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Aging and Eye Problems

ldstephens.net

81–89 of 89 posts

Re: Aging and Eye Problems

#81

I'm nearly 49 now. Presbyopia (the loss of ability to close-focus) came on strongly for me at about 46. It was almost like an overnight change. I've also lost significant acuity in low light, but that seemed to come on more slowly. I got my first bifocals last year. I got the "no line" variety and, so far, I hate them. The focal distances I need for reading, viewing my phone, and other close work are at the absolute…

Oh so much. Progressives here. The very bottom irritates me to no end during the day. If I drive in the morning or walk around I feel absolutely horrible. Like I'm drunk. Sure, if I need to read something really really close on my phone in the evening, when the eyes have gone tired it's kinda OK. I do need to focus on the bottom of the glasses. But I still (after months) usually just look straight ahead (sometimes th…

I've been wearing progressives for around 30 years. The only time I haven't had a good experience was once when my optometrist at the time retired and I foolishly tried a few of the chain optical stores. It's hard to say whether it was the doctor doing the exam or the person measuring me for glasses, but I ended up returning several pairs of glasses until I found another independent optometrist with enough experience and trained staff members to make a proper set of glasses. Since then, I've had to switch doctors several more times when they sell their practice but have gotten better about picking new ones.

I use computer glasses when staring at a screen for any length of time and I end up taking my glasses off to read e-books, one of the few benefits of being as nearsighted as I am. For everything else, the progressives work well for me. The first few pairs took close to a week for me to get used to wearing. Since then, I occasionally notice minor distortion with a new prescription but that usually goes away in a day or two.

Re: Aging and Eye Problems

#82
post #12

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don’t know how anyone with a glossy display can work on a dark theme. I see my whole room unless it is pitch black inside.

I don't know how anybody can stand glossy screens, period. The mirror effect is wildly distracting. All my daily driver machines have matte screens. If I could get a matte screen on my phone I would.

You can easily “stand” glossy screen with white background: you only see reflection on dark background: like check your phone screen.

Also not that there were many alternatives to my 32″ 6k display at the time of purchase.

Re: Aging and Eye Problems

#83
post #37
post #26

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Hear, hear. Back when I attempted to be an edgy college guy, I carried my Gentoo with green foreground on a black background. EVERYWHERE. My pcmanfm (yes, I was one of those) looked glorious in true matrix style (and I did have a matrix screensaver). I did it because it was "cool", not because I felt that dark mode was better. Then when I changed to MacOS, since there wasn't native dark mode, I don't think I ever _th…

Ooh do me! My site is purposely annoyingly retro! https://generativestorytelling.ai/

Your website is ok. The blue-on-black text in the footer is very blurry but that's also part of the CRT-filter design.

Since most of the actual text is not "white on dark", but "dark on blue", it's very readable.

The blue version is fine. The best of all 3 by a large margin

The amber version signals me that I should stop looking at it eventually, though I hang on for a while

The green version hurts my eyes. I want to leave as soon as possible

I think the green is brighter to me than the amber and, on top of that, the black text on green background somehow also gets hard to read.

So you definitely made the right choice going with that default!

Re: Aging and Eye Problems

#84

At about 50 I began getting corneal abrasions. My eyes dry out while sleeping and when I open them in the morning, my eyelid would take a certain amount of my cornea with it. Usually just one eye but sometimes both. I trained myself to not open my eyes when I wake up. I work them carefully until I feel safe. Sometimes it still happened a few blinks later. Besides being excruciating, the abrasion mostly blinds me for…

It happens to me when I am taking creatine. As you did, I trained myself to keep my eyes shut until it is safe to reopen them. I do this automatically now.

Re: Aging and Eye Problems

#85
post #31

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Aren't the bifocals just a convenience over quality? It's inconvenient to wear two sets of glasses, but why would one wear bifocals while driving? This convenience can come at a high price!

Bifocals in general are quite useful. It's nice to be able to see the road and the speedometer using the same lenses. Traditional bifocals and progressives are different beasts. The hard outline on traditional bifocals means you get essentially two different lenses, both able to function as intended. The soft blend on progressives means you get essentially one big blurry lens that does not have well defined propertie…

I used the wrong term, sorry. My concern applies to both bifocals and progressive lenses, though: aren't drivers trading off convenience over safety? Shouldn't we have at least two pairs of glasses - one for driving, and another for everything else?

Re: Aging and Eye Problems

#86
post #85

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Bifocals in general are quite useful. It's nice to be able to see the road and the speedometer using the same lenses. Traditional bifocals and progressives are different beasts. The hard outline on traditional bifocals means you get essentially two different lenses, both able to function as intended. The soft blend on progressives means you get essentially one big blurry lens that does not have well defined propertie…

I used the wrong term, sorry. My concern applies to both bifocals and progressive lenses, though: aren't drivers trading off convenience over safety? Shouldn't we have at least two pairs of glasses - one for driving, and another for everything else?

When driving, I need to see things far away (mostly) but also on my dash/instrument cluster.

I am near-sighted overall and have needed distance glasses all my driving life. I got progressives last year and driving is safer now as I have a small area that I can use to clearly (and quickly!) read the instruments, the radio (read: map), defroster controls, etc.

In my case, not having multi-focal lenses was prioritizing convenience/laziness/cost over safety.

Re: Aging and Eye Problems

#87
post #65

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> to the point that it is practically useless. And yet I know many people who use them and love them. So?

The human brain mostly adapts. Big Optical makes $$$$ billions. A small percentage of human brains have persistent dizziness and depth perception errors, which can lead to physical injury and reduced quality of life. We don't have yet have a test funded by disablity insurance, which can determine which brains might fail to adapt. The good news is that multiple glasses have never been cheaper or more accessible, so pr…

>The human brain mostly adapts. A small percentage of human brains have persistent dizziness and depth perception errors, which can lead to physical injury and reduced quality of life

That's a fine argument, which I accept. Not the same as "practically useless", which was the original argument.

Re: Aging and Eye Problems

#88
post #85

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Bifocals in general are quite useful. It's nice to be able to see the road and the speedometer using the same lenses. Traditional bifocals and progressives are different beasts. The hard outline on traditional bifocals means you get essentially two different lenses, both able to function as intended. The soft blend on progressives means you get essentially one big blurry lens that does not have well defined propertie…

I used the wrong term, sorry. My concern applies to both bifocals and progressive lenses, though: aren't drivers trading off convenience over safety? Shouldn't we have at least two pairs of glasses - one for driving, and another for everything else?

No worries, I understood your intent!

The impact is a lot less than you may expect. Brains are ridiculously good at filling in incomplete information. For example, did you know that you have a roughly sun-sized blind spot slightly off center in each eye (where the optic nerve attaches)?

Now imagine needing to switch glasses to read your dash. Inconvenient and unsafe!

Re: Aging and Eye Problems

#89
post #83
post #37

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Ooh do me! My site is purposely annoyingly retro! https://generativestorytelling.ai/

Your website is ok. The blue-on-black text in the footer is very blurry but that's also part of the CRT-filter design. Since most of the actual text is not "white on dark", but "dark on blue", it's very readable. The blue version is fine. The best of all 3 by a large margin The amber version signals me that I should stop looking at it eventually, though I hang on for a while The green version hurts my eyes. I want to…

It's funny how over saturated that green is on my phone's OLED screen vs my desktop's LCD. The green is retro on my desktop my very not retro on my phone. It is supposed to be a subdued retro green not the overly saturated color that mobile makes it out to be!

The blue comes across truest to my vision on both LCD and OLED displays.

Thanks for giving it a look! :)

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