low vision question that has me confused...

[montrealrep]

Why would a patient who has a very strong hypermetropia get a better magnification when using his glasses over his contact lenses?

---

Members don't see this ad.

 

[cunikki]

who calls it hypermetropia??? is this a canadian thing??? weird heheh jk anyways...
umm basically plus lenses magnify things?? that is their job... so even if you are fully corrected you can use a plus lens as a magnifier... you might have to move the thing you are looking at to the working distance of the lens in order to see it clearly but using their glasses over a full correction is just like a normal person using a magnifying glass

 

[montrealrep]

haha sorry! the question was in french and I just translated it...

I actually misunderstood the question (thought they were asking why the glasses would work better then contacts), so its a good thing i translated it word for word because you understood it! thanks!

 

[DrRobs]

well I'm not a low vision specialist yet but I've worked for one for 2 years and if they think thats the best way to correct their vision, then its hard to say why without knowing the patients history because there are a lot of reasons why that would work for someone and why it wouldn't work for others...again I'm not a doc and if I was I'd not be able to make the appropriate suggestion because you can't do that without seeing the patient and knowing the complete history and you can never do that over a forum (sorry if I was stepping any boundaries for all the current ODs)

 

[DrRobs]

Low vision is definately something I want to go into, but, every patient has low vision for a different reason....usually contacts arent perscribed as an adaptive peice of equipment unless thats what the patient requires (mis-shapen corneas mostly need contacts for correction) so it just depends on what makes them low vision... the doc I work for always says if you can't see well enough to get through your daily activities by conventional means, then you are low vision (exhausting all surgical opportunities). Most of our patients have magnifiers, CCTVs, and/or telescopes they use to help maximize their vision to their fullest potential, but again it depends on the patient. One day I will be able to answser this for my patients (I am 100% positive on going into a low vision specialty) to the fullest potential, but for now I'm just speaking on my 2 years of experience with my current doc.

 

[silverleaf]

Since the plus-powered glasses act as a magnifier located very close to the face, the patient can obtain maximal equivalent power (and thus magnification) from the optical system.