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At age 45, I've just been diagnosed with needing glasses.
To be fair it's a virtually non-existent prescription apparently but seemingly I'm a bit boss-eyed and so they've given me a sort of prismatic correction type situation.
Worn them for the first time today. Woah! Far out.
You know when you pick up one end of a landing rug and ping it, you get a wave travelling along? Well it seems a bit like that when I'm walking. I nearly tripped over me own feet a few times earlier.
I'm looking at this phone now and there's a sort of phantom phone behind it. Same with the telly and lights etc.
Is this it? Is this all there is to wearing glasses?. Do you get used to the trippyness or does it ebb? The whole world looks bloody weird now.
A speccy four eyes pictured recently
Shouldn't be like that. You should just see everything as normal. No running in period. Might feel a bit different at first but vision should be perfect.
The distortion, yes you get used to it - I do in a matter of days when my prescription changes, or minutes when I go from contacts to glasses. The ghost effect though - not noticed that.
Of course, if you get contact lenses it all goes away...
I’d had similar affects. Yeah your vision might be perfect now, but your brain has been trying to interpret you vision for years. Personally it felt like someone turned my vision from landscape to portrait, I felt about a foot taller. Made for an ‘interesting’ experience riding drops the first time I tried to ride in them!
I wore glasses when I was young. One awesome eye, one desperately bad, wearing glasses was basically a magnifying glass over one eye, consequently the brain tries to stitch together the images and gets stuck.
Net result I couldn't catch anything coming from my left.
I gave up on the glasses and now whilst my brain has to stitch low resolution images on my left to high resolution on my right, at least the bloody objects in the pictures are the same size now
Are your new glasses varifocal? That is, the area towards the bottom is better for close up, moving gradually to distance at the top? They take a few days to get used to, there was a thread on it recently.
You might need to get used to the prism.
Give it a couple of days then if no better go back.
Similar age, similar thing. I’ve been prescribed glasses for driving and watching tv. All I’ve noticed is the trees by the side of the road appear in hi def and tiny white text on black backgrounds have better contrast.
Driving at night, I can see better without specs. The lense flare and reflections drive me mental, that and the little wires in the heated windscreen.
I do feel I was ripped off ever so slightly.
Worn specs for 30 years. Didn't really get the trippy feeling with new specs before but got new specs with a new prescription recently and it was a proper woah! Took a lot longer to adjust (a week) but now fine. As above the phantom image thing sounds weird. I'd ring the optician.
Personally it felt like someone turned my vision from landscape to portrait, I felt about a foot taller
Exactly that! Weird. Mind you, I could do with being a bit taller.
Are your new glasses varifocal?
No, I know what you mean. They're just a prism thing I think.
You might need to get used to the prism.
Give it a couple of days then if no better go back.
Roger that.
The ghost effect though – not noticed that.
I'm a terrible cheapskate. Went for the cheapest glasses at £39 and they wanted another £39 for some anti glare coating or something. I declined. Maybe that's it... 🤔
I change between two differing frames with the same prescription lenses in and going down long flights of steep stairs suddenly becomes a matter of holding the handrail very carefully.
i have 2 pairs of distance specs, one pair for using the computer and a pair of reading glasses. Plus if I wear contacts a pair of computer specs and a pair of reading specs.
Such joy...
The anti-glare is what makes driving at night bearable but I wouldn't think that lack of it would cause ghosting.
I need an eye test - 45 and starting to notice an issue reading in Lo wish light. All good with long distance stuff but caught myself holding a book further away to read it the other week and rubb8ng my eyes a bit at work in front of the pc.
Where is the stw recommended place to go for an eye test? Tesco, boots, specsavers, local place etc...?
I've been a speccy four eyes for almost 25 years and nope you shouldn't be getting ghost reflections and wonky spacial awareness, go back to the optician and explain the problem, they should fix it FOC.
if your glasses make looking at the world more difficult they've not really done the job have they...
Been wearing glasses for decades here too.
