Yes your astigmatisms aren't all that bad but it doesn't take much to effect your eyes. And yes i'm very sure if you wear your glasses you will find that your headaches problem will be gone. Astigmatisms usually don't get very strong and yes they can get a bit worse or get a little bit better. But most of the time it depends on how good the doctor can get the correct amount prescribed to you. It is far more difficult to prescribe an accurate prescription for astigmatisms than being farsighted or nearsighted.No one can force you to wear your glasses. But if you were told to wear them when driving that is the one exception of course. Otherwise you don't have to wear your glasses but you would be rather foolish not to if wearing glasses keeps you from getting headaches. Right now you're clearly not used to wearing glasses and that does take a little getting used to. But I think after you wear your glasses for a couple weeks you're going to start to hardly notice that you're even wearing glasses. Like I said before, even wearing glasses full time you're still going to be able to see quite well without your glasses. But not as good as with your glasses on.

Younglady 02 Nov 2017, 18:30

Thank you very much for your replies.

Isn't my astigmatism minor? I think I've had it for as long as I can remember. Usually, does it improve or get worse with age?

Is pain behind my eyes and headaches related to this long sightedness? It seems to go away when wearing glasses. I actually hate glasses, hate being reliant on something. But, I do see better and easier with them. Ahhhh...

Soundmanpt 02 Nov 2017, 10:26

Younglady

You were told to wear your glasses full time not so much because of your SPH (+1.25 / +1.00) but because of your CYL (-1.00 / -.50) If you only needed SPH correction then you would only need your glasses for things close up like you're thinking. However you have more than enough astigmatism to cause you to need your glasses for all distances. Also you mentioned headaches. That's due also to your astigmatisms which i'm sure by wearing your glasses full you shouldn't be bothered by anymore headaches. For now your eyesight might still be good enough that you could pass the driver's vision test without glasses. but as your eyes continue to adjust to your glasses you're not going to be able to see as well without your glasses. Even after your eyes are fully adjusted to your glasses your eyesight isn't going to be all that bad, but you're sure to see everything more clearly with your glasses and the added bonus is that you won't be bothered by those frequent headaches anymore.

Plus Tony 02 Nov 2017, 04:39

Hi Younglady

Your prescription is not strong but you may well benefit from using your glasses for more than just driving.

You have a small amount of hyperopia (long/far sightedness) and some astigmatism. The hyperopia is probably less significant at your age than the astigmatism. Astigmatism means that instead of your eyes being shaped like tennis balls they are more like rugby or American footballs. That is a bit of an exaggeration of course but it is how astigmatism is often explained. Basically your eyes are not perfectly spherical. The annoying thing about astigmatism is that it affects vision at all distances. The cylinder part of your prescription is to correct the astigmatism. It is more complex than the sphere correction because you will notice that as well as the power required to correct it there is another number at the end. This is the angle of your astigmatism.

People always assume that plus lenses are just for reading. This is because everyone eventually develops a condition called presbyopia which is the hardening of the ciliary muscles that control focussing. This tends to happen from your early 40s onwards and is unavoidable. The solution is plus lenses used for close tasks.

Hyperopia is different but the solution is the same. The unique thing about it is that is the only form of refractive error that you can correct without glasses or contact lenses. Most hyperopia is caused by the eyeball being too short so that light focuses behind the retina instead of on the retina. Now because the brain doesn't like the image with which it is being presented it engages your ciliary muscles to try to pull the image into focus which, up to a point, it can. Where that point lies depends on a number of factors including age, degree of hyperopia, working environment etc.

Some people live with what is known as latent hyperopia for years without wearing glasses then suddenly their muscles start to tighten, headaches begin and they go for an eye test and discover that they are long sighted. Sometimes this doesn't happen until people go to the optician and assume they just need reading glasses.

Given the astigmatism you should certainly use your glasses when driving but I think it would be worth trying them full time for a couple of weeks to see what you think. You may well find that your eyes feel fresher as a result. Working in the home, I am sure you are constantly switching between tasks that require good close and distant vision so you might find that the glasses help.

Another possibility (although it seems less likely in your case) is that you have some latent hyperopia that has not yet come out. If that was the case your eye doctor (or optometrist if you are in Europe) would probably have asked you to come back in 6 months for a check up and that would explain why full time wear was suggested.

Does your lazy eye turn at all? If so that would be another reason for suggesting full time wear.

I get quite frustrated by eye care professionals not explaining themselves clearly. All too often they just give you a piece of paper and send you off to get glasses made. If you are lucky they might tell you when to use your glasses but more often than not (especially in the UK) they don't.

I would advise you to absorb the information that you get on here, try your glasses full time for a while and then if you still have unanswered questions go back to your eye care professional and ask.

Younglady 02 Nov 2017, 03:11

Hi again,

I'm early 30's and currently at home with young children. This script is fairly new, a few months old. Honestly, I haven't been using them except for driving.

Thanks!

(Is this script usual? Unusual? Bad/ good? My right eye isn't correct 100% but it's the best it can be I think). Why the + for long distance? Would I require to wear these all the time like I've been told to?

I really appreciate your help and understanding.

Plus Tony 02 Nov 2017, 02:35

I think if your prescription is written with positive cylinder notation it becomes:

+0.25 +1.00 35

+0.50 +0.50 160

Cactus Jack 02 Nov 2017, 02:34

Younglady,

You may email me at cactusjack1928@hotmail.com.

Plus Tony 02 Nov 2017, 02:31

Younglady

I should have added that astigmatism (cylinder) correction can be written as either a + or - but the result in terms of the lens is the same. Some eye care professionals use what is known as positive cylinder notation and others use negative. Don't ask me why though! Cactus Jack is the best person to explain the maths.

Plus Tony 02 Nov 2017, 02:27

Younglady

Sorry, A few more questions...

How long have you had this prescription?

How old are you?

Are you studying/working?

My impression is that whatever was done to treat your lazy eye as a child was relatively successful because you only have a difference of 0.25 in the sphere correction between your two eyes.

Younglady 02 Nov 2017, 02:14

Thank you Tony, Weirdeyes and Jack,

My lens aren't bad, in my opinion. Actually could be stronger but since I only wear for driving; they are fine.

R: sp +1.25, C -.1.00 axis 125

L: sp +1.00, C, -.50 axis 70

I had a lazy eye (right eye) as a child. I get frequent headaches (almost daily), my eyes often hurt / get sore. Distance and near are blurred. I just don't understand why long sighted would need to wear glasses all the time? Usually people have a negative script for near sighted. I seem to have a positive sphere but negative cylinder?

Apparently it would be illegal to drive without them?! Honestly, I'm just confused and I don't understand.

Thanks

Plus Tony 02 Nov 2017, 00:18

Younglady

There isn't anything odd about having to wear a + prescription for distances. Lots of us here wear + glasses for distance. Whether you need + or - just depends on the exact nature of your refractive error. The terms farsighted and longsighted which are the common terms used to describe the condition that requires us to wear + glasses (hyperopia is the 'official' term) is a little misleading because people assume that if you are farsighted you only need glasses to see things close up because you can see fine in the distance. However it is a bit more complicated than that because if a hyperope doesn't wear glasses the eye muscles have to work overtime to make everything sharp. Once we wear glasses the muscles relax, eyestrain goes away and after a period of adaptation to get used to it we get sharp vision at all distances.

Now that is a very brief and basic explanation. Please post your full prescription, age etc as Cactus Jack suggested and he will be able to provide you with a more comprehensive answer.

It is true that wearing plus glasses is less common for young people than minus but I prefer to think of it as membership of a more exclusive club. You have nothing to fear!

Weirdeyes 01 Nov 2017, 23:59

Younglady

After a certain point astigmatism causes issues with distance vision at any script. Even if your script is 0 or plus. Since objects up close take up more space on the retina you're less likely to notice up close vision being blurry. A common sign of astigmatism is holding reading material more close than average.

Younglady 01 Nov 2017, 23:27

Hi,

If you would prefer me to just post here I will. Thank you

Younglady 01 Nov 2017, 23:09

Can I email you instead?

Younglady 01 Nov 2017, 23:09

Can I email you instead?

Younglady 01 Nov 2017, 23:09

Can I email you instead?

Cactus Jack 01 Nov 2017, 21:19

Younglady,

What you described is rather common. I'd be happy to help you understand your vision, but I need your complete prescription.

Younglady 01 Nov 2017, 21:09

Hi,

Can anyone please explain why I would need to wear a +script for long distances? People have said it's weird and not common? I also have astigmatism. I'd appreciate some feedback please, as I'm confused and not sure if I want to wear them. (Legally - apparently I must to drive, so I do).

Yes, they make both near and far clear etc... but it's odd and I don't like being odd.

Please talk to me!

Thank you very much!!!

Younglady 01 Nov 2017, 20:26

Hi,

Yes, they make both near and far clear etc... but it's odd and I don't like being odd.

Please talk to me!

Thank you very much!!!

Cactus Jack 01 Nov 2017, 06:30

A quick calculation for OTC lens power to focus at a particular distance is to divide the distance into either 40 for inches or 100 for cm. The 40 inches is not exactly 1 meter but it is close enough.

40 / 28 = 1.43

Try +1.25 or +1.50 over your glasses and see which you like the best.

These days it is not uncommon for teens to need some focusing help for the tiny text on smartphones.

Latent Hyperopia is caused by the Ciliary Muscles having difficulty relaxing. As Latent Hyperopia resolves or reduces, the Sphere PLUS for distance in glasses or contacts will INCREASE. That is why when people with uncorrected Hyperopia (along with some latent or Hidden Hyperopia) often need a +Sphere INCREASE when they start wearing glasses. If the +Sphere DECREASES, that means that either your eyeballs suddenly grew longer (not very likely) or your Ciliary Muscles and Crystalline Lenses suddenly took over some of the focusing workload (pretty likely).

The actual cylinder component in a prescription changes very slowly because it is usually related to stress on the cornea, but changes in the refracted cylinder and axis are very common. The primary reason is that the Axis portion of the exam is VERY subjective because it requires the patient to judge relative blurriness of two images. I suggest reading that portion of "How to Study for an Eye Exam" on how to "fine tune" the Axis of a prescription. Most ECPs will appreciate your active participation.

