Progress on the progressives.
Jun. 27th, 2012 12:51 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
rose_catHere’s an update on my new glasses, along with some other stuff.
After I’d submitted the previous post on this subject, I began to feel progressively worse (no pun intended) about them, especially after I got up from the computer and walked away. My eyes just didn’t seem to be focusing well together, the head positions felt ridiculous, and I was mildly nauseous, even a little unsteady at times, whenever I was walking around.
It was 3 AM by then (yes, my sleep schedule is still screwed up) and I just couldn’t stand the uncomfortable fit of the frames anymore. I’d been putting off, and putting off, going back to get them readjusted. I didn’t really want to go back to the place where I’d gotten them, mostly because I’d come out of there feeling more than a little intimidated, and rather stupid. I’d thought of trying to adjust them myself, but was afraid I might damage them, and I didn’t want to take them to my old place, either; I felt bad about not having paid them to have the glasses made in the first place.
So, I heated some water in the microwave to soak the earpieces (or temples, as I’ve since learned they’re called) to make them easier to reshape. But when I took the new glasses off to work on them and put the old ones back on so that I could see what I was doing, not only did the pain – I hadn’t realized how bad it really was – evaporate, but I actually felt like I could see better. I wondered if I was seeing things (no pun intended here, either). What the hell was wrong with me, that I couldn’t even start to deal with this?
At this point I was feeling seriously depressed. And then the computer beeped.
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mrs_tribble had commented, asking if I meant “varifocals.” Which I didn’t know. It was time to google.
In the process of learning what varifocals were – yes, they are the same thing – I came across this helpful site. And, as I read about the specific symptoms that I’d been having, and the problems that could be causing them, I realized that I wasn’t imagining things. Yes, there was something wrong with my glasses! (Whoopee!)mrs_tribble, I think I love you.
I made an appointment with my optometrist ASAP. “Check everything.”
I had an appointment with my regular doctor on that same day. I’d scheduled the other for afterwards, with a good hour-and-a-quarter separation. Well, it seemed like a good idea at the time; the clinic is twenty-three miles and a half-hour drive from my house by freeway, and the optometrist is in the same complex and takes about ten seconds to walk to. Except that I ran into more traffic than I expected, which I hadn't allowed for, and arrived at the optometrist’s office fifteen minutes late. URRK.
“That’s okay, [Rose Cat]. Come on back.”
Before I could say anything, the technician looked at me and frowned. “Oh, I don’t like the way those are fitting. At all.”
Evidently, it didn’t help that the new frames were designed differently enough from the old ones that they needed to be fit in a different way to my head. One of the results was that the temples, already too tight, were pressing on a wider and, er, less well-padded area than they were supposed to, hence the pain. (So I’m not as much of a fathead as rumor would have it. Also, somebody alert Amnesty International.)
Anyway, first the tech marked the lenses with little black spots, and repeated all the measurements with respect to my pupils and whatever else. She did it twice just to be sure. Then she put the frames in the dish of hot salt (which is a really neat way of doing it) and reshaped the temples and the bridge. She’d make an adjustment and put them back on me – “that looks better” – make another one – “how does that feel? Go try them outside, get a little more distance” – and another – “let’s see how much you have to tilt your head when you look over there. No, that’s not right.” And a little more tweaking – “are your eyelashes still hitting the lenses?” And so on. Then she took the sunglasses -- “hmm, those don’t look right either” – and went through the whole process again for them. All of it.
“Should I be able to see closer than this without taking the glasses off?”
“That’s probably the best you can get. Progressives have their limits. You might need to get prescription reading glasses at some point.” (Dammit. Well, at least I know.) She helped me for over an hour. Time well spent.
I’d expected to pay something; it was certainly worth it.
“Oh, no, no.”
“But – “
“No, you don’t need to pay anything. Because you didn’t need to see the doctor.”
I’m getting my lenses through my optometrist next time; I don’t care if it does cost more. (Okay, if it doesn’t cost a lot more. Sorry, I have to consider that.) I’ll get the frames from what I’ll call The Other Place and bring them over there.
...The thing is, when I originally picked up the glasses at The Other Place, the person there (I hesitate to call her a tech, because, really, did she actually know what the heck she was doing?) briefly adjusted the frames in the back room, came out and put them on me.
“How does that feel?”
“A little tight – “
GRAB.
“Now?”
“Okay...I guess.”
“How are you seeing?”
“I’m having to tilt my head down a lot. Isn't that a bit low?”
“No, it looks fine. You’ll get used to it.”
Trying to read words close up. “I can’t focus as close as I used to...”
“No, you’re holding it too close. It’s fine.”
It was still an hour before closing, but it seemed like she was in a bit of a hurry. I was, however, the only one in there.
