I do have astigmatism, actually. However, looking at the prescription of the author in the article, it appears that he does too!
Yes, I do. I had lenses with cylinders (for correcting it) in the past and didn't like them. They're larger and asymmetric - the lower side must be heavier so that they always align correctly on your eye. With not-so-bad astigmatism, you can get away with not correcting it in your contact lenses. That's what I currently do. It works okay and brings you to a good level of vision (1.0 here in Germany, probably 20/20 in…
Ahhh, that won't work for me. I started off like that, but getting cylinders made a huge difference in my contacts. I've tried the bottom-heavy ones, as well as the ones with a "1" that's supposed to be positioned at the bottom manually. Neither has worked too well.
The shifting position isn't a problem, I think the bottom-heavy ones adjust fine with a little bit of practice, but the experience is never that good.
Did this for my wife recently. We measured multiple times very carefully, and got it very wrong.
Did it for myself. Ordered online. Best glasses yet (I think mainly thanks to a my very patient optometrist.) I measured by taking a picture of my face with a credit card for reference and measuring the pixels with the measuring tool in GIMP. (These were the actual instructions on the website I ordered my glasses from.) Also worth mentioning I paid $40 ordering them online, in the article it says he paid $280!
That's cause PD is measured by the optician separately when you're ordering your glasses, not by the optometrist or opthalmologist who writes the prescription. In other words, it's not part of the prescription, it's instead part of the glasses fitting process. A non-eye related example would be if your doctor prescribed you a brace and the person at the medical supply store measured you to find out which size you nee…
...and can be measured at home using a ruler and a mirror, pretty simply. Close one eye, align the ruler at 0 under that pupil. Open the other eye, close the first, read off the distance to the 2nd pupil.
I have done this a few times, and got inconsistent results. Distance to mirror, or camera to face, positioning of the ruler, they all seem to induce variability. Once I got a reproducible result and went with that, ordered progressive glasses online and they were… off. On another occasion I got PD (and prescription) numbers from optometrist at Visionworks, then took numbers and ordered from Zenni, and they were… off again. Also this PD number again different from the one I had measured myself. But when ordering directly at the store they were perfect. I even wondered whether they actually gave me the wrong PD number, to "teach" me a lesson not to go order elsewhere. Sigh.
Did it for myself. Ordered online. Best glasses yet (I think mainly thanks to a my very patient optometrist.) I measured by taking a picture of my face with a credit card for reference and measuring the pixels with the measuring tool in GIMP. (These were the actual instructions on the website I ordered my glasses from.) Also worth mentioning I paid $40 ordering them online, in the article it says he paid $280!
I was amazed because until a friend told me about this site, I've been paying hundreds of euros just for the frames! At such a low cost, I could even order slight variations on the strength.
They have a lot of options for better lens material, have it darken in sunlight, anti glare coating etc, but I just got the cheapest one and it was fine.
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 "…
For anyone near a Warby Parker, they'll happily measure your PD in about 30 seconds. Measurements can vary slightly so you might want to do it a few times and average them.
You can also do it online with Warby Parker as long as you have a credit card (to hold under your face; not to pay with).
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 "…
That is true in the US also. https://www.ftc.gov/tips-advice/business-center/guidance/com...
That may be, but for glasses at least a key measurement is pupillary distance, and it is like pulling teeth to get them to give you this. At my most recent encounter with an optometrist - where I had already selected and was in the process of purchasing from them glasses that cost me hundreds of dollars after my insurance discount - I had to ask them no less then four times to write down my PD so I could buy a few pairs of beaters online. They kept "forgetting."
That is true in the US also. https://www.ftc.gov/tips-advice/business-center/guidance/com...
That may be, but for glasses at least a key measurement is pupillary distance , and it is like pulling teeth to get them to give you this. At my most recent encounter with an optometrist - where I had already selected and was in the process of purchasing from them glasses that cost me hundreds of dollars after my insurance discount - I had to ask them no less then four times to write down my PD so I could buy a few p…
I presume the PD doesn't change after you are an adult so you could reuse it in the future.
My real concern is if I encounter some problems, if I got the exam and glasses from one place, I can insist they fix it for me instead of arguing who is at fault.
Everytime I read about glasses I have to think about the Luxottica-Monopoly which kind of controls most of the market and prices of glasses/lenses. https://www.latimes.com/business/lazarus/la-fi-lazarus-glass...
Yeah, I was surprised that he bought his final pair of glasses online for such a high price. Maybe the frames were expensive? I've used zenni optical for many pairs of glasses, and they're much cheaper.
When you have a prescription that strong the lenses get expensive quick. Even from Coastal.com I end up paying $200+ for high-index photochromatic lenses, because my left eye is -4.75.
The article mentions a +7 in one eye, we’re in the 1.67 index range (mine are 1.6) with a script like that. €208 is a deal.
Eh... he provided custom specifications to a manufacturer. Apple makes it's own SoCs for the iPhone, only Apple can't make semiconductors. They provide specifications to a manufacturer. Apple makes the iPhone, except it's Foxconn that manufacturers it. The APU in the Xbox One is made by Microsoft, but it's composed primarily of off the shelf designed CPU and GPU cores from AMD and manufactured by TSMC/GF/ .
By this logic, I am “making” my own pizza every time I tell Dominos to make me a 20cm pizza with cheese and sauce. I am “making” an IKA sofa when I order it online, telling the manufacturer the model, the size (2 seat, 3, etc). No, what the OP did was check/confirm his numbers and then bought a pair of glasses from a website. Many people buy them from websites, typing in the numbers they received from their doctor. N…
It's not completely without precedent to speak that way. "Build" and "make" are different words, but it is common to say "we built our own house" to mean that you had one custom built for you. Also, you can go on almost any car manufacturer's web site and they let you "build" a car, which means selection options and packages to see what it costs and start the process of ordering.