Enright3 is getting older (40), and his usually keen umpire’s eyesight is still just fine for distances, but evidently as one gets older, the eye muscles lose some of their elasticity.
As a result, I can’t see things close up like I once could.
The eye doc wrote a script for me to get a brand new pair of reading specs.
Here’s what I want to know (because of a friend of mine)… What’s really difference between that, and a pair of Wal-Mart specials that I get off the rack?
I don’t imagine that I’m hurting my eyes any… unless one eye is radically different than the other one.
Should I go for saving money? Should I go for an exact strength, personal fitting, etc? For reading glasses?
I’d like to attach my own query to this thread. In my eye test yesterday, I was given a test I hadn’t had before. I was given a pair of polarized glasses, and a card to look at, and told this was a test of depth perception. The card had about 10 groups, each with 4 “bullseye” figures, and I was told to say which of the elements in each of 10 groups appeared to raised. However, in only 2 of the groups did there appear to be a raised element – in the other 8 groups all 4 elements looked looked flat. I was afraid this meant that they were going to check off the “has a big brain tumor” box, but the topic never came up again, presumably because I aced the color blindness test. Anyway, I was wondering what this test was looking for.
About $50. I am not an eye dr, but when I first needed reading glasses, my opthalmologist said to go to Walgreen’s and select the weakest pair they had (+1 diopters). As you get older, you will gradually need stronger ones. I was wearing contacts with severe myopia. Those who have only mild myopia can just take their glasses off and read fine.
Incidentally, it’s not the eye muscles that lose elasticity, but the lens and supporting ligaments.
Enright3, I asked my wife who’s in 3rd year optometry school, she said it depends on how you want to wear them. If you don’t mind putting glasses on and taking them off constantly then readers from Walmart are fine. Just make sure that you start out at the lowest prescription that you can see with - if you start out at a high prescription then your eyes will adapt to that and then you’ll rely on higher prescription glasses. Your other option would be a bifocal so that you wouldn’t have to keep taking the glasses off. At age 40 the typical add is +75, if they don’t sell it at Walmart then a +1 would be ok but try to avoid anything higher than that. (she’d like me to reiterate that she is just a student! but a good one I promise).
Whitetho, as for your case she says it’s called Stereopsis, and it tests binocularity (how well your eyes work together). It’s a good indicator of the sensory and motor portions of binocularity and sees if you’re suppressing input from one of the eyes. The fact that you could see 2 coming out means that you do have some stereopsis but 2 out of 10 isn’t great. This is nothing to worry about however, there are many different factors that could have affected the results (lighting, vertical phoria, etc). Stereo also decreases with age. This test doesn’t necessarily mean anything bad (it’s to see if someone’s totally suppressing one eye).
Bob, you mean, of course, 0.75 not 75. Enright doesn’t wear glasses. (Lucky he.) Therefore, bifocals is not an option. If one does wear glasses, the best bet is just to take the glasses off, unless, like me, you have severe myopia. (I had RK (radial keratotomy) about 10 years ago, so I can now take my glasses off to read (still some residual myopia); however, my astigmatism has increased. So I prefer to wear progressive lenses. Much better than bifocals, as there is no line. Moreover, since the lens changes throughout, it is like wearing trifocals. This has been much better when I play tennis. No double vision when the ball meets the line. End of parenthetical.)
Two things you have to keep in mind: The off the rack specs do not have the center of the lens at the center of your eye. An optometrist will set the grind so that the absolute center of the lenses will be in the center of your eyes; walgreen’s glasses are a compromise. Also, the optical quality of the walgreen’s lenses is not good, they pincushion and distort. What the walgreens lenses are good for is emergencies, like keep a pair in the glove box and in your desk drawer, but try to use the good ones as much as you can. Your eyes will thank you. Specially with astigmatisim.
I have a scrip pair at home and at work, but at my last visit my doc did something great for me: he set my contacts so that they correct from 12" to about 10’. My distance vision is not great, but more than good enough to drive. At the same time my close vision, which I use most, is great. I have had great luck with this combination.
:smack: So it is, so it is…
I really butchered that. Thanks for the correction… and without a word of sarcasm either.
Spelling is usually a strength of mine.
And to think… a long time ago, I actually worked as a medical transcriptionist for a bit. (Over 20 years ago) Man, if I had to write something like esophagogastroduodenoscopy*, I would have been right on the mark!
note to self - make sure spelling is correct in this post, or you’ll look really stupid.
My opthalmologist (no matter how you spell it) told me to just get the off the shelf reading glasses, which I used for the short time I used them when I wore contacts. They are not for emergency use only. They are for reading only, and work quite well, thank you. Of course the quality is not as good, but they serve the purpose and won’t hurt your eyes.
However, if you have astigmatism, forget it. These OTC reading glasses do not correct for astigmatism. You will need a prescription then. Having said that, I had bilateral astigmatism of -1 and my dr still recommended the OTC. -1 astigmatism is so minor, you will hardly note any distortion. After my operation, the astigmatism OD is -3, and if I read without my glasses, the distortion is definitely noticeable. I still, however, can read quite comfortably with my glasses off. (Astigmatism OS is only -1.) For the record, I have no residual myopia now OD, but with astigmatism of -3, this equates to an effective myopia of -1.5. Correction in OS is -2.50 diopters and -1. astigmatism.
Not for MY eyes. The cheapies are great if you’re on the side of the road late at night and trying to read a map, but for everyday use, they are no good. Compare them to a pair of good scrip glasses at the correct scrip and fit, and the difference is, at least for me, night and day.
Obviously, it’s an individual thing. Cheap reading glasses give me whanging headaches. Why on earth would you take chances with your eyes? Go cheap on furniture polish and dish soap. Buy good reading glasses.