The ghosting you describe sounds odd to be honest.
I'd be inclined to go back and see what they say.
The only time I've had ghosting is the first time I wore mono vision contact lenses; reading prescription in one eye, distance in the other. I got used to it quickly.
I went for mono vision because I get double vision as one eye doesn't twist properly. As I tilt my head the 2 images separate or merge depending on the angle. And, no, the brain doesn't get used to it.
One consultant recommended prisms but as I pointed out, the prism only works at one angle. Using two prescriptions helps my riding as it effectively switches off one eye's input, except for depth perception.
I used to find it awkward when riding through trees and trying to miss a rut for example. Look down and decide which of my two front wheels needed to avoid which of the two ruts?
I’ve been a speccy four eyes for almost 25 years and nope you shouldn’t be getting ghost reflections and wonky spacial awareness, go back to the optician and explain the problem, they should fix it FOC.
if your glasses make looking at the world more difficult they’ve not really done the job have they…
Quite. I'll see how I go this week but go back if things are still tripped out.
Where is the stw recommended place to go for an eye test? Tesco, boots, specsavers, local place etc…?
Vision Express I went to. Tenner for the test. Surprise, surprise....they said I needed glasses. 😉
Always the cynic...
Vision Express I went to. Tenner for the test. Surprise, surprise….they said I needed glasses. 😉
Always the cynic…
That may be too cynical. I assume eye tests are regulated, people performing them have to actually do them correctly, document the actual readings etc,. and cannot make up a prescription to ensure you need to spend money on glasses?
Been wearing glasses since I was six and now forty two. Where are you lot getting your glasses from? The only time I’ve had any weirdness is when the dickheads at Specsavers put the wrong prescription in my glasses twice. If it’s been a few days OP I’d guess you have the wrong prescription. Maybe worth checking?
Kayak that’s what I was asking for. It’s like taking your car to kwikfit for an mot. Cheap mot fee but no way you’re coming out of there without a tyre or exhaust....
It will be the prism. I had the same problem, but possibly a bit more extreme (had surgery to correct a squint in the end) and wearing glasses with a prism on was really quite weird...
Anti-glare coating would have been a good idea for me - I get reflections on the lenses from the window behind my pc, which can be distracting!
It will be the prism.
This.
your brain has been seeing that ghosted image for years and sorting it out before presenting you with a single view. It now needs to adjust to receiving corrected vision.
The salespeople might exaggerate the difference but I don't believe that many, if any, optometrists will lie on the prescription. Unlike an MOT there's no penalty for taking your prescription elsewhere.
It will be the prism.
This.
your brain has been seeing that ghosted image for years and sorting it out before presenting you with a single view. It now needs to adjust to receiving corrected vision.
I hope so. Went into Screwfix earlier and actually missed the door handle on the first attempt!
Sat here now on my computer I've got a bit of a headache and generally me eyes feel a bit strainy... Not sure I can get through the weirdness... :-/
Did you get the glasses from the same place that you had your eye test done? My issue with Specsavers was because the prescription came from a different optometrist. Hope you get it sorted either way as it sounds rubbish. I’d also second the anti-glare coating.
Mid-40s new to glasses here.
I have them for reading and work.
I got el-cheapo lenses via high street shop last year, they worked OK. End of a day at a screen though and I was having headaches and sore eyes.
I went to local opticians on a recommendation of a friend. Transpires that a) the high street chain glasses had the width of my eyes/lens focal/something not quite right and b) posh Nikon occupational (read: like a varifocal for screen and across a room use) with anti-glare coating are teh shizzle.
I can't wear them walking though - like you the edges of them look odd if I walk with them on.
Did you get the glasses from the same place that you had your eye test done?
Aye. Vision express. Been wearing them again today and had to take them off. Everything looks mental 😐
Not sure if it's a slight magnification or what but I just stood in my workshop earlier looking around and just thought.....no. Doesn't seem real somehow.