Weirdeyes 31 Oct 2017, 21:31

How do I get over the embarrassment of trying on over the counter readers as a 21 year old? I think I could definitely use some when I use the computer since my vision goes out of focus a lot even when I'm wearing my prescription. I also suspect I have some latent hyperopia. I don't really believe I'm only +0.75, -0.75 and +4.25, -1.50. Over my current +1.25, -0.75 and +4.00, -1.25 contacts I seem to enjoy my +1.25, -0.75 glasses for helping me see my computer screen. My computer is around 28 inches away. I think the cyl is throwing me off. I'm thinking of sneaking my mom's over the counter readers and doing some more testing. Does this add even seem right for that distance?

Carrie 30 Oct 2017, 14:23

I don't think the answers I gave Danielle will give her false hope. I was trying to be neutral and I did say that she should continue wearing her glasses all the time.

I think she will accept her need for full time glasses or contacts eventually. I think she is starting to realise her eyesight isn't improving and the relief her glasses give her eyes is likely to be a sign for her. Saying she is stubborn is an understatement 😄! She is very independent! She left home as soon as she was old enough.

As I have said before she looks good in glasses and she knows it. This is also helped by the high quality fashionable frames she has which suit her very well.

NNVisitor 29 Oct 2017, 20:05

Carrie

Danielle strongly believes that her eyes may get better. She also does not want to believe that she is completely dependant on wearing glasses or contact lenses all the time. This gives her a sense that she is in control and there is hope for her eyesight improving. She so strongly believes this and will keep doing what she's doing and will refuse to believe otherwise. She wound up putting her glasses back on because it got to be too much and she wanted relief.

Soundmanpt 29 Oct 2017, 12:33

I have to say Danielle is one stubborn and determined young lady. She is so against wearing glasses for some reason even though her partner wears glasses full time and her best friends, you and Gemma, wear your glasses full time. Does she think that her partner or that you and Gemma are not as attractive because all of you wear glasses? She keeps testing her eyes trying to see if she can go without her glasses and she has tried this before without much luck. Wearing glasses isn't going to somehow improve her eyesight when she takes them off. By going without her glasses all she is doing is straining her eyes until she is so uncomfortable that she has to put her glasses back on. You're a very good friend but when she asked you about her eyesight ever improving you honestly should have told her the truth. You know her eyesight isn't ever going to improve. She is going to be wearing either glasses or contacts for the rest of her life unless she has the money to afford lasik and even then her eyesight will only be perfect for a few years before she would be back wearing glasses again. You answer is only giving her false hopes. Tell her the truth based on your own eyes. Ever since you started wearing glasses has your eyesight ever improved without your glasses? Even her partner Vickie who she knows really didn't need glasses but ever since she started wearing glasses her eyesight has slowly deteriorated to the point where she now really does need her glasses. her eyesight will never be perfect again.

Carrie 29 Oct 2017, 05:09

I saw my friend Danielle yesterday. She wasn't wearing her glasses at first so I presumed she was wearing contacts. After about an hour or so she pulled a glasses case out of her bag, opened it and put her glasses on. I asked her why she wasn't wearing them earlier and she said she was seeing how long she could go without them. She could feel her eyes beginning to get slightly uncomfortable so put her glasses on to see if that would stop it, which it did. She seemed a little annoyed by that saying it had only been a couple of hours since she took her glasses off. She said she tries going without glasses or contacts every few days to see if her eyesight is improving, but it isn't. I think she is finally realising that she is probably going to need glasses or contacts all the time for the rest of her life and not just for a few months. She actually admitted that since wearing glasses or contacts full time and taking regular eye breaks at work her eyes feel more comfortable than they have done for a few years. She doesn't understand why she needs her glasses all the time when there's a woman at her work with glasses that look stronger than hers but she only needs them for reading. I told Danielle that everyone is different so that just because they have a stronger prescription it doesn't mean they need glasses all the time. I do but her colleague doesn't. I also reminded her of another of her colleagues she has told me about before who is a similar age to Danielle and has glasses with a very similar prescription to Danielle's that she wears all the time.

A bit later she asked me "Do you think my eyesight will ever improve?" I replied "I don't know, but it isn't improving at the moment. Just keep wearing your glasses or contacts like the optician recommended and then see what they say at your next appointment." I was careful not to say her sight might improve, because I doubt very much if it will, and I didn't say it wouldn't improve because it probably won't.

Lou 27 Oct 2017, 01:57

Hi Weirdeyes

Maybe. I agree that getting the balance right will help. All I can suggest is getting a second opinion, ideally dilated.

Good luck with solving this.

Lou

Weirdeyes 26 Oct 2017, 09:36

Lou

Or maybe my left eye is undercorrected. Either way I think getting the balance right will help my eyes relax more.

Lou 26 Oct 2017, 09:25

Hi Weirdeyes

It sounds like your right eye may have previously been over corrected. Hopefully your new prescription is correct, which will allow you to feel a lot more comfortable.

Best wishes

Lou

Weirdeyes 26 Oct 2017, 08:16

Lou

I'm thinking my eyes actually have 3.00 or 3.25 difference and my other prescriptions weren't correcting for that. So once I get properly corrected for my difference my eyes will feel less weird and my prescription can maybe increase a bit or at least stay equal. I think I remember my left eye prescription being around +4.75 on a dialated exam.

Lou 26 Oct 2017, 05:55

Hi Weirdeyes

Have you had your new prescription filled yet? If I remember correctly, you didn't have your previous prescription with R: R +1.00 Sph -0.75 Cyl filled. I fully appreciate that since your right eye prescription is going down whereas your left eye prescription is remaining pretty stable, that your difference between your eyes is currently increasing, and that this is something which has been concerning you. I'm not sure why this is happening. When you say that it tenses up, do you mean your right or left eye? You might have previously said, but have you had a dilated exam recently. I ask, because I am wondering whether you could possibly have latent hyperopia in your right eye, causing your prescription to artificially decrease. If so, I have no idea why it would occur in only one eye. If you were going without glasses a lot, which I don't believe you are, you could be straining your stronger right eye because it is compensating for your weaker left eye. You say that, "Once I get both eyes to have the same amount they might be able to truly relax.", but I don't think that you are likely to end up with the same prescription in both eyes, or do you mean once you get both eyes corrected so that you have equal visual acuity in both eyes? Regarding the latter, did your optician give your correctly visual acuity for each eye. If not, I think that it may be useful to telephone them and ask, as if one eye can be corrected more than the other, this may be the cause of your difficulties, as your best correction is giving you unequal vision between your two yes. If your corrected visual acuity is the same for both eyes with your new prescription and you haven't yet had it filled, I would suggest trying your new prescription, as I personally don't think it matters (although contact lenses rather than glasses would stop the discrepancy in size between the images from each eye) if the prescriptions for each eye are very different, as long as the corrected visual acuity is much the same. I hope that this will be of some help.

Best wishes

Lou

Weirdeyes 25 Oct 2017, 17:46

I think I know what might be throwing off my prescription. My left eye is underplussed compared to my right eye, so it kind of tenses up. Once I get both eyes to have the same amount they might be able to truly relax.

Weirdeyes 24 Oct 2017, 16:59

I just got my new prescription. The right eye prescription got reduced again, with not much change to my left eye. It's R +0.75, -0.75 166 L+ 4.25, -1.50 16 Prism: 1 BI. I'm still thinking of buying some readers on zenni. If I make my add +1.00 my glasses will be about the same as the glasses I use right now in the house. I'm thinking of trying a +1.25 add instead. With my current distance prescription I do have some issues with sewing.

Travis 22 Oct 2017, 14:22

Cactus, thanks for another detailed response to my questions. I am very grateful for the help.

I have an exam scheduled for between Christmas and New Years and definitely plan on mentioning all this to my ecp and discuss the potential need for full time bifocals.

The idea of glasses online is intriguing, but with me going at end of December, I may hold off for now.

Thanks for the advice about potential issues with pd with the otc readers.

Decided this am, that for now was really going to only use late at night at home or when at home doing intense close work for length of time.

Cactus Jack 22 Oct 2017, 13:48

Travis,

If the +1.00s over your regular glasses make close focusing easier and more comfortable, all it will do is perhaps speed up the onset of Presbyopia slightly. You are already having some of the symptoms of Presbyopia so it won't make much difference. Be aware that as time goes on, you will need more than +1.00.

There is a potential problem with wearing OTC readers over your -6.00 glasses. As prescriptions get higher, the accuracy of your Pupillary Distance (PD) becomes more important. The best possible Visual Acuity occurs when the Central Axis of Vision passes through the Optical Center (OC) of your glasses lenses. Normally, your PD is measured while you are looking straight ahead. When you focus close, your eyes have to converge, which shifts your axes of vision inward, away from the OC. When a person needs bifocals, the PD is decreased for the reading segment and is typically shown as what appears to be a fraction. For example: 65/62. That means that the PD is 65 mm for distance and 62mm for focusing close.

OTC readers have an average PD that is reduced some, depending on the + power in the highest quality readers. Normally, for a person who only needs readers, but probably not an ideal PD for a person who needs around -6 in their glasses. That might explain what you noticed when you tried different reading power. You had the right idea when you tried different power readers to find the power (and PD) that worked the best under those circumstances. You may need to shop around to find the best for you.

The ideal thing is to discuss the problem with your ECP at your next exam and consider getting bifocals.

If you want to have a little fun with your friends who gave you the +1.00 glasses as a joke, Tell them how much you appreciate the gift. You had not realized that you were beginning to have trouble focusing close and you tried them over your regular glasses. The difference and reading comfort is amazing and you strongly suggest that they should get a pair for themselves (if they don't already have bifocals) and try them. (It doesn't hurt to embellish the truth a little.)

Soundmanpt is right by suggesting an earlier pair of glasses with a weaker prescription, but that is impossible. However, if you are interested, we can help you order some inexpensive glasses from an online retailer, such as Zenni, with a slightly weaker prescription to use as reading glasses.

