Question
Dear Doctor:
I have been wearing progressive glasses for years with no problems. I recently had my yearly checkup and my opthamologist said I had a very slight change and I could either keep my current lens or if I wanted new frames, I should go with the new prescription. The Prescription is the following:
Cylindrical Axis
+1.25 100
+3.25 80
OD -4.75
OS -5.25
+2.50
+2.50
I am 57 years old. I went to the same optician that I always use that has over 15 years experience. She filled the new prescription and the distance was fine but I had some difficulty reading. The letters were slightly blurry. She tried several things in adjusting them but nothing worked. I then said, well why don't you just replace the new lenses with my old prescription. She then had the new frames fitted with the old prescription. The same problem occured. It seemed impossible. She checked my old frames and lenses and the new frames and lenses and they were exactly the same but I had blurry reading vision in the new ones. She spoke on the phone to my opthomologist and covered all the areas of concern and they couldn't come up with a reason. My opthomologist seemed to feel that if they were using slightly different blanks to make the lenses, it might chnage the vision ever so slightly. Do you have any ideas before I go out again to try something else? Thank you so much. PS> I was wondering perhaps if there might be a problem with newer coatings that might effect the vision but the optician said no.
Answer
Coatings should not make all that much difference. But in my experience, the BRAND of progressive lens can make a huge difference. On your old glasses, there will be a marking on the lens, very hard to see, but the optician knows how to find it. The marking tells what BRAND of progressive lens the old ones were. I would insist on remaking the new glasses in the same brand of progressive as the old ones.
While up to say, 60 % of people can wear any brand of progressive, and some can wear many brands, there is a small majority of people who, once their brain adapts to one brand of progressive, they cannot adapt to any other.
The other thing you may insist the optician duplicate from your old glasses is the base curve. This can be measured off the front of the lens. The optician will know how to do this. Then they need only tell the lab you must have that exact base curve.
While you are at it, make them also match the PD (pupillary distance) from the old glasses to increase the likelihood that the next remake will be comfortable for you.
