Saw optometrist, did I get an incorrect lens prescription?

May 10, 2019 7:14 PM

40-something male, had eye exam at optometrist. This was prompted by eyestrain and tearing when working at screens. She wrote a very mild prescription for close work (reading, computer work), and I ordered glasses online from Zenni, giving them the prescription info. Glasses arrived, but using them makes vision worse, not better. What gives? I'm pretty confident the lenses were made correctly.
posted by falcon42 to Health & Fitness (23 answers total)

Are you sure the lenses were made correctly? I wear progressive lenses and have ordered from Zenni. They managed to screw up my glasses three times in a row.
posted by all the light we cannot see at 7:20 PM on May 10, 2019 [2 favorites]

Honestly, this is a question for your optometrist. You should make a follow-up appointment so she can evaluate your vision with the new glasses. We can theorize but your optometrist is best equipped to figure it out. Maybe the lenses/frame combo means that the focal point is centered wrong or the distance from your eye is less than ideal. If you've never worn glasses before you may not realize how much the actual frames and how they fit matters. You optometrist can see how it's working/not working for you and adjust accordingly.
posted by acidnova at 7:21 PM on May 10, 2019 [11 favorites]

We can’t even, sorry. Could be a zillion things, it sounds like you are not super familiar with this process, but only an optometrist who can test both you and your lenses can say for sure.
posted by SaltySalticid at 7:26 PM on May 10, 2019 [2 favorites]

Optometric labs can make mistakes. They could have made your lenses in the wrong prescription. I suggest you make an appointment to go back to the optometrist with the glasses and get this checked out.
posted by wryly at 7:36 PM on May 10, 2019 [1 favorite]

I literally just went through this and the issue for me is that the distance involved with looking at my laptop screen is not the same distance as looking at, say, a book. So my prescription was made for "reading," yes, but only a specific kind of reading (books, not laptop). Which is stupid but there you go.
posted by BlahLaLa at 7:38 PM on May 10, 2019 [2 favorites]

How'd you get your PD to put into Zenni?
posted by phunniemee at 7:39 PM on May 10, 2019 [2 favorites]

I've worn glasses for almost 20 years now. Not sure if this will be your issue, but in my experience a new prescription always needs an adjustment period. During that time everything looks slightly distorted and may take several weeks to adjust. After getting used to things all looks normal again.

Can you read more clearly with them on? If so, it suggests to me that the prescription may be working but that the other distortion of the lenses will just take some adjustment.
posted by owls at 8:32 PM on May 10, 2019

The “PD” phunniemee is referencing is pupillary distance. Typically optometrists do not include it with your prescription (because it makes it too easy to order glasses online instead of from them), the methods online retailers give to measure your PD are often less than accurate, and getting the measurement wrong can screw up your glasses for you.
posted by Secret Sparrow at 9:04 PM on May 10, 2019 [2 favorites]

It's far more likely for the lab to have messed up the prescription than the optom to have got it wrong - my last 3 pairs of glasses have had to be returned because:

1. They left the plastic example lens in the frame rather than replacing it with the prescription one
2. They accidentally swapped the prescriptions for each eye - the left prescription was in the right side, and vice versa
3. Someone had put the +10 lenses in the -10 box and the technician didn't check at installation

I'm not ragging on optometric technicians - it's a busy job and quite complex. But it's the point in the process where mistakes are more likely.
posted by prismatic7 at 9:34 PM on May 10, 2019 [2 favorites]

When I bought glasses for the first time last year I was prescribed progressive lenses. I went back in for an adjustment and mentioned that I had a hard time focussing on each of the screens I used at work.

The guy in the shop asked me how many screens I use on a daily basis and I said three. He told me that I have the wrong kind of lens. Next time I have vision insurance I'm going to switch to the other kind.

That could be something to tell your optometrist.
posted by bendy at 10:55 PM on May 10, 2019

If you can't see well, go back to the doctor or a new one you trust and go to them. End of story.