Travis 21 Oct 2017, 14:03

Thanks Cactus and Soundman for your responses

Soundman- Your suggestion sounds like a great idea. Unfortunately, i only have 2 pair of glasses in my current rx. The rest I gave to charity as my rx changed over time.

Cactus-So, if i am reading you correctly. If I find the +1s worth having on, that's not an issue just beware that some otc readers don't have the best quality right.

And, for both of you, actually have plans for an exam scheduled in that after Christmas period, so about 2 months more to go

Soundmanpt 21 Oct 2017, 13:15

Travis

When you wear the +1.00 glasses over the top of your -6.00 glasses in effect all you're doing is wearing -5.00 glasses. really anytime you're going ot be reading for a long time, an hour or more, if yo have any old glasses that have a weaker prescription -4.75 or -5.25 whatever you should wear them instead of your -6.00 glasses. Your eyes don't need your -6.00 for seeing up close they need them for seeing distances.

CactusJjack 21 Oct 2017, 11:17

Travis,

If you measure the distance from your eyes to the computer display and divide it into 40 if you like to use inches or into 100 if you prefer cm, it will give you the required power to focus at that distance. The +1.00s will probably work for a pretty good while, but then you may need to go up a bit,

I am twice your age and have worn lined trifocals for many years. I prefer lined over no-line because of the larger visual field without distortion. I no longer have any ability to focus so I need +2.50 for reading and +1.25 in the intermediate segment for the computer. I also have some single vision prescription reading glasses with a +3.00 add. I use them for reading in bed.

One of the things you need to watch with very inexpensive OTC reading glasses is optical quality. Some are good and a good value, but some are not.

One thing you might want to consider if you use the computer a lot is some clip-on magnifiers (similar to clip on sunglasses). Rx-safety.com offers some reasonably priced, high quality clip on magnifiers in powers from +1.00 to +5.00 for about $15 or sometimes less with a promo code.

Have you ever ordered glasses online?

Travis 21 Oct 2017, 10:34

Whoops about blank post.

Thank you Cactus for the quick reply. I work as an assistant store manager at a retail outlet. As for close work, I wouldn't say I do a ton other than on days when I have to do pricing changes.

Only issue before this is an occasional tiredness in my eyes later at night if I had been doing a lot of close work throughout the day.

I went to the grocery store this morning and came across one of those over the counter displays of readers. I tried a couple different pairs just to see what the vision was like through them. They actually had +1s there as well and I found that I really only noticed a difference through the +1s. When I tried them on at the store, it was like the print jumped up at me. I wasn't sure what to make of that especially when 1.25 was not nearly as good. The pair was only $5 so I bought them. I admit Cactus have them on as typing this to you

Travis 21 Oct 2017, 10:20

Cactus Jack 21 Oct 2017, 09:16

Travis,

Presbyopia is creeping up on you as it does for about 99% of the human population on the planet. However, the idea that 40 is the magic age where it begins to become a nuisance is a myth. When it becomes a nuisance and you require some focusing help varies, with your individual genetics and your visual environment. Generally, people who are myopic seem to need focusing help later than people who are hyperopic. These days, the tiny text on smartphones often causes problemsforn teens with undetected hyperopia. It is no longer rare to see teens wearing bifocals.

Wearing the +1.00 readers over your -6.00 glasses will make it easier to read, but there is a potential downside. Presbyopia is actually caused by the gradual stiffening of the protein that makes up your Crystalline Lenses. It actually starts in childhood, but typically does not cause a problem until the late 30s or early 40s (exceptions noted above). As the Crystalline Lenses get stiffer, your Ciliary Muscles have more and more trouble squeezing the Crystalline Lenses to increase their PLUS power for close focusing. For their size (tiny), they are the strongest muscles in the body, but they need exercise to maintain their strength. Which brings us to the downside of any form of reading help. Readers, bifocals, and progressives take over some of the Ciliary Muscle's work load. That tends to cause them to become de-conditioned, which means that they need more PLUS help, which helps them get more de-conditioned, etc. This process continues until the readers or bifocal or trifocal or progressive Add reaches somewhere round +2.50 to +3.50. The actual amount you needs depends on the focal distance for the task at hand. Sir Isaac Newton's basic optical formula: Lens power = 1 meter, 100 cm, 1000 mm or 39.37 inches (use 40) divided by the Focal Distance applies here.

For example, if you like to read at 40 cm or 16 inches, you need +2.50 from somewhere. It does not matter if the +2.50 is totally or partially supplied internally by your Ciliary Muscles and Crystalline Lenses or externally with glasses, it still takes a total of +2.50 to focus at that distance. At some point, you will not be able to supply any of the focusing power you need and there is nothing you can do

about it, All wearing readers, bifocals, etc will do at this point is speed the process that will inevitably occur. If you do a lot of close work, you may find that the additional comfort is worth the downside.

Sorry to be so long winded, I hope this helps you understand the natural process that is occurring. If you have more questions about the pro and cons of different ways to solve the problem, please feel free to ask.

May I ask your occupation and how much close work you do?

Travis 21 Oct 2017, 08:13

Hi everyone,

I just turned 40 and for a joke some friends of mine got me a pair of reading glasses for my birthday. I already wear glasses for nearsightedness around -6. I can still read fine, but I noticed when I tried these glasses on in front of my regular glasses that reading was easier and more comfortable.

So my question is does that mean I need bifocals? I mean I can still read fine with just my regular glasses just a bit of difference I noticed with the readers makes me wonder. I looked and the readers say +1.00 on the side of the frame.

Thanks for all your help!

Weirdeyes 20 Oct 2017, 13:02

Mike

Yeah. I do mean single vision glasses that are +1.00 stronger than my prescription. I normally wear contact lenses, so I'm thinking of trying some +1.00 over the counter reading glasses at the pharmacy. I mainly notice my right eye fluctuating, but maybe my left eye does as well. With eye drops my prescription for my right eye was +1.75, -0.75. I didn't notice much of a change in vision besides not being able to see up close. My left eye has gotten readings of about +4.75, -1.50 on autorefractors at times. I've heard those drops don't fully relax your eyes if they're incredibly strained. I think my eyes do qualify as very strained. I'm way too much of an iPhone addict. I'll see what my eye doctor will have to say. One my last appointment he actually did prescribe a +1.00 add. But it was optional.

Lou 20 Oct 2017, 04:33

Hi NNVisitor

Thank you very much for the explanation. My optician suggested wearing my glasses full-time in June, and I have been following her advice. Although my prescription is very small, and I don't really need glasses full-time, I can see better at all distances whilst wearing them, and find that it is working better for me. I'm not having to continually adjust between wearing glasses and not wearing glasses, I'm not getting eye strain from not wearing my glasses, and my vision seems a lot more consistent and comfortable.

I agree totally with your explanation that it all about what the brain gets used to the eyes seeing. As an example, I've been putting on my glasses as soon as I get up for months, and this morning I went downstairs first, noticed things looked slightly blurred and went back upstairs for my glasses. Prior to wearing my glasses full-time, I'd notice the difference when I put my glasses on for the first time and things would then look slightly blurred when I took them off, making me want to keep them on, but I wouldn't come downstairs first thing and feel that my vision was blurred. In reality, I know that my eye sight is absolutely no different to it was previously (as confirmed by looking over to the calendar and seeing that I could read it as well as I did previously without glasses), I've just got used to the better vision with my glasses and now consider it to be normal.

Thanks again

Lou

NNVisitor 19 Oct 2017, 09:59

Lou

When you only wear your glasses some of the time and after a long time without them on you put them on they seem to strong is because your brain has adapted to how things look without your glasses on. I'm nearsighted and as a child mostly did not wear my glasses so when I put them on they seemed too strong with the correct prescription. This has to do with how our brains visualize the images out eyes send it. The brain then interprets what is normal vision or something quite different and then decides eroniously that the glasses are too strong. Prople who wear their glasses every day all day long will consider the image they get as normal. That's how our perception works.

Mike 19 Oct 2017, 09:29

Weirdeyes, I am assuming when you say readers with a +1.00 add your meaning single vision glasses made in your prescription just +1 stronger, not bi focal . I did the same thing a couple of years ago, I ordered some online +1.00 stronger than my prescription mainly for computer use. Over the last 2 years my sphere has increased in plus, (as my plus increased, the fluctuation in my distance vision throughout the day decreased) now I use +0.5 added to my prescription for computer use. I would first suggest experimenting with some over the counter readers, if you have easy access to them, and multiple powers. Simply just where them over your glasses while reading to simulate what it does for your close vision. Also check each eye individually, since you may not need the same increase for each to get the best vision given the difference you already have you can order them accordingly.

Does your vision fluctuate in both eyes or just one?

Do you notice most after looking at your phone / computer?

Weirdeyes 18 Oct 2017, 14:00

Mike

Maybe it's that. I'm thinking getting some cheap readers on zenni with a +1.00 add.

Mike 18 Oct 2017, 10:59

Weirdeyes, From my personal experience with fluctuating vision, It has always been from a combination doing a lot of close work and not have enough plus correction. After doing extensive close work, my distance vision would be poor for hours or until the next day. The fix at the time, (now I know was wrong) was to prescribe less plus, to help with the distance, but just gave me more eye strain and the fluctuation in vision was even worse. I don't have the difference between my eyes like you, but I would suspect that you right eye does all the close work, and your inducing some myopia or just less hyperopia.

Weirdeyes 13 Oct 2017, 00:28

Could my fluctuating vision be related to incorrect astigmatism axis a bit? My weaker glasses have an axis that is closer to 160, while my stronger prescription is around 180. I think my 180 axis is way better. I also just started meditating and I seem to prefer my old glasses now. While the weaker glasses seem to have better distance vision, the axis is messing everything up. Hopefully my new axis will be closer to 180 again.

Lou 11 Oct 2017, 01:39

Hi Carrie

I fully agree that Danielle's eye sight isn't likely to improve with her wearing her glasse/contacts full-time.