I probably should have pressed her further -- especially after I walked out the door and realized that my eyelashes were hitting the surface of the lenses in my sunglasses -- but I was tired and, as I previously said, intimidated.
Anyway, things are a hell of a lot better. The head positions for driving and lazing in front of the TV are less ridiculous and my neck has stopped hurting. (I guess I’m not going to turn into an owl after all.) I think I’m starting to adjust to the whole progressive/varifocal/multifocal thing too, although it does take more concentration than I’d expected to get in the habit of looking through the correct part of the lenses for the distance. If I don’t think about it, sometimes I don’t do it; my mind automatically says, “your eyes are just tired.” That might be related to having gone too long with the outdated prescription, though.
In other news, about twenty monarch butterfly eggs have appeared on the milkweed. That’s not a lot, considering how lush the greenery is, but it’s a start. Sadly, the two tiny swallowtail caterpillars disappeared a couple of weeks ago. On a happier note, however, today a big beautiful swallowtail butterfly was fluttering around in the forest of fennel.
(I don’t know where that last sentence came from. I didn’t do it on purpose, so stop throwing things, please.)
After I’d submitted the previous post on this subject, I began to feel progressively worse (no pun intended) about them, especially after I got up from the computer and walked away. My eyes just didn’t seem to be focusing well together, the head positions felt ridiculous, and I was mildly nauseous, even a little unsteady at times, whenever I was walking around.
It was 3 AM by then (yes, my sleep schedule is still screwed up) and I just couldn’t stand the uncomfortable fit of the frames anymore. I’d been putting off, and putting off, going back to get them readjusted. I didn’t really want to go back to the place where I’d gotten them, mostly because I’d come out of there feeling more than a little intimidated, and rather stupid. I’d thought of trying to adjust them myself, but was afraid I might damage them, and I didn’t want to take them to my old place, either; I felt bad about not having paid them to have the glasses made in the first place.
So, I heated some water in the microwave to soak the earpieces (or temples, as I’ve since learned they’re called) to make them easier to reshape. But when I took the new glasses off to work on them and put the old ones back on so that I could see what I was doing, not only did the pain – I hadn’t realized how bad it really was – evaporate, but I actually felt like I could see better. I wondered if I was seeing things (no pun intended here, either). What the hell was wrong with me, that I couldn’t even start to deal with this?
At this point I was feeling seriously depressed. And then the computer beeped.
mrs_tribble had commented, asking if I meant “varifocals.” Which I didn’t know. It was time to google.In the process of learning what varifocals were – yes, they are the same thing – I came across this helpful site. And, as I read about the specific symptoms that I’d been having, and the problems that could be causing them, I realized that I wasn’t imagining things. Yes, there was something wrong with my glasses! (Whoopee!)
mrs_tribble, I think I love you.I made an appointment with my optometrist ASAP. “Check everything.”
I had an appointment with my regular doctor on that same day. I’d scheduled the other for afterwards, with a good hour-and-a-quarter separation. Well, it seemed like a good idea at the time; the clinic is twenty-three miles and a half-hour drive from my house by freeway, and the optometrist is in the same complex and takes about ten seconds to walk to. Except that I ran into more traffic than I expected, which I hadn't allowed for, and arrived at the optometrist’s office fifteen minutes late. URRK.
“That’s okay, [Rose Cat]. Come on back.”
Before I could say anything, the technician looked at me and frowned. “Oh, I don’t like the way those are fitting. At all.”
Evidently, it didn’t help that the new frames were designed differently enough from the old ones that they needed to be fit in a different way to my head. One of the results was that the temples, already too tight, were pressing on a wider and, er, less well-padded area than they were supposed to, hence the pain. (So I’m not as much of a fathead as rumor would have it. Also, somebody alert Amnesty International.)
Anyway, first the tech marked the lenses with little black spots, and repeated all the measurements with respect to my pupils and whatever else. She did it twice just to be sure. Then she put the frames in the dish of hot salt (which is a really neat way of doing it) and reshaped the temples and the bridge. She’d make an adjustment and put them back on me – “that looks better” – make another one – “how does that feel? Go try them outside, get a little more distance” – and another – “let’s see how much you have to tilt your head when you look over there. No, that’s not right.” And a little more tweaking – “are your eyelashes still hitting the lenses?” And so on. Then she took the sunglasses -- “hmm, those don’t look right either” – and went through the whole process again for them. All of it.
“Should I be able to see closer than this without taking the glasses off?”
“That’s probably the best you can get. Progressives have their limits. You might need to get prescription reading glasses at some point.” (Dammit. Well, at least I know.) She helped me for over an hour. Time well spent.
I’d expected to pay something; it was certainly worth it.
“Oh, no, no.”
