41–50 of 189 posts
This article found 13 out of 30 opticians were off by a significant amount (poor or very poor): https://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/entry/high-street-opticians...
From personal experience: don't do these tests if you're tired, have headaches or are otherwise impaired. For example if your eyes simply want to shut and you're forcing them to open the musculature will affect your vision.
I've never been able to get a good fit for my contacts although my glasses have always worked well enough. The weird thing is that when I go to get contact lenses, the retailer orders them according to my glasses prescription, but subtracts seemingly arbitrary values from it to arrive at the contact lenses' values.
I live in Pakistan, btw.
Fascinating hacker story in an unexpected domain. Thank you! A side note about "getting your numbers"... The author remarks, "she’s not happy to share the measurements with me as she fears I’ll run off and get my glasses made online". This will obviously vary by jurisdiction but what the author describes may be illegal in some places. e.g. where I live, there is a law since 2010 requiring opticians and optometrists "…
Not sure about legality but here in the UK you will find opticians will give you your prescription, but often exclude the pupil distance measurement (I think) which a lot of the online stores require. I think you can ask for it, but they will only give it begrudgingly.
For more than 10 years I am going to the same optician for glasses. As a sport pilot, I need to have 2 pairs at all times (one is kept as reserve in the cockpit); changing one to another, with identical "everything", produces a serious discomfort that I cannot explain. I learned to live with the idea that eye sight is complicated. Measurements at different points in time can differ slightly: in the morning just after…
Indeed! The best thing you can do before an eye exam is be rested, eat an apple, don't stare at your phone in the waiting room, look out the window if there is one.
Tired eyes will give differing results. Low (or high) blood sugar (even in healthy people) with give differing results. Straining your eyes by looking at a screen in the waiting area can give differing results.
Note for all these I say can and not do.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
> There's a specific reason why they do this and ask you to make a decision in an instant. It's called accommodation. You are right. It can be an issue in the other direction though. People are checked after often sizeable waits looking at the same thing (their phone, the wall, outside) for a long time. When you then start the switching lens tests, there will be a set of lens optimal for your current situation, and a…
It's important to only do eye tests when you are tired, so you get lenses that help you when you need them.
Please consult with a medical professional.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
Not sure about legality but here in the UK you will find opticians will give you your prescription, but often exclude the pupil distance measurement (I think) which a lot of the online stores require. I think you can ask for it, but they will only give it begrudgingly.
Inter-pupillary distance is among the few things glasses related that can be measured yourself.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
This did strike me as strange. Imagine going to a doctor getting a blood test and being told your numbers are good or bad but the doctor refusing to give you the actual result. They are your results, you paid for them and are part of an overall need to understand your health.
Right, except that the test at a optician is often free (in Germany at least).
Fascinating hacker story in an unexpected domain. Thank you! A side note about "getting your numbers"... The author remarks, "she’s not happy to share the measurements with me as she fears I’ll run off and get my glasses made online". This will obviously vary by jurisdiction but what the author describes may be illegal in some places. e.g. where I live, there is a law since 2010 requiring opticians and optometrists "…
Not sure about legality but here in the UK you will find opticians will give you your prescription, but often exclude the pupil distance measurement (I think) which a lot of the online stores require. I think you can ask for it, but they will only give it begrudgingly.
From Wikipedia[1]:
> In both the UK and most of Canada (excluding British Columbia[5]), the PD measurement is classed as a dispensing tool rather than a part of the actual prescription of the person whose eyes were tested, thus there is no obligation for a PD to be provided on patient request.