Three days ago, I got a new eyeglass prescription for the first time in five years. What changed is my astigmatism correction. In my new glasses, I can see about as well as I could with my old ones, but my eyes feel strained. Near the end of the day, I simply have to take them off and close my eyes, it hurts so much. The optician said that it was normal to need a period of adjustment for new glasses, especially for astigmatism. I definitely remember the floor seeming to curve, the last time my prescription changed, but not the eye strain.
Any eye strain stories, about astigmatism? To make me feel better? The lenses are polycarbonate, which I believe bothers some people… maybe me.
Your perscription must have been upgraded , the material of the glasses should not irratate you , as they are fitted so the lenses should be at least an inch from the retina.
It will take a few days to get used to the new perscription , if you still have your old pair , swap them when you are getting strained.
I don’t have astigmatism, but it always takes me a few days to get used to new glasses. There’s a bit of strain for me, and also the periphery of my vision is skewed for a few days until my brain adjusts. One time I went three years without a new perscription (At which point I badly needed it) and only a small area in the centre of my vision was normal. Granted, that’s extreme, but basically, what Declan said–it’s probably just you adjusting to the new lenses. And I second the motion of swapping out with your old pair if you still have them to give your eyes a rest.
My latest pair has the exact same focal length (-5.75 IIRC) as my previous pair. But the Dr changed the base curve (ther are also smaller). Even then it took me a couple of days to get used to them.
What everyone else said. I’ve usually felt silly about it, but have tended, upon exiting optician’s shop with new glass, to put on the “old” ones for any further shopping, crossing of roads etc, and to take a while to become accustomed to them.
Tee hee - bifocals, now - they seem even more odd!
(And this thread reminds me I must have my NEW but cheap and shoddy and broken glasses repaired.)
Maybe not what you’re looking for, but something I found interesting.
A good friend of mine from back home wears glasses. The pair that he wore for years had a missing leg, so they always sat a little crooked on his head. He finally gets a new set of frames and it screws with his vision.
I’ve worn glasses since I was eight. A new prescription does require some adaptation, but it’s not uncommon for the shop to screw up the job. You might have your shop check whether your glasses are actually the correct prescription, including the position of the astigmatism correction (it’s comparable to degrees on a compass), and also have him/her measure whether the lenses are centered properly in relation to the way the frame sits on your face and whether the interpupillary distance is correct. Having any one of these things wrong means that you’re not seeing what you’re supposed to see. If the shop give you a hard time (not a good sign) your doctor can check the same things.
I got glasses to correct blurry distance vision. It’s the smallest prescription available, but it helps me read street signs far enough ahead to make driving a little easier. I also have an astigmatism that the doctor corrected for in the glasses. I put the glasses on and drove home, able to make out details waaay far away. Very cool! The glasses made me feel a little wonky, but I expected that. My wife and I entered our house through the basement and the following conversation took place:
Me: Whoa!
Her: What?
Me: I never noticed it before, but these basement walls are seriously out of plumb!
Her: What are you talking about?
Me: Look! The walls on either side lean out at the top - and that far wall does, too! What crappy workmanship.
Her: No they don’t!
Me: Yes they do, too! Maybe YOU need new glasses!
Her: Take the glasses off and look.
Me: (removes glasses, looks) Well, now they look OK.
Her: See, I told you.
Me: Yeah, but that’s just because my new glasses make it so I can see these things now. I had no idea my vision was so bad. Maybe you should have your eyes checked.
Her: The walls are fine. My eyes are fine. You, on the other hand, are crazy.
Me: Nu uh.
Her: Yeah huh.
Etc, etc, etc.
See, the doctor didn’t mention the astigmatism correction. When I noticed that other things, like light poles and columns, also seemed to be leaning I went back to the doc to have him check the script. He said something like “Oh, didn’t I mention that? That’ll happen for awhile until your brain gets used to interpreting the data differently”.
It took about a week to get accustomed to the glasses. In the mean time I amused myself by sitting in my office chair and staring at the far wall. It made me feel like I was in a tunnel. I nearly killed myself the first time I tried to hit a golf ball with those stupid things on.
The two most difficult transitions for eyeglasses are when you first need astigmatism correction and when you first need bifocals. Before those, I adjusted quickly, but both of those took a long time (bifocals were worse).
glasses repaired.)