Since I've been wearing my glasses full-time (around three months now), I've stopped feeling so tired, and I haven't experienced aching burning eyes.

I've however only found that my eye sight has improved with my glasses. When I used to wear my glasses intermittently, I'd find that especially if I put my glasses on first thing later in the day, that they would sometimes seem too strong, probably owing to my eyes not fully relaxing with my glasses after straining all day without. Now my glasses give and retain the same noticeable improvement in vision all day long, that I always noticed when I previously put them on for the first time in the morning, before the eye strain had chance to start.

I therefore imagine that it will be the same for Danielle, and that the improvement in her eye comfort will continue only for as long as she wears her glasses/contacts full-time.

Best wishes

Lou

Soundmanpt 10 Oct 2017, 08:39

Carrie

Even though Danielle doesn't enjoy wearing glasses as much as you and Vickie, she does at least do as she is told to. I'm sure those mini breaks are helping her eyes feel less strained and tired out. That should make her feel a bit better. The opticians are wanting her to continue wearing her glasses /contacts because she really does need to be wearing her glasses full time now. She no longer just needs them for seeing up close but for distance as well. She needs to understand that her eyesight isn't going to improve. It should stablize at some point, but it isn't going to somehow improve so she doesn't need her glasses for distance anymore. Carrie you have been wearing glasses full time for a long time now, since you started wearing your first very weak glasses which you barely even needed has your eyes ever improved or your need for glasses lessened? The optician are going to check her eyes at her next exam to see if she needs her glasses made stronger for seeing close. Her best option if she doesn't want her distance vision to worsen is bifocals (progressives) because that way they keep her distance prescription where it is now and only make her reading add stronger. If she stays with single vision glasses she will either need 2 pairs of glasses which I think would be a pain to deal with or one pair and allow her eyes to adjust to the stronger prescription for distance meaning her distance vision will seem even worse than it is now without her glasses.

Carrie 09 Oct 2017, 10:49

Just a little update on my friend Danielle. She's still wearing her glasses or contacts full time (her optician recommended she did this until her next eye test when she went for a check up to make sure she was suffering from nothing more serious than tired and stressed eyes. She wasn't going to have an eye test until around March but was concerned about her eyes feeling tired so booked the early test). She has also continued taking regular eye breaks at work. This seems to be working as she doesn't feel so tired in the evenings and her eyes also feel a lot less tired. She had had hoped to see an improvement in her distance vision and possibly her near vision without glasses as she has been wearing her glasses or contacts all day every day for several weeks (she started a few weeks before the recent eye test when the optician said to continue). She said there was no noticeable improvement. I pointed out that it was probably still a bit early to notice any improvement. I didn't tell her, but I'm not sure if her vision is going to improve. So long as she continues to take regular eye breaks I would expect her eyes should remain feeling stress free, though.

Maurice 05 Oct 2017, 17:48

Plus Tony, just wanted to check-in and see how your eyesight is going. Are you still in single vision glasses or have you graduated to multi-focal lenses? Take care Sir and look forward to hearing about your eye exam.

Lou 27 Sep 2017, 04:47

Hi again Charlie

I asked Specsavers what material they use for their standard single vision lenses via the Ask the Optician feature on their website. They replied as follows:

Specsavers standard single vision lenses are made of a plastic polymer, often called CR39. This material is used worldwide in producing prescription lenses.

I therefore am already wearing glasses with lenses made from CR39.

Take care

Lou

Lou 26 Sep 2017, 10:38

Dear Charlie

Thank you very much for your post. I'm not sure whether I'm the same way with sound. I'm a musician and have a good ear for tone, intonation and other performance aspects such as style and articulation. Since my ears are tuned to these, I'm probably less bothered by the quality of the recording as long as it is good enough. I'm pretty sure however that I would be able to hear the difference between very good and average speakers.

I'm not sure what lenses I have in my glasses, whatever Specsavers use for their standard single vision lenses. I have a feeling that they are polycarbonate. Whatever they are, all but my first pair of glasses have come from Specsavers, so I have no comparison.

Next time I change my glasses, I'll have a look into CR39.

Thank you very much for your kind suggestion.

Best wishes

Lou

Charlie_Delta 26 Sep 2017, 09:43

Dear Lou,

I think your visual "sensitiveness" is probably very similar to myself. I'm the same way with sound and imagine you are as well. There are those who can't really hear much difference of a fine recording through a $10,000 pair of 3-way B&W; bookshelf speakers through a beautiful tube amplifier, to a $100 pair amplified by a crappy consumer-grade amp. (I don't own a pair, by my god are they gorgeous sounding!)

I'm of the breed -- for better or worse -- who can see a difference from CR39 plastic (better ABBE value/better optics) vs. polycarbonate lenses; the only material used from companies like Ace & Tate and Warby Parker. Edges aren't as sharp; usually the result of chromatic aberration. It's so subtle that I presume 99%+ users of this material would never notice, but I personally see the difference and tend to be annoyed by it.

Given your low prescription, I suggest you go with CR39. Added bonus; it's the cheapest option available!

Charlie

Eastern England? 25 Sep 2017, 15:48

For Carrie's benefit: England is the big lump of an island that sits above the rest of mainland Europe

Carrie 25 Sep 2017, 12:00

We went to Danielle's house on Saturday. She had decided to wear her contacts that day. I told her that I had been reading up about bifocals and other options. She was quite interested to hear about no-line bifocals/vari-focals. She didn't know about them until then and thought they might be a good option if she does need a little stronger prescription for work. I also suggested that glasses to wear over her contacts or a separate pair of work glasses to wear instead of her regular glasses might be more comfortable as they would give a much larger area to look through. She decided to try an experiment and got out a pair of glasses with her first prescription in (about +1.00, perhaps slightly more in one eye. She couldn't remember exactly). She also got out a pair with +0.50 in that Vicky used to wear. She put her +1.00s on first and sat in front of her own desktop computer and looked at a web page that contained some quite small text. She admitted it was perhaps a tiny bit sharper with those glasses over her contacts than just contacts but she could still read it with just contacts. Anything beyond the screen was out of focus. She then tried Vicky's old 0.50s and the result was similar to the +1.00s except things beyond the monitor were only slightly out of focus and she could sit back from the monitor a bit more and still read the text. She seemed a bit concerned that wearing +1.00 or +0.50 over her contacts was better than just contacts. She then tried my glasses on for a laugh and unsurprisingly she couldn't see anything. She can't see much with my glasses on without her contacts in anyway (my prescription is L+3.25 and R+3.75 and -0.50 L&R; for astigmatism). I also reminded her that she might get a slightly stronger prescription for all distances if she can see the distance chart clearly. While she can't do it at the moment I said if she can relax her eyes she might be able to do it and then avoid bifocals. If she's lucky she might not need any changes.

Danielle said "If I still have to wear glasses all the time after my next eye test I would rather have a slightly stronger prescription than bifocals even without the line. Extra glasses would be a pain in the arse." She is definitely going to follow her optician's advice to cut the stress on her eyes. She is still hopeful she will be able to wear her glasses less.

25 Sep 2017, 04:42

Is Eastern England the part of the country that contains the burgs of Lower Uncton and Upper Uncton?

Lou 25 Sep 2017, 02:07

Hi Soundmanpt

Although not specifically saying so, I think you are meaning that since as far as I understand you cannot induce hyperopia by wearing additional plus, that whether or not Danielle's eyes would adjust for distance with a stronger prescription, would depend solely on the extent of any latent hyperopia she has, with her eyes being able to adjust only up until the point all latent hyperopia has been corrected, with any further plus only blurring her distance vision.

I would have thought that unmasking and correcting all latent hyperopia would lead to greater visual comfort. If I understand correctly, you are suggesting in Danielle's case that since she doesn't want to wear glasses for distance any more than she absolutely needs to, it would be better that any latent hyperopia she has stays masked. In my opinion, the flip side to this for someone already in their thirties and with a job that is visually demanding at near, is probably needing a reading addition sooner than they would otherwise have done, and the reading addition probably being stronger owing to the distance prescription being lower that ultimately needed.

For me personally, rather than keep taking glasses on and off, and switching between a distance prescription for driving, and near prescription, which results in blurred distance vision every time I looked up, I'd rather wear one prescription all the time, to have as natural vision as possible, up until the time I needed a reading add over and above my full distance prescription, but we are all different, and Danielle has to do what it right for her.

Hi Carrie

Sounds like we do live in the same part of England as me. I don't blame you for not naming the town where you live. I wouldn't either.

Best wishes to you both

Lou

Carrie 24 Sep 2017, 16:44

I put eastern England as I thought it would be easier for non British readers to work out my general location. I probably don't live too far from Lou as eastern England is the same as East Anglia. There are British people who don't know where East Anglia is. For reference, if you look at a map of Britain it's the big lump of England just above London that sticks out in the sea towards mainland Europe.

I am not going to say exactly where I live, not even the county.

I will post about my chat with Danielle later today or Tuesday. It's coming up to 12:45am on Monday here and I'm and I've got to get back in bed without waking Gemma. I only got out to go to the toilet and then I had a quick look at Eyescene on my Hudl tablet.

Eastern England? 24 Sep 2017, 15:53

I have never heard anyone writing in fluent idiomatic English using the phrase "eastern England" to describe where they live in the UK...

Soundmanpt 24 Sep 2017, 10:59

I went back and reread Carrie's post from Sept 18th. Carrie said that when the doctor checked Danielle's eyes she put in stronger lenses and Danielle said that there wasn't much difference when looking at the closeup eye chart. But the smaller letters were slightly clearer with the stronger lenses. But her distance vision was a bit blurred with those lenses.