“But – “
“No, you don’t need to pay anything. Because you didn’t need to see the doctor.”
I’m getting my lenses through my optometrist next time; I don’t care if it does cost more. (Okay, if it doesn’t cost a lot more. Sorry, I have to consider that.) I’ll get the frames from what I’ll call The Other Place and bring them over there.
...The thing is, when I originally picked up the glasses at The Other Place, the person there (I hesitate to call her a tech, because, really, did she actually know what the heck she was doing?) briefly adjusted the frames in the back room, came out and put them on me.
“How does that feel?”
“A little tight – “
GRAB.
“Now?”
“Okay...I guess.”
“How are you seeing?”
“I’m having to tilt my head down a lot. Isn't that a bit low?”
“No, it looks fine. You’ll get used to it.”
Trying to read words close up. “I can’t focus as close as I used to...”
“No, you’re holding it too close. It’s fine.”
It was still an hour before closing, but it seemed like she was in a bit of a hurry. I was, however, the only one in there.
I probably should have pressed her further -- especially after I walked out the door and realized that my eyelashes were hitting the surface of the lenses in my sunglasses -- but I was tired and, as I previously said, intimidated.
Anyway, things are a hell of a lot better. The head positions for driving and lazing in front of the TV are less ridiculous and my neck has stopped hurting. (I guess I’m not going to turn into an owl after all.) I think I’m starting to adjust to the whole progressive/varifocal/multifocal thing too, although it does take more concentration than I’d expected to get in the habit of looking through the correct part of the lenses for the distance. If I don’t think about it, sometimes I don’t do it; my mind automatically says, “your eyes are just tired.” That might be related to having gone too long with the outdated prescription, though.
In other news, about twenty monarch butterfly eggs have appeared on the milkweed. That’s not a lot, considering how lush the greenery is, but it’s a start. Sadly, the two tiny swallowtail caterpillars disappeared a couple of weeks ago. On a happier note, however, today a big beautiful swallowtail butterfly was fluttering around in the forest of fennel.
(I don’t know where that last sentence came from. I didn’t do it on purpose, so stop throwing things, please.)
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no subject
Date: 2012-06-27 02:39 pm (UTC)So I figure the extra $50 I pay for the frames at my optomotrist is well worth the care they take to make sure the lenses are correct and that the glasses fit correctly. I'm very limited in what I can wear, so the frames are never terribly expensive - but the lenses are over $800 (only one company makes them so they're going to be the same price no matter where I go). That's way too much money to spend if the place isn't going to take the time to make sure they fit you.
Hopefully you'll have a better experience with them now.
no subject
Date: 2012-07-01 08:33 am (UTC)I don't think there's anything wrong with how the glasses were made, and maybe the less-than-helpful service with the frames wouldn't have been such a problem if I hadn't been getting progressives for the first time and therefore unsure about what to expect. (And my general hare-brained mental state can't have helped much.)
Honestly, if I had it to do over again, I'd have gone with the original plan, which was to buy the frames I wanted (the reason I went in the first place), take them back to my optometrist, and have them order the lenses. With all the help they've given me after the fact, I wish I'd paid them for the glasses in the first place. Damn it. Live and learn, blah blah.
Anyhow, the glasses are fitting just fine now, and I'm kind of getting used to having to change head positions in order to see properly. B says it'll become automatic after a while. I certainly hope so.
However: after driving longer distances with the new sunglasses (daytime driving is when I really need them), I started worrying about whether they were polarized properly, because the glare seemed to be bothering my eyes a lot more than it used to. Fortunately the long drive had taken me back to my optometrist's area, as it often does, so I stopped by to have them check on that. And the polarization is fine. I think it's that they're not quite as dark as the old ones, although the difference isn't as great as I'd thought it might be. I need to do some more googling.
If the darkness level does seem to be a problem, I'll see whether it's possible to alter that after the fact. I doubt if it's possible to tint them additionally over the protective coatings, but maybe I could try some kind of non-prescription clip-ons. I hope they're more durable than they used to be. (As in, oh, twenty years ago. God, I'm old ;) )
So, about how long did it take you to get used to having progressives?
no subject
Date: 2012-07-01 08:35 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2012-07-01 12:21 pm (UTC)Sun glasses - I think you will have to find an clip-on this time around.
Next time you might want to look at glasses that come with their own clip-ons - they're nice because the clip-ons fit perfectly - actually most use magnets now.
But the latest thing is a system where the magnets are imbedded into the lens and then a clip on is made. http://www.luzerneoptical.com/top-wholesale-optical-labs/new-products/frames-sunglasses-readers/chemistrie-clipon-sunglasses.html?sl=EN I've had these for my last two pairs and they come in various degrees of darkness.