The support forum is a gold mine of insights from participants.
For anyone working on their own eyesight, as well as casual readers considering improving their vision, I highly recommend some browsing there. It also makes it quite easy for me to get inspirations for topics here in the blog. Let’s look at some recent dialog:
Ziju writes:
My snellen results with the -2.75 are OD/OS/Both eyes:
Morning(natural light): 20/30, 20/50, 20/25
Night(room light): 20/70, 20/200, 20/70
My centimeter measurement with -2.75 is OD/OS: 55cm/47cm at night and 72.5cm/55cm in the morning.
I’m not quite sure about my centimeter results as I was struggling a little with the edge of blur. There was a large range of distances between fully sharpness and a bit of blur and thus I really can’t tell exactly where the blur starts. I don’t know if it is because the -2.75 may have astigmatism correction that differs from my current values. Moreover, when I was staring at the screen looking for edge of blur, the letters actually changed between blur and sharpness through time (when I was not moving).”
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I put everyone through this exercise. Measure!
Does Ziju have a pretty good idea about different lighting conditions, and how the optometrist prescription is much too strong for 90% of daily use?
I think so!
And there is also this interesting tidbit: “Moreover, when I was staring at the screen looking for edge of blur, the letters actually changed between blur and sharpness through time (when I was not moving).”
Active focus! It’s amazing what happens, when we learn how to challenge our eyes. Blur turns into sharpness, and back again. Do we really want to eliminate this with strong prescriptions? Of course not! We want this source of stimulus, we want to challenge our eyes to give us more focus, with progressively less prescription.
There is a whole lot more interesting things in the thread, here: https://frauenfeldclinic.com/myopia-forums/topic/suggest-for-close-up-work-glasses/
When I catch up on the forum with a bit of time, I often write almost blog-length explanations, such as this one:
The first differential prescription is always a guess! It’s difficult to really know how the eyes will respond to stimulus and less strain in the short term.
Aside from the inconvenience of expense, figuring out the prescription, and getting it, this is a truly excellent exercise. Doing the measurements, observing your left vs. right eye, and changes with lighting conditions and strain is letting you get to know your eyesight. Along with that, you get to look at prescriptions more critically, from a “how much do I really need for this task” perspective.
I hope you are getting a positive experience from this!
Is the distance you get with the -1.00 a bit low for being ergonomically convenient?
For the normalized (distance prescription), giving your right eye a 0.25 diopter bump will give it a better chance to contribute to your bifocal vision properly. It would still be a challenging prescription (we talk about peak prescription in the program, for which it would be excellent). Going up 0.25 and 0.50 would make life a bit easier – it’s nice to get somewhat close to 20/40 or 20/35 with some active focus.
Remember, it’s all about blur horizon. Your eyes have to be able to achieve clear focus for distances you use primarily – though it’s perfectly ok for this to take effort. So if you are outside and everything is quite blurry, it’s neither fun, nor productive. You can still work at relatively short distances for pulling focus (a topic we discuss later, after we cover all the close-up subjects), which technically is just as well for rehab. But in a practical sense, it’s often more pleasing to get more distance before that blur horizon.”
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For Sofya’s original question and the whole thread, visit here: https://frauenfeldclinic.com/myopia-forums/topic/prescription-for-close-up-work/
Get to know your eyes. That is the alternative I offer, to the magic show and one-size-fits-all prescriptions you get at the optometrist. I know this can feel daunting (though it should also be exciting) at first, but that’s why I’m here to support you in the forum, and through these articles.
Get out there and enjoy some healthy eyesight today!
