Why correct distance vision over close up?

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badatmath

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I didn't want to hijack the cataract thread but it is a sincere question.

I already have halos (thanks RK surgery) and a degree of amblyopia and quite a different Rx in one eye.

But I have noticed most people correct for distance. . . . it was so much easier to be nearsighted back in the day than this crap I can only see well at certain distance I have now. . . I can't even really grasp the idea of a (future) plano lens with a reading lens. I think I'd be forever tripping over my own feet if I had to set my eyes to look in the right place to go down stairs.

Just wondering. I suspect I won't be given a huge list of options when the time comes since I got too much going on in there anyway but was curious just the same.
 
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I'm nearsighted and started wearing progressive lenses several years back. It was getting harder to see close up with single vision lenses; eye dr said because as you get older your eyes are less able to overcome the distance correction. It was easy adjustment for me adapting to the progressive lenses. My close up prescription is really just a cancel of the distance correction. Not a "reading glasses" prescription, it's basically a clear lens.
 
Hmm. I suppose it does depend on your Rx too. My distance vision is not horrible. Really just one eye is pretty much useless and I often close it to use the other. . . . my vision tends to fluctuate more than I'd like day to day (they say it is due to the RK after affects but IDK if that really makes sense at this point).

I've known several people that could not adjust to progressives at all and suspect I'd be one of them though I have not tried. Perhaps I should at some point before cataracts come along . . . might be good to "practice" I guess. I will ask doc next time I go.
 
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Why correct distance vs. near?

Because no good pair of readers can make me a safer driver, or help me see the step or uneven path 10 feet ahead of me.

Yeah progressives didn't work for me. I was going to have an accident before I got used to them.

So I picked one, and got a good prescription that makes everything look good, unless it's within 18 inches....
 
I can legally drive with no glasses (barely) - at least as of a couple months ago. . . I just find all glasses so frustrating now cause tey don't ever seem right. (I've been to different doctors and they all sort of work "sometimes"). But one of the cataract threads got me thinking cause it is like damn I can't take those off. When my glasses drive me nuts I can take the off and get more. . . as imperfect as they are.
 
I have always had good distance sight and started needing readers in my mid 40’s. If I forget to take off my readers I realize it quickly because I have trouble walking. When I got cataracts the doctor suggested having one eye for reading and I said absolutely not. It’s a permanent decision and I wouldn’t risk it being a mistake plus I want to see as good as possible for driving.
 
I DONT read that much and more of my time is looking futher out. My question to my Dr was where does Far out start. I have been happy i can still see my desktop but did have to increase the fonts on iphone. I just got both of my eyes done and I still see some haze. It seems worst when i first get up and gets better as the day goes along. Hopefully it will get better. I had wore glasses all my life.

I would like to hear from others if they just buy readers or get a Rx for new eye glasses.
 
Aerides said:
Why correct distance vs. near?
Yeah progressives didn't work for me. I was going to have an accident before I got used to them.
.
Click to expand...

I wear bifocals, I don't like progressives and don't want to pay for them.

Go to zenni.com and you can probably get a pair for $40 and see if that works for you. I've probably order 30 pairs from them, serious eye issues.
 
I'm not sure I follow the issues in the initial post. But to answer the thread title question, I correct for distance vision because everything more than 6-10 feet in front of me is blurry if I don't. I like to be able to read street/road signs, recognize people who walk up my sidewalk before they get to my door, enjoy watching the deer grazing in that field over there, etc. I can't imagine not correcting my eyes to see these things (and others) more clearly. Perhaps most importantly, I don't think I would be a safe driver without lenses.

For what it's worth, I had lasik done in 2001 and it worked great for many years, but about 2015, my vision started to fail again. I also now need lenses to read. So I wear bifocals around the house. I wear prescription sun glasses to drive most days. I wear cheap non-prescription magnifying glasses for use at my home desktop computer, which is a litter further away than the normal reading glasses are designed for. I tried progressive lenses and I could not get them to work for me. I also usually take off my bifocals when I am ascending/descending steps because I found I couldn't be sure where my feet were at all times.

As with the above poster, I now order my prescription glasses from Zenni when I know my prescription numbers are still working for me.
 
Yeah I guess my post was not the most clear really. I wasn't really aiming to never wear/buy glasses or stumble around half blind.

I had been reading a cataract thread and didn't want to derail since I know nothing about lens types or prices or risks. I just had this vision (pun intended) of getting the wrong lens and being doomed for life to bad vision at all distances and thought given a choice it seems easier to correct longer distance (with glasses). I certainly don't like the computer glasses I have on right now . . .

I vaguely remember a friend said their doctor told them to get the simplest one - not because of price - but easier to fix later if needed by adding glasses. This was sometime back though. IDK what options he had.
 
