I have astigmatism in both eyes and I want to buy a cheap pair of glasses to help with my vision improvement. I was thinking about getting a pair with little or no reduction in sphere and a significant reduction in cylinder, just to focus on correcting the astigmatism for now. Is this a good idea or not so much?
Here's my current prescription:
Code:
Sphere Cylinder
R: -5.50 +3.00
L: -5.50 +2.25
What would you recommend? What should my reduced prescription be?
I am not an eye doctor and your astigmatism correction is pretty high so you probably want to make gradual changes so you don't disoriented yourself. Work with a behavioral optometrist or use an old weaker pair of glasses or just reduce it a little if you're on your own.
I am hesitant to recommend numbers as people react so differently. Someone very nervous might think going from -5.50 to -5.25 was a big disruption! Go with gradual changes if you can't find an older weaker pair to use, and take them off when you can do so safely. This is not a race.
So I ended up dropping by .25 sphere, and by .75/.50 cylinder. The change seems awkward and I get the impression that the two numbers are sort of interdependent, as far as muscle compensation, and I should have gone for a better balance or something. This pair seems not good.
Is there anyone who could give me a rough idea of what might be good? I'm not gonna hold you accountable and say "You made me buy the wrong glasses!" I promise.
Or maybe the ones I got are actually okay and I just need to keep working it?
Be a scientist. Do your original glasses feel too strong? Do the new ones feel too strong, or too weak, or just "awkward" (your word)? Any previous weaker pairs you can experiment with? How does it feel with no glasses at all, and what happens to your visual system when you put glasses on, or take them off? All these are valuable clues to what you need. Yes, it's possible you haven't given the new weaker glasses enough time, and it's also possible that they're still too strong. Only you (or an eye doctor) can say. Keep investigating, indoors and outdoors, at different distances.
Quote:Is it a bad sign if my eyeball hurts when I wear the reduced ones? It's not a dry or stinging feeling, but a deeper ache.
I don't know. It's possible this ache was always there before but your other straining masked it. I've found as my vision improves and especially as I got out of glasses, my eyes became much more sensitive to any mistreatment. It's also possible the glasses are not suitable for you (yes I know no glasses are really good for you), too strong in either the sphere or cylinder. Again, I can't say.
If you do go to an eye doctor, depending on his training, he might tell you to wear your glasses all the time or you'll ruin your eyes. He might even try to scare or intimidate you -- don't buy into this. People have gone to several different eye doctors and gotten a different prescription at every one, and we know vision varies depending on the conditions and emotional state, so take what he tells you, whatever it is, only as one doctor's opinion, not as gospel.
If this were me I'd spend some time exploring my vision without glasses, the blur, the colors and outlines and depth and what I CAN see, the relaxation, any tension I notice. Then put the glasses on and see what feels different. Try this with your old and new pair, and see what you learn. These are your eyes to take care of and learn about. To an eye doctor you're just one more patient he may forget as soon as you walk out of the office.
