In the last five years I have had three different sets of PALs and it is a struggle often times to even do my job with the lenses I have been fitted with. My Rx is very high and am having great difficulty trying to find PALs that really work.
This forum has the only substance of any optical forum I have run across, and so am hoping someone can shed some light on this situation.


OD: –12, Cyl. +1.00, Axis 77, Add +2.25
OS: –13, Cyl. +0.075, Axis 80, Add +2.25


The pair I am currently working on have been the most challenging. It has been months now and two re-makes and I still do not have good computer vision or near vision. The office initially put me in the Zeiss Individual 2N (near) even though the intermediate distance is always my biggest struggle. I am normally the sort that perseveres in general, but the vision with these was so far off, I could no longer wear them after three days. They re-adjusted Seg Ht and re-made. Again these were nearly unusable. Distance vision would come into focus when viewed through the bottom third of the lens. This is not a mis-print: bottom third. Computer reading was passable if the bottom millimeter of the lens was used. Near distance viewing was nonexistent.


The office is really trying to make something work. They did a complete re-exam and re-made lenses; this time in a Varilux fixed digital. These have been better, but still I often find text in magazines or computers that is simply not readable. After 3 weeks, distance vision is best viewed through an area below the mid-height of the lens. Vision with these in general is not as good as another pair of PALs that are 2 ½ yrs old.


Advertisements from the lens manufacturers suggest that a wide “T” shape view will be realized with their product. In contrast, I have very limited peripheral vision, even for distance viewing. Computer distances must be viewed straight on; any movement off of center progressively degrades the view.


The impressions I am getting to are that: a) something is out of line with the current pair, perhaps in the fitting?, and 2) even with a “perfect” pair, -12 / -13 diopter is perhaps beyond what PALs can effectively cover. Any thoughts would be greatly appreciated.