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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

To hate my varifocals and it's really distressing

84 replies

LEMtheoriginal · 01/03/2018 16:24

I suffer with anxiety.

I left it ages before I got my eyes retested since last time I got glasses so there is a big difference in my prescription.

I have been studying the past few days quite intensely and my eyes are screwed.

It takes me ages to adjust between reading and distance. I mean up to an hour but this was with my last pair.

I'm terrified that there is something with my eyes.

Someone please talk to me - not about my anxiety. I kniw know I have this . It's my eyes that are bothering me

OP posts:
LEMtheoriginal · 01/03/2018 18:58

She wasn't worried. She said most likely due to eye strain and I generally only notice if I've been reading for a long period and my eyes feel tired. I described this to the optician as seeing a halo so I guess I did tell her.

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LEMtheoriginal · 01/03/2018 18:59

@Nutella do you think it's eye strain? The halos??

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PinkSparklyPussyCat · 01/03/2018 19:02

Do your eyes get dry when you’re tired? When I was thinking of having laser surgery a few years ago I was warned that dry eyes and halos were among the side effects.

I’ve also just remembered something. I ordered some prescription sunglasses a few years ago and I never got on with them. The optician said it could be because the frames were bigger than I’m used to. I’ve lost count of the amount of times that Specsavers changed things, adjusted them etc. They were never right but it’s because I didn’t bother going back, not because they wouldn’t help.

Pumperthepumper · 01/03/2018 19:08

LEM you need to get the alignment checked - those circles you posted about last week on your reaction lenses are how they mark up a vari to make sure it’s sitting in the right place. So they’ll mark that circle, and the one nearest the nose pad, then they’ll put it on a chart and mark where your pupil should sit. Then they’ll put them back on your face and check the middle mark is sitting on your pupil. If it’s not then you’ll be looking through the wrong bit of lens. So they’ll probably adjust the nose pads and the sides and check again.

In a varifocal you have three prescriptions., distance, intermediate (tv watching, computer etc) and reading. If the lens is sitting too high on your face then you’ll be permanently looking through the intermediate part and your vision won’t be great.

Nutellaand · 01/03/2018 19:10

Lots of things can cause glare / halos however none of them are anything to worry about. Did you get antiglare on the new glasses ? As that’s very good at reducing it, sometimes people notice halos if they don’t have this on their glasses.

It’s difficult for me to comment further without seeing your glasses / eyes. If you have had quite a large change in your glasses / struggling with the varifocals it’s really best to go back to the optician who saw your first for some reasurance.

I would also recommend if you feel comfortable telling the dispensing optician you have anxiety, it’s very common and I have had quite a few patients tell me this and therefore I know to take appropriate time to reassure them / awnser all their questions.

LEMtheoriginal · 01/03/2018 19:14

Trouble is I see it when I take my glasses off too it's like my eyes are struggling to refocus. I'm so worried I feel sick

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Mishappening · 01/03/2018 19:14

I have been wearing varifocals since they first came on the market. On two occasions I have had problems with them and went straight back to the optician and adjustments were made; then all was fine.

ChazsBrilliantAttitude · 01/03/2018 19:14

LEM
I have a fairly high degree of astigmatism as well as being shortsighted. If I take my glasses off I sometimes get ghosting because the slight distortion in the cornea can cause more than one focal point. It is worse when I am tired.
It is possible that you are not focussing correctly because of the variation in the lens e.g. if you are focussing where the prescription is changing it might be causing the image to blur or double.

If you have vision problems shortly after getting new glasses then the most likely explanation is the new glasses. If you have vision problems shortly after getting a new type of glasses that are known to require time to adjust to then it is even more likely that the problem is the glasses.

When my prescription increased for the astigmatism I would have a week of walls curving and floors twisting before my eyes adjusted.

NotEnoughCats · 01/03/2018 19:17

I'm a retired optometrist, and it might just be that you're not fully adjusted to wearing the varifocals. It can take a couple of weeks to get used to a new prescription, particularly varifocals, or if there has been a large change in the prescription.

It could also be that the varifocal lenses are not quite in the correct position for how the glasses are adjusted. This is easy to correct by having a dispensing optician mark the lenses up and make sure that they are adjusted to sit in the correct place so that you are looking through the right part of the lenses for distance and near.

The other possibility (and one which can cause a shadowing effect) is that you have some astigmatism which hasn't been fully corrected, or that you've had a change in the correction for astigmatism. Astigmatism is where the eye is slightly more rugby ball shaped than round, meaning that you need two different corrections at right angles to each other. Most people have some astigmatism, so it isn't anything to worry about.

That said, you need to go back to Specsavers and ask them to check the glasses for you, and describe exactly what you are having trouble with, so they can have a look. If they are at all worried they will book you in with an optometrist again, to double check that the prescription is right. The fact that you feel it happens when you are fatigued leads me to think that it is either the change in prescription (you say it was a large change), or that the prescription isn't quite right for you (an eye test is subjective and therefore the answers given can vary depending on how the patient is feeling, how tired they are etc). If you had a brain tumour, you would be more likely to have the shadowing effect all of the time, (along with other symptoms) as tiredness wouldn't affect that.

Go and get it checked, it is most likely something really simple and easy to remedy.

