Having trouble adjusting to glasses

by Crystal
(Boston)

Q: I went to the eye doctor for the first time since I was a kid just over 2 weeks ago and was given a prescription for glasses:

R -25 .50 125 L: -50 -75 70

I’ve been having trouble adjusting to them and took them back to the store a couple days ago and found out that they needed to be adjusted as the person who made the glasses misread one of the numbers.

That’s corrected some of my perception issues but when I’m at work (a lot of my work involves typing printed and handwritten notes into a computer system) I’m still getting headaches and after a little, while my eyes start to hurt and kind of burn, and my vision starts getting a little blurry.

By the middle of the day my eyes seem to have trouble focusing on anything until I take them off for awhile, clean them a few times with the cloth they gave me and put them back on, but sometimes cleaning them doesn’t seem to help.

Could my prescription still be a bit off? Is it still an adjustment period? Am I just not getting them clean enough? Or could it be something else?


A: Hello Crystal,

You have myopic astigmatism, this is a condition that stops you to see clearly both close and far.

The diopters are not big, so the adjustment period should be short.

About the mounting of the lenses, I think they would not do the same mistake twice, so the glasses should be well done.

I don't know your age, usually, after 35, the adjustment period to cylindrical lenses is longer, so if you are in this category, you need more time, just wear them and all will go away after a while.

If you still experience headaches, take short brakes, 5-15 min, and then put them back. If after 2-3 weeks you feel the same, this means you cannot adjust to cylindrical lenses, and you should wear only sphere.

There is a formula that compensates the cylinder by adding where.

If you are more than 40 years old, the presbyopia is kicking in, so you have different diopters far and close, and this is also an issue.

But if you are not in any category from above, then after an adjustment period of 2-3 weeks, it is not ok, you should go back and change the prescription.

About the cleaning...., I don't think you should clean them that often, that is not the issue.

I don't think your vision problem is from dirt, so clean them only when you see spots or dirt on the lenses, it is enough.

Hope this helps,
Arpi

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