Congratulations, cromulent!
I have a question. I’m allergic to glasses. In fact, every pair of glasses I’ve ever worn: metal, plastic, ones that are supposedly hypoallergenic, all of 'em make my skin react where they touch my face. Anything I can do about it? I’m far sighted and only wear glasses to read, so I can’t wear contacts. Should I see an optometrist or a dermatologist?
20-24 inches is a little over 50 cm, so if you have no focusing power at all, you want about a 2 diopter add, perhaps 1.75. You may require less depending on age (since, again depending on age, you may have some focusing power of your own.) However, remember that if you stick it this add over your no-line bifocals, you’re still only going to have a small area on the top of the glasses with the correct amount of addition power. Everything else on the glasses will give you refractive power for closer distances, since you’d effectively be adding 2.00 D to both the distance and near power of your glasses.
In other words, for this to work, you want to clip a +2.00 add over your distance glasses only, not your no-line bifocals. If you don’t have a dedicated distance pair it’s just going to mean that you’ll only be able to use the top of your no-line bifocals for computer work.
Remember that a small amount of “glasses real estate” in your no-line bifocals should already be suited for computer distance (at some point between the very top of your specs, for distance, and the very bottom, for near, should be an intermediate area that can be used for computers. It might be too small an area to be useful for you, though, which is why so many people like computer-only specs.)
So, to sum up, clip-ons over your distance Rx or dedicated computer glasses are the way to go if you want a wide area to work with, which is best if you spend a lot of time on a computer every day.
**Simster **posted:
It’s a little more complicated than saying that, since you’re always working at pulling it together, exercises will automatically not work for you. Sometimes there’s a mismatch between the accommodative (focusing) and convergence systems, and you need to practice exercises that focus on increasing flexibility in one vs. the other (i.e. converging while holding focusing constant and vice-versa.) This is a bit more complicated than simply looking at single objects at a close distance and trying to keep them that way. At any rate there is research out there that demonstrates the usefulness of vision therapy for convergence insufficiency, so it is worth a try if this is really bothering you.
As for the prisms, since you don’t automatically see double but instead see it after a certain period of time, I don’t think holding prisms up and asking “does that help” is automatically the way to go. You may have to sit with prisms of the correct orientation and power for a while before you can tell if they help (ideally, they should allow you to read for longer before your vision splits into two.) You might need vertical and horizontal prism if there’s both a vertical and horizontal imbalance.
At any rate, one thing to consider is making an appointment with a local school of optometry (if there is one near you) for a binocular vision evaluation. But seeing your doctor first is definitely the way to go.
Dr. Girlfriend posted:
This is normal. Sometimes floaters change shape, become less noticeable or smaller, more coalesced or clumped together. Generally even if they don’t change shape people become better at “tuning out” the larger and more annoying floaters. You should still mention it to your doctor (again!) the next time you go. If you have an increasing number or new floaters, you should see your doc as soon as possible for a dilated exam.
Thanks for the response. I bought some +2.00 before reading this - lucky guess by me! I do have an area of my glasses that allows me to focus on the monitor, but it requires me to crane my neck.
The real money is in the frames, isn’t it?
This is driving me crazy, and if someone can help, I’d be eternally grateful: I have had myopia and astigmatism all my life, and with advancing age, I’ve also developed presbyopia. I should opt for progressive lenses, but everyone I know with progressive lenses complains about them (peripheral vision is far from perfect, there’s just too much visual information for the brain to cope with comfortably, etc.). So I’ve been trying to make do with just single vision (distance) lenses, and I also have a separate pair of reading glasses.
Now here’s the thing that I just can’t understand: When I tilt my glasses so that the lenses are no longer parallel to my face, but are actually at an angle (specifically, the top part of the glasses are tilted away from my face with the temple pieces being lifted up from my ears toward the top of my head, while the bottom part of the glasses stay in their normal position resting on the top of the cheekbones, so the lenses are pointing toward the ground rather than straight ahead) I can see perfectly, at all distances. No more presbyopia!
I’ve asked both my optometrist and another optician about it, and they both have said that all I’m doing is reducing the strength of my distance prescription, thereby improving my near distance vision and ameliorating the presbyopia. But that can’t be the case because my distance vision remains excellent, in fact it is almost better than when my glasses are in their normal position.
Does anyone have any idea how this is happening, and how I might be able to reproduce this beneficial effect through a proper pair of lenses worn in the normal fashion?
Someone I know was in an arguement with his loved one, and a lamp ended up being thrown beside him. It shattered and he screamed “My eyes!” and everyone present immediately ran him to the bathroom and washed his eyes with a saline solution. When it initially happened they had a red irritated look, but right after flushing them out they were back to nromal, with no irritation whatsoever. Before the washing, during, and after, no glass was ever spotted in his eyes even under a flash light. He slept without any problem, and his eyes are still perfectly clear. Is seeing an optometrist absolutely necessary at this point, or can they wait/ watch closely for a few days until any irritation is felt, symbolizing glass is left. Their parents don’t know about the incident, and they’re both avoiding a doctor’s visit at all costs. Plus, no health insurance. What are your thoughts?