This is the reason they are suggesting that she should consider either getting 2 pairs of glasses, one for when she is at work doing close up things and the other pairs away from work for driving, watching TV or shopping. The other option is progressives or bifocals. Danielle's eyes are most likely fine with her current glasses for seeing things at a distance. Her problem is due to the type of work she does which is taking a toll on her eyes. So clearly needs a small increase now for her close up work, but no increase for distance. By putting her in bifocals or progressives they can leave her wearing the same prescription for distance and increase her close vision with the add. Now a 3rd option is to simply let her continue wearing single vision glasses and give her the necessary increase. At first, just like when she has gotten other increases, her distance vision will be slightly blurry but she is still young enough that her eyes would likely adjust after she wore them a while, But doing this will only make her even more dependent on her glasses than she is now. They know she doesn't want to wear glasses full time so they are trying to give her options so her distance vision doesn't get any worse. I'm sure the idea of wearing bifocals / progressives doesn't sound right since she isn't old enough to be needing bifocals, but this will really keep her distance vision from getting any worse. Because of the type of work she does her close vision could continue to change for a while yet.Yes the reading add in progressives is pretty small but she is young and I don't think she would have much trouble getting used to using progressives rather quickly.

Obsessed 24 Sep 2017, 06:51

@Aging Max:

OMG you and Manny together in glasses: that's gotta be such a delight! :-) Hot!

Weirdeyes 23 Sep 2017, 21:27

Miku

My right eye is +1.00 -0.75 and my left eye is +4.25 -1.50. Without my glasses I can see okay. I just struggle a lot with the computer and fail all depth perception tests. I prefer to wear my glasses fulltime because I'll get headaches and even weirder vision if I don't. Some people with my prescription claim to be blind without their glasses. I don't really understand that.

Lou 23 Sep 2017, 15:41

Sorry, for the double post. I was sure I hadn't clicked submit twice. Weird!

Lou 23 Sep 2017, 15:39

Hi Miku

I'll give you a bit of history and try to be brief. I noticed that my close up vision wasn't right around 7 years old. Text seemed to move around on the page, and I couldn't see particularly close. I was however a good reader, school eye tests didn't bring up anything, and my mum and dad never took me to the opticians.

When I was at college, I had a fair bit of eye strain, the same issue of text moving around, and found reading small parts of sheet music difficult (I'm a musician). Went for an eye test. Optician was from overseas and didn't speak very good English, and basically scared me by saying that my eye tracking was so poor, he was surprised I could read at all, and that he wanted to refer me to an eye specialist. He also said that my eyesight was borderline. I just wanted to get out of the opticians, so lied and said that I could read fine.

I struggled on until 2010, when aged 36, I was finding that I could no longer fuse images well enough to read with both eyes together.

I was diagnosed with convergence insufficiency and referred to an Orthoptist for eye exercises, who also referred me to an eye tracking specialist. I had had a couple of appointments with the eye tracking specialist when I had to postpone owing to my previous marriage failing. When I telephoned to re-appoint, funding had been withdrawn for people over 14, so I never got as far as a diagnosis. The conclusion so far was that I had eye tracking issues usually associated with dyslexia but showed no signs of dyslexia. Probably owing to years of sight reading music, the specialist found that my eye tracking issues only affect me three dimensionally and cause me no issues with reading. It is not that bad, I drive a car, but I am terrible at ball sports, just cannot seem to line up the bat and ball.

Anyway, I started wearing glasses for mild long-sighted astigmatism at the time I was diagnosed with convergence insufficiency, originally with prism, which I no longer have after eye exercises. I haven't done eye exercises for years, and my convergence isn't great, but good enough that I can manage without prism.

I don't generally read without glasses as I wear them full-time, but I can read without glasses. I can't read particularly close up probably owing to my convergence insufficiency, the focus isn't overly great and I get eye strain, but I can read ok.

Probably because I don't think that I've ever had great close up vision, it doesn't bother me particularly that my close up vision isn't overly sharp, whereas I cannot stand my intermediate or distance vision being even slightly blurred, hence why I wear a very small distance prescription full-time, and get very bad eye strain without glasses. I was very surprised by the difference in reading the near chart when the optician added an extra +0.25, but have decided to stick to my distance prescription for now.

Sorry this is rather wordy, but hopefully it answered what you asked.

Take care

Lou

Lou 23 Sep 2017, 15:39

Hi Miku

I struggled on until 2010, when aged 36, I was finding that I could no longer fuse images well enough to read with both eyes together.

Sorry this is rather wordy, but hopefully it answered what you asked.

Take care

Lou

Miku 23 Sep 2017, 13:27

Lou and Carrie,

I hope you don't mind my intrusion in this conversation. I have been reading Carrie's input for a while now, so my question is for Lou, as I am a low hyperope myself. Since you don't need a reading add yet, may I ask how easy it is for you to read close uo without any glasses at all (if you ever do that)? Also, when did you start needing or wearing correction (sometimes the two do not coincide?

Thanks,

Lou 23 Sep 2017, 03:23

Sorry last post was from me. Forgot to input my ES Nickname.

23 Sep 2017, 03:22

Hi Carrie

Thanks very much for your reply. I'm based in East Anglia.

I understand regarding Danielle not knowing what power lenses the optician tried on her.

I'm not surprised that she doesn't want bifocals or separate glasses for work, whilst she is still in her 30s, especially when she is finding that she can read just fine with her current prescription. You say that she was shocked to find out how much better her distance vision is with glasses. I have a feeling that rather than needing a stronger prescription for work that her eye strain was merely an indication that she is now needing to wear her glasses full-time. My prescription is tiny, but my very small amount of astigmatism was causing me eye strain without glasses, which went when I started wearing them full-time.

Regarding no-line bifocals, are you referring to progressives (varifocals) rather than blended bifocals?

I'm still wearing single vision glasses at 43, but my husband who is 59, wears varifocals. He did initially find the narrower field of intermediate vision annoying, and now has a separate pair of glasses for the computer.

If she does actually need a bit more plus for distance, as you say, that would help for close up too, without blurring her distance vision.

Having a chat with her tomorrow sounds a great idea. Regarding you having a change of prescription around aged 40, I coming up 44 and still hanging on in regards to needing a reading add, so hopefully you'll be the same.

Take care

Lou

Carrie 22 Sep 2017, 10:21

Lou - I am in eastern England.

I don't know what power lenses the optician tried on Danielle and I don't suppose Danielle knows either. Maybe she was tried with +0.75 or +1.00 and the optician told her it was only slightly stronger either to not alarm Danielle or that in the optician's opinion that is only slightly stronger.

She desperately doesn't want bifocals while she's still in her 30s. She doesn't really want separate glasses for work either. It dawned on her that she would need 2 different pairs of work glasses if she wanted to wear contacts sometimes. She would need a weaker prescription to wear over her contacts and the full stronger prescription to wear instead of her main glasses. She says she can read just fine with her current prescription. I think she was shocked to find out how much better her distance vision is with glasses.

I meant to tell Danielle about no-line bifocals as she might not be aware of them and just imagines the lined type. If/when she does need bifocals she might be happier with the no-line type.

Personally I think she would find it more comfortable to wear separate single vision glasses as that would give her a larger field of view than bifocals especially if she is looking at computer screens. She could keep her work glasses at work so she doesn't need to carry them around all the time.

As you say, she might actually need a bit more plus for distances and that would help for close up too.

My distance vision without glasses is worse now than a few years ago, it's not terrible. Danielle can see distances without glasses better than me.

I'll have a chat to her tomorrow to help her get her head around all the future possible options for glasses and contacts. I don't want to sound too knowledgeable but then I have worn glasses longer than her with a stronger prescription too. I'll pretend I've been doing research for her and me, as I will also almost certainly need a change of prescription once I get to my late 30s - early 40s

gerry 22 Sep 2017, 05:25

Julia where have you gone, i was enjoying our contact you seemed a really nice lady, you are very attractive wrote lovely mails, loved your high magnification glasses, they did not distract from your attractiveness, in fact the type of frames you choose wherever fashionable. If you have lost my email address here it is arnoldmartinjock@hotmail.com. I would love to be in touch with other eye scene fans. Take care all

Lou 22 Sep 2017, 04:45

Hi Carrie

I'm not sure where you are based, but I am a little confused regarding the advice given to Danielle. You say that the optician suggested that he could give her a slightly stronger prescription for work, but that if this continued to blur her distance vision, she would need bifocals or separate glasses. What doesn't make sense to me, is that at least in my part of the world, bifocals are not available with an add less than +0.75. This seems more than a slightly stronger prescription to me. Since Danielle said that she could notice only a small difference with tiny letters at near with the stronger prescription, wouldn't +0.50 or even +0.25 be sufficient to reduce eye strain at near but be less likely to blur her distance vision?

Additionally not to think that I know more than a qualified optician (which obviously I do not, nowhere near in fact), regarding prescribing slightly more plus than required for distance to reduce eye strain at near, or prescribing reading additions for younger people who are long sighted, I would have thought that the extra plus would lead to an unnecessary deconditioning of the ciliary muscles, and that it would be more prudent to prescribe the amount needed to adequately correct distance vision, no less and no more. Although the optician said that Danielle doesn't need to change her distance glasses, is it possible that she objectively needs a slightly stronger distance prescription although she is reading the distance chart fine with her existing distance prescription, that would reduce eyestrain at near and prevent the need for a reading add until she is in her 40s?

Best wishes

Lou

Soundmanpt 21 Sep 2017, 14:25

Plus Tony

The reason your friend keeps her glasses on when sleeping is because without her glasses all her dreams would be blurry. So with her glasses her dreams will all be nice and clear.

Seriously no matter style of glasses she wears I can't imagine lying on them can't feel very comfortable. Without any doubt she has been very lucky she hasn't woke up to broken glasses. I'm sure it's going to happen at some point. Good thig she has a backup pair.

Plus Tony 21 Sep 2017, 10:00

Carrie

Danielle's comment about getting her money's worth out of her glasses reminded me of a friend who likes wearing her specs so much that she regularly falls asleep wearing them. It is a miracle that they are still in one piece but she certainly gets her money's worth too! Fortunately she has a spare pair in case anything ever does go wrong.

Cactus Jack 20 Sep 2017, 22:02

Charlie_Delta,

A solution you might want to consider is Mono-Vision with contacts.

The way that works is that you wear a contact lens on one eye for distance and a contact lens on the other eye for reading or the distance to you computer display.

