I have nausea and cannot see details while wearing loupes

[DentistScientist]

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Hello,

I am a first year and I just got 3.5X Loupes from Surgitel. I still need to adjust my nosepads because they sometimes give me double vision but this does not happen often. And they give me clear views when I am in good ergonomic posture.

However, after wearing them for about an hour, I have nausea. And I also cannot see the details in the gingival, cervical, mesial, and distal walls while drilling and making Class V preps. While the Surgitel representative may help me to solve double vision problem, I am not sure whether my nausea can be fixed. Can my nausea problem be fixed?

And also, Do I have to have loupes? I don't bend my neck only when I am not wearing loupes. I bend my waste a lot to make sure that my spine is straight. I got my loupes in January so I should be able to return them within 90 days hopefully? But I heard that my school take off points for not having good posture.

 

[schmoob]

It sounds like they need to be adjusted.

 

[ncide]

You can adjust some of the focus by twisting the lenses, if the focus is off it can make things appear blurry, especially if both have different focal points.

Loupes should almost always be used IMO.

 

[shendo]

Hello,

I am a first year and I just got 3.5X Loupes from Surgitel. I still need to adjust my nosepads because they sometimes give me double vision but this does not happen often. And they give me clear views when I am in good ergonomic posture.

However, after wearing them for about an hour, I have nausea. And I also cannot see the details in the gingival, cervical, mesial, and distal walls while drilling and making Class V preps. While the Surgitel representative may help me to solve double vision problem, I am not sure whether my nausea can be fixed. Can my nausea problem be fixed?

And also, Do I have to have loupes? I don't bend my neck only when I am not wearing loupes. I bend my waste a lot to make sure that my spine is straight. I got my loupes in January so I should be able to return them within 90 days hopefully? But I heard that my school take off points for not having good posture.

The nausea problem could be related to the fact that your loupes are not adjusted properly so I would recommend asking the rep to come out asap and help you adjust the loupes to see if it will help the nausea issue. The other possibility is that you may just need to give it some more time to get used to using loupes and the nausea issue might go away on its own.
Regarding the question, do you have to have loupes, my answer would be yes: not only it will help improve the quality of your dentistry, but more importantly it will help your ergonomics in the long run. I posted this image on another thread that I took of one of my AEGD residents, but I am posting it here so you can see a visual example of the difference in ergonomics having loupes can make, and even one step further using a microscope. When you are young and just starting out training, the strain on your neck/back may not feel too bad but after years of that kind of posture, for most people it will eventually lead to more neck/back issues. You mentioned that you bend your waist instead of your neck to keep your spine straight, but when you are working on patients, that will not work since you usually need to be seated as close to the patient as possible.

 

[beannaithe]

I think your working distance (distance between your loupes and your patient) sounds like it's off. Was there any reason that you jumped straight to a 3.5 vs. starting with a 2.5? That's a pretty big difference.

I started with 2.5 about 3 years ago after not using loupes in private practice. There was a big learning curve, but it wasn't until I found the right position that they really worked for me. Keep moving the patient up and down until things don't look blurry. Then, see if it's a comfortable position for you to work in. If not, call your salesperson up ASAP and send them back!!!