OT: Is eye strain like arc-eye? (update)

[T i m]

Hi All,

Well, I went to the opticians today as promised and the results are as follows ...

No obvious issues re viruses / infections etc No damage (other than old scar tissue from wet macular distortion of a few years back on left eye). No immediate signs of glaucoma (the assistant that did the test said she wasn't qualified to interpret the results but at the end said it 'all looks ok'. I guess the optician would have said something if there was any sign?

Optical tests ..

R SPH +1.00 Near-ADD: +1.75

L SPH +0.75 CYL -0.50 AXIS 25 Near-ADD +1.75

Suggestions re the discomfort / watering. Ready specs were only 1.75 and could do to be 2.5 (now) and the prescription for my left eye was different for my right so prescription glasses were recommended. in any case.

Also (as mentioned in a couple of the answers to my first post) that I might need to blink more when using the PC. (maybe I might not with slightly stronger reading glasses?).

So, thanks again to all who offered advice (if nothing else it got me off my ass) and if anyone would like to translate the numbers above generally and how they compare to a 'typical' 50 year old man I would be interested. ;-)

All the best ..

T i m

[Doki]

Get a retinal photo? (Not an optician so I'm unsure as to how useful these are)...

[Bob Eager]

I know two or three things I've seen on mine. Squiggly blood vessels generally mean high blood pressure. I had unusually thick blood vessels feeding the tumour. And excess sub-retinal fluid means probably something nasty.

I'm not an optician either but that's what the consultant told me!

[Grumps]

Or two pairs of ready-specs split and joined together (if the lenses aren't removable).

[T i m]

It had crossed my mind!

And / or I could go for the retro held_together_with_elastoplast look! ;-)

All the best ..

T i m

[nightjar]

He has half a dioptre of cylindrical correction, which ready-specs won't have. That is enough to be noticeable.

Colin Bignell

[R D S]

"nightjar .uk.com>"

Hardly, for close work.

[R D S]

No, you need to blink! The more you do it consciously at first, the more you will do it automatically in the future.

You are a tiny bit long sighted with a slight astigmatism. You may get away without needing distance glasses for a few years yet. You are doing great, keep up the good work.

[T i m]

Ok .. I guess there's a fine line between 'blinking' enough and having a twitch though! ;-)

Could you explain that please?

I mean when I told the optician I though I needed glasses he took me outside, pointed at the Sun and asked of I could see it. When I said yes he said "well that's 93 million miles away, how much further do you want to see?" (sorry) ;-)

I thought I could see ok from x to infinity and (now) needed glasses to see from 'close' to x ?

Ok (phew). Not sure I'd feel so comfortable riding a motorcycle with glasses (though many people do of course .. and I mean me wearing the glasses not the motorcycle .. ) ;-)

Cheers .. ;-)

All the best ..

T i m

[R D S]

If you are short sighted you need specs, end of.

If you are long sighted the lens in your eye isn't quite strong enough to focus an image on your retina but you can focus by exerting the same type of effort that helps you see close up, you 'zoom in' by changing the shape of the lens in the front of the eye (behind the cornea) to a more convex shape. The amount of zooming effort that can be exerted reduces with age (the lens hardens) so as you age you need stronger reading glasses, likewise if you are very long sighted and ageing, you need specs for distance as well.

You are not very long sighted and your eye has some zoom left in it so you sort your long sightedness without noticing.

Did that make sense? I have had some of my medicine.

[nightjar]

A half dioptre change in prescription is the point at which I fork out around £700 for a couple of pairs of new glasses, because I find it noticeable. However, perhaps that is because I have lived most of my life with fully corrected vision and anything less is more obvious to me.

Colin Bignell

[T i m]

Accepted.

Nice. Clever innit ;-)

Yep, perfectly clear (well, right eye anyway) thanks. ;-)

Me too, only one can though.

All the best ..

T i m

[T i m]

700 notes ..

Well, sorta the same here in that I've had good (unassisted) vision up to now.

700 quid .... ;-(

All the best ..

T i m

[djc]

Well my left (damaged, with artificial lens following cataract op) eye requires +0.75 correction for distance, the right eye (the original and always was the best) is -0.25. The near addition is +1.75 (age 52) That is good for reading but for computer work I found that too strong.

[nightjar]

The NHS do contribute - the latest table I can find says I get £12.10, which is more than I thought.

I have complex lenses, which means that they go over 10 dioptres correction. The problem is that ordinary lenses get heavy at that sort of thickness and that makes the glasses slide down my nose, which changes my focus - sliding my distance glasses slightly down my nose is much quicker that getting out reading glasses. Therefore, I go for small frames and high refractive index lenses. to keep the weight down. High refractive index lenses are expensive, which means, if I spend around £60 on a frame, which the ones I like usually seem to come out at, the glasses will end up at around £350 a pair and, with my level of correction, you can't have just one good pair. I usually get one pair photochromic, which were 1.68 RI plastic last time, and one pair totally clear, which I use when driving at night, which are 1.9 RI glass. The way my vision changes, I can normally use a pair from a few years earlier as computer screen glasses, so I can avoid buying those.

Colin Bignell

[T i m]

Is a right 'lead eye' more common do you know?

So is that the same as the 1.75 Ready Specs I'm wearing now?

All the best ..

T i m

[T i m]

Handy?

Sounds like the Missus ones ..

I think she goes for the 'thin' ones more for vanity than weight.

I do similar with these Ready Specs when using the GPS in the car (but the other way round as such).

Ok ..

I was thinking about photo chromatic .. are they 'good' these days (response times etc)?

That's one saving grace at least then?

All the best ..

T i m

[Frank Erskine]

My left eye is the dominant one.

[T i m]

That's 2-1 to the righty's so far then Frank. ;-)

All the best ..

T i m

[Andy Hall]

I wonder if it's like dress to the left or to the right as in trousers....