It takes a little getting used to, but your brain will select the sharpest image for what ever you are doing and use that image as it s primary source of visual information and supplement that with whatever information it can gather from the other image.

I opted for Mono-vision when I had cataract surgery and it works fine for me. I can function without glasses, but I wear glasses for precision work where I need the best vision. I also have some single vision reading glasses that I wear when I have a lot of reading to do.

Just some ideas to consider. Might be better than the multi-focal contacts.

Charlie_Delta 20 Sep 2017, 15:26

SC,

Many thanks for responding. I think youve hit the nail on the head in terms of cause/effect. Since I posted this, a cheap pair of progressive glasses arrived from Zenni, filled with my most-recent Rx (written about two months ago). As was the case about four months ago, my vision at distance is clearer in the intermediate zone. This came as a surprise. Indeed it validates your theory on what's going on.

This situation is different however form the symptom I inquired about previously; intermittent defocus at distance. In those cases, the blur I experience at distance is much more significant. I looked into this online and believe these particular events are spasms of accommodation. They're probably quite common occurrences amidst the emergence of presbyopia. Ive experienced these events both when focusing from near to far as well as vise versa. Happened most recently this past weekend after a four-hour workout on my road bike with single vision glasses for distant. After the workout, I wasnt able to see my phone or dashboard. I do believe that available electrolytes/vitamins/minerals, diet, sleep, hydration, blood sugar etc. play a role in our eyes ability to accommodate, but so does presbyopia of course.

Ive avoided spending substantial money on top-of-the line fames and progressive lenses, I think smartly, due to this ongoing emergence of latent hyperopia. At work (currently a military school), I just wear multifocal contacts. They're a poor compromise to optimal vision but seem to get the job done for seeing up close. Distant vision through them is unacceptably poor with a medium add (Air Optix Aqua MF). Im a stickler on good optics but think Ill stick with this routine until the prescription stabilizes. Hopefully that's soon. Cheers

Carrie 19 Sep 2017, 10:51

Soundmanpt - I'm sure Danielle wouldn't have done any driving without glasses. Vicky would have driven if necessary.

I sure Danielle will take the optician's advice and take more eye breaks at work. She admitted that she often spent hours looking at her screen at work without looking away. She also said that one advantage her glasses have, apart from helping her to focus, is that everything is slightly magnified which is very useful for fine detail.

She was glad she didn't need new glasses. She was also glad to find out that her eyes are healthy and there was no health reasons for aching eyes, just eyestrain.

She is in her early 30s so probably doesn't have much or any accommodation which would explain her getting more and more reliant on her glasses. Maybe presbyopia is beginning to creep in.

She joked that she is getting her money's worth out of her glasses by wearing them all the time.

Soundmanpt 18 Sep 2017, 17:54

Carrie

I'm sure Danielle and Vickie both probably was ready for a much needed rest from work. I don't think Vickie's job put all that much strain on her eyes. Plus i'm sure she is probably looking up quite bit as well so her eyes aren't constantly only looking at small print for long hours. All the changing from looking at something close up to something at a distance is really very healthy for her eyes. Doing that her eyes are always changing focus distance. Danielle is likely often looking at very detailed things most of the day. The optician gave her very good advice. The best thing she can aside from quitting her job is to make a point every 30 minutes or so to look away at something at a rather long distance and try and focus her eyes on that for a few minutes. The main thing is so her eyes are changing focus. Also it has been proven when your eyes get "transfixed" at staring at close distance for long periods of time you also tend to not blink as often as you should this is important because that is what moistens the eyes and keeps them from feeling dry. Doing all this will help but in the end she is still going to need to be wearing her glasses full time. She should be at least happy that her eyes haven't changed enough yet that she needs her glasses changed. Actually ever since she really started wearing her glasses full time she seems to need her glasses a good bit more for distance now than she used, but that is to be expected. I hope doing the breaks will help enough so she won't need stronger glasses for work. Even though she didn't notice much difference with seeing close up with the stronger lenses in the refractor the added power would be enough to relax her eyes and her eyes most likely because she is still young would adjust to the stronger prescription for distance as well. But you know what that means don't you? Once her eyes adjust to the stronger glasses she will for sure be told she needs to wear her glasses all the time. I know you said before she went on holiday she was hoping to maybe even drive without her glasses while on break. I wonder if she in fact did that on Thursday or Friday since she was bragging about not putting her glasses on until around mid day on those days? She really isn't happy about having to wear her glasses for driving. She made that clear by asking if he might one day be able to only need her glasses for reading. If she was told that she MUST wear her glasses for driving it was because without her glasses her vision is 20/40 or even worse. The only way she might have avoided needing to wear glasses for distance was pretty much back when she first started wearing glasses. if she had gotten bifocals then she might not need her glasses for distance now. By wearing glasses as much as she was and even more now her eyes adjusted to seeing distance with her glasses. But had she got bifocals with clear (no prescription) in the top segment (the distance part) there would have been no prescription for her eyes to adjust to for distance. Only her reading add. When she has gotten new glasses it wasn't because she needed stronger lenses to see things at a distance. She needed them stronger to see small print. Her eyes have only continued to adjust to her glasses. But the opticians are thinking her eyes maybe reaching a point where they won't be able to adjust anymore.

Carrie 18 Sep 2017, 12:16

My friends Danielle and Vicky came back from their holiday on Friday evening. We met up with them on Saturday in town. Danielle had an opticians appointment as she wanted to check there wasn't anything else affecting her eyesight. She said her eyes do feel less tired after the holiday and on Thursday and Friday she managed to get to about half way through the day before she felt she had to put her glasses on. I don't know what she said to the attractive 30ish woman who greeted her in the opticians shop but to me it was clear she fancied Danielle. (I don't know how Danielle does it - gay/bi women almost fall at her feet!) After Danielle's eye test she told us what she was told. Her prescription doesn't need to be changed just yet but would probably be better off wearing her glasses or contacts most of the time for now. She needs to take more short breaks at work for her eyes by just looking at a distant object or out of a window for a couple of minutes. If she still gets tired eyes at work even with regular eye breaks he will give her a slightly stronger prescription to use at work. During the lens flipping part of the eye test the optician tried the slightly stronger lenses on Danielle. She said they were fine at normal reading distance but couldn't notice much difference compared to her glasses, perhaps slightly clearer for the smallest letters on the close up eye chart. The stronger lenses made the distance eye chart a bit blurry. The optician told her that if he did give her the stronger prescription at her next eye test she would need bifocals or separate glasses if she still couldn't see the distance eye chart properly with the stronger prescription. Her distance vision with glasses is fine but without glasses it's below the legal minimum for driving. Trying to read without glasses should be avoided. She said she asked the optician if she would eventually be able to go back to only needing glasses for just reading instead of all the time. The optician told her that although it was down to her to judge when she needed to wear her glasses at the very least she must wear them for driving. As she gets older her distance vision might not get worse but probably won't get get much or any better. Her close up vision is likely to get worse. Bifocals or separate reading glasses are fairly likely within the next 10 years even if she doesn't require them at her next eye test.

She wasn't exactly pleased to hear she she should wear her glasses full time but hopes that this combined with resting her eyes more at work might mean she can eventually go back to just wearing them for reading and driving. She's determined that she won't need bifocals or reading glasses for a few more years - at least until she's in her 40s.

She is going to wear her glasses or contacts full time but will try going without either until her eyes start to feel strained once a week.

SC 18 Sep 2017, 09:14

Charlie_Delta

I recognise many of the issues you are describing.

Distance fuzzy after close work

This seems to be that your overall reading correction is insufficient such that you are putting your eyes under too much strain. I had and still have this - a key indicator that I need to get an eye test. It is almost that your eyes are straining to add so much plus and they can't relax. It isn't a couple of minutes - I have had it last an hour easily where there is nothing I can do to get distance focus. I can confirm that if you increase the reading correction this problem seems to go away. Most likely given your age, it is the distance that needs to increase rather than the add - it was the same for me - they key thing is that the Rx for reading is higher

Rapid changes in prescription

Yes - but I've really only had this with progressives. When I first starting wearing for hours each day it took only 4-6 weeks to find myself looking through the intermediate part for distance. The result was that I went from:

-0.25 Add 1.5

to 0.00 Add 1.5 in 18 months

and to +0.75 Add 1.75 in 4 months

So for me, a trip to the optician is mostly a problem with distance following close-up work which results in the distance Rx going up so that the Reading Rx goes up and this fixes the problem.

I'm now +1.75 Add 2.25 - I still have the problem which tells me that I'll probably need higher - just that it isn't a big enough problem to justify the expense

Lou 18 Sep 2017, 05:40

Hi Weirdeyes

I'm not sure why autorefraction showed you at one point needing +2.25 in your right eye, or how accurate autorefraction typically is. I haven't looked into an autorefractor for years, presumably because they have my current prescripton as a starting point. My optician used retinoscopy to objectively determine my prescription, and it agreed with my subjective preferences.

I can understand why you wouldn't want your right eye to become nearsighted since you already have a big difference between you eyes and a reasonable plus prescription in your left, but if it is the appearance of your eyes through glasses which you are concerned about, I wouldn't have thought that a small minus prescription would look particularly different to a small plus prescription, and I think that you would be unlikely to develop a significant minus prescription in your right eye, which would be sufficient for most people to notice that your prescription for that eye was minus. Hopefully your eyes will stabilise soon, or at least any change will be in the same direction for both eyes.

Take care

Lou

Weirdeyes 18 Sep 2017, 03:00

Lou

My autorefraction results at one point said I needed +2.25 in my right eye. Maybe the prescription just naturally reduced. At this point I think my right eye is +1.00. It also seems like my astigmatism axis is changing. My old glasses don't seem to have the best close up vision either even though they have more plus. My left eye seems to fluctuate, but not as much. Sometimes it looks like my left eye needs +4.75, but most of the time it's +4.25. I'm due for an eye test soon. Even though Cactus Jack told me not to worry, I'm still worried my right eye might go nearsighted. At one point my prescription in my right eye was plano with -0.50 cyl. So it was kind of nearsighted.

