When New Eyeglasses No Longer Work
Lately I've been dealing with some dissatisfied patients. No, not angry patients - just puzzled because new eyeglasses prescribed just a month ago no longer work.
Whenever I hear that a large alarm goes off inside my head: Put on your thinking cap, doc!
Although it is true that refractive errors like nearsightedness or farsightedness gradually change throughout life, a significant shift occurring within weeks or a few months deserves careful attention. Three common situations ought to be explored.
In general, the more questions you ask the better health care you will receive.
Related Topics: Diabetes Control Benefits Surgery, Healthy Diet May Help Seniors' Vision
Technorati Tags: eyeglasses, vision, diabetes
Whenever I hear that a large alarm goes off inside my head: Put on your thinking cap, doc!
Although it is true that refractive errors like nearsightedness or farsightedness gradually change throughout life, a significant shift occurring within weeks or a few months deserves careful attention. Three common situations ought to be explored.
- It is possible that the original prescription did not completely correct the optical error. This can happen with farsighted hyperopes. Initially the patient may have been able to compensate by accommodating (borrowing near-focusing power to see at distance) but eventually the person can no longer tolerate such 'optical embezzlement'. A dilated cycloplegic refraction will quickly unmask any hidden refractive errors.
If the new glasses no longer work ask the eye doctor if you were prescribed the full correction. - Progressive corneal thinning, as happens in keratoconus, can generate all kinds of wacky focusing problems. As a young ophthalmologist-in-training I encountered a patient who had purchased four pairs of glasses over six months before his keratoconus was recognized. Corneal topography can confirm the presence of keratoconus.
If the new glasses no longer work ask the eye doctor if there is any chance you have keratoconus. - Finally, untreated (or inadequately treated) diabetics experience wide fluctuations in blood glucose levels. The body responds by altering the chemical pathway used for energy metabolism. This shortcut causes the crystalline lens to swell and distort the optics of the diabetic eye. Simple blood tests can verify the presence of diabetes or a pre-diabetic state.
If the new glasses no longer work ask the eye doctor if you might be glucose intolerant.
In general, the more questions you ask the better health care you will receive.
Related Topics: Diabetes Control Benefits Surgery, Healthy Diet May Help Seniors' Vision
Technorati Tags: eyeglasses, vision, diabetes
2 Comments:
Thank you for this post!!
I thought I was going nuts when barley 3 months after I got my new perscription I was having trouble seeing.
If I had recently started taking a new med. in which one of the side effect was blurry vision...and I didn't know if my trouble seeing was cause by the new med. or my crazy eyes...If i need to stay on the med would I be able to get a srtonger perscription for my contacts so I would be able to see again?
What I find weird is that I'm having trouble reading the letters to type for the word verification...but I'm nearsighted.
hello, i first was diagnosed with myopia when i was 5 yrs old, and have been wearing corrective lenses since. even then with glasses i had trouble seeing. so when i was seven i was brought to an ophthamologist and was diagnosed with astigmatism. all right so that corrected my vision for a little while. as usual i was brought to get my eyes checked every year and they wouldn't get much worse...until i hit puberty. i turned 12, and my eyesight went from -0.75diopters to -2.0 diopters. also for the first time my astigmatism worsened. the doctors put me in yet another set of glasses. two months later i started getting headaches. my mom had lost her insurance by then so any treatment would have to wait. three yrs went by with me suffering from these headaches and not being able to focus. finally, after moving in with my grandma, i was able to see an eye doctor again. my astigmatism had gotten worse...again. and no one could explain why. i had an mri done and that explained nothing either. instead i just got new glasses and dealt with more headaches.
finally, i was taken to another doctor, who told my grandma that my corneas were a little cone shaped and recommended rigid gas permeable contact lenses. and for the first time i felt a measure of relief. my aunt and my grandma put together 400 dollars for these. medicaid in the state of ohio doesn't care if contacts are medically neccesary or not they will not pay for them. my prescription changed after about a yr and a half, but i had to go back to glasses because no one could afford the rgp lenses.
fast forward 8 yrs. i've been in glasses again since i was seventeen. my eyesight has deteriorated severely. my script now reads like