Well, the other day I tried a little experiment - I put into my left eye a RGP toric contact lens from before my cataract surgery (+.25 -2.00 x169) and I had no problems! I could barely feel it and I wore it all day. So I wore it for a couple of days and then decided to put the soft contact lens I had from just after surgery (0 -.25 x163) into my right eye. This combination works just great! For reading, I put on my husband's plano readers with +2.00 and I could read just fine. No more vertical imbalance or pupil distance problems! I will see a new optometrist to check the fit and give me new prescriptions. I will obtain a good quality pair of readers.
What I will not do is listen to the optician or doctor anymore (I have no vision insurance, I pay out of pocket, and I don't mind paying for a doctor that will take the time to do it right). I have been refused remakes, been told the problem is my frame and I need to buy new, smaller ones, been refused refunds, and been told there is nothing more that they can do and I don't really need the vision in my left (or right) eye anyway. I am only 53 years and my performance at work has suffered greatly in the past two years and I have not been able to see far enough ahead on the road to drive on the freeway since 1995. By 2003 I could not see far enough ahead to go more than 25 miles an hour. Now I can do both.
The problem as I see it, is that nobody will take the time to fit, measure, and grind PALS properly. My far pupil distance is 32.5/31.5 but I have never had my reading PD measured. I have had the reading add measured for each eye (with my glasses on) and they are different. But to make it easier they change the distance prescription and base curve each time so that the add power can be the same. In the past 4 years, I have had 3 new frames and 4 new sets of lenses, all the same size and in PALS. Lens width, height, bridge width and height off my nose, and segment height of 22. In the first pair, I ordered CR-39, no edge polish, an add of +2.25 and no AR coating and seemed to be fine except the left eye was blurred up more than when I had bifocals or monofocals. These are Essilor Panamic. Since this was the first time that I had had a PAL without a slab-off on the right side, the doctor said not to worry about it. I have some amblyopia in the left eye and my best corrected vision has never been better than 20/35 and still is now. Now the best uncorrected vision in my right eye is 20/10, the best corrected vision is 20/20 and always has been. After that the doctor insisted that I needed polycarbonate, a higher add, and AR. Since he is the doctor, I took his word for it but I insisted on no edge polish. The second pair of lenses are Varilux comfort and they blur up my right eye and the doctor said I needed an add of +3.5 but it can't be done. All of these lenses have a B measurement of 39. The next pair of lenses are Essilor Panamic in polycarbonate with a top-of-the-line Hoya AR with 1 base down in the right and an add of +2.25. These are OK for distance in both eyes but blurry for everything else. The most recent pair of lenses, the doctor insisted on the Gradal Top, polycarbonate, AR, and edge polish. He changed the base curve on the left to 4.25, add of +3.0, and left the segment height at 22. In the right eye, he left the base curve at 5.25, changed the add to +2.5, prism 2 base down, and seg height 24. The vision in my right eye is very blurry at all distances. He will not do a remake or refund. Don't forget that this is the town where the MD sends you to the OD and the OD sends you to the optician and if you make the least noise about the prescription or fit, even if you have tried to be very clear (having needed glasses all my life) about the exact nature of the problem and what you want in the way of adjustment or prescription change. I can live without driving on the freeway or having my left eye corrected to 20/20. I don't think that the rest is too much to ask.
I am not asking for a diagnosis as the MD says that my eyes are healthy except for some very early AMD in the left eye. But these contact lenses and readers work very well and that is what I will stick with for now. If I ever buy another pair of glasses, I will get CR-39, no AR (every pair I have with AR reflects light that is coming from behind me directly into my eyes), no edge polish, and trifocals. I will use one of my current pairs of frames even though two of them have been previously broken by opticians "adjusting" them and then having them suggest I order a backup pair while waiting the 6 weeks it will take to repair them. I go in for exams once a year because I take my sight seriously. BUT I don't think I need 2 or 3 new pair of glasses every year not even to mention the new prescription pair of sunglasses! And you wonder why people turn to the internet after having spent many years trying to be loyal to local "professionals". I'm pretty sure now that I didn't even need cataract surgery in my left eye, he just wanted to get paid for another one. There is no proof that I had one, except for his word, and now the evidence is gone.
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