you know what's kind of annoying? when a doctor says you see 20/20 but

Discussion in 'Optometry Archives' started by xyzer, Dec 13, 2006.

  1. xyzer

    xyzer Guest

    you had to concentrate real hard to make out what the blurry letters
    were, but you guessed right.
     
    xyzer, Dec 13, 2006
    #1
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  2. xyzer

    Neil Brooks Guest

    Yeah.
     
    Neil Brooks, Dec 13, 2006
    #2
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  3. xyzer

    odtobe Guest

    Chances are you didn't just guess right.....
    Think of the odds that you actually didn't get any clues from your
    vision and simply guessed the last two letters. The odds that this
    would occur by chance are (1 / 26) * (1 / 26) = 0.00147928994 ~ 1/1000.
    Even though the chart doesn't use all 26 of the letters in the
    alphabet, most people don't know that, so the odds of getting one
    letter correctly by chance alone is 1/26.

    The point is kind of moot if you are happy with your vision, there is
    no pathology, and the doctor did a good job of refracting you. Even
    with all of this I can see where you are coming from, could be a little
    frustrating.
     
    odtobe, Dec 13, 2006
    #3
  4. xyzer

    serebel Guest


    But if you told your doc "I had to concentrate real hard to make out
    the blurry letters" your doc would not say you are 20/20,would he?
     
    serebel, Dec 14, 2006
    #4
  5. xyzer

    xyzer Guest


    no, i told him they were blurry and he didn't seem to care that much...
    then again, i said it kind of quick ... i didn't expect him to really
    care...

    basically, i had had an eye exam about 6 months ago but wanted to get
    anotehr brand of contacts. He said tehre would be a fitting fee, but
    then he checked to see how i was seeing in the contacts.

    20/20, but the letters were blurry.

    I guess I should have been more assertive, but I didn't feel like
    dealing with it.
     
    xyzer, Dec 14, 2006
    #5
  6. xyzer

    John H. Guest

    This is exactly what happened to me four years ago. My vision went
    totally haywire, almost overnight. I went to the GP, and you're not
    going to believe this but at least try:

    He asked me to read the eyechart. As soon as I looked at it even the
    top line was very blurry. So I cheated, I knew that somewhere in my
    brain I was "seeing" aright so I just rattled off what came intuitively
    and scored perfectly on the bottom line! The doctor said, "You have
    better eyesight than me." Moron. I mentioned this to a friend of mine.
    He said he knew of a Professor Bodis Woolner who had documented the
    same thing in a number of his patients but I have been unable to find
    any reference to it.
     
    John H., Dec 14, 2006
    #6
  7. xyzer

    Liz Day Guest

    But if you told your doc "I had to concentrate real hard to make out
    the blurry letters" your doc would not say you are 20/20,would he?

    Sure he would. At least, some would. Some docs will refract you and,
    when you look through the resulting glasses and things are still
    blurry, say "you have to get used to them" (I did; they're still
    blurry) or "maybe that eye isn't dominant" (it's not dominant, but I
    used to focus binoculars through it without any problem), or whatever.
    It's frustrating.
    dealing with it.

    Be prepared to get a lot more assertive.
    *sigh*

    LD
     
    Liz Day, Dec 14, 2006
    #7
  8. xyzer

    Dan Abel Guest

    As my first OMD told me, the Snellen test is imperfect. Still, it's the
    best tool they have. You go down the lines until you can't see the
    letters. Of course the last one will be blurry. The point is to find
    the best correction possible. If you aren't correctable to something
    close to 20/20, then it's time to look further. In my case it was
    cataract.
     
    Dan Abel, Dec 14, 2006
    #8
  9. xyzer

    serebel Guest


    If you're not assertive, you're doing yourself an injustice. You can
    always find a new doctor.
     
    serebel, Dec 15, 2006
    #9
  10. xyzer

    xyzer Guest


    well, i don't have eye insurance either, but i'm about to get it soon,
    but it would have been extra to actually get a new prescriptoin


    I was also in one of those "mall places" ... i have a hard time taking
    those places very seriously, wrongly or rightly, so when i get
    insurance i will look at some non-mall places.
     
    xyzer, Dec 15, 2006
    #10
  11. xyzer

    xyzer Guest


    that's a good point and true... I guess I'm more annoyed by the fact
    that they're calling what I see normal 20/20 because I can make out
    some blurry letters. Then again, I guess that's the whole point of the
    eye exam where they go "better, worse, no change."
     
    xyzer, Dec 16, 2006
    #11
  12. xyzer

    Dr. Leukoma Guest

    Everybody's visual systems are different, and there are different
    degrees of "normal."

    DrG
     
    Dr. Leukoma, Dec 16, 2006
    #12
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