Because of the amount of medical advice sought and given in this thread, I’m going to move it over to IMHO.
twickster, MPSIMS moderator
So, speaking of convergence disorders, my wonderful optometrist did set me up with prism in my reading glasses, which is great, but I still cannot reconcile objects in a microscope, which makes parts of my job difficult (I am a veterinarian). I also cannot sit through a 3-D movie without having to close one eye altogether. Is there any hope for me on either of these issues? Of course, I am going to make an appointment with my own O.D., but thought I’d ask your thinking on the microscope thing–is it possible to correct for convergence disorder enough to allow for binocular vision? Or will I always be doomed to look through a microscope with one eye? And is there any way to correct for convergence disorder with contacts? I hate the feeling of glasses on my nose. I am pretty sure the answer is no, because contacts rotate, but thought I would ask anyway.
Secondly, can optometrists perform slit lamp evaluations? My daughter is being assessed for Wilson’s Disease and is supposed to see an Ophthalmologist for the express purpose of looking for kayser fleischer rings. But since she needs new contacts anyway, if this is something that can be done by her optometrist, I’d just as soon have it done at that time.
I just have to say, since nobody else has said it yet… this thread is perfectly you, Cromulent.
I think they should visit an eye doctor, simply because a foreign body isn’t always obvious. It might be underneath the lid and embedded in the conjunctiva, or in the re-epithelialized (healed-over) cornea. If your friend mentions at the start of the exam that he has no insurance and money is an issue, the doc may be able to charge less for a slit-lamp examp and possible dilation than for a full comprehensive eye exam.
If it’s really bothering you or affecting you professionally, you should look into Vision Therapy. There’s a lot of relatively high-quality evidence out there that Vision Therapy is efficacious for convergence disorders. It sounds like you have some degree of binocularity to begin with, which means there is a better prognosis for visual training. Generally patients attend a session one day a week and are assigned “homework” for 10-15 minutes a day to practice convergence skills.
Optometrists absolutely can perform slit lamp evaluations; I’m teaching the second years how to do this in their Methods lab this semester! (I’m a resident currently, so it’s part of my job.) It’s basically part of every complete eye exam.
Oh, and just to add – contact lenses don’t correct for horizontal prism, so that wouldn’t work.
Thanks! I am happy to know I can just take her to our optometrist and not have to make a special appointment with an ophtho. But if she is eventually diagnosed with Wilson’s Disease, is there any reason she should be followed by an ophtho instead of and optometrist for this?
And incidentally, can you just make 3-D movies go away? I hate them, they are misery for those of us with convergence issues.
Would you ever recommend inter-ocular implants to any of your patients?
Since I was 13 I have been wearing contacts with no problems. At age 23-24 I got thicker contacts for astigmatism. At 26 both my eyes got red and my eye doctor said that my left I was infected and he thought that the tear film could be ripped covering my eyes causing the rejection. After the eye infection cleared up with medicated, prescription drops in the left eye, he recommend Sustaine eye drops, but to stop wearing them if that did work for the red eyes. I ended up on a two year break from contacts since the drops did not prevent my eyes from becoming irritated.
I decided to get a new prescription of them again telling my new optometrist my problems in the past. I got contacts and they worked great for a month before my eyes get red when I put then in for even an hour or two. My eyes feel fine and clear up with in a day if I do not wear contacts, but hurt for the next day or two if I even attempt to wear them for short periods of time.
My eyes feel great when I do not wear contacts. I have no signs of redness, dryness, or allergies.
Do you think I have eyes that have rejected contacts? (Any info would be greatly appreciated!)
Will this affect my ability to get Lasik surgery later on too?
I don’t want to shell out another co pay when I was just at the eye doctor just over 3 months ago. (I was smart and bought a one 3 month box supply for each eye) Currently I am back to glasses only again which is fine. I am just looking for my insight to the 2 questions above especially the first question. Thank you for your time!
Last year, when I went to my optometrist, we decided that I was close to needing reading glasses. My doctor told me “You’ll know when you need them.”
I should have pressed for details. I occasionally strain to read my phone…and every so often I get headaches from reading my computer monitor. I’m guessing that it’s just the progression, and I’m not there yet.
Is there any general advice on what triggers going with bifocals/reading glasses/etc?
-D/a
My eye doc said that in part the move to bifocals is up to the patient - while my eyes were in a place where a lot of people don’t want to bother with bifocals, some do. Basically, I was on the edge of needing them.
Because I was perceiving eyestrain, and perform some close work on the job, I went with bifocals which, in my case, made me a lot more comfortable on a daily basis.
So… if you feel you’re having a lot of eyestrain that might be the time to opt for them.
Hi, great thread - very interesting.
I’ve had amblyopia since I was a kid in the 60s. Back then they tried to strengthen the weaker eye by having me wear a patch over my good eye. Out of curiosity, is that treatment still used?