Need glasses .... No..... !!!!!

[Ian Robinson]

I finally bowed to pressure from my wife and my mum and had my eyes tested .

I'm 52 and have been needing a magnifying glass for close stuff and reading fine print in bad light (inside) for a few years now.

I have been told by the optomitrist that my eyes are pretty good except they need held for reading. Nothing for it but to get a pair of reading glasses .... OPSM have a deal , one pair for $100.

I guess it's a sign that I'm getting old and warng out.

[matt]

Nahhhhh.........

Little kids wear reading glasses too:D

[Octane]

Thanks for telling us.

[GTB_an_Owl]

are both eyes the same Ian ?

if so you might get away with a visit to the $2 shop (well you will probably pay about $5 a pair - in a case if your lucky)

try several different strengths to see what is best for you

think they start at about 1.5 then go up in .5 increments
ie: 1.5, 2.0, 2.5, 3.0,3.5 etc

i,m on about a 3 now

that $100 your paying out is for the frames

geoff

[mswhin63]

I understand how you feel, I was the last person in the family to get glasses, thought i was gonna last a while. Unfortunately 2 years ago took the plunge and got the first pair, never looked back.

Has made a big differentce, less headaches.

Only problems not being able to use generic eyepieces.

[Ian Robinson]

I've got a copy of the script (in the car , it's bucketing down here rignt now so it's staying put).

Not sure if each eye is the same , will check tomorrow.

The $100 is ONE SET of COMPLETE glasses with metal frame.

There's a place in Hamilton that I drove past on the way to Newcastle and Nobbys that does a set of glasses for $78 , if only I'd known before I bought mine.

[Davros]

Or you could have my luck, 36 years old with dual vision lenses, astigmatism in both eyes and posterior vitreous detachment. :sadeyes::sadeyes:

[Lismore Bloke]

Once you start using glasses, you will probably go through several stages of increasing strength until it starts to settle down. I started on +1 and am now on +3. I am sure the eye tries to compensate for the presence of the lens.

[Dunx.]

Or you could then have my luck. Born with cataracts and had to have surgery at 2 years old to have intraocular lenses implanted to replace my uselss lenses. Never gone a day with anywhere near perfect vision in my life - And unless something major comes through for man made lenses, I never will :(

[Ric]

Don't worry to much Ian, I just got my first pair of reading glasses a few weeks back. I've got the same problem I'm blind as a bat on the small print but now my starcharts look fantastic.

I was hoping to get to 50 before I needed them but I missed out by about 8 months.

Cheers

[Fossil]

I wear glasses for reading (about 2.0x) and I am still trying to work out whether I should wear them to look through my telescope or not... (I have heard that you should use the telescope to focus and don't need the glasses).

[snowyskiesau]

I've had glasses for the last 5 years or so and have found my prescription has changed quite a bit. (Checkup every 2 years or so)

First pair were for medium/long distance, no problems with reading.
Next pair were for close distance i.e. reading only, the long distance problem was no longer present.
Current pair is back to long distance. Not unusual according to the optometrist.

[kinetic]

Can I just make a point about the $2.00 glasses from
the cheapie shops?

I have got the 40+ decline but it has affected both distance and
reading simultaneously.

I got by for a few years without any glasses. The denial stage.
Then I used the $2.00 glasses for a few years more (reading only).
I got to know my diopter of correction needed.

Then I bit the bullet and got my first prescription and test.

Putting your first professionally made subscription lenses on
for the first time was like a breath of fresh air.
The $2.00 ones come close, but they don't correct for all
deficiencies like astigmatism. Both eyes will have different deficiencies
as well.

Try the star test....put on your cheapies and compare the flaring
around a star with the flaring (or complete lack of it) with your
corrected prescription glasses.

I used to think the $2.00 glasses would get me by and thought
like a lot of similar people.
But your eyes deserve better. I know it costs a bit. So what.

FWIW here is a thread I started a while back about this topic.
http://www.iceinspace.com.au/forum/showthread.php?t=34789&highlight=prescription+glasses
Many great suggestions from John Bambury and others.

Steve

[Waxing_Gibbous]

My eyes, perfect from day one, have in the last six months started letting me down. Its only with small print and only in dim light but its particularly noticible if I've been driving. My Optometrist says I need reading glasses so I may have to succumb.
I was wondering though...whatever happend to contact lenses. I realise specs are quite fashionable, but I would think cantacts would be much more convenient for viewing. Anyone with personal experience care to comment.
Much obliged,
Pete

[ngcles]

Hi Ian, Geoff, Steve & All,

I'm in a similar boat here (aged 47), though I'm better off than most. I get my eyes checked about every 12 months to 2 years. Its free (bulk-billed) and only takes a 1/2 hr so why not.

