So, when it came to the genetic lottery category eyesight, I did not win. This is my prescription:
Left eye: -1,00
Right eye: -4,00
I also have astigmatism only in my right eye. Getting contact lenses and glasses has always been a pain, but I digress.
I have an office job that involves staring at a computer for most of the day. When getting my glasses, I asked if it made sense to wear them when working, but the optometrist said not to do that since I’m near-sighted anyways. The issue with that is that my right eye is so bad, that even if I’m sitting half a metre away from the screen, I cannot see clearly out of my right eye. So I’m basically only using my left eye to see when I’m working. I then asked if it was possible to get -3,00 contact lenses to wear in only my right eye, so that my eyes were at least the same and so that the workload on my eyes would be evenly divided. He chuckled and seemed confused, and then when he saw that I was being serious, he said that that’s not possible. He didn’t explain why.
I’m obviously not an expert (hence why I managed to make the optometrist laugh with my silly question), so please explain like I’m 5: why is this not possible? Why can’t I wear a -3,00 contact lens in my right eye to have it be the same as my left eye? Why can’t we custom correct vision?
In: 5
Might be a lot of locality-centric thinking on this thread. In the US, custom-ground glasses for individual prescriptions are the norm. But before ushering OP to a new doctor, consider that perhaps OP is located somewhere that such practice is uncommon.
I’m sure the optometrist is wrong but I’m not sure why they are giving you that information, i’m assuming is because they do not want to sort through the brands for a different prescription. For some reason, brands make a specific prescriptions and some do not go up to -4 depending on the BC, DIA, CYL and AXIS that your contacts.
That being said, if you find a brand on your own (which you can do) that also matches the BD, DIA, CYL and AXIS on your prescription, you can order contacts for just one eye with a different power. Some also take insurance.
If Brazilian and American metric for badsight are the same, I envy you. I have -8,50 on the left eye and -9 on the right one. Also have astigmatism in both eyes. I can’t see faces half a meter from me. My glasses cost a fortune, and most of it is for making the glasses thinner.
Also, the correction surgery would only lower this to -4 or slightly higher on both eyes.
I am literally typing this using the power of wearing glasses with two different prescription lenses in. It is by no means rare or even unusual to have different prescription requirements in each eye, and I don’t really know why your optometrists’ absolute first suggestion wasn’t a -4.00 lens for your right eye and a -1.00 lens for your left eye.
I am not an expert by any means, but given what I am literally currently wearing in order to be able to comfortably type this comment, I would recommend getting a second opinion.
I’m wearing contacs of -3.5 in one eye and -1 in the other right now. With an astigmatism component too. So no idea what their problem is.
Um… Whut?
First off my vision isn’t far off yours, glasses are an “all the time” thing – you can take them off if you don’t need them but it’s just easier to wear them full time.
You might be a candidate for bifocal/multi focal lenses or two pairs (regular and work/computer optimized) though. I was for several years.
Second there’s no reason you can’t have differential correction. Your glasses are ALREADY differential correction!
Don’t want to correct the “good” eye? Write “PLANO” in that box.
It might not be practical to do it with a single contact lens (that is a bit of an odd request – you’d be taking the other lenses in & out all the time) but glasses that correct only one eye are entirely possible, as is just *wearing your contacts all day*.
Your optometrist should have explained all these options….
So – find a new doc.
and beyond that, wear your glasses or corrective lenses at work, see properly just take breaks like everyone else should
Let me simplify everybody’s comments here.
Your doctor is either 90 or a young moron. Almost nobody has the same prescription in both eyes.
Go to a different doctor and get a prescription. Contacts come with astigmatism correction. I’ve had years of great experience with AirOptix if you want a brand recommendation.
Get both eyes corrected and see clearly so you can do your work and enjoy life.
I’d see a different optometrist. My eyesight is similar and only slightly worse than yours, and I have both contact lenses and a pair of glasses that fully correct my vision,. I also have astigmatism in only one eye. Both eyes have different degrees of near-sightedness. So it’s not true that your vision can’t be corrected.
However, as for your question about wearing a -3.00 contact lens in only one eye; It’s common to correct both eyes to normal vision. If you corrected your worst eye to your least worst eye, your vision would still cause you strain (though maybe a bit less than wearing nothing at all).
OP, I would recommend you speak with a different doctor, preferably an ophthalmologist who can provide you with better advice. I Wendy to college with someone who had an accident that significantly damaged his eyesight. He wore 1 contact lens to bring things closer together.
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