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This pseudocode reveals another truth: it can be surprisingly hard in many places to get lenses for rarer eye conditions. If you have e.g. mild astigmatism (act

This pseudocode reveals another truth: it can be surprisingly hard in many places to get lenses for rarer eye conditions. If you have e.g. mild astigmatism (actually extremely common!), you can expect to be persuaded to leave it uncorrected.

eru 7y ago
Really? I have astigmatism and got glasses made in Germany, Britain, Singapore and Australia. Never had anyone trying to convince me to leave it uncorrected.
- twic 7y ago
  I'm astigmatic - -2.50 right, -3.25 left - and i have never, ever, had any optician in the UK suggest leaving it uncorrected. When i wanted contact lenses, i asked about leaving it uncorrected, so i didn't need toric lenses, which come in fewer variations (i don't think there were daily disposable torics at the time, for example). They weren't having any of that.
dbtx 7y ago
Yeah, that expired proper prescription wasn't for toric lenses like I (supposedly) had decades ago. That first time they didn't even tell me the lenses had to be inserted at some correct orientation, and I don't remember seeing the marking on the lens, either... though they did tell me the lenses would cost a bit more. What was the point?
- raverbashing 7y ago
  Oh wow Yeah, that takes a while, even with someone explaining it to you theoretically they should rotate to match the axis if they're slightly out of position, but if it's way out of position it won't. Not to mention manufacturers have different ways of indicating this (with different degrees of weirdness)
Tenoke 7y ago
Does it really matter much? I have it, recently got glasses and it annoys me that in my peripheral vision and while moving things get a little distorted. Glasses without astigmatism correction seem like a valid choice.
- zmk_ 7y ago
  I apparently had a very mild case of astigmatism that went undetected for years. It was so mild that it was easy to 'correct' for it by increasing the strength of the lenses. Now that I have the lenses with astigmatism correction life is much better. My eyes do not tire as quickly and I see more clearly at far distances than I used to. Granted I am sensitive to these small differences, but life quality improvement is vast.
benibela 7y ago
It is even worse with strong astigmatism. I have over 3 diopter according to multiple wavefront aberrometer and photokeratoscopy measurements, but the opticians always want to put a 2.5 or even 1.5 cylinder, because they do not believe it can get that high.
- ryanmercer 7y ago
  I'm -3.25 cylinder for each eye, plus need a prism of 0.5 down in one and 0.5 up in the other. I feel your pain.
ryanmercer 7y ago
> it can be surprisingly hard in many places to get lenses for rarer eye conditions. Indeed, ZenniOptical sunglasses simply don't come in m prescription. It flat out tells me to select their regular frames and pay for the tinting. Between my astigmatism and my prism in each eye I'm fairly limited. Or it just gets expensive. Last Friday I was curious about the new Oculus but hate how VR headsets like my friend's Vive shove my glasses into my face or just simply don't fit and looked at inserts for it, the cheapest I could find from the companies that manufacturer the lenses were 98$ per eye.

eru 7y ago

Really? I have astigmatism and got glasses made in Germany, Britain, Singapore and Australia. Never had anyone trying to convince me to leave it uncorrected.

twic 7y ago
I'm astigmatic - -2.50 right, -3.25 left - and i have never, ever, had any optician in the UK suggest leaving it uncorrected. When i wanted contact lenses, i asked about leaving it uncorrected, so i didn't need toric lenses, which come in fewer variations (i don't think there were daily disposable torics at the time, for example). They weren't having any of that.

dbtx 7y ago

Yeah, that expired proper prescription wasn't for toric lenses like I (supposedly) had decades ago. That first time they didn't even tell me the lenses had to be inserted at some correct orientation, and I don't remember seeing the marking on the lens, either... though they did tell me the lenses would cost a bit more. What was the point?

raverbashing 7y ago
Oh wow Yeah, that takes a while, even with someone explaining it to you theoretically they should rotate to match the axis if they're slightly out of position, but if it's way out of position it won't. Not to mention manufacturers have different ways of indicating this (with different degrees of weirdness)

Tenoke 7y ago

Does it really matter much? I have it, recently got glasses and it annoys me that in my peripheral vision and while moving things get a little distorted. Glasses without astigmatism correction seem like a valid choice.

zmk_ 7y ago
I apparently had a very mild case of astigmatism that went undetected for years. It was so mild that it was easy to 'correct' for it by increasing the strength of the lenses. Now that I have the lenses with astigmatism correction life is much better. My eyes do not tire as quickly and I see more clearly at far distances than I used to. Granted I am sensitive to these small differences, but life quality improvement is vast.

benibela 7y ago

It is even worse with strong astigmatism. I have over 3 diopter according to multiple wavefront aberrometer and photokeratoscopy measurements, but the opticians always want to put a 2.5 or even 1.5 cylinder, because they do not believe it can get that high.

ryanmercer 7y ago
I'm -3.25 cylinder for each eye, plus need a prism of 0.5 down in one and 0.5 up in the other. I feel your pain.

ryanmercer 7y ago

> it can be surprisingly hard in many places to get lenses for rarer eye conditions. Indeed, ZenniOptical sunglasses simply don't come in m prescription. It flat out tells me to select their regular frames and pay for the tinting. Between my astigmatism and my prism in each eye I'm fairly limited. Or it just gets expensive. Last Friday I was curious about the new Oculus but hate how VR headsets like my friend's Vive shove my glasses into my face or just simply don't fit and looked at inserts for it, the cheapest I could find from the companies that manufacturer the lenses were 98$ per eye.