Does anyone understand eye prescriptions?

Undervalued

Mark__H wrote: »

Thank you for taking the time to add further comments. Much appreciated.
I might look around for off the shelf reading glasses.
In hindsight, I'm thinking vanity (in terms of how they look) and the choice of frames might have been steering me down the made to measure route.

Now that is another matter entirely!

Personally I would try a cheap of the shelf pair first and see how you get on with the whole business of taking glasses on and off or, dare I say it, having them on a string round your neck.

If it works out then proper prescription ones will be fractionally better optically and as vanity massaging as you are willing to pay!

If you don't get on with the whole on / off business and you can't see to read, then you are looking at bi-focals or varifocals (with the top half virtually plain glass) to wear all the time.

The cheap off the shelf ones won't go to waste even if you only use them for decorating or other messy jobs.

Mark__H

Noted, thanks

Lorian

+1.5 or +2 reading glasses from poundland a good place to start.

When reading with +2 youll need to bring things slightly closer than with +1.5

You can try them out in poundland without hassle. Take a book to look at!

Only thing I go in there for.....

Mark__H

Lorian wrote: »

+1.5 or +2 reading glasses from poundland a good place to start.

When reading with +2 youll need to bring things slightly closer than with +1.5

You can try them out in poundland without hassle. Take a book to look at!

Only thing I go in there for.....

There is a Poundland in our local shopping centre, so handy to know. Thanks.

theoretica

As above, in your position I would buy a cheapo pair and see how I got on with them and use that to decide how and if to upgrade.

sillyvixen

Are you sure the cyl on the left lens in the 2nd prescription is a - (minus) and not a + (plus)? As there are 2 ways of writing a prescription (plus and minus cyl) and this would account for the 90/180 axis difference in the prescription. If this is the case both are very simular .

BananaRepublic

As said 0.25 diopters is insignificant and the fact that the two prescriptions are so close is reassuring. The fact that the axis for astigmatism in one eye is out by 90 degrees, a significant difference, is not concerning because the CYL value is so small. It illustrates that you can’t really reliably measure that accurately.

If you want reading glasses, and ones that last, and you will use them often, then it can be worth paying more, and if so do go for anti-reflection and hard coatings. The plastic lenses scratch easily, and reflections will reduce contrast. I had my old frames reglazed via an online shop, much cheaper than the high street and the quality was excellent. I know people who bought glasses online and are similarly pleased. Or if you want to try frames on in the shop,and buy there, go back to whoever gave you a free eyetest.

Mark__H

sillyvixen wrote: »

Are you sure the cyl on the left lens in the 2nd prescription is a - (minus) and not a + (plus)? As there are 2 ways of writing a prescription (plus and minus cyl) and this would account for the 90/180 axis difference in the prescription. If this is the case both are very simular .

Yes, I've just checked my prescriptions and the CYL on both is definitely a minus

Mark__H

BananaRepublic wrote: »

As said 0.25 diopters is insignificant and the fact that the two prescriptions are so close is reassuring. The fact that the axis for astigmatism in one eye is out by 90 degrees, a significant difference, is not concerning because the CYL value is so small. It illustrates that you can’t really reliably measure that accurately.

If you want reading glasses, and ones that last, and you will use them often, then it can be worth paying more, and if so do go for anti-reflection and hard coatings. The plastic lenses scratch easily, and reflections will reduce contrast. I had my old frames reglazed via an online shop, much cheaper than the high street and the quality was excellent. I know people who bought glasses online and are similarly pleased. Or if you want to try frames on in the shop,and buy there, go back to whoever gave you a free eyetest.

Thank you and noted.
I've followed advice earlier in this thread and purchased a pair of 1.5 reading glasses from Poundland, which (for the price) look ok and seem to do a very good job with my reading vision.
I'm not expecting them to last long but as my first step into the world of glasses, they'll serve a purpose for now.

Undervalued

Mark__H wrote: »

Thank you and noted.
I've followed advice earlier in this thread and purchased a pair of 1.5 reading glasses from Poundland, which (for the price) look ok and seem to do a very good job with my reading vision.
I'm not expecting them to last long but as my first step into the world of glasses, they'll serve a purpose for now.

Well done....

Have you bought a string to hang them round your neck yet? :rotfl: