Question about vision and eyeglasses

Starfish

Starfish

Joined
Jun 14, 2001
Messages
1,256
I recently went to the optometrist to have my eyes examined since I have never (as far as I know) been to the optometrist before (32 years now!) and have been experiencing slight eyestrain due to working with computers most of the day. I was informed that both eyes were mildly astigmatic, and given a prescription for glasses. However, my vision is still 20/20 without glasses.

In case you're interested and understand this stuff, here's the prescription:

OD: (Sphere, Cylinder, Axis): +.50, -.75, 95
OS: (Sphere, Cylinder, Axis): +.50, -.50, 073

Actually, if you understood that prescription, can you tell me what it means?

Now, what I don't understand: when do I need to wear these glasses? I'm assuming that I should wear them while working at the computer, or watching TV, or reading. The thing is, when I wear the glasses, I do not notice an improvement in vision, since my vision is already fine. I have only worn the glasses for one day at work, and I think that my eyes are not as "tired" as they were before.

I guess the second question could be rephrased as "what is the point of wearing glasses when a person exhibits mild astigmatism but is not visually impaired...or at least thinks he's not visually impaired! :)"

Thanks,

Matthew
 
An astigmatism is when your eye is slightly out of round, and it causes a bit of warping in your vision. I don't know what the numbers mean, but OD is your right eye, and OS is your left (dexter, sinister). The glasses will correct for this warping, which will probably make your brain work less, which is always a good thing. :D
 
Mathew,

Astigmatism is a condition that results from irregularities in the shape of the cornea. The irregularities alter light passing through the cornea. When the lens cannot accomodate the variations it results in blurred vision.

For a good read on how to read your script try here:

How to Read Your Eyeglasses Prescription
 
Can't help you there. Now if you were asking about how to deal with severe astigmatism coupled with 20/1000 vision, then I may be able to offer some input. One thing I will say; if you're using these mainly while working with computers, it may be worth the money to get a pair with an anti-glare coating. They'll scratch more easily, but the coating does work to reduce eyestrain from glare. If I didn't have to wear my glasses every waking moment mine would be coated. The coated pair I did have got scratched so I had to replace them. :(
 
Roadrunner said:
The coated pair I did have got scratched so I had to replace them. :(
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How long ago was that? The coatings have gotten a lot better over the last few years; my optometrist says that now almost all of the AR coatings are pretty scratch-resistant. (Yeah, I got AR on my new pair, having always liked it but not liked the smears and scratches. Too early to tell how the new pair is working out.)
 
My personal point of view is wear my glasses when I need them (eg when I get headaches or couldnt see something)

Unfortunately in recent years my eyes have got so bad I have to wear them 100% of the time, but before that I wore them as little as possible without disadvantaging myself in the hope of keeping my eyes strong and not having to rely on them too much

however working on computers is very bad for your eyes...

As for the coating, I have anti glare and anti scratch coatings on mine, there are no major scratches on them and I have had these lenses several years

the main thing to keeping scratches off I find is to make sure you always clean them with a clean lens cloth, and never ever use tissue as it will scratch them to pieces (unless its special lens tissue that is :))
 
Topic changed to glasses. Moving to G&G with a redirect.
 
Your refractive error is pretty mild and if you have 20/20 distance vision without glasses this prescription will not do much for you.

If you are getting eye strain when working on the computer chances are that you are over 45 years old and are becoming presbyopic (inability to see up close due to decreased flexibility of the lenses inside your eyes). Go back to the optometrist and asked for a pair of glasses for computer work (optimized for the distance from your eyeball to your computer screen). And don't let them give you bifocals. With your prescription I wouldn't go that route.

After re-reading your post:
If you mean by not having been to an optometrist in 32 years that this is your current age then forget the presbyopia stuff. In this case I would wear the glasses they gave you. Also, it helps to look up every five minutes or so and focus into the distance.
 
bladefixation2 said:
My personal point of view is wear my glasses when I need them (eg when I get headaches or couldnt see something).

...before that I wore them as little as possible without disadvantaging myself in the hope of keeping my eyes strong and not having to rely on them too much
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That was my point of view at first too - that glasses make your eyes "weaker". However, I have also been told that if I were to stop wearing glasses, that my eye muscles would adapt to the changes and my vision would revert to its prior state (barring of course, other physiological changes).

pjenkins000 said:
contacts. i love the peripheral vision.
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Agh! I can't imagine how you can put your fingers that close to your eyeballs....yeah yeah, I'm just a big wuss :D

protodoc said:
If you mean by not having been to an optometrist in 32 years that this is your current age then forget the presbyopia stuff. In this case I would wear the glasses they gave you. Also, it helps to look up every five minutes or so and focus into the distance.
Click to expand...

Thanks all for the help. Protodoc, that's correct - my current age is 32. And the advice that you gave regarding looking up was what the optometrist said as well.

He recommended that I wear these glasses full-time - I assume that this is so my eye muscles become accustomed to the glasses and therefore receive the maximum benefit (rather than transitioning between two different states aperiodically).

I appreciate all of the responses. I am starting to become accustomed to wearing eyeglasses now. I think my main problem is that since my prescription is so mild that it is easy for me to fake myself out and question the need for glasses at all...The only remaining "problem" I have is that it seems like under low-light conditions - specifically where the object of focus is poorly lit - that the image is crisper without glasses than with. Again - I may just be psyching myself out here :rolleyes:

Thanks again,

Matthew
 
Now for the paranoid contrarian view:

Optometrists and other eye, dental, medical, etc. types of professions get their major money off of perpetual treatments for symptoms. Very little money comes from actual cures. They have little financial interrest in curing you and never seeing you again. Likewise, allowing you to die does not help the bottom line like perpetual repest visits, but it is even less profitable to send you away well.

Glasses do not cure, and most times glasses will cause the eyesight to progress worse and worse.

However, for extreme astigmatism and for eyes that are radically different, glasses are probably necessary for safety, sanity and pain reduction.

If you have a choice in the matter, get glasses that are slight under correcting rather than perfectly or worse overcorrecting. This way the eyes are relieved of some of the stress, but still are able to work on the problem.
 
for minor eye problems sometimes eye exercises like 'the bates method' can help fix them,

like grommit said, optometrists dont want to fix you, they want to get £300 every few years out of you for new glasses
 
johnniet said:
How long ago was that? The coatings have gotten a lot better over the last few years; my optometrist says that now almost all of the AR coatings are pretty scratch-resistant. (Yeah, I got AR on my new pair, having always liked it but not liked the smears and scratches. Too early to tell how the new pair is working out.)
Click to expand...
I work doing eyeglass repair and I see LOAD of lenses with ruined Anti-Reflective coatings. It happens so much I have a way to take the AR coating off. Costs $30 though. :eek:

Even people that keep the best care of their glasses screw up the AR coating. It is bound to happen eventually.
 
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