Contacts vs Glasses

I have worn contacts for 20 years. When on the computer I slip on a set of 1.5 or 1.75 diopter readers. Recently I had the eye doc give me two prescriptions one for contacts the other for bifocals. I did this thinking I could give my eyes a break once in a while, as I where my contacts 30+ days, take them out and install new ones. I only take them out for a few minutes if they get folded or have some other problem. The glasses are not working well. First, the bifocal is to low and I can't get my head high enough or my eyes low enough to make them work. Raising my glasses up about 5.5mm (3/16 to 1/4 in) solves that problem. The glasses work good for distance, but closer than 30 inches and things are just starting to go out of focus. I can see the computer better with my glasses than contacts, but not quite good enough, usable but could be better. I'm finding I'm setting right at 30 inches from the computer monitor. This first excursion into bifocals seems to be a failure. Your thoughts on the subject?

Mikek

Zenni Purchase.

Reply to
amdx
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My eyes are (by design) 10" and 22" FL. That works fine for reading, computers, and for general walking around. I could drive too, but I wouldn't pass the official vision test for driving. I only wear glasses for driving and skiing.

(I don't watch TV.)

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John Larkin         Highland Technology, Inc 

lunatic fringe electronics
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Reply to
John Larkin

Am 18.04.2018 um 15:12 schrieb amdx:

I use now varifocal glasses, but I'm not completely satisfied.

For driving I use fixed glasses tuned for infinity, but it is hard to see the controls then. Luckily, my car has a headup display, speed and navigation hints seem to float 3 meters in front of the car on the street. No constant refocussing. Love it!

On the motorbike I now use sometimes bifocal lenses. That works surprisingly good, given that you actually see 2 pictures over each other, and the brain just takes what it likes and ignores the rest. In the dark it works slightly worse, probably because of the 3 dB effective light loss and the completely open iris.

One cannot change the glasses easily because of the helmet, and if I need the map on the tank bag, that's hard to read.

regards, Gerhard

Reply to
Gerhard Hoffmann

If you want to play around with bifocals to see what does and doesn't work /for you/, you can get stick-on half-moon shaped plastic lenses. The stickyness is merely water and molecular adhesion.

Optx is one manufacturer.

Reply to
Tom Gardner

So when you had eye surgery that's what you ask for?

Had a talk with the doc about people before the invention of glasses, she said the joke at one seminar was, "Who did the cave paintings" The near sighted people. Mikek

Reply to
amdx

Good idea. Thanks, Mikek

Reply to
amdx

Get your cataracts replaced ;-) ...Jim Thompson

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| James E.Thompson                                 |    mens     | 
| Analog Innovations                               |     et      | 
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Reply to
Jim Thompson

I've worn progressive lens for probably 20 years now. I've had to learn the head movements. One thing I found is when I would go for new glasses the person measuring my eyes would always shove the frames up on my face and measure. Now I make sure the frames are more in a position they will be in my normal day to day usage before they take the measurements.

Lens size makes a difference for me. I try and keep the same basic lens shape when I get new glasses.

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Chisolm 
Republic of Texas
Reply to
Joe Chisolm

Yes. Plastic lenses, cataract surgery.

You could do the same with glasses, skew the focal lengths to broaden your working range. It really works well; your brain makes it work somehow.

I got a trial lens set and experimented, and do my own prescription for the distance glasses. The optometrists never get it right.

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John Larkin         Highland Technology, Inc 

lunatic fringe electronics
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Reply to
John Larkin

The glasses are not working well. First, the bifocal is to low and I can't get my head high enough or my eyes low enough to make them work. Raising my glasses up about 5.5mm (3/16 to 1/4 in) solves that problem.

Your thoughts on the subject?

Mikek

Zenni Purchase. ==============================================================

One weakness with Zenni is that they give you no options for the bifocal placement. If you go to an optician to be fitted for bifocals they will adjust the location of the top to be wherever you want it (okay, they try to put it a mm or two below your pupil center when you are looking horizontally off into the distance but you can work with a good one) and they can vary the width of the bifocal to match the size of your lenses and your peripheral vision. Of course, then you have to pay for their glasses :-). With Zenni you take what they give you for width and position and just have to do the best you can by adjusting how high up your glasses sit on your nose to get the height you need. I guess I'm lucky because I have no problems with how Zenni does it, but it really is just luck.

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Regards, 
Carl Ijames
Reply to
Carl Ijames

Ya, the doc has been saying for several years, you're not there yet,

4 or 5 more years. I always thought he was waiting until, I get on medicare. I'm not there yet. Mikek
Reply to
amdx

I'd like to hear more about that. I've been thinking about getting contacts for distance and astigmatism, then using readers for closeup stuff. My EX had hard contacts 40 years ago. She took them out for a nap. Technology has changed a lot since then. I'm still concerned about leaving contacts in for a month at a time. Your statement about "giving my eyes a break" suggests that there are issues. Any inputs on good or bad vendors in this respect? Any keywords to embrace or avoid when talking to vendors?

