Problem with New Prescription

I'd like to ask for some advice about how to approach a problem with my new
glasses, which I picked up today. During September, I went from right eye
dominant to left eye and then back to right eye dominant. Right around the
time this started, I coincidentally began the process of getting new frames
and progressive lenses, which of course has led now to a bit of a mess.
During the course of this I used up my insurance and goodwill quota of two
exams and two sets of lenses (you can guess what happened). The problem
now is that my right eye distance vision (say, 10-15 ft and up) with the
new lenses is fuzzy and worse than the left, which seems fine. It is also
much worse than my original pair (also progressives). Reading and short
vision are what led me to seek a new pair in the first place, and they seem
good with the new ones. At the second exam the optometrist said that the
right lens was the strongest she could prescribe, but that was before the
right eye corrected itself. The lenses are Zeiss Premium (Gradal?) and my
previous pair are Varilux. The old frames were 52/20 and the new ones are
48/19.

Before giving some numbers, I should add that I'm in very good health.
Although my weight has gradually fallen 10 pounds in the past two months,
it's the result of a sports training regimen (and my metabolic reaction to
fall temps), not dieting or poor eating habits; i.e., low blood sugar level
is unlikely. I did work a computer job for several weeks that had bad
fluourescent lighting, with no natural light.

Some numbers:

Old Glasses (2 yrs) First New Prescription Second Presc.
(current)
R PL -.50 103 PL -75 100 +75 -75 100
L -.25 -2.00 86 PL -125 87 PL -125 87
Reading Add. +1.50 +1.75 +2.00

I'm at a loss about how to approach this. I can shop eye exams (out of
pocket) and get a new right lens for cost, but I don't want to spin my
wheels any more. Expert thoughts appreciated. Thanks,

Gene Goldenfeld

 

That "(current)" should be over by Second Prescription. - GG

 

Not sure what you mean by that. Your eyes do not change dominancy quickly,
if ever.


Right around the

I think you may possibly be overplussed at the distance correction
for your right eye with your latest prescription. I bet that cutting
the distance plus (distance) for your right eye would solve the problem-
obviously you need to go back and get it checked to determine if that
indeed is the problem. Could also be a problem with going
to a new progressive design but usually both eyes are affected. Same with
any health problems such as diabetes- usually both eyes are affected.
Most offices do NOT charge an additional exam fee for an rx check
or lens replacement if you're in a certain time frame (ie 30 days).


frank

 

Perhaps my terminology was inexact? What I meant was that I went from my
right eye having better vision to the left and now back to the right
(covering the other eye). I can now see better out of the right eye w/o my
glasses than I can with them.

Overplussed, meaning like the effect of overadjusting a pair of binoculars,
except only one eye? Unfortunately, I've used up my two free visits and
pairs of lenses in the process of this back and forth in vision, and both
the optometrist and the eyeglass place let me know that. Bad timing. The
latter will give me new lenses at cost, but I'm on my own for another eye
exam. Sounds like the least expensive exam will do (Wal-Mart?). Thanks
for your thoughts.

Gene

 

Today I got a third prescription (see above) that appears almost certain to
work, because I got to try it out and compare it to the others on the
machine and in the little holder, walking around. That's something the
other optometrist did not do. Ironically, this took a visit to Wal-Mart.
But that was only the beginning.

Just out of curiousity, I stopped by an independent eyeglass shop to ask
their advice about choosing between Zeiss Gradal and Varilux Comfort (ZR39)
lenses in my medium small frames (Polo 438 - 48/19). They immediately
noticed that the Zeiss lenses that I been fitted with gave virtually no
reading area. They said it was a problem with the fitting and called the
glasses "worthless" as is, and marked them up to show what they meant.
When they said something about having to hold a book at arm's length to
read, I knew immediately they were onto something. So, I went back to the
original shop and they looked up the lens in the Zeiss book and, sure
enough, these weren't a good choice for me according to Zeiss' own specs.
And this after I had visited 7 times since Sept 6, and them pushing the
'Zeiss Premium' from day one without saying a thing. When today I
explained my lack of confidence in their services and asked for my money
back (in exchange for the lenses, of course), they told me I'd have to wait
for the manager to come back in ten days from his fishing vacation in
Michigan, claiming there was no way to reach him! Welcome to Minnesota.
(Yes, I used a credit card and reminded them of that fact.)

As an aside, you can't imagine how many times this sort of thing -- whether
due to incompetence, dishonesty or a lack of training -- has happened to me
since moving to the Mpls/St. Paul area from LA two years ago -- and never
happened before moving here. In the optical case, there are no licensing
requirements for opticians in the state of MN, thanks to the chains'
lobbying efforts.

