OT Vision question...you guys know everything ...

I use distance glasses for driving but in the middle of the dash there is a display that can be switched to a large digital speed readout.

In my case I didn't wear any glasses at all until I was around 40 and was finding it increasingly hard to read and use a computer.

To me it's the eye/btain combination that's amazing. An optical system with 80 dioptres of power, overall, and yet no perceivable chromatic or other aberrations for most of us. The eye lens eventually can't accomodate any longer so needs some help.

Then later still it gets a bit cloudy and the best we can replace it with is a bit of plastic inside the eyeball. That we can replace it at all is even more amazing and also that the optical system you end up with still works quite well. A bit more plastic worn externally seems a small price to pay.

In my case I was referred for NHS treatment which started in July 2019 with the first eye. What I was saying was that then I was able to choose between a one private hospital and a number of NHS ones. I chose the former as it happens to be the closest to where I live.

I once watched a documentary about laser eye (correction) surgery and an interviewer noticed that more than one practitioner was wearing glasses. The obvious question was asked and the answer given was no - they wouldn't have laser eye treatment.

Could this be to do with scar tissue and repeat treatment required when older?

Yup. As we age, every part of the body changes. Your hair falls out. Your skin gets wrinkly. Your muscles get weaker. Bones get brittle.

Pal of mine was an ophthalmologist. He reckoned the natural life span of man was what we now call early middle age. As about then, the man, hunter gatherer, loses the ability to see his prey well and also repair his spears etc in candle (etc) light. And the female stops being able to reproduce.

When I was diagnosed with trigger finger, my GP gave me a list of places to choose from. She recommended the private one as it had shorter waiting times, in her experience.

er.. I was prescribed glasses for reading in my mid 50's twenty or so years back. Most of my work is not close enough for permanent use and I would use a lens for counting screw threads etc. I suspect they also correct for astigmatism although this is not an issue in good light.

As a consequence I never really used them and they hung round my neck as an ornament.

Eventually I began to notice overlapping lit images in poor light. Stars, car illuminated rear number plates etc.

At this my optician became very pushy:-) about driving glasses and we came to a compromise where the distance lens has little impact in good light but works well at night. The lower lens is optimised for reclined TV viewing and I continue using reading glasses for reading and deskwork.

Now the theory... had I had a desk job and needed to wear glasses more or less permanently would my unaided vision be as good as it remains today? Fortunately I have never had symptoms of eyestrain.

Somewhere in there is an optician marketing temptation but no insults intended:-)

You'd be surprised by how many opticians wearing glasses try to sell you contact lenses. ;-)

I don't think laser treatment can deal with spherical distortion - astigmatism. That's probably due to the shape of your skull.

Often better, these days folk as often as not come away not needing their previous distance correction.

This is my problem with it, if you increase by 0.25/0.50 every test, which is relatively normal for short sightedness, it won't be that long before you are uncorrected.

And surely nobody would want to keep having them lasered.

Yes, although I'm guessing that's a matter of luck. When replacing my eye lenses, they did some kind of optical check to see what power my new lenses should have (22 dioptres in my case). Presumably that's just to the nearest dioptre, since anything left over can be corrected with glasses.

But I'm a bit puzzled as to how they measure the required correction, since it's taken through faulty eye lenses that are going to be replaced.

Is the lasering to correct the external shape of the eyeball? The one time I had laser treatemnt was to punch holes in my irises.

My optician has decided to "go private" and wants to charge *from* £8 a month by direct debit for "Advanced Eye Care".

They are taking the piss.

Crikey. Do hope your skull doesn't meet your cornea. ;-)

Pal of mine in his 70s had cataracts removed. And complained he could no longer read without glasses. I said that surely his distance vision was much improved? He said 'so what'. He doesn't drive.

I assure you they *might* not be.

We charge £25 and have for years, we make a loss at that, it's going to have to go up but it's a difficult sell. The NHS pay us £21.31 for an eye exam and the hoops you've to jump through to get/keep an account and the swathes of red tape, I wouldn't be surprised if we see more doing what your optician has.

Bottom line, if the markup on specs wasn't as high as it is, opticians couldn't operate. And while everyone turns into a money saving expert, that's being eroded.

My MIL had hers done in her 80s.

She complained that she could now see the kitchen floor was dirty.

A customer of mine, said that after she had the operation, she though someone had repainted her house door. It was yellow - she had thought it was brown...