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Welcome to the club, I'm also an RK patient that gave me 20/20 vision for more than 20 years before it started giving me problems. I've always had the halos at night but they never bothered me and didn't really notice them but as I've aged and the vision has worsened, now they've become a problem. I had the surgery done in my late 20's and am now in my 60's. You probably have the same issues as me in regards to the shadows that was the first sign something was going wrong.
In my case they cannot correct my vision with glasses, I wear medically necessary RGP contact lenses that reshapes the cornea and give me good long distance vision so I can drive and feel comfortable doing it. For reading, I use cheap drug store readers over the contacts. I would not be surprised if you end up in a similar situation to mine and it's hard to find the right doctor to help you.
After getting no help from optometrists with an acceptable glasses prescription, someone at work suggested visiting Southern California College Of Optometry which was 5 minutes away from work and that visit was a game changer for me. They understood the problems of RK patients, had state of the art equipment, ran tons of tests and had me in contacts that worked within a couple of weeks of my first visit and I've been a patient ever since. Students do the initial examination under a teachers supervision and they are so eager to learn about RK and ask me tons of questions. It turns out most patients including me tell them if they had to do it all over again they would, we all had so many years of perfect vision.
I also worry about cataract surgery down the line and I've been told I will probably need it within a few years, earlier than most and I will be able to have the surgery but it might be more complicated.
 
I got LASIK because I was severely nearsighted (-8, both eyes) and everything was fuzzy blobs w/o glasses.

Couldn't tolerate contact lenses anymore.

Not perfect...now, 20+ years later I try not to drive at night, especially in the rain.

But all I need for closeup work is cheap reading glasses available everywhere.
 
RetiredAndLovingIt said:
Welcome to the club, I'm also an RK patient that gave me 20/20 vision for more than 20 years before it started giving me problems. I've always had the halos at night but they never bothered me and didn't really notice them but as I've aged and the vision has worsened, now they've become a problem. I had the surgery done in my late 20's and am now in my 60's. You probably have the same issues as me in regards to the shadows that was the first sign something was going wrong.
In my case they cannot correct my vision with glasses, I wear medically necessary RGP contact lenses that reshapes the cornea and give me good long distance vision so I can drive and feel comfortable doing it. For reading, I use cheap drug store readers over the contacts. I would not be surprised if you end up in a similar situation to mine and it's hard to find the right doctor to help you.
After getting no help from optometrists with an acceptable glasses prescription, someone at work suggested visiting Southern California College Of Optometry which was 5 minutes away from work and that visit was a game changer for me. They understood the problems of RK patients, had state of the art equipment, ran tons of tests and had me in contacts that worked within a couple of weeks of my first visit and I've been a patient ever since. Students do the initial examination under a teachers supervision and they are so eager to learn about RK and ask me tons of questions. It turns out most patients including me tell them if they had to do it all over again they would, we all had so many years of perfect vision.
I also worry about cataract surgery down the line and I've been told I will probably need it within a few years, earlier than most and I will be able to have the surgery but it might be more complicated.
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Really interesting. I cannot correct to 20/20 with glasses either but they have always said I cannot wear a contact due to excessive scarring. I wonder if need some other opinions. . . . and where to get them. . . the doctors don't seem all that interested.
 
At 70 I'm spending much more time reading books and getting entertained by this internet thing. So my IOL is sweet at 18".

If I drove a lot, I might have gone for distance.

But I've got a driver, and that's a start. Lol.
 
I have 12 cuts in each eye and they were able to help me. My vision is clear and crisp, it's not 20/20 but close and I can't remember the numbers right now.

You might want to check out this teaching institution if they are anywhere close to you for a complete evaluation and give them your insurance info in case some of it might be covered as a medical condition.

https://www.mwuclinics.com/arizona/services/eye/contact-lens-services
 
Interesting topic, I find my cataract decision to be on the unique side.

I've been wearing glasses for nearsightedness/astigmatism since the age of 11, and probably needed them before that. Could read without glasses up until about age of 40, and moved to progressives. No problem adjusting. All these years I was correctable to 20/15 (could read a couple on the 20/10 line) and used to having excellent vision. In my mid 50s, I started to experience monocular diplopia in both eyes (double vision out of a single eye). My corrected vision dropped to 20/25-20/30. After all those years of good vision, it was very frustrating. Doc thought maybe dry eye, had me doing drops, but still problems.

He offered me the option of having the cataracts removed. They weren't terrible, and he wasn't satisfied that it would solve the problem, but he said it was possible. And I would need them removed eventually. Since I was closing on ER and had excellent medical insurance, I decided to go for it (6 years ago now).

Based on my background and a discussion with the doc (I'd seen him for many years), he discouraged me from trying any of the multi focal lenses. He also said that I might not be happy with the distance correction route, since it might only be corrected to the level that I was complaining about, the accuracy of selecting the replacement lens is only so good. Suggested I correct for reading with the cataract lens replacement, but it would mean wearing glasses for distance after the cataract removal. I figured I was too picky, he said I was just very sensitive. Since I am sensitive to light and have always had lenses that adjust to sunglasses in the light, I figured I would be wearing sunglasses any way and was so used to wearing glasses since young, it wouldn't be that big of a deal. I had never considered lasik/RK because of knowing people who had issues.