If you've been given lenses to correct a phoria or tropia then you shouldn't have double vision afterward. It's normal for kids to experience it briefly but their brain still has enough plasticity to adapt; an adult brain can't and the double vision will persist.
You need to go back to the optometrist.
Can you DM on here? I'm a Dispensing Optician and could likely be of some help if I had more details about the problem, prescription and such. If the prism is vertical then it is generally harder to adapt to than horizontal and that could be why you're having some issues.
From a personal perspective, what is it with people that you always cheap out on eyecare? We all spend a fortune on bikes and kit and toys but we scrimp on vision? Get the coatings! Get the better lens options! It's your eyes! A good quality MAR coat for your lens is amazing and is well worth 30 quid. Oh, and don't go to chains if you want the best eyecare, go to an independent. Even though Optometrists are regulated by the GOC and have to perform the best exam they can, the chains squeeze them so hard for test times and conversions that they are under enormous pressure. Also, in a chain, you are unlikely to be dispensed by a qualified D.O and are more likely to get your optical appliance, the thing that helps you see properly, dispensed by a sales assistant with minimal training or interest in their job.
Also, if you are having problems with glasses, go back and see the person that dispensed them. They can check and make sure that everything is ok and make adjustments if it isn't. Ask to see the Dispensing Optician though.
Hey OP, go down the Kylie route and don't have any lenses in your specs. Obviously works for her.
Can you DM on here? I’m a Dispensing Optician and could likely be of some help if I had more details about the problem, prescription and such
Hey theycallmejerry, I've messaged you. Cheers for that, that's brilliant 👍
We all spend a fortune on bikes and kit and toys but we scrimp on vision? Get the coatings! Get the better lens options! It’s your eyes! A good quality MAR coat for your lens is amazing and is well worth 30 quid
I thought the coatings were like 'Trucoat' when he's selling the car in Fargo? Just an extra to add on 😉
It was £39 incidentally and I'm very poor at the moment, hence the cheapest option.
Went for the cheapest glasses at £39 and they wanted another £39 for some anti glare coating or something. I declined. Maybe that’s it
Yeah that'll be it. Ive had cheapos as spares and they are much worse. Pay for the thinning and the coating.
Thinning and coatings worth every penny ime.
I’ve been wearing glasses for 40 years. The cheapest are a different league from even a midrange set of lenes.
Get the coatings! Get the better lens options! It’s your eyes!
This + lot! I'm 51, worn glasses for 47 of those years. WIth lenses you get what you pay for. I'm +5 (and more in one eye), +3.5 in the other, double astigmatism and the brain only uses my "good" eye. Fortunately my family have run a small chain of opticians for many years, but my stepfather has now retired. Might go independent local for my next test.
WIth regards to a new prescription, there is always an adaptation, but it should pass relatively quickly. If it does not, go back. It is your eyes. Do you like seeing? Frames are much of a muchness really, lenses are not - get the best you can. And when you are +5, you'll want the thinnest lenses you can buy. Varifocals for me next time...
Including myself we have three dispensing opticians at our specsavers and two trainees.
Just saying like.
I'm nearly the op's age and haven't had an eye test since my school days. Glaucoma in family too. Keep meaning to do it because of that but there's always tomorrow.
Late 40s and just had my first eye test in, er, probably 30+ years. My short sight is still good, but my long sight is suffering slightly. Having read around I opted for a local optician with a good track record rather than a national chain and have shelled out as much as I could afford for decent zeiss varifocals with an anti-glare coating - will collect in a couple of weeks. I'm also pondering whether to have some riding glasses re-lensed, or whether I really need to bother for riding. Can anyone offer any advice as to whether I'd see much benefit for off-road riding?
Anyone who hasn't had an eye test and .. is of a certain age ... really should. It's a slow deterioration and its easy to slip under road legal levels without noticing. Plus its pretty much the only time someone might look deeply enough into your eyes to warn on anything serious.
Just got new prescription, and paid a bit more fro frames this time - can swap the lenses in them if it changes again in a couple of years.