reading glasses?

[Isaac]

So if I'm near sighted do I need a negative powered glasses set for more comfortable reading?

I have a pair of +1 and after a while my eyes start hurting a bit. I think I either need +.75 or I need to get one of those prescription made negative glasses. Reading around it seems that negatives are for distance not reading.

This is probably what I should only be asking:
When I relax my vision (default focus? Done by closing and relaxing eyes, then opening but not refocusing.) only things very close to my nose are in focus. That means I'm near sighted right? I assume I should have glasses that put things into focus while my eyes are in the most comfortable state. Is that correct?

THANK YOU INTERNET PEOPLE!

edit:
This sounds like the opposite of me. Maybe reading glasses were intended for far sighted people.

When you reach the point of not being able to read up close without stretching your arms to the limit, you may need to consider single-vision reading glasses.

Read more: http://www.allaboutvision.com/over40/re ... z1TFWLelvJ

[fliptw]

When was the last time you got your eyes checked? Consult a professional.

[Isaac]

Uh... elementary school? I plan on going in the near future, but I was curious if anyone here already knew some of these answers.

It's not a huge emergency, anyway. I just get headaches and eye fatigue after reading for hours.

[fliptw]

You should get your eyes looked yearly guy.

[Isaac]

Well, I'm worried that my vision isn't bad enough to need glasses and that the doctor will try to get me to buy a pair anyway, just to make a quick buck... I guess I could just learn to trust eye doctors.

[Avder]

I have absolutely terrible vision and need to get my prescription updated every few years. You never have to get your glasses at the same place as where you get your eyes tested. And the way they test your eyes, they cant really fake something and say "you need glasses", cause you are going to notice if your vision is clearer with lenses in front of them or not.

[fliptw]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Glacoma

[Isaac]

Avder, I have an issue with that last part. What if you're able to see about the same level of clarity with any pair of low power glasses? My problem is I have to use them for about an hour before I notice my eyes getting sore. edit: I worry about a placebo effect.

Thanks.

[flip]

nearsighted is negative powered mostly but I'm not sure If that is the standard rule or not, might be based on the actual shape of your eye. Go to the doctor, you DO NOT HAVE to do what he says

[Isaac]

Yeah Flip, and here's the stupid part. They really don't make nearsighted reading glasses because most near sighted glasses, or negatively charged glasses, are for distance. I don't have any problem with distance. So I bet the doctor is going to kick me out of his laboratory when I ask him for something he's never made before. My comfort zone is about 6" from my face. I just want to extend that comfort zone/point to 14". I don't know if I'm making any sense. Sorry.

[fliptw]

You either far-sighted, or have an astigmatism

The consensus is to see the eye doc.

[Isaac]

Oh yeah, I'll go. But I'll be ready for anything.

[Heretic]

I vote for astigmatism if you were farsighted it is difficult to impossible to read from a menu or book or anything up close. If you are nearsighted anything at a distance is difficult to bring into focus. Astigmatism will cause eyestrain and headaches. Of course if you are over forty your eyes start to develop presbyopia which causes inability to focus actively on nearby objects. Best practice see your optometrist don't take chances with over the counter reading glasses.

[Thenior]

if you have a astigmatism, you'll be amazed when you put on new perscription glasses. Two years ago, I got some glasses and they worked really good. A couple weeks ago, I went in for a checkup because my eyes were getting sore. I can't believe how much better I can see long distance again.

[Isaac]

What's the cheapest way to get an eye exam? I checked on campus. Their clinic doesn't have that listed as a service. So I'm wondering if any kind of drugstore is known to give eye exams. Walgreen's says it has "eye care" but I can't get any specifics online. I'm going to go visit today, if I have time.

Or is this one of those things where I have to go to a specialized firm that has that big weird glasses simulator with the crazy buttons, leavers, and knobs?

[Krom]

Or is this one of those things where I have to go to a specialized firm that has that big weird glasses simulator with the crazy buttons, leavers, and knobs?

Correct.

[Thenior]

Or is this one of those things where I have to go to a specialized firm that has that big weird glasses simulator with the crazy buttons, leavers, and knobs?

Correct.

Sort of... if Wal-Green says they have Eye Care, that probably means they have an on-staff optometrist. I've gone to Costco, Wal-Mart, and two local Optometrist. I prefer practices that specialize in optometry (i.e. not Wal-Mart), but sometimes they can be more expensive. My first set of were less then $200, my second set were over $300, with very little difference between the prescriptions. But my new set, apparently, are superior.

[Tunnelcat]

Isaac, my husband is extremely nearsighted. He needs glasses to see anything farther away than 4 inches from his eyes. The problem with nearsightedness is that the correction needed to compensate for it makes the image put into the eyes by the glasses smaller and smaller the more powerful the glasses get. One then runs into the issue that as more and more correction is applied, everything begins to get too tiny and very hard to see. At extreme nearsightedness, you will get diminishing returns as more and more correction is applied. Things will be focused, but to small to see the details. That's the problem my husband has now run into. What's needed for extreme nearsightedness a 2 lens solution to re-magnify the tiny image once it's focused into the eye, but no one has that yet.

If one is farsighted, like I am, the eyes can see things focused in the distance, but not close up, like for reading or computer work. That's where the typical reading glasses work, since they magnify things. I've gotten so farsighted though that I need prescription glasses to just watch a TV from 11 feet away. Anything closer than 4 feet is out of focus for me now.

Definitely go to the eye doctor. Nearsightedness will need prescription correction. The doc will also tell you if you have off-center optical centers to your eyes, cataracts (unlikely but possible) and astigmatism.

[Grendel]

TB -- have your husband check out contact lenses. They offer MUCH better vision.

[Tunnelcat]

Yeah, I tried to convince him to try them, but he HATES anything in his eyes, even eye drops! Wussy! He has cataracts too, so he's thinking of having surgery done, which is even more eye invasive, so he's really hesitant on that fix too. He also has a family history of macular degeneration, and since his cataracts are nuclear, in the center of the lens, the retina very difficult for the doctor to view. He's afraid he'll go get the surgery, only to find out he has that problem as well.

[Sirius]

Doesn't sound like he will have much to lose for long... :/

[Tunnelcat]

Doesn't sound like he will have much to lose for long... :/

That's what he's waiting for, the last minute. Apparently those modern plastic cataract lenses that fold up for insertion during surgery only have about a twenty year service life before they start to fail along the fold line, which shows up as a visual aberration in the plastic. Since they can't be replaced again, he wants to wait as long as possible before doing it. He only has one set of eyes, and he want's them to last as long as possible. So as long as he can see with glasses, he wants to wait.

[Isaac]

I really wish they'd get on the ball -- the eyeball, ho ho -- in perfecting artificial eyes.