Your vision should be near perfect when corrected if it's not that bad. My contacts prescription is negative 9 which I've never met another person more than half that (2 of those total) so I get not being able to see because to read a book I'd have to close one eye and hold it about half an inch from my face. Go to the doctor, literally no other answer is valid.
posted by OnTheLastCastle at 11:34 PM on May 10, 2019

Go back to the optometrist and talk to them. My most recent eye exam the optometrist wrote a prescription weaker than my previous, but I didn't notice until I'd ordered new glasses. Gave it a few days, and then decided "nope, these are definitely worse" and went back to the optometrist. Re-checked and sure enough, the prescription was wrong.

But they can also check the Zenni glasses and see whether they're the right prescription or not. My money is on Zenni getting it wrong, but it's possible the optometrist gave you a prescription that's not right. Go back and see.

Note - I don't know if Zenni will refund / replace if they're wrong. But I bought my last pair at Costco and they happily redid the prescription for free because the optometrist's prescription was wrong. I was stunned that they would, but the optometrist assured me this is a thing and they'd replace them for free - and they did.
posted by jzb at 5:44 AM on May 11, 2019

This happened to me a year and a half ago, though it was more obvious because only one side got messed up. The optician's had the correct prescription and made it correctly; the doctor had entered a 3 into the computer instead of a 4 and didn't double check.

The optician did not charge me to redo the glasses even though it wasn't their mistake.
posted by Spathe Cadet at 7:23 AM on May 11, 2019

It's more likely an issue on Zenni's end, although I've had repeated issues with both Zenni and my optometrist (which is why I'm currently straining my eyes with 15-year-old glasses--I don't have the money or the energy right now to keep going back and telling everyone they're making mistakes).

Definitely go back to your optometrist and get rechecked, and see if they can check the Zenni glasses. Zenni will replace or credit you if the glasses are indeed faulty. For mine, I had to return the glasses, provide a photo of my prescription, and wait for them to examine the glasses. They confirmed that, yes, a lens was faulty. I got a credit. I then experimented with the credit and got about half a dozen cheaper pairs of glasses from them with my older (acceptable) prescription and they are all different. Some cause crazy fish-eye effects, the PD is way off with one pair, etc. Only two pairs would work in a pinch, and none are ideal. Plenty of people are thrilled with Zenni, but I find them really questionable.

However, my current prescription is also definitely wrong for me, and that was after the optometrist rechecked and adjusted it. I've been wearing glasses for three decades (so I'm familiar with adjustment periods) and I've been seeing this optometrist for half that. He's always been fantastic in the past, I'm not sure why he's suddenly so off--he recently moved to a new practice/office and I honestly think some of his new equipment wasn't calibrated correctly when I saw him. I'll either give him one last chance next time I need a contact lens exam, or else find someone new at that point. Getting a decent pair of glasses should not be this hard.

So yes, the mistake could be on the optometrist's end. Or on Zenni's end. I suggest starting with the optometrist and going from there, and perhaps ordering glasses from a local optician (not somewhere overpriced and terrible like LensCrafters) where they'll check and adjust the new glasses for you.
posted by QuickedWeen at 9:44 AM on May 11, 2019

At the risk of this being a bunch of stuff you already know:

Eyeglass prescriptions (the SPH correction) come in negative or positive. Bifocals come in a combination of both, but you'll be able to figure that out.

Negative numbers are for nearsightedness (myopia): people with these kinds of glasses wear them all the time so they can see things that are more than like a foot from their face. You have to wear them for driving, etc. If you wear glasses to correct myopia, they can make it more difficult to focus on near items while you're wearing them. Sometimes you can take the glasses off if you need to see details very close up.

Positive numbers are for farsightedness (hyperopia, or presbyopia): some people are farsighted all the time and need a correction to see things close up, but far more commonly people as they age have trouble focusing on near items. It sounds like this is you. If you have presbyopia but your distance vision is good, you only need the glasses when you're working close-up. They will make it more difficult to see things that are far away.