Did the surgery, adjusted to reading, and have continued to wear glasses. I can read up close with no lenses. I can do some things with computers, but not everything. I'm correctable to 20/15-20/20, not quite what I had for many years but close, and better than before surgery.

Monocular diplopia continues. In hindsight, that was likely the driver of my issues. It's not as bad as it was, I am more compliant about the drops, and I have also tried to learn to live with it. If I don't think about it things are fine, but once I see it, I can't unsee it. Some psychology at work, me thinks.

I think the option of correcting for reading when doing cataract replacement is not recognized as an option by many patients, and perhaps not offered by docs. But if you are interested, it's worth considering. I'm happy with how things turned out for me.
 
Interesting story. I hope I can go a good long while before cataracts because with all the RK scars they have said it will be a problem. I wish I'd never had it but can't be undone.

While I live in AZ there is no chance I'd be driving without sunglasses either so might as well have an Rx in them.
 
I am not yet at the point of needing cataract surgery. However, I have wondered about correcting for distance versus close up. I’m nearsighted and have had glasses since fifth grade. I tried progressives and couldn’t get used to them. After age fifty I found that I couldn’t read with my glasses on. My solution is that I only wear my glasses outside. When I walk in the house, the first thing I do is take my glasses off and leave them by the door. I put them on when I leave. I think it would be difficult for me to get accustomed to the opposite. I have a few years before I need to decide.
 
Interesting discussion. I'm kind of a Zenni eyeglasses nerd since my prescription changes every year. However, just since March, my prescription has changed three times. It's only my left eye that is changing these past few times, but imagine my shock to learn it had changed -1.0 diopters since May!

My doctor says it's cataracts and it can be controlled with glasses right now, but I am a candidate for cataract surgery at some point. Up until this thread I was not aware there was a choice that needed to be made between choosing distance vision correction or near vision correction.

I'm nearsighted now (again), but for a while a couple years ago I was mildly farsighted.

What a weird thing to have to choose. I suppose I would elect to wear glasses for distance vision, assuming my near vision could be corrected so I could both read books and see the computer screen clearly.
 
FIYes said:
I think it would be difficult for me to get accustomed to the opposite.
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FWIW, I found it astoundingly easy to get accustomed to the opposite.
Very nearsighted all my life (-6 and -7), and wore glasses starting in the first grade.

I could do any kind of extremely fine work by taking off my glasses, but couldn't read the clock ten feet away without them.

I decided I wanted a more "typical" experience and got distance only IOLs when I had my cataract surgery. Couldn't be happier about it. Using readers for anything close doesn't bother me a bit and just feels normal. And being able to drive without glasses is fantastic.

OTOH, DW wanted the best of both, so she got distance in one eye and close in the other. She says it works well enough, but she regrets it since she feels she doesn't have perfect vision in either case.

Everyone has a different experience, so you should think hard about what you're looking for.
 
braumeister said:
I decided I wanted a more "typical" experience and got distance only IOLs when I had my cataract surgery. Couldn't be happier about it. Using readers for anything close doesn't bother me a bit and just feels normal. And being able to drive without glasses is fantastic.
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That's what I chose, too, and it was the right decision for me. For one thing peripheral vision is extremely useful to me when driving, though I find it much less useful when reading.

As with everything on the internet, YMMV.
 
braumeister said:
OTOH, DW wanted the best of both, so she got distance in one eye and close in the other. She says it works well enough, but she regrets it since she feels she doesn't have perfect vision in either case.
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I've been doing what your wife does with contacts over the last 20 years. It's called monovision.

It took a few tries to tweak it to get what I want. You have near, intermediate and long distance. You always have to slightly give up perfect vision in one area.

Since I use my computer a lot and play video games on a 70" screen many feet away and for driving it was important to have intermediate and long distance be my perfect vision.

I give up a little bit on near vision. But instead of being able to read 6" away I simply hold it farther until it's clear.

I realize this won't work for many but it works great for me. Plus I only have to remove my contacts and put in a fresh pair once a month.
 
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11522914 said:
I've been doing what your wife does with contacts over the last 20 years. It's called monovision.
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Yes, I asked my ophthalmologist about that when I was considering my cataract lenses. He said he only recommended it for people who had been able to do it successfully with contacts, like you do.

He also said that he tried it himself with contacts for a few months but never got used to it. That was enough for me to decide not to go the monovision route.
 
ncbill said:
I got LASIK because I was severely nearsighted (-8, both eyes) and everything was fuzzy blobs w/o glasses.

Couldn't tolerate contact lenses anymore.

Not perfect...now, 20+ years later I try not to drive at night, especially in the rain.

But all I need for closeup work is cheap reading glasses available everywhere.
Click to expand...

This is me exactly. I do have a minor prescription upgrade that is very helpful for night driving. I also have some astigmatism the glasses help.
 
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