Contact Lenses In Triangle, NC

April 11, 2014 10:49 AM

Need an eye doctor can help my friend get the right contact lens prescription. She has a strong astigmatism in one eye, the other's normal. She's been to 4 eye doctors here and gone through many many different lenses shapes w/o success. For what it's worth, she has lenses that worked before - but from a doctor on the West Coast. Thanks!
posted by past to Health & Fitness (8 answers total)

Is there any way she (or her eye doctor) can contact her old doctor and get the prescription that worked for her before?
posted by rabbitrabbit at 10:55 AM on April 11, 2014

I have astigmatism and have been seeing Dr. Timothy Miller for almost a decade. He's in the LensCrafters at North Hills in Raleigh. I would second the idea of having the old doctor fax over her previous prescription, though.
posted by something something at 11:04 AM on April 11, 2014

Thirding getting the old prescription. The brand of the lens is obviously the most important thing. Note that some brands are larger/smaller diameter and base curve than others, which might also be causing the trouble.
posted by JoeZydeco at 11:21 AM on April 11, 2014 [1 favorite]

Ugh, toric lenses. So hard to get right.

I'd definitely try to get in touch with the old doctor so that the new one can at least get a baseline. You may have to push a bit because they don't like to give out old prescriptions since they are only supposed to be valid for one year, but if she explains the situation ("I'd like to find out what brand they were because they were great, and what the prescription is so that my new doctor knows what worked before") she shouldn't have a problem.
posted by radioamy at 11:22 AM on April 11, 2014 [1 favorite]

Duke Eye Center is pretty great. I went there when I was a student just because it was convenient and my insurance covered it. Having always just gone to optometrists, I really liked seeing an opthamologist for a few years.
posted by hydropsyche at 12:35 PM on April 11, 2014

I don't have astigmatism but I do have an optometrist who is great, Jason Chow at Carrboro Family Vision. They are really good.
posted by mermily at 4:44 PM on April 11, 2014

She should ask whoever she sees about scleral lenses.
posted by 4ster at 7:18 PM on April 11, 2014

You didn't mention whether these are hard or soft lenses. If they're hard lenses of some sort, the prescription (and brand) of lens is not as important as the fitting method. Different schools of optometry teach different fitting methods, some of which work for some people and some of which don't work as well.
posted by DrGail at 4:40 AM on April 14, 2014