I wear progressive lenses when I leave the house, but the sweet spot is so narrow that I can't use 'em comfortably up close. And the PD has to be PRECISE if I want to use both eyes. Kaiser Permanente has never made me a set with the proper PD, they always have to remake 'em at least once. Costco wasn't any better. The "real" optical places $750 starting price tag has been a deterrent.

I asked the opthalmolagist about progressives over contacts. Will it widen the sweet spot (channel)? She said no, but not convincingly. I get the impression that opthalmolagists and opticians don't speak to one another...and are constrained to one vendor. And they seem a lot more interested in sales than optics.

They make progressive contacts. Any experiences with that? My progressive glasses work because I can look thru different parts of the lens. If the contact is fixed on the eyeball, how can that work?

I recently acquired bifocals. I have near set for reading and far set for 40 inches for watching TV. I have mechanical problems like yours, but I also have brain problems. With progressives, my brain has learned to turn my head to achieve focus. Problem with the bifocals is that I'm often in between the two. Moving my head from too close to too far doesn't achieve focus and my brain hurts. It's been 2 months and it's a little better, but not what I'd call acceptable. I revert to single vision glasses in cases where I'm working mostly between the two extremes.

Reply to
mike

That's what he's waiting for... then it's free ;-) ...Jim Thompson

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| James E.Thompson                                 |    mens     | 
| Analog Innovations                               |     et      | 
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Reply to
Jim Thompson

I use 1 day lenses and sleep without them.

Correcting astigmatism with contact lenses is hard to do because the lens must not rotate on the eye. Not easy when the lens essentially swims on a tear film. They say it can be made with unequal wight etc, but that is just another complication that results in cost and error potential.

I also used that 40 year ago. Falling asleep with hard contacts can be a serious problem.

cheers, Gerhard

Reply to
Gerhard Hoffmann

How did they know what the animals looked like?

Reply to
Clifford Heath

eak

to low and I

.

and

le

the

the normal sighted caught some and showed them close up ;)

I've heard the joke that the gene for being ear sighted survived because the nearsighted men stay home "protecting" the women while the other went h unting

Reply to
Lasse Langwadt Christensen

I have "computer" (progressive) bifocals set up for computer work, in addition to my normal glasses.

My "computer" glasses are Zenni.

Reply to
krw

I'll ask my doc? :-) Mikek

Reply to
amdx

No, then those young punks pay for it! Hey wait a minute, I'm one of those young punks. Free, is when the working 50% pay for it. Mikek

Reply to
amdx

Twenty years ago when I first got my contacts, I was sitting with a young lady that already wore contacts, the jist of that conversation, was she wore her contacts much longer than recommended. I liked her advice. :-) Only recently have a had any discomfort, but when I do it is because there is a problem, usually, an edge gets folded. I take it out and reinstall, for the fix. But this is happening more and more, my doc suggested I probably don't have as much lubrication on my eyeballs as I used to. The break is not really to correct anything, just getting older, and dryer (?) I'm probably more susceptible to getting an eye infection. Without my contacts, I'm very uncomfortable, that's why I got the glasses, now I can got a day without contacts and still see the world. Without some lens, I can't see a clock, TV is difficult, no computer, no reading, etc. The contacts are magic! My doc recommends the contacts lens type, somewhat based on my lenghthy use. There are dailys you use one day and through out. Not for my, I don't want to put then in everyday.

I tried a set that I was supposed to be able to see the world and read my computer, but the computer part didn't have quite enough correction.

Got me! How does your brain merge two signals that overlap?

I have a eye/brain problem also, as a kid from 5 to 10 yrs old I wore glasses to correct Amblyopia (lazy eye). That eye can only be corrected to 20/30, but it has other hard to describe vision difficulties. I can read the computer but with great difficulty and strain. I once took a vision driving test, I read the right eye just fine and then she switched to the left eye, I said I don't see anything. She said it's there, I closed my right eye and then I saw it. I do see to my left, but in that instance I was all right eyed. In the morning the house is dark and I'm staring at the computer screen, closing down my pupils, then when I get up to get my coffee, my right eye is slow to let the light back in, but my left eye will see much better until my right eye dilates again. Don't know if the left eye isn't closing down or if it dilates faster. I have a hint though, through the years, if I'm outdoors and it's bright I will close my left eye. ( maybe my pupil doesn't close as much as my right eye. I'll run this by the eye doc next time I'm there, maybe have him check that.

btw, Why did they fire the cross eyed kindergarten teacher?

She couldn't control her pupils!

Reply to
amdx

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