I have come to a very frustrating point, and am looking for some advice as to how to get the eyeglasses I need.
I have been wearing bifocals and trifocals for at least 25 years. (I had a pair of "no lines" for about 6 months, and was glad when I lost them, but that is neither here nor there.)
Other than my first glasses (I went straight to bifocals), I have always had an easy transition between pairs of glasses. I could usually use them full time right away. This time has been different.
First, they mounted one lens higher than the other, so that the transitions didn't line up. I spotted it before even leaving the office. They got that fixed.
The other problem I spotted right away, but they urged me to try to get used to it. It isn't something I can get used to. The glasses are too strong. Things are in focus out to 20-30 feet, and get blurrier after that. My old glasses are good out to infinity, so anything far away I can see better with my old glasses.
I went back and they measured the glasses (pronounced "made to prescription") and got my eyes re-checked "same as the prescription I wrote last time" and told to go home and get used to the glasses for another 2 weeks.
After spending dozens of hours on the Internet, I know a lot more about glasses and optometry than I did before. (I am an engineer and a serious amateur photographer, so I already knew a good bit about optics, optical aberrations, etc.)
The conclusion I am coming to is that a combination of factors have probably come together in an unlikely combination that is leaving me with glasses that are not correct.
The factors I suspect:
1. My vision is better than 20/20, probably more like 20/15 or better. (I rely on that vision, and know what my eyes can do.)
2. My old glasses are better than the new prescription, so I have a crystal-clear standard to compare to. (If my old glasses had been worse, I might be happy because my new glasses were better than the old).
3. The phoropter setup uses a standard distance of 20 feet, and considers that to be "the same as infinity". If glasses are ground to focus correctly at 20 feet, but no farther, a correction of -0.164 diopter would be needed to bring infinity into sharpest focus.
4. In my case, the 0.25 diopter rounding has resulted in a prescription that is "great at 20 feet but will not allow my eyes to focus farther than that".
5. The sloppy +/-0.125 diopter standard for glasses tolerance may have pulled my glasses "in" (more +) slightly from what the Optometrist ordered, even though it is still "in tolerance".
When I go back at the end of my "try it for two weeks", what should I say that will get the attention of the people involved? The optometrist is very distant, stand-offish, "I must be right" kind of a person. The opticians were a lot easier to deal with, but can only do so much.
Sorry for intruding,
Ted
I have been wearing bifocals and trifocals for at least 25 years. (I had a pair of "no lines" for about 6 months, and was glad when I lost them, but that is neither here nor there.)
Other than my first glasses (I went straight to bifocals), I have always had an easy transition between pairs of glasses. I could usually use them full time right away. This time has been different.
First, they mounted one lens higher than the other, so that the transitions didn't line up. I spotted it before even leaving the office. They got that fixed.
The other problem I spotted right away, but they urged me to try to get used to it. It isn't something I can get used to. The glasses are too strong. Things are in focus out to 20-30 feet, and get blurrier after that. My old glasses are good out to infinity, so anything far away I can see better with my old glasses.
I went back and they measured the glasses (pronounced "made to prescription") and got my eyes re-checked "same as the prescription I wrote last time" and told to go home and get used to the glasses for another 2 weeks.
After spending dozens of hours on the Internet, I know a lot more about glasses and optometry than I did before. (I am an engineer and a serious amateur photographer, so I already knew a good bit about optics, optical aberrations, etc.)
The conclusion I am coming to is that a combination of factors have probably come together in an unlikely combination that is leaving me with glasses that are not correct.
The factors I suspect:
1. My vision is better than 20/20, probably more like 20/15 or better. (I rely on that vision, and know what my eyes can do.)
2. My old glasses are better than the new prescription, so I have a crystal-clear standard to compare to. (If my old glasses had been worse, I might be happy because my new glasses were better than the old).
3. The phoropter setup uses a standard distance of 20 feet, and considers that to be "the same as infinity". If glasses are ground to focus correctly at 20 feet, but no farther, a correction of -0.164 diopter would be needed to bring infinity into sharpest focus.
4. In my case, the 0.25 diopter rounding has resulted in a prescription that is "great at 20 feet but will not allow my eyes to focus farther than that".
5. The sloppy +/-0.125 diopter standard for glasses tolerance may have pulled my glasses "in" (more +) slightly from what the Optometrist ordered, even though it is still "in tolerance".
When I go back at the end of my "try it for two weeks", what should I say that will get the attention of the people involved? The optometrist is very distant, stand-offish, "I must be right" kind of a person. The opticians were a lot easier to deal with, but can only do so much.
Sorry for intruding,
Ted