Gene

 

Since starting my quest on Sept 2 to get a new pair of progressives to
replace my Varilux Comforts, I've had some pretty strange experiences along
the way in the Minneapolis/St. Paul area:

-An optometrist widely used by insurance cos that got the Rx wrong twice;
it took a visit to Wal-Mart to get it straightened out
-A hard sell at the optometrist's office, in her presence, where the
optician wouldn't answer any of my questions about different lens choices
-A fitting of Zeiss Gradals at another shop where the reading area was, by
their own admission later, much too small, yet they hadn't noticed it
despite several opportunities

-And then the coup de grace: Being sold Multigressiv lenses by a
well-reputed St. Paul shop that were not in fact Multigressiv, but another
poor quality lens. Being a bit suspicious when they turned my new frames
into wrap-arounds to get the vision even close, I visited two distributors
listed on the Rodenstock site, one a shop and one a lab. Both confirmed
they were not Multigressivs (and that the frame adjustment was shoddy
work). Then, just out of curiosity I called Rodenstock USA, which looked
up the shop's orders and said none had come through recently for
Multigressivs. When I told the shop what I had found and asked, "What
gives?", they got very huffy, said I had already used 3 hours of their
optician's time, that everyone else was wrong, that I thought I knew
everything, and they would just give me my money back. The one thing they
didn't do was look at the lens to check the engraved symbol to see if there
had been a mistake.

Through this process, I have now located a very good optician and am now
awaiting another pair of Comforts (I've done very well with the current
pair and sense that the Multigressivs are actually overkill for my Rx).
Hopefully, this will be a happy end to a trying saga.

PS. In trying to understand different lens options, I read through threads
of recent years on this newsgroup and found them very helpful. Special
thanks to Jeff and Robert Martellaro for their contributions.

Gene Goldenfeld

 

You can identify progressives with the following document:
http://katzandklein.com/images/LensIdentifierGreen2002.pdf

 

Thanks! The shop claimed others were wrong because the Multigressiv isn't
listed in the book. This document shows me what the others saw. BTW, I
contacted the Attorney General to suggest an investigation. The problem is
that the AG looks for patterns of complaints, which I explained would not
be likely to occur with eyeglass purchasers. It's not the type of thing
many people would suspect and follow up on, certainly not in "Minnesota
Nice."

Gene

 

Then, just out of curiosity I called Rodenstock USA, which looked

You can file a civil suit in small claims court and/or talk to a consumer
affairs reporter at a local TV station. I forgot if this was the optometrist
office that did this, but if so, you can file a complaint with the state
board of optometry.

I am a consumer just like you, and have become educated about progressives
because of massive incompetence in the retail sector of the industry.

 

Re the Multigressivs, this was an optical shop with an affiliated doctor
that I didn't use. I just wandered in off the street prescription in
hand. They did take the lenses and give me my money back, so at this point
it's at most a matter of letting someone know there's a business
apparently engaged in fraud. In MN, opticians are not licensed, thus the
govt'l agency is the AG's office. The problem getting them to follow up
can be seen from the issues raised in this newsgroup. Getting a properly
fit pair of glasses is not necessarily straightforward in the best of
circumstances, and opticians can easily play on, or count on, customers'
ignorance of the medical and physical sciences involved. Plus, undoing the
damage is usually simple -- just try another lens, or return the goods and
get a refund and go elsewhere. How many people are impatient enough to do
an internet search and drive 20 or 30 minutes to find other sources to ask
about their doubts? Thanks,

Gene

 

After getting a pair of progressives from Lenscrafters that I could barely
see out of (I had no trouble with my first pair of PAL's from them), I had
to do a lot of research to figure out what the problem was, and what needed
to be done to fix it. For the amount of money they charge for progressives
these days, my motivation level was very high.

One of the reasons that progressives are so expensive is the liberal remake
and non-adapt warranty the manufacturers offer. The warranty claims are
probably a lot higher than they should be because of optician incompetence.
The cost of this incompetence is passed on to the consumer in the form of
higher prices.

 

You've raised what seems like an entirely different issue -- prices. What
I noticed in visiting 10-12 shops and chains is that prices vary radically,
even for the same item. Mention insurance and the price for lenses and
frame are each invariably $50 higher than at another independent shop
doesn't handle my insurance, or maybe any at all. The bad thing about this
is that it leaves the customer who has checked around feeling distrustful
right at the moment when maximum confidence should be getting established.

Gene

 

The big problem, which you previously have documented well, is that
consumers rarely know exactly what they are buying in terms of lens
manufacturer, model, and material. This makes comparison shopping more
difficult for the average consumer. At Lenscrafters, most of the sales
people don't even know, even though most of their lenses are from well-known
manufacturers (although usually not top-of-the-line models).

 

There's an article in 20/20 Vision mag I found about AR coatings in which
some of the retailers talk about how they just tell the consumers, "premium
coating." Well, I got that some with lenses as well, and they just kept
repeating the same phrase in answer to my questions. It was really
aggravating. I think a lot of the shops don't want consumers to ask
questions or comparison shop. Not wanting them to compare prices is quite
understandable, but the downside is that it eliminates discussion of two or
three possible choices, and the advantages and disadvantages of each.
Perhaps Robert has some thoughts on this, but I think opticians generally
1)know or want to sell one or possibly two lenses or brands much more than
others, and 2)prefer to make the choices for customers, rather than engage
in discussion and thus face questions and potential problems. The guy with
the Multigressiv actually told me the company's name was Multigressiv!
Guess what I thought when I saw he had taken the price from next to "Life"
on his list and then I get home and look up the lens on the internet.

Gene

Gene

 

(although usually not top-of-the-line models).

For the independent opticians, there are usually some incentives to stay
with one brand. The manufacturers often have contests that award sales
people prizes for achieving a certain volume of sales. The chain stores have
their own preferences which they tell their sales people to push.

But one of the biggest problems is that the salesperson is just poorly
educated and not motivated to learn about the various options available to
consumers. Many sales people in the optical field are not in it for a
career.