Lou 18 Sep 2017, 01:52

Hi Weirdeyes

Re.

Lou

I think with my convergence insufficiency my eyes have a tendency to converge to compensate. That makes my eyes want less plus than I need and causes my fluctuating vision. I think my right eye is maybe +1.75 or +1.50, but it ends up preferring +1.00.

If you you (and anyone else reading), doesn't mind a bit of a my eye history, I'm wondering whether my experience may be of any help to you.

I wasn't diagnosed with Convergence Insufficiency until aged 35, but am pretty sure that I had it as a child. It is difficult to know for certain, as I was diagnosed with an eye tracking disorder at aged 20, which I was in the middle of being assessed for again at aged 35, when I had to cancel my appointments owing to my marriage failing, and when I went to resume, funding had been withdrawn for those over the age of 14. All I found out, was that I have eye tracking consistent with dyslexia, but that I am not dyslexic.

Anyway, as a child, although a good reader, I never thought that text looked particularly clear, I could never read particularly close, I used to lose my place a lot, and text used to swing to the right and back again. My parents never took me to an optician, as they themselves didn't wear glasses at that time, and I never said anything. Basic school screening did not find anything.

When I was at college aged 20, I decided to have my eyes tested, as I was finding reading uncomfortable. I found the experience quite stressful as I couldn't understand the optician, who was from overseas and didn't seem to speak English very well. He said that my eyesight was borderline, that my eye tracking was very poor, and that he was surprised I could read at all. He wanted to refer me to an eye specialist. I was scared by what he was saying, didn't feel able to ask for clarification and just wanted to get out of there, so said that I could see fine.

I started orchestral trumpet playing after college, and found that I struggled with small parts and notes close together, especially when there was more than one line of music on the same stave. I also had difficulties with reading long lines of numbers, such as in bar codes, specifically in knowing how many there were of a number such as 0, if several appeared consecutively, as my eyes would swing right and back again as I tried to read the numbers.

With music, I would suddenly come to something I couldn't make out at speed, my eyes would swing to the right, then come back again. By that time I would have lost my place. Sometimes I would pan out completely and find myself looking at the whole page.

I put up with this until at age 35, I found that I just couldn't fuse the images with both eyes together, and was having to use one eye. I finally found the courage to visit an optician.

My first prescription was R and L +0.25 Sph -0.25 Cyl with 0.25 Add and 2.5 Base In prism.

I couldn't get used to the prism, so it was reduced to 1.25 Base In Prism, and I was referred to an Orthoptist. I still couldn't get used to the prism and never wore my glasses, but my optician would not reduce it further. I admit that I then did a naughty. I photocopied my prescription which was simply on white paper, tippexed out the prism, and took it to a different optician.

These glasses seemed ok but not righ,t and I wanted to try a pair without the +0.25 add. I was also getting eye strain at the end of the day, and wondered whether my distance prescription would help. I had my distance prescription made up and found it better or all distances, than my glasses with a +0.25 add.

When I next had my eyes tested (2012), the optician gave me:

R: +0.50 Sph -0.50 Cyl 90

L: +0.25 Sph -0.25 Cyl 80

This prescription was very good, but I did notice the fluctuations in my distance vision, which I mentioned previously.

I was totally happy with this prescription, but it was changed at my 2014 eye test to:

R: +0.75 Sph -0.75 Cyl 95

L: +0.50 Sph -0.50 Cyl 80

I wasn't happy and this prescription seemed wrong. Whereas circles seem slightly wider than high without glasses, and perfectly round with my old prescription, they seemed taller than wide with this new prescription, and this just did not change.

I went back for a re-test and they found the same prescription. It still seemed wrong.

I went back again, the optician felt that it was right, but that his opinion (I know consider it to be wrong) was that my eyes were corrected so well that there was nothing left to correct, and since my eyes were not having to work to correct my vision, they were also not working to correct my convergence sufficiency. He said that there were two choices, to go back to my 2012 prescription, or as he recommended owing to me being 40 at the time, to keep to my new prescription and add +0.50 base in prism to my right lens, as my right eye was the one drifting out.

Since I wore the same prescription for driving, I found that since the prism was effectively replicating my right eye turning in, that it tended to trick me into focusing up close on rain spots on the windscreen. I still also felt that my right eye prescription was too strong for distance.

I went for another test, and my prescription was reduced to the following, and the prism removed:

R:+0.50 Sph -0.50 Cyl 92

L:+0.50 Sph -0.50 Cyl 83

A few months later, I felt that my left eye prescription was too strong. I went back to the optician, and they thought it was fine. I didn't agree, and felt that it was giving me poor vision on my left hand side when driving at night.

After getting out my 2012 glasses (prescription as higher up) and finding them a lot better, I went back again last February and saw a really good optician (one of the directors).

She agreed that my 2012 prescription was better for me. I asked her if I was now under prescribed and was simply happier this way, but she said no, and that her objective refraction had found the same. She said that she felt that previous opticians had been bumping up my plus, despite me keep returning saying that I was unhappy with my prescription, and has put a note on my file saying that this is not to be done with me.

I didn't ask her why they would bump up the plus. Maybe it is owing to my age, that I have convergence insufficiency and this is a prescribing guideline for people with convergence insufficiency, or maybe the optician wasn't choosing to bump up my plus, but I was subjectively choosing more plus during the test, which the optician then prescribed, since they were going along with my choices. If the last suggestion, maybe she has put a note on my file along the lines of requesting that future opticians go with the objective refraction even if I subjectively prefer more plus.

Whatever, the return to my 2012 prescription worked and my inconsistent distance vision later in the day, which I had also noticed back in 2012, has finally gone after three months of wearing my glasses full-time.

This very long rant, is my way of saying that I am wondering whether convergence insufficiency is not causing you to prefer more minus, hence why your plus prescription is decreasing, rather that it may have been previously bumping up the plus, and this lower plus prescription is more accurate.

I am pretty sure since I was happy with my prescription in 2012, only happy once I had returned to my 2012 prescription in 2017, and was unhappy with all interim prescriptions, finding circles taller than wide which never went away, that my prescription had really been stable since 2012, and the interim increases were not right.

I really hope that this will help someone now my five year difficulty in getting the right prescription appears to be finally over

Best wishes

Lou

Weirdeyes 17 Sep 2017, 17:24

Lou

Lou 17 Sep 2017, 16:12

Hi again

I've been giving this some thought, to see if I can be of any help to people experiencing fluctuating distance vision.

Fluctuating distance vision was driving me crazy too, and was really starting to get me down. I just couldn't understand why I was intermittently experiencing it in the evenings, and only knew that it occurred far less often when I had been wearing my glasses all day.

I am British and asked about this via the Ask the Optician section of the Specsavers website.

The Optician advised that for many people, the refraction of the eye alters very slightly during the day, owing to factors such as tiredness, light level (which causes the pupil size to alter) and the eye very slightly changing shape as the day progresses. He said that you could find a very slight change in prescription between an eye test in the morning and one later in the day.

I decided to book an appointment for a re-test as late as possible in the day. My prescription was identical to my eye test four months previously, and my optician advised that when she did an objective refraction like she would with somebody unable to communicate, that she would prescribe exactly the same as I had chosen during the subjective part of the exam.

She said that I am very visually sensitive, and always chose exactly the same lens for each eye, however many she tried, and that the severe eye strain I suffer from without glasses is owing to my natural vision being like a lens I like less during the test, whereas my vision with my glasses is with the lens I most like. She demonstrated it by lifting her own glasses up and down, and describing it as a lens I like versus a lens I don't, and said that I will always suffer eye strain even though my uncorrected vision is 6/6 (compared to 6/5 + 1 with glasses), because I am noticing the difference and trying to correct for it.

She suggested full-time wear and advised that she had also told me that four months earlier at my last test. I honestly don't remember her saying that. She also advised putting my glasses on the minute I wake and wearing them through to when I go to bed.

Hating the eye strain, which was resulting in my convergence insufficiency starting again, and hoping that wearing glasses full-time would stop my inconsistent distance vision later in the day, as it already happened less often when I had worn my glasses all day, I followed her advice.

My eye strain disappeared almost immediately, and although my inconsistent distance vision had almost disappeared by the end of the first week, only now almost three months later, have I had absolutely no signs of it for over a week. It seems to have taken an absolute age to disappear!

I am convinced that out of the factors suggested by the Optician via the Ask the Optician service, that tiredness was the cause in my case, and that preventing my eyes from getting so tired is what is stopping inconsistent distance vision from occurring later in the day.

Rather than convergence insufficiency causing this, I'm wondering whether convergence insufficiency simply causes the eyes to be more tired, and that it is then the tiredness rather than the convergence insufficiency which results in the inconsistent distance vision. I really don't know, only that in my case, inconsistently wearing glasses was causing inconsistent distance vision later in the day.

Hopefully this long rant will help someone.

Best wishes

Lou

Cactus Jack 17 Sep 2017, 13:04

Charlie_Delta,

The good news is that it won't take 15 years for your vision to stabilize. Less than 2 is more likely. Remember, suggested intervals is just that, suggestions. You get to look at your vision problems every waking hour. YOU are the best judge of when you need to see your ECP, the calendar has almost nothing to do with it.

Remember, you can order quality glasses, in most prescriptions, inexpensively, online. Let us know if we can help.

Lou 17 Sep 2017, 12:59

Hi Weirdeyes

Re:

Lou

I wear glasses full time, but I still experience fluctuations. I think convergence insufficiency makes my eyes go more minus at times. It's driving me crazy.

I fully understand. Fluctuating vision is really annoying. I have convergence insufficiency too. I did loads of eye exercises to get rid of prism originally (I believe I had 1.5 base in in each eye, reduced from the 2.5 I couldn't get used to), which I hated, as I felt that I was wearing blinkers.