I would like to address the suggestion that Specsavers' opticians are crap. I worked for Specsavers as an optometrist for my whole optometry career. I trained in exactly the same way as every other optometrist in the country, we all do the same degree/professional qualification regardless of whether we end up working for an independent or a chain, and we all have to maintain our training in order to remain registered with the General Optical Council, which we have to do in order to practise. There is a perception that because Specsavers is visible on the high street, and because they charge less than other places, that the opticians are inferior, but that isn't the case.

underneaththeash · 01/03/2018 19:18

I'm also an optometrist, one tip is to point your nose at the thing you're looking at.
As Nutella said - go back and get them adjusted/retested, they will not mind in the slightest that you've gone back (I like people letting me know how they've got on with contact and glasses).
Some types of varifocals are better than others and you may just need a certain type, they all have different spacing between the distance and near part.
Haloes can be more common in polycarbonate lenses, which you sometimes have with rimless frames.

FakeMews · 01/03/2018 19:19

It's not you it's the glasses.
I tried varifocals and had the same problem as you. Specsavers promise they will change them if you can't get on with them. I swapped mine for bifocals which may not look as good but are much less strain on the eyes.
In fact 90% of the time I wear single vision glasses - have lots of cheap pairs of distance and reading glasses.

LEMtheoriginal · 01/03/2018 19:19

@ChazsBrilliantAttitude *thankyou" I do have marked astigmatism - cornea like rugby balls one optician said. You have really reassured me as that sounds like what I have. I have quite a strong reading prescription. 80 I think?? Is that strong?

Now I need to pick up the pieces of my marriage as this is the straw that broke the camel's back for dp

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Nanny0gg · 01/03/2018 19:21

do you think it's eye strain? The halos??

Yes. And you may need reading glasses. But go back to the optician. Your glasses aren't right,

blueskyinmarch · 01/03/2018 19:22

My eyes can be a nightmare like this. It doesn't matter if i wear my varifocals or not. If i have been reading or doing close work my eyes take hours to refocus to distance. I went back to the opticians and he checked my eyes and said all was fine. It is just something some people experience. It isn't even inked to age. I am in my 50s but he said he finds lots of young students have the same problem. It really does not mean there is anything serious wrong. It is just the way some peoples eyes work.

underneaththeash · 01/03/2018 19:24

Ooh Optometrist central tonight...I would also like to echo notenoughcats in saying that some Specsavers practices are award winning and industry leading in their technology, some aren't....but we always want to see people if they are having problems with their glasses.

NotEnoughCats · 01/03/2018 19:28

As underneaththeash says, an optometrist will always want to put things right. We want people to be happy with their glasses, and you should always go back if you are not happy. Specsavers have a 'No quibble, no fuss' guarantee and will put things right.

user1499722317 · 01/03/2018 19:29

OP I couldn't get on with varifocals but I left it too late to go back. Specsavers had said come back if you don't like them and we will refund you and you can order a different pair. No idea how easy that would have actually been as I stupidly left it too late . Do you have a friend who could go back with you?

LEMtheoriginal · 01/03/2018 19:41

The lady I saw today - not an optician said I might be better with a pair of plain reading glasses when I'm reading for extended periods. I might do that as I am studying at the moment so revising for exams. I found that generally they have been fine at work. I don't think the issue is so much the peripheral vision but the horizontal vision is really limited. So looking at my phone just now i have to have it quite clise to my body and have to move the glasses down so i can see otherwise it goes out of focus. I have to tilt my head back to see the computor screen but had to do that with my previous pair and was hoping I wouldn't have to do it with these. They were more money than I could afford anyway so I can't afford more.

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endofthelinefinally · 01/03/2018 19:50

I have been through the whole brain tumour thing. The optician would have spotted any signs when they examined your eyes.
My optician was jumping up and down and referred me urgently via my GP.
I am sure it is a combination of eyestrain and new glasses, which may or may not need checking and altering.

NotEnoughCats · 01/03/2018 19:50

You might well be for extended periods of reading. Varifocals suit most people most of the time, but they don't suit all people all of the time. Many people have an 'occupational' prescription, for example a mechanic might need a particular pair of glasses for working under a car, a reading pair for extended periods of reading is no different. Office workers might have one varifocal for computer use and one for reading/writing. Or a pair of single vision for a hobby they do. These situations are all completely normal. You just need to find the right combination for you.

LEMtheoriginal · 01/03/2018 20:03

When you guys are referring to getting used to my glasses do you mean just getting used to where to look or my eyes actually adapting.

My Dr thinks my anxiety is worsening the symptoms

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NotEnoughCats · 01/03/2018 22:05

Your brain is a fantastic organ. When you look at things, your brain kind of smooths things out, so that they look as they should. When you get new glasses which correct your new prescription (because eyes change constantly throughout life), your eyes are seeing the right thing, but your brain thinks it should see like the old way, so things look distorted. It's kind of like driving an automatic after driving a manual for your whole life. Your left hand is looking for a gear to change, when it doesn't need changing. With your eyes, your brain is used to correcting things in a certain way, until it doesn't have to any more because the glasses do it for you.

Your anxiety isn't making your eyes worse or anything, but it will be worsening your reaction to the symptoms. I have trouble with anxiety, so I can understand how you feel.

howrudeforme · 01/03/2018 22:09

It took me about a month to get used to them. Retaining myself to look down to read. I initially found looking straight would make everything jump around.

All ok now.

LEMtheoriginal · 01/03/2018 22:10

That makes a lot of sense. Thank you. Since I've taken my glasses off for a while the halos have calmed down. Was reading for over 4 hours earlier

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Missingstreetlife · 01/03/2018 22:19

Separate reading glasses for close work. Persevere with varifocals and keep your old glasses as a spare for when you are tired or likely to trip over your feet