Problem with prescription sunglasses

Hi,

I got a pair of prescription sunglasses from Costco recently. This is
the first time I am wearing any prescription glasses. And I am having a
lot of trouble right away. I am shortsighted. I was wearing -1.25
glasses. I got a new prescription for these glasses and they
recommended that I wear -1.5. Also, they said that I can keep wearing
my -1.25 regular glasses and use these -1.5 sunglasses, without any
problem. So, I got them made to -1.5. FYI I don't require any other
correction.

For the first couple of days I was wearing them for 10-15mins in sun
and they were great. They cut glare and harsh sunlight. They are gray
in color. These are polarised and claim UV protection. But, yesterday I
wore them for couple of hours in sun and my eyes hurt like hell. I was
not sure whether it was due to the sunglasses or something else. Then I
wore them today for some time, but, after an hour or so of wearing them
in sun, my eyes started hurting badly again. Once I reverted back to my
regular glasses, I was fine within minutes.

I took it back to Costco and they looked at both my glasses and told me
that it could be that the new glasses are not fitting well enough and
so, some light might be coming in around the edges. So, the person
there tried to reshape the frame a bit and hoped that it'll be fix the
problem. The other thing that he said might be the problem was that my
eyes might be struggling with the change of glass power from 1.25 to
1.5. My *guess* was that probably the sunglasses are not of good
quality, i.e., they don't block enough of sun ray and trick my pupil to
open up too much, leading to the above problem. Sort of another
hypothesis.

At least they have good return policy. He said I was welcome to return
them and get a refund if what he did does not solve my problems.

Does anyone ever had this kind of problem? Any thought as to what could
be causing problem?

Thanks,
N

 

Small typo: this is the first time I am wearing any prescription
sunglasses. I have been wearing prescription glasses for 9 years.

 

Sometimes stylish eyeglasses, particularly sunglasses, are made according
to a "wrap-around" design. So your eyes looked slantedly through the
lenses. There could be a question of whether the optical centers of the
lenses are corrected for the tilt of the lenses.

It is surprising how frequently purveyors of eyeglasses are not aware that
eyeglasses perform best when they are flat to the eyes, as opposed to
tilted to achieve the appearance of being "streamlined".

 

Not sure of your point here Dicky. Are you saying the
manufacturers make tilted sunglasses and don't account
for it? or that the sellers bend them and don't account for
it?

-Quick

 

I dunno if they could or should be held to account. They have
to make a living, and, with population exploding the way it does,
there's many more than one sucker born each minute.

We could oppose them on the grounds of good optical design,
but the answer will obviously be that people like the swept-back
lenses and one simply does one's best to supply what people want.

Quite likely it can be shown that the incremental accommodative load
for a 1.5D myope peering though lenses toed out by 15 degrees is
substantially within the bounds of reason, with prismatic, chromatic,
astigmatic, and pincushional distortion remaining entirely unaffected,
essentially.

Notwithstanding, the OP might continue to be affected by headaches.
Well, vergence stresses could be obviated by using only one eye at a
time. He could try that.

 

These sunglasses are almost exactly like my glasses. No wrap around
nothing. Just like a pair of glasses but gray. I am not sure why that
might cause problem.

N

 

Then I dunno. I am only an amateur optometrist, and, though I have
several merit badges in opthamology, I am not actually medically
qualified.

Perhaps you are overcorrected by the additional -0.25D. Maybe
the centers do not fit the distance between your pupils. Maybe the
gray lets through some distress-causing UV or infra-red.

Me, I always wear a baseball cap with sunglasses. Even then, the
sun finds its way around the tinted plastic in many mysterious ways.

The sun is bad for your skin anyway. Maybe you should just stay
out of it?

 

Certainly you should know that extreme gazing is what makes people bug-eyed.

 

You just don't say that to someone in pittsburgh, where, sun is so
rare.

I guess I'll keep using my normal glasses in sun and let my pupil do
the adjustment to protect my eyes from to sun.

N

 

What does this mean? Are you a certified optometrist
and just not practicing professionally? What are "merit
badges in opthamology"?

Someone might easily construe this to mean that you
do, in fact, have some medical qualifications. Is that
the case?

-Quick

 

You should always assume on here that nobody has anything. They might
say they do when they don't anyway. Just read what they say and take
the advice if you like depending on what it is, and/or do more
research.

Ann

 

I have no qualification to practice any kind of medicine.
The Boy Scout organization is not authorized to issue
merit badges in opthomology. Optometry is not a field of
medicine, so amateur optometrists do not so frequently
go to jail.

I hope this helps.

 

Does the anonymous poster feel I may be unqualified for that?

In all cases should be. But who has time to check up on 'em all?

(I have pointed out that the opthamologists very frequently rely upon
in-house trained phoropter jockeys. Theoretically, one might expect
that photopter operators who have received institutional training
would do better refractions.)

