[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