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mole
Joined: 06 Feb 2003
Location: Act III
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 Posted: Tue Nov 22, 2005 4:30 am Post subject: Glasses, Contacts, etc. |
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I'll be 40 next month, and my whole family (except me) has glasses.
A couple of years ago, I asked my roommate who wears glasses,
"How do you know if you need glasses?"
We played the "can you read this/that sign?" game for a while.
I'd been feeling pressure behind my eyes and sometimes having mild headaches.
I finally had my eyes checked, and sure enough, I needed glasses.
I got them two weeks ago and I'm livid! Very low power glasses,
but unbelievable improvement. I'm wondering how many years I
suffered from less-than-perfect vision.
The above roommate says, "Yeah, everyone feels that way once they get
corrective eyewear."
Lame, innane post, sure. But who else has just been overwhelmed with their new-found visual acuity? |
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The Bobster
Joined: 15 Jan 2003
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| Posted: Tue Nov 22, 2005 6:30 am Post subject: Re: Glasses, Contacts, etc. |
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| mole wrote: |
I got them two weeks ago and I'm livid! Very low power glasses, but unbelievable improvement. I'm wondering how many years I suffered from less-than-perfect vision.
The above roommate says, "Yeah, everyone feels that way once they get
corrective eyewear."
Lame, innane post, sure. But who else has just been overwhelmed with their new-found visual acuity? |
Not so lame, rather apropo to my own case. I've been an avid bookreader since childhood and everyone assumed I'd need glasses at some point for short-sightedness, but since coming to Korea I've spent far more reading words off a computer screen. Last few months I've had trouble focusing on printed words unless I held them out so far from my face that the letters were too small to discern. Also noticed I was pushing my chair back and leaning away from the computer screen most of the time - yeah, back problems ensued from the wierd posture.
So, it seems I've actually got farsightedness, which is what my Dad had as opposed to the near-sightness my Mom and my other siblings turned up with. I seem to have inherited a lot of other things from his side, so I've come around to thinking vision problems are at least as much genetic as anything to do with habits.
Anyway, after a rather light novel sat unnatended in my bag for a month and a half due to the discomfort of tring to read it, I said, Okay let's see an eye doctor and see what lenses will do. He put a machine in front of me and had me read a chart on the wall and then fiddled around with a handheld collection of lenses and tried different combinations, at the end of which I pulled the novel out of my bag and I could see immediately what had been happening very gradually ...
"How much does he want?" I asked the gf. "I'll pay it." (It was 60,000 won, and I have a feeling it would have been twice that back in the States.)
It's been a wierd couple of weeks, getting used to having to pull the things out to look at things right in front of me. I put them on in the classroom for the first time the other day, nervous the kids would laugh, but they said, "Oh, teacher - handsome!"
Wierd. I'm wearing 'em now, and what I'm finding is that the action of putting them on to read things spilts the time in my life into two categories that I didn't know existed before, reading time and non-reading time. It's an idea that deserves some examination, perhaps. Which of them feel more precisely "me?"
Anyway, the OP is right that these things happen so gradually that you don't notice, but the solution is so quick that you definitely DO notice that.
The eye doctor I found was a guy whose shop was on the street where we were shopping for other things. I liked him. PM me if you like, and I could probably get some directions together.
Last edited by The Bobster on Tue Nov 22, 2005 8:07 am; edited 1 time in total |
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mole
Joined: 06 Feb 2003
Location: Act III
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| Posted: Tue Nov 22, 2005 7:44 am Post subject: |
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Nice reply, thanks. I had been using reading glasses (when I remembered or cared)
for a year or so. But sure, I got tired of using my armlength plus to see small things/print.
I think my point was.. if you even have the inclination to ask someone with
glasses IF you might need glasses, then get an eye exam.
You may be surprised, and pleasantly so. It can be an incredible life change.
Mine were 80,000 won, but they're tinted, so can be cheaper. |
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tzechuk
Joined: 20 Dec 2004
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| Posted: Tue Nov 22, 2005 8:54 am Post subject: |
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I get my eyes tested everytime my husband goes to get his eyes checked because his glasses seem to fail him (which is just about every year..).
So far, so good - still 20/20. The optician once said he hadn't seen eyes so good for a long time!  |
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Tiger Beer
Joined: 07 Feb 2003
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| Posted: Tue Nov 22, 2005 8:57 am Post subject: |
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Good luck with the eye exam.
I wear contacts and needed to replace them. My eyes feel like they've gone to being worse so I asked for an eye exam as well.
They gave me the exam and said my eyesight actually improved!! I will now have a lesser strength for my poor eyesight!
Uggh.. |
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Bulsajo
Joined: 16 Jan 2003
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| Posted: Tue Nov 22, 2005 10:07 am Post subject: |
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After 30 years of corrective eyewear and 21 years with contacts, laser surgery was nothing short of a miracle.
| Quote: |
| They gave me the exam and said my eyesight actually improved!! I will now have a lesser strength for my poor eyesight! |
Based on that I would guess you are middle-aged and nearsighted? It's not an uncommon occurence- if you had had perfect eyesight before you would now just be having your optometrist recommending reading glasses. |
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mole
Joined: 06 Feb 2003
Location: Act III
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| Posted: Wed Nov 23, 2005 3:00 am Post subject: |
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| Bulsajo wrote: |
| After 30 years of corrective eyewear and 21 years with contacts, laser surgery was nothing short of a miracle. |
You got the Lasik? Is it true they do one eye at a time in case they mess it up?
Did you have it done in Korea? Last year, in US, there were numerous ads for cheap Lasik.
I'm curious because my newlywed spouse has serious glasses & contacts. Her
sister got the Lasik, and is happy. But wifey is scared of the procedure.