If you have presbyopia and you wear glasses all the time, you probably wear bifocal or progressive lenses that have your distance (negative) correction on top and your near (positive) correction on the bottom. If you didn't need glasses before, your top correction will be zero or nearly so. Alternately, you can wear reading glasses which you use only when you're looking at things close up, and don't use them when you look at things far away.
posted by Huffy Puffy at 11:33 AM on May 11, 2019

"The “PD” phunniemee is referencing is pupillary distance. Typically optometrists do not include it with your prescription (because it makes it too easy to order glasses online instead of from them), the methods online retailers give to measure your PD are often less than accurate, and getting the measurement wrong can screw up your glasses for you."

At the risk of distracting the conversation, but in the interest of preventing the dissemination of inaccurate information on a public forum, I just want to point out that PDs are not typically included in glasses prescriptions for various non-conspiratorial reasons:

1) Typically, the optician would measure it anyway.
2) Depending on the method, it is not always measured as part of a refraction.
3) It is not routinely printed out by EMRs.

It's not because eye doctors are deliberately trying to withhold information. The current system simply has not kept up with the rise of online eyeglasses retailers. Hanlon's law, etc.
posted by aquamvidam at 12:06 PM on May 11, 2019

My optometrist has a machine to measure the prescription of glasses, so they could check the pair you have is correct.
posted by flimflam at 1:21 PM on May 11, 2019

I don't work for your eye doctor, but I work for an eye doctor.
There is no end to the number of ways a near script can be tweaked and adjusted, and your complaints here don't and can't give enough info to diagnose the problem. Rx power, distance to your computer and add power all factor into this. Go talk to your eye doctor. Of the literal hundreds of Rx checks I've worked, including "second opinions," I could count on one hand the number that could be atributed to the script as it left the doctor's hand. I can't fathom why you'd trust Zenni over your doctor on this, and don't be surprised if your doc doesn't trust them either.
posted by piedmont at 7:53 PM on May 11, 2019

My ophthalmologist’s office sells eyeglasses, and I had to threaten to call whoever regulates them to get them to tell my my interpupillary distance. So, sounds like some places DO want to make it hard to buy glasses somewhere else.
posted by Gilgamesh's Chauffeur at 8:11 PM on May 11, 2019 [2 favorites]

Response by poster: Thank you everyone, this is very helpful.
posted by falcon42 at 7:26 AM on May 12, 2019

Response by poster: Also, as follow up to some responses - I chose Zenni to make my glasses because the eyeglasses business is a big racket. I can't find the link right now, but I understand that it costs $10-30 to manufacture lenses and frames - my optomotrist's office wants $200+ for a pair, and even Warby Parker is $150+.

I'm happy to pay more to support local businesses, but not 3-6X more.
posted by falcon42 at 7:31 AM on May 12, 2019

I recently had the same problem, and it turned out to be a result of two errors -- one, the optometrist I saw wrote me a prescription that was wildly off from what it should have been, and two, Zenni's lenses are not as accurately made as other, US-based manufacturers.

As part of trying to figure out why I couldn't see out of my left eye with the new glasses, I took the ones I got from Zenni to an optician, and they checked the lenses against the prescription I had. The lenses were off by a significant amount. The explanation I got is that, since Zenni's lenses are made in China, they are not held to the same standards for accuracy that US-made lenses are. I ended up going back to my old prescription, and buying glasses from Costco, and those glasses were much, much clearer than the Zenni ones I had with the same prescription. Like, different enough that it felt like the non-Zennis were a whole new, sharper prescription. I don't use Zenni for my regular glasses anymore, just for prescription sunglasses, since I only use those for driving.
posted by sarcasticah at 8:42 AM on May 13, 2019

For mostly silly reasons, I got two different optometrist exams within two weeks. They came up with close but meaningfully different prescriptions. I tried both prescriptions from Zenni. Only one was right. So optometrists are not infallible either.
posted by Salamandrous at 11:48 AM on May 13, 2019