A couple of prescriptions ago, I had 0.5 base in prism in just my right lens, but since I didn't wear my glasses full-time then, I found I had to adjust to it every time I wore my glasses, and I found that I needed it some times and not others. Given a choice at my next eye examination, I chose to get rid of it. My optician suggested starting eye exercises again at my last eye test, as my convergence was pretty poor, but since wearing my glasses full-time and not suffering eye strain, it seems better again. Basically I find that I can compensate for my convergence insufficiency most of the time.

I'm not sure whether eye strain owing to convergence insufficiency causes fluctuating distance vision.

Best wishes

Lou

Lou 17 Sep 2017, 12:59

Hi Weirdeyes

Re:

Lou

I wear glasses full time, but I still experience fluctuations. I think convergence insufficiency makes my eyes go more minus at times. It's driving me crazy.

I'm not sure whether eye strain owing to convergence insufficiency causes fluctuating distance vision.

Best wishes

Lou

Weirdeyes 17 Sep 2017, 11:54

Lou

I wear glasses full time, but I still experience fluctuations. I think convergence insufficiency makes my eyes go more minus at times. It's driving me crazy.

Lou 17 Sep 2017, 11:16

Hi Charlie-Delta

I know what you mean by fluctuating distance vision. My prescription is tiny (R: +0.50 Sph -0.50 Cyl Axis 92, L: +0.25 Sph -0.25 Cyl Axis 85). I'm an orchestral musician and found that glasses made sight-reading easier. I never however could cope with taking them on and off. Once I had worn them, things looked annoyingly slightly out of focus without them, and I would get eye strain. Since my glasses help with all distances, I used to only wear them on orchestra rehearsal days, and put them on for the first time when I left the house to drive to the rehearsal venue, which is often later in the day.

I went back to see my optician in June, after experiencing two annoying things, bad eye strain when not wearing my glasses (my eyes were burning and really aching), and inconsistent vision with my glasses later in the day. If I put them on for the first time in the morning, my distance vision would always be significantly better than without glasses,but if I put them on for the first time later in the day, particularly in the evening, my distance vision would vary between being significantly better with glasses like in the mornings, to little difference, to sometimes even worse than without glasses.

Owing to me being very visually sensitive and also having convergence insufficiency (which after eye exercises I can manage most of the time without prism (which I've worn previously) and an eye tracking disorder, considering the amount of eye strain I was experiencing, my optician recommended wearing my glasses full-time from the minute I wake up.

I've followed her advice and the fluctuations in my distance vision later in the day, have really decreased. It is now only when I am really tired, do I find that my distance vision is slightly better later in the day without glasses.

My understanding is that although I have a plus sphere in negative cylinder notation, that really my entire prescription is for astigmatism, as my prescription is plano sph and +0.50 and +0.25 cylinder respectively in plus cylinder notation. Obviously this however equates to a lens for each eye which varies between plano and plus, and presumably owing to straining all day to try to correct my small amount of astigmatism (which I understand to not actually be possible, because the eye cannot self correct for astigmatism owing to the two points of focus), the result was that I was ending up with too much plus later in the day.

Wearing my glasses all day has had the joint effect of not only preventing eye strain but stopping my glasses from seeming to have too much plus later in the day.

Therefore if you are not already wearing your distance glasses full-time, it may be worth a try to see if this reduces the fluctuation in your distance vision.

Take care

Lou

Charlie_Delta 17 Sep 2017, 10:05

Lou and Cactus Jack,

Ive succumb to the reality that Im in the midst of rapidly changing eyes, and therefore; a silver bullet for correction through lenses isnt achievable until things stabilize more. Basically, two things are going on: a longer-term manifestation of so-called latent hyperopia, and a daily fluctuation in distance acuity. My last post/inquiry was motivated by driving for an hour, around dusk on a highway, after being awake and working since 3:00AM. My eyes defocused a lot when looking out into infinity (and when the did that, its wasnt a little bit of defocus but rather a significant amount). My hunch is that everything from sleep to hydration to diet (vitamins/minerals etc.) to exhaustion influence daily fluctuations like this, particularly for an emerging hyperope. It sucks!

One thing is for certain: the myope has it much better presumably, as these sort of daily fluctuations, as I understand it to be, anyway, dont really happen. Myopic eyes seem to be able to enjoy a pretty absolute refraction -- whatever Rx is determined by the ECP (assuming its accurate) is a silver bullet for the most part.

Id be first in line for a laser treatment to do away with the need for glasses/contacts, but common sense tells me Im be stuck using contacts/glasses until my focus muscles relax and presbyopia has run its course. That could be a while 15 years maybe. If I eventually go that route, Id rather be corrected in both eyes to see at near without correction because (a) I do a ton of work up close, and (b) Im not a fan of the appearance of plus glasses.

In December, I plan to have a properly dilated eye exam at the University of Pennsylvania. Theyve taken photos of my retina for 15+ years due to a harmless/hereditary condition commonly known as optic nerve cupping. Could become an issue if the surrounding tissue thins (hence photos every two years). Im two years overdue for another set of photos and will request a refraction while me eyes are dilated. All that really would tell me is how much latent hyperopia is in there I dont think itd influence my prescription much, because un-dilated, I cant accept +0.50 more for distance at present. The random defocus issue at distance is intermittent and I probably have to live with this annoyance for the time being. Agree?

Charlie

ps: Cactus, we've chatted on here in the past and I do have an ADD (+1.50). Near Rx is OD +2.50 sph, OS +2.00 -0.25 axis 175 and I generally require that to work on a computer now.

Weirdeyes 16 Sep 2017, 11:17

Cactus Jack

My eyes haven't been dialated in a while. I am pretty close to my true prescription.

Cactus Jack 16 Sep 2017, 07:51

Weirdeyes,

First of all, your eyes are NOT particularly weird. Your two eyes develop independently as a 3 diopter difference is not anything to get excited about. A few years ago, I had a neighbor who had about 5 or 6 diopters difference. His right eye was about -2 to -3 and his left eye was about +3.00. He wore glasses. I did not know him well enough to discuss it in detail.

Are your eye exams, dilated?

Lou 16 Sep 2017, 01:50

Hi Charlie_Delta

When you say:

Things at distance are out of focus (by a lot, it seems) after looking at something up-close w/ single-vision glasses for distance. I can concentrate and bring everything into focus, seemingly without much effort, but the default to blur is happening on increasing regularity now.

If you don't mind me asking for clarification, are you saying that if you look at something close with your distance glasses rather than reading glasses, then look into the distance, everything is initially blurred then clears.

If so, then I would say that rather than latent hyperopia, this is caused by a delay in the eyes switching from close to distance, and is a symptom of Presbyopia.

I'm coming up 44, and have noticed this exact same issue for the last year. I presume that it in my case it is the start of presbyopia. I currently only have distance glasses and my optician said that there isn't really any need yet for a different prescription for reading, although she could give me an extra +0.25.

Since you also have reading glasses, I think that in your case, it is just an indication that you need to switch to your reading glasses for close work.

I hope that this will help.

Lou

Weirdeyes 15 Sep 2017, 17:35

Cactus Jack

Why is the prescription in my right eye dropping while the left eye is more stable? It's getting pretty annoying. I don't want my eyes to get more lopsided. Could this be caused by spending too much time on my iPhone? I also find it challenging to get a well balanced prescription. Could that be causing the annoying fluctuations as well?

Cactus Jack 15 Sep 2017, 15:54

Charlie_Delta,

What you are experiencing is common. Presbyopia itself is caused by the Crystalline Lenses becoming stiff and hard to focus. That also means that after the Ciliary Muscles succeed in increasing the PLUS power of the Crystalline Lenses for close focusing, they are also slow to relax, which they must do for distance vision. While the Crystalline Lenses are focused for close work, you are actually Myopic.

One of the things that cause people with Hyperopia AND Presbyopia to get confused is that both are corrected with PLUS lenses, but for different reasons.

I would urge you to consider getting a dilated (wet) exam. Be sure and try to NOT do much close work, prior to the exam. Typically, the dilating agents that are used these days are not very persistent and wear off in just a few hours. All the dilating agents do is temporarily paralyze the Ciliary Muscles. They have no effect on the Crystalline Lenses. You want your Crystalline Lenses to be as relaxed (minimum PLUS power) as possible for the distance part of the exam to hopefully need another prescription change very soon.

You are not going to like this part.

It is time to consider an Add to help you focus close for reading or using the computer. There are many possible solutions. Bifocals, trifocals, progressives, mono-vision, and even multi-focal Intra-Ocular Lenses. Your visual environment is very important in choosing which solution is the best. In some instances, progressives are nice for social occasions and bifocals or trifocals are better for a wide field of focus with little or no distortion. The solution there is two pair of glasses.

Be sure and tell the examiner about your visual environment and all the problems you are having with your vision. This is no time to let vanity get in the way of good vision.

If you are getting a dialed exam, your near vision is checked before the dilated part of the exam. If your Ciliary Muscles are paralyzed, you can't focus close anyway. It is very likely that you will try to focus on the small text, try to no work too hard on that, because not having enough Add for the task, will cause you to need an increase sooner than you typically would.

Hope this helps some. Feel free to ask more questions here or in a private message if you want to discuss your situation in more detail.

Charlie_Delta 15 Sep 2017, 14:41

Have others on here required more than one correction within 6-9 months due to latent hyperopia? Im again struggling at distance seems to be getting progressively more annoying. Things at distance are out of focus (by a lot, it seems) after looking at something up-close w/ single-vision glasses for distance. I can concentrate and bring everything into focus, seemingly without much effort, but the default to blur is happening on increasing regularity now. My last eye exam was due to similar symptoms and. This was a few months after first being prescribed glasses (40 y/o). The distance script went up +.5 in each eye. What is interesting however is that my initial prescription, reading glasses, is only +.5 more in each eye (L +1.0, R +1.5) and those are more fuzzy at distance my current distance Rx (L +0.5 / R +1.0). FWIW, the last visit did uncover slight astigmatism in left eye, but its too negligible I think to even mention (-0.25).

Im not a Greatful Dead fan by any means but concur in their what a long, strange trip its been line when it comes to my vision experience in the past seven months!

Cactus Jack 15 Sep 2017, 09:28

Weirdeyes,