Any Optometrists Here?

[bountyhunter]

I would like to know: is there any way to get vision power corrected DEAD ON, and not just using the 1/4 diopter step increments?

This is really bugging me. My opto says this scrip is as good as he can get it (2.25 left, 2.75 right) , but my right eye is a shade over corrected and my left eye is a shade under corrected.

because of this, when I look at green lights or arrows, my right eye sees a sharp image and my left eye sees the light "flared". On red arrows, the reverse occurs. In general daylight vision, it looks pretty good except I do notice my left eye is a bit fuzzy on long range image compared to the right which is dead sharp.

It bugs me, why can't they correct the power to exactly the right amount?

When I shoot, I use both eyes nearly all the time and having "one over and one under" is bugging me. But the next 0.25 step up in power for my left eye would be too over corrected.

Can optomotrists "dial in" power and then let me have glasses made to the exact power I need?

I remember an optometrists once who rigged up some contraption with dials on it that I put on and told me to twiddle the dials until I could see best. Then she recorded some readings off it and wrote me up. I recall I could see pretty well after that one.

Any way to get this?

[XRe]

I suspect this is a money thing. A lens could be ground to any specifications, if you had the cash to do it. The quarter diopter thing is a standardized manufacturing process the whole industry uses, so...

I'm looking for the best option for correction, myself. Soft lenses are comfortable, and stay that way pretty well in the dust and pollen here in CenTX, but they're not the most sharp thing in the world. Buying prescription Oakley lenses or whatever is awful expensive... Hmmmm....

[bountyhunter]

I suspect this is a money thing. A lens could be ground to any specifications, if you had the cash to do it.

I wondered: are plastic lenses "ground" to spec or just molded in standard increments? If they are actually ground, I'd say it would be no more expensive to dial the machine off a shade. If they have to make a custom mold.... obviously, that is big $$$$.

[XRe]

I believe they grind them, or otherwise shape them - they have to match the center of your eye and all that, as well. Though, perhaps they have standardized blanks for that, now, too...

I was more thinking that the machinery is set up to produce quarter diopter variations, and it'd take either a different piece of machinery, or someone knowing how to program it, to produce in between settings. That's just a total WAG, though, so...

I think forum member eric nielsen works in the optometry field, or at least did at one point...

[spd522]

How old are you? Eyes deteriorate with age and lose the ability to focus, no matter the prescription of the lens.

I started wearing glasses in 1965 at age 11, went to soft contacs in 1979, reading glasses with my contacs and bifocals in 1999, and LASIK in 2005. Before LASIK, I couldn't even see the Big "E" on the chart without glasses or contacs.

Right now I have 20/20 in my right eye and 20/30 in the left. The left could be corrected some more but that added nearsightedness helps my close vision. I can read and even thread a #8 hook with 2# mono without glasses now so I am not going to mess with it.

It still isn't perfect as I have times my vision is better than other times. But again, it is an aging thing, according to all the Drs. I have been to. They said until medicine discovers a way to stop or reverse aging, the eyes will just be that way.

[eric nielsen]

The lenses come out of the box too big - like 70mm wide, circular, about 10-12mm thick.

Almost every prescription get cut, ground, and polished into the backside of the lens - the side near your eye. Any fancy stuff like bifocals or Varilux progressive-adds are molded into the front side. Then they are hard-coated front & back, then cut ["edged"] to fit your frames which are traced by computer and edged by computer control. Then put in frames, then you get your glasses.

Normally yes, the industry calls 1/4-diopter "close enough" but the optician can easily CONFIRM each lens to the nearest 1/10th or 1/20th; the meters spit out numbers to .01 diopter [d = sphere power].

The question is whether a lens lab has the grinding/polishing tools [the only difference is the one-time-use abrasive pad stuck to the tool] to set you up lenses at say 2.35 left and 2.60 right. There are in-between 1/12th power tools AVAILABLE but whether a lens lab spends the money for them is another guess.

Advice I got from co-workers is this:

Go back to the eye doctor & tell him your problem. He should recheck your eyes & verify your prescription for FREE and he should check the glasses and verify they were made to his prescription.

Common errors in making the glasses:

--Edged and put in the frames at the wrong Puplilary Distance - this means 1 or both your pupils is looking out the wrong portion of the lens. The worst version of this is:

--Left lens made to right eye prescription and vice-versa.

--Lenses & frames need to be tilted up or down-angle to match your face and eyes. The frames index off your nose and ears and everyone's are different.

The last one is easily fixed & should be caught at the docter's office the FIRST time.

If all that is verified & you still don't like your glasses then at that time you could ask for an "in-between" prescription & new lenses. What might suck is if your health plan makes you wait till next year [usually Jan. 1st] to get new lenses at a normal co-pay.

Edited April 12, 2006 by eric nielsen

[bountyhunter]

The lenses come out of the box too big - like 70mm wide, circular, about 10-12mm thick.

Almost every prescription get cut, ground, and polished into the backside of the lens - the side near your eye. Any fancy stuff like bifocals or Varilux progressive-adds are molded into the front side. Then they are hard-coated front & back, then cut ["edged"] to fit your frames which are traced by computer and edged by computer control. Then put in frames, then you get your glasses.

Normally yes, the industry calls 1/4-diopter "close enough" but the optician can easily CONFIRM each lens to the nearest 1/10th or 1/20th; the meters spit out numbers to .01 diopter [d = sphere power].

The question is whether a lens lab has the grinding/polishing tools [the only difference is the one-time-use abrasive pad stuck to the tool] to set you up lenses at say 2.35 left and 2.60 right. There are in-between 1/12th power tools AVAILABLE but whether a lens lab spends the money for them is another guess.

Advice I got from co-workers is this:

Go back to the eye doctor & tell him your problem. He should recheck your eyes & verify your prescription for FREE and he should check the glasses and verify they were made to his prescription.

Common errors in making the glasses:

--Edged and put in the frames at the wrong Puplilary Distance - this means 1 or both your pupils is looking out the wrong portion of the lens. The worst version of this is:

--Left lens made to right eye prescription and vice-versa.

--Lenses & frames need to be tilted up or down-angle to match your face and eyes. The frames index off your nose and ears and everyone's are different.

The last one is easily fixed & should be caught at the docter's office the FIRST time.

If all that is verified & you still don't like your glasses then at that time you could ask for an "in-between" prescription & new lenses. What might suck is if your health plan makes you wait till next year [usually Jan. 1st] to get new lenses at a normal co-pay.

Thanks for the info. I did go back and make the guy recheck my eye and he did have the power too weak (cranked it up 0.25). It's better, still not quite on. The next power up is a bit too much. Verfied by the red/green field tests.

He checked the glasses and they were made to his scrip.... which he got wrong. He wrote me a new one and the glasses place did put in a new left lense. I can see pretty good, but the left eye is still a bit fuzzy at distance.

BTW, I'm 53 so some of the distortion could be due to the build up of dinosaur scales on my pupils.

I wanted to know if there is some sort of contraption with a vernier you can put on that lets you dial it in until you see "best" and then he could read the numbers through that.