About 2 years ago I bought a cheap pair of reading glasses (+1.0) at the local garage only because I had problems reading small, low-contrast print in poor light. I could (and still can) read fine print without a problem in good light and have no distance-vision problems at all. I rarely used then -- in fact they were almost exclusively used reading a lap-top screen (Megastar chart) in the dark.

Then I ran into a problem I first noticed about 9 months ago. It only manifested itself in evening and night. I was seeing a faint, ghost image of the Moon that was about 95% superimposed over the real moon. It was most noticable when the Moon was crescent.

When it happened I also started to notice (only because I started looking) that I was also seeing a faint, mostly superimposed ghost on nearly all bright objects with a very dark high-contrast background (like a dark sky). The ghost rotated when I rotated my head and (with head up) was always above the real image. I was also getting slightly funny naked-eye bright star images with a strong spike above the star itself.

Day vision was completely (apparently) unaffected. This effect was binocular (both eyes) but also slightly intermittent -- most times it was there but sometimes not. But why would it come and go?

Off to the optometrist I went and she checked my eyes and pronounced them 20/20. I explained the problem, she said come back next week if it persisted and she looked again -- again 20/20 both. IN fact she said for my age I was in the top 3% of the population. I asked her to do an astigmatism check again and she said it was fine -- not a trace.

After further discussion she explained what I was seeing was due to (my age and) eye-strain. If I had spent more than an hour during the day either reading books or using a computer (close vision) it was producing tired muscles that couldn't pull the cornea the right way for infinity vision at night. The problem was exacerbated by the fact that at night, the iris is wide open so the effect was more apparent. Her solution was -- reading glasses. Whenever I read a book or use the P.C -- put the glasses on. Even if the light is pretty good and you can read without them -- put then on.

I told her (sheepishly) I already had some -- and produced them. She said (and very honestly I thought) that while she could make me a pair of +1.0's for $150, they were unlikely to produce a better result than the $10- pair I already had because my eyes were identical anyway. The most important thing is to make sure you wear them all the time you read or use the P.C. Don't wear them otherwise -- only when reading and close-work. Don't use a higher perscription than you need (just to make print super-sized).

A month later after following the advice with religious fervour, perfect star images every night -- no ghosts at all. I tested the theory one afternoon and spent 2 hrs on the laptop without glasses then went outside -- bango! naked-eye ghost image of the moon straight away. I never use the laptop or read without them now.

Perfect vision all thanks to my service-station reading-glasses. I'd encourage everyone to get their eyes checked regularly and follow their optometrist's advice.


Best,

Les D

[GeoffW1]

Hi,

There are a few internet eyeglass dispensing sites too, operating as Australian businesses. Quite good value. You copy your prescription into an on-screen form.

I have had now 4 or 5 pairs of these, all satisfactory.

Cheers

[GTB_an_Owl]

the reason i picked up on the $2 glasses trick was related to a visit i had to make to an eye surgeon in Gosford to have a bit of grinder wheel grit removed from one of my eyes
his resident nurse/optometrist was cleaning and checking my eyes before the surgeon did his bit and i was relating to her how it was time i had my eyes checked again

she remarked that both my eyes were the same and in reasonable nick, all i needed was magnification for reading
"don't go to the optician and pay hundreds of dollars for frames" she said
"go to the $2 shop or garage and try a few pair on. if you find a pair that are comfortable and the right magnification, thats all you need"

good advice i thought

geoff

[ChrisRS]

An interesting thread, and a sad reminder that we all start to fall apart with age.
On the contact lens issue, I have been wearing them for 30+ years to correct my short sight, and while I can read just fine without the contacts in, with them in I need reading glassess too:eyepop:
I now juggle with the reading glasses on to look at the atlas, and with reading glasses off to look through the binos (my new scope hasn't arrived yet :sadeyes:, but that is a different story).
Just don't do what I did 2 weeks ago - while skywatching on a windy night, my specs flicked off the atlas, unbeknown to yours truly, and I trod on them - ouch in both foot and wallet.
My Optomotrist also told me that men tend to have a vision problem as they get older, as the light dims - certainly true for me.

[TrevorW]

I had 20/20 vision when i was born now I'm blind as a bat

age sucks

[mswhin63]

All my eyepieces are short eye relief and was having a hard time getting pinpoint sharpness, always thought the generic lenses were deficient.

I then tried a long eye relief lens Siebert without and found the same problem.I went to the car to get my reading glasses and for the first time saw pinpoint stars through the same lense.

Now i am ordering new lenses so that I can wear my glasses.