Optometry sucks

The BBQ Pit
1

I hate optometery, Notice I didn’t say optometrists which I will get to in a minute. Why am I not allowed to see well? My eyes have a very good adaptive ability which screws up all eye tests apparently.

I am damn near blind without contacts. But I have documented 20/5 vision with the right contacts, the problem is finding the right contacts. I happen to know what the right contacts are, -2.25 left eye, -2.50 right eye. But I am not allowed to buy them because they are a prescription item. I have to go to an optometrist every 6 months to let them try their witch doctory on me. They use a machine which is purported to determine eye focusness. This machine however was created by the dying divining rod industry and just shines points a light toward your eye and moves an orange cross around then creates a random number and moves tells the ‘doctor’ what the contact need is. Within the last year my left eye has been registered as perfect to -3.75. My right eye has been recorded as -1.25 to -4.25.

Using this information I am then brought to the next room where the doctor moves the big radial-arm-lenses infront of my eyes. My eyes are able to focus on damn near anything for ten sceonds, especially when used individually. The witch doctors then start using slight-of-hand to cmove things and say that one is better than the other. But nothing is better than any other thing because my eyes can switch focus to make any thing readable. The output of the divining rod machine is then confirmed and I am given a prescription for lenses. I read the numbers and know they are wrong. I try to protest this fact, but am told in a very Homer Simpson voice"the machine says so" I bitch anbd complain, but the foot has been put down, and I walk out with these lenses. My eyes can force focus on them for about 30 seconds, after which a major headache starts developing, After an hour my head pounds like John Henry is having a good day, and I can’t see a damn thing.

I go back the next day, and they pull some little monacle like lenses out of the secret drawer, and hold them in front again asking the ‘better one or two bullshit’ Again my eyes force focus, and they all look clear and I can read anything. They smirk about my complaining that the contacts don’t work, and give me lenses about 1% different saying They will work now, and agian they work for the 30 seconds headache to half hour blindness again.

I don’t blame the optometrist, they are very sincere and believe that the divining rod equipement is good. They have spent many years training to be witch doctors and believe they are helping people. But I know that the whole thing is a sham, none of their damn equipment works worth a shit, it is all just a conspiracy to make me see badly and have a bad headache all the time because I can’t get the contacts I need.

P.S. Seriously if anybody knows a good eye doctor in the Denver area I need one desperatly, because I have wasted over $1000 in the last five years on exams and contacts that don’t work, and now without a job, I can’t waste anymore.

2

I know that optometrists can do anything that an ophthalmologist can do with the exception of surgery. But is it possible that the M.D. might be more willing to listen to your unique situation?

If nothing else, I would find another doctor and tell him what you have said here. I wish you luck and I will check with a friend to see if he knows anyone especially reputable in Denver.

3

I have hard-to-fit eyes myself. Not for contacts, but for glasses. Anyhow…

What you need is someone who will LISTEN to you, not just flip lenses in front of you. An MD/ophthalomoligist MIGHT be more willing to listen… or might not.

I finally found a guy who actually spends the time to fit me with what I need… but he doesn’t deal with insurance so I have to submit claim forms on my own. And he isn’t cheap. But it’s worth it since I have to wear these glasses 16-18 hours a day and I like being able to see correctly.

Do NOT go to the storefront chains if you have something unusual to deal with - they are geared to serve the average person quickly, not spend a lot of time on the problem children.

4

If you know your prescription and it’s stable, could you try ordering your lenses mailorder to circumvent whatever hoops you have to jump through? This site is based in the UK, but appears to deliver internationally on request - the only problem might be contending with UK prices, especially given the present currency shifts.

Hope this helps - sorry if I’ve misunderstood the problem.

5

Rats, ignore me - they need your optician’s contact details. Bah. I thought it seemed too ethically dubious to be true…

6

also, if I’m not mistaken, with the exception of prescribing drugs.

7

Spectre, optometrists in most states can prescribe and dispense drugs from a limited formulary, mainly to treat glaucoma (but only after additional training).

Wolfman, if it takes a few seconds for your vision to stabilize, then you need to wait those few seconds before responding to the ol’ “One or two? One or two?”. If the optometrist tells you to hurry up, tell him that it takes a few seconds for your focus to settle in.

However, given that you’re myopic, this sort of “improvement” shouldn’t be possible. It may be that you’re experiencing accommodative spasm, a sort of cramp in the focusing muscles, and that vision training may help you.

That said, it won’t hurt to find a better optometrist; try to work the yellow pages, and ask to speak to the doctor; see if you can boil your problem down to a sentence or two (without sounding like an idiot - this will turn the doctor against you). I’d suggest a school of optometry, where they like to have unusual cases in the clinic, but I don’t think there is one in Colorado.

Good luck.

8

For many years I was prescribed a mild prescription for glasses. I rarely wore them because they were uncomfortable and I could see quite well without them. But I was on my mom’s insurance plan and I had heard horror stories of people losing their vision by not correcting their eye problems so I kept at it.

Finally I lost the glasses and couldn’t be bothered to get new ones. Just before I outgrew my mom’s insurance I thought it would be wise to see an optometrist and went to one that wasn’t affiliated with an optician. And, guess what? She told me that I had mild astigmitism and mild myopia but didn’t need glasses at all (could pass drivers tests, etc), unless I wanted them.

NONE of the optometrists whose offices were above opticians ever suggested that going without glasses was even an option. Humph.

And my eyesight hasn’t deteriorated at all in the ten years since I last wore glasses.

9

Wolfman I know exactly what you mean. It’s impossible NOT to focus. If they would just let us flip the lenses around ourselves for a while we could figure out which ones we need. But just ask ‘em… “Please, Sir, May I try doing this myself?” Nope. You haven’t had years of schooling. Grrr. Presumably the machine is the midpoint between your guess and the ‘doctors’’, and therefore close enough.

I am years overdue for a new prescription on my glasses. I’m surprised they lasted this long. I dread getting new ones.