For instance, one can hope that they are proficient in the use of the basic
tools of their trade, like the phoropter, for instance, and are competent
to write scripts for eyeglasses.

"Amateur medical doctor" is undefined. Quack doctors frequently get
busted.

Several examples of amateur optometrist are seen here at sci.med.vision.
Even the most notorious of them has never done a day of jail time.

It is my hope to set a shining example for the amateur optometrists of
sci.med.vision. I will start with good posting style and use of the spell
checker. Maybe one day I will work up to an eBay phoropter and
lens checker so I can help people figure out why their eyeglasses are
not working out.

 

Does the polarising work?
My test is to look out to sea, (or at a shiny road).
The water should look darkish.
If you keep your head still and rotate the lens 10 degrees either way you
start to see shine.
Or in the office look at the light reflected off a piece of white paper and
rotate another correctly polarised lens in front of your lens.
The paper should go very dark when the other lens is at 90 degrees.
I have had a case of one lens being OK and the other eye being off by 20
degrees, giving a weird affect when looking at road reflections.
However the manufacturer just dismissed this as manufacturing tolerances.

 

For one thing, "optometrist", like "doctor", is a generic category, and does
not take capitalization unless it is a title, like Dr. as in Dr. Smith, for instance.

This seems to me to be a political rather than a semantical consideration.

It is a fact of life that medical doctors have very strong unions and can, with
magnificent adeptitude, destroy any person, corporate body, or governmental
entity which threatens to usurp the smallest fragment of their thunder.

On the other hand, optometrists are advanced technicians who have recently
risen from the mundane task of measuring refractive error and prescribing
eyeglasses.

Now that they have left all that behind, business is quite good with contact
lenses, referrals to eye surgeons, and the management of the aftermaths and
complications of such things, not to mention cosmetic counseling and the
elevation of eyeglasses to aristocratic accoutrements and beauty aides. The
eyeglass customer who, years ago, with a competent refraction, might not
return for a decade or more, is now a "patient" who will probably be back
within three weeks, and has need of a steady supply of after-market necessities,
accessories, and replacement items.

An amateur optometrist, on the other hand, has nothing to sell, and is just
trying to figure out what is going on. He may wonder, from time to time, if
he could get some eyeglasses which would provide sharper vision. Some
have wondered if there is any way to improve bad vision other than eyeglasses
and similar stuff, and if there is any hope for the prevention of ruining one's eyes
before it is too late.

 

Or at a VW bug rear window -- a lovely pattern will emerge if the
glasses are polarized.

--
Cheers, Bev
=========================================================
"I believe that forgiving [terrorists] is God's function.
Our job is to arrange the meeting."
- Norman Schwartzkopf

 

Yes, I did. I learned that ploy from attempting to converse
with Professional People.

Well, try this, then:
I am one;
Otis is one;
Ace is one;
Bev is a rather good one;
Then there are the sci.med.vision watchdogs who are deciding
what is appropriate for folks to post -- why not include them?

Obviously, there are considerable ranges of proficiency and
competence.

Yes, to varying degrees. Sometimes quite benignly, even usefully
on occasion.

I do a lot of work on myself. With wall charts and diagrams, and
particularly with signs and neon displays at night, I can figure out
what is wrong with my prescription. Check my work with a pair
of Zennis. It is an incremental thing. Last time I got it right by the
third pair. Also I have some uncut lenses -.25D and -.50D, but
they are no longer useful since I am no longer progressively myopic
due to recent IOL installation.

Also I can give some good advice to my wife but she cannot take
me seriously because she knows I am unprofessional. I am a
pretty good plumber, too, but we just paid $300 to a professional
plumber to fix a faucet, on account of lack of trust. We pay a lot
for eyeglasses, for the same reason.

Another thing us amateur optometrists do is to check out the phoropter
operators. Ophthalmologists are the worst. Optometrists can be quite good,
but they frequently have agendas, particularly if they have fancy eyeglasses
and contact lenses to sell (and little time if they are busy managing the
trials and complications of contact lenses) or if they have relatives or
in-laws who are eye surgeons. Among 6 or 7 phoroptrists who have
done me in the last several decades, the best two were ladies who's training
was on-the-job.

 

That kills me. I think that proctologists could also use your
"expertise" to
check out the procto operators. Maybe you could report back and
let us know who performed the best procto exams, who gave you the
"best finger" so to speak. Because you sure do seem to be multi-
talented.

frank

 

Actually, Doctor, the urologist is the more usual finger tester.
(They call it a "digital" test, but it is a very low-tech procedure.)
After you pass 50 (years of age), you can start checking 'em out.
Or you can avoid them altogether. Sooner or later they will/would
start sticking needles up your ass and recommending unmentionable
procedures.

 

See. You're already an expert! Now go play amateur proctologist along
with Otis (you're both good at bull shitting). I'm sure they are in
need
of some groupies.

frank