I like her glasses, but wonder if she'd be more comfortable with no corrective eyewear.
I'm not a Lasik candidate, I'm just astounded my glasses make such a difference. |
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desultude
Joined: 15 Jan 2003
Location: Dangling my toes in the Persian Gulf
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| Posted: Wed Nov 23, 2005 4:07 am Post subject: |
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For those of us over forty who have presmyopia (farsightedness due to age) lasiks is not a good option. They are trying to find a surgical solution, but no luck yet. That's why you see even movie stars after a certain age sporting reading glasses.
Yeah, Bobster, the crazy making part is the "off and on the face 100 times a day". The good news it that glasses are so cheap here. I lost my favorite pair the other day, so went into my regular optometrist and got a groovy new pair for 27,000. (I get a discount because I buy new glasses regularly because I either lose them, break them, or want a new style.  ) I have a favorite style of black plastic frames which I break a couple of times a year (the off and on the face, oops, drop to the floor routine. ). Anyway, when they are broken, I take them back and they replace them free (service). They have also replaced scratched lens for "service". |
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pet lover
Joined: 02 Jan 2004
Location: not in Seoul
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| Posted: Wed Nov 23, 2005 5:32 am Post subject: |
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| So, if a person were to finally get up the nerve to get lasik at say, just turning 31, would that person then have to deal with glasses again in a mere 10 years? |
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Bulsajo
Joined: 16 Jan 2003
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| Posted: Wed Nov 23, 2005 9:10 am Post subject: |
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| I got prk not lasik, but I suppose, regardless, that yes it would be possible to have to deal with it again. In both operations it is the reshaping of the lense. Deterioration due to age is usually muscular- the muscles shaping the lense rather than the lense itself (at least that's my layman's understanding, I could be wrong, and I imagine it can vary greatly from person to person). |
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desultude
Joined: 15 Jan 2003
Location: Dangling my toes in the Persian Gulf
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| Posted: Wed Nov 23, 2005 2:51 pm Post subject: |
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| Bulsajo wrote: |
| I got prk not lasik, but I suppose, regardless, that yes it would be possible to have to deal with it again. In both operations it is the reshaping of the lense. Deterioration due to age is usually muscular- the muscles shaping the lense rather than the lense itself (at least that's my layman's understanding, I could be wrong, and I imagine it can vary greatly from person to person). |
| Quote: |
Normal Changes in the Aging Eye
Losing Focus
The most common age-related vision change — presbyopia — happens to almost everyone beginning between the ages of 40 and 50. A natural result of aging, the lens begins to lose elasticity, making it harder to focus vision up close for such activities as reading. But presbyopia can be corrected easily with reading glasses or glasses with bifocal, trifocal or progressive ("no-line") lenses. |
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Bulsajo
Joined: 16 Jan 2003
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| Posted: Wed Nov 23, 2005 6:02 pm Post subject: |
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| Uh, yeah- I'm more of a layman than I thought. So I have no idea how the surgery is going to affect normal deterioration caused by aging. |
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pet lover
Joined: 02 Jan 2004
Location: not in Seoul
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| Posted: Wed Nov 23, 2005 8:22 pm Post subject: |
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| So, basically, I'd be better off buying my own weight in vegan chocolates. |
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Bulsajo
Joined: 16 Jan 2003
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| Posted: Thu Nov 24, 2005 1:04 pm Post subject: |
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| pet lover wrote: |
| So, basically, I'd be better off buying my own weight in vegan chocolates. |
Most definitely. At least, until you ask somebody more informed than me, like an optometrist. My own surgery has unlimited free follow ups as required, but I wonder of they don't have some sort of loophole when it comes to deterioration due to natural aging...
Actually, it turns out I was only partially wrong, as was Desultude:
| Quote: |
Presbyopia
Presbyopia is a natural aging process that usually occurs between the ages of 40 and 50. The lens of the eye hardens and the muscles weaken. |
Here are some partial answers to your question, PL:
| Quote: |
| The Excimer laser treats the corneal surface layers only, but can compensate for presbyopia. During the consultation, this option which is called monovision, will be discussed with the Ophthalmologist. |
| Quote: |
When people who have perfect vision all their lives become presbyopic, they need to wear reading glasses. People who already wear glasses for distance vision need to wear bifocals. Monovision is to compensate for presbyobia and is explained by the Ophthalmologist during a consultation appointment.
With monovision, patients choose to slightly under correct one eye. This would leave a targeted amount of residual myopia or nearsightedness which in turn would allow you to read comfortably without the need for magnification (reading glasses). This way, the under corrected eye will provide near vision, while the fully corrected eye will provide distance vision.
The next natural question is: "Will I not be unbalanced if my two eyes are not the same prescription?" In the vast majority of cases, the answer is "No". The amount of difference between the two eyes is minimal. The brain typically adapts to monovision within the first few weeks. |
| Quote: |
Will I become nearsighted again?
PRK and LASIK procedures are essentially permanent corrections. Studies have shown results to be stable once healing is completed, three to six months after the procedure. However, small amounts of regression can occur in less than 10% of cases. |
Read more here:
http://www.focuseye.com/inFocus/ |
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pet lover
Joined: 02 Jan 2004
Location: not in Seoul
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| Posted: Thu Nov 24, 2005 2:39 pm Post subject: |
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Okay. Translate for me. It's early morning and my brain is not functioning....so, since I'm already near-sighted, getting that corrected could very well be a life-time thing? It's only if I were far-sighted and had surgery for that would I run into near-sighted problems later, right?
And now I realize my father was NOT off his rocker when he got his eyes done, but at different levels.
Thanks! |
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