serious problem with vision

[johnstoner]

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Hi everyone

I recently had a refraction done by a friend and my correction went from

Sph -4.5 Cyl -1.75 axis 170 to

sph -9.5 cyl -3.0 axis 100

in 18 months. I feel really bad about this and I'm wondering what might have caused this. I can still see fine in my glasses albeit its a little blurry...but i didn't expect this much change

there are times when I don't take off my contacts for a week at a time...so i'm thinking I might have damaged my corneas

do you think its normal? or a retinal problem? corneal?


I'm wondering what the possibilities are...

 

[johnstoner]

i'm thinking corneal warpage. Can that cause something like this to happen?

 

[johnstoner]

i was just reading up on some problems...could corneal edema be the problem?

 

[SnapperK]

Myopic shift

 

[Yogi Bear]

so who was this "friend"...and was it for free or did u pay? when procedures go awry, knowing the doc on a personal level just complicates things.

 

[johnstoner]

well...i'm going to go and get it checked out again by an optometrist but this "friend" is one of the oph fellows at our school.

I'm concerned that i might go blind in my lifetime

 

[Richard_Hom]

Originally posted by johnstoner
Hi everyone

I recently had a refraction done by a friend and my correction went from

Sph -4.5 Cyl -1.75 axis 170 to

sph -9.5 cyl -3.0 axis 100

in 18 months. I feel really bad about this and I'm wondering what might have caused this. I can still see fine in my glasses albeit its a little blurry...but i didn't expect this much change

there are times when I don't take off my contacts for a week at a time...so i'm thinking I might have damaged my corneas

do you think its normal? or a retinal problem? corneal?


I'm wondering what the possibilities are...

1. contact lens over wear (EW???)

2. over minussed refraction, recheck with cycloplegic refraction

Richard_Hom

 

[GlaucomaMD]

Common things being common...

I agree with Richard_Hom

Rule out over-minus refraction... Very common in young people when they are not having cycloplegic refraction...

You can also check by using red-green line on the visual acuity chart to confirm this.
You should see the letters within the red and the green box with approximately same clarity.

 

[johnstoner]

first he used an auto refractor and then tweaked it manually...but overall it was at that prescription. Hmmm...i don't know.

worry is that my gradma on my dad's side was blind, and my oldest uncle is in the process of going blind. I'm not sure what it is...could be glaucoma or macular degeneration...who knows.

 

[Richard_Hom]

Originally posted by johnstoner
first he used an auto refractor and then tweaked it manually...but overall it was at that prescription. Hmmm...i don't know..."

Dear johnstoner,

Autorefractors are notorious for over-estimating the refractive errors of myopes. This is especially true if the subjective refraction was done with the autorefractor.

The autorefractor can be used more carefully in your case if you get cycopleged with 1 drop of cycolpentolate 1% each eye followed by another in 10min
Richard_Hom