Optitians prescription. 18 May 2020 at 1:10PM in Health & beauty MoneySaving 8 replies 416 views

pablo1827

I visited Vision express for an eye test just before the lockdown. Had the test and received my new varifocals prescription. I hadn’t made my mind up on the style of frames I wanted and before I knew it everything was in lockdown. I decided to send for a pair online with Googles4u and sent my prescription away. They came back a couple of weeks later and in my mind both the distance and near sightedness were out of focus. I did complain and received a refund but I’m beginning to think it was the vision express prescription that was wrong. I found my previous Black and Lizzars prescription (3 yrs old) and there is quite a difference between them and vision express.Can anybody tell me if in three years your eyesight should change as much. I still use an old pair of B&L glasses and they are fine.

pablo1827

Sorry don’t know how 3 photos ended up being posted! Should have went to Specsavers.

Undervalued

Well if the newer prescription is correct then your distance vision has improved significantly in three years! Surprising to say the least....
From what you say the older prescription wasn't far off plus, it shows no reading addition. Were you able to read without separate reading glasses?

The new prescription (which admittedly is less strong for distance) seems to want to lump on a +2.5 reading addition. Again quite a sudden change. It is sadly all to common to end up with over prescribed reading glasses. Fine if you hold a book 18 inches from your nose but hopeless for general desk or workbench!

To be honest I would get you eyes tested again somewhere else and see what they come up with.

The cylinder component can be confusing to understand. Because of the axis (which can change) combinations of the two numbers that look very different on paper can sometimes amount to much the same thing. A positive cylinder figure at one axis will have the same effect as a negative cylinder at the opposite axis. 

sillyvixen

Is your vision worse in the right eye? There seems to be a big change to the axis. The older prescription I feel is not a prescription but a card supplied by the manufacturer of the glasses, I assume for reading. Have you worn varifocals before or is this your first pair? As you ordered on line how were the measurements obtained for where the varifocals starts, and the pupil distance? - if this is wrong you look through the wrong area in the lens.

pablo1827

Thanks for the replies Undervalued and Sillyvixon. Yes the older prescription is just a card provided by the manufacture. I thought it was for the distance part of my varifocals from Black and Lissars. Once lockdown is over I will revisit an optitians and get a retest. For all I know maybe the test from vision express is correct but the make up from Google4U is wrong. Sillyvixon I thought that the prescription I sent away online told the manufacturers all the details they needed. I haven’t a clue how they measure Pupil distance online!

sillyvixen

Just had a wee peak on the googles4u website, the pupillary distance is set to 63 mm unless you change it (they say that that's the average - mine is 59!) They do give instructions in there help centre tab for taking the measurement - but I would still be wary as you usually have to be stood so close to the mirror to see the numbers on the ruler you are measuring near rather than distance, or your eyes move looking between the left and right eye. There is no explanation as to how the decide where the varifocal starts, I assume again they have an average for the frame - but these measurements will vary from person to person. You could measure the same frame for varifocals on different people and get different measurements.
You could try bringing the frame down your nose a bit and see if that makes the distance clearer and with one eye open move the frame left to right a few mm's if the frame allows (while still low on your nose) repeat with the other eye, if you get clear Vision at any point its the measurements. If you get clearer vision in the left but not the right I would query the axis and get a recheck.

sillyvixen

Just adding, when things return to normal!!
I can't seem to edit the above post - what's with this new forum!!!!

Undervalued

sillyvixen said:

Just had a wee peak on the googles4u website, the pupillary distance is set to 63 mm unless you change it (they say that that's the average - mine is 59!) They do give instructions in there help centre tab for taking the measurement - but I would still be wary as you usually have to be stood so close to the mirror to see the numbers on the ruler you are measuring near rather than distance, or your eyes move looking between the left and right eye. There is no explanation as to how the decide where the varifocal starts, I assume again they have an average for the frame - but these measurements will vary from person to person. You could measure the same frame for varifocals on different people and get different measurements.
You could try bringing the frame down your nose a bit and see if that makes the distance clearer and with one eye open move the frame left to right a few mm's if the frame allows (while still low on your nose) repeat with the other eye, if you get clear Vision at any point its the measurements. If you get clearer vision in the left but not the right I would query the axis and get a recheck.

63 is average for men. I assume from your username you are female?

There are / were one or two sites online where you could measure your PD using their software and the webcam on your computer. Seemed to work quite well when I tried one a few years ago out of interest.

I would normally advise anybody buying vairfocals on line to send an old pair so that they can take measurements from them. Even then the frame need to be properly adjusted when you get it.

sheramber

sillyvixen said:

Just adding, when things return to normal!!
I can't seem to edit the above post - what's with this new forum!!!!

In the top right hand corner of your post- on the green bar- there is a little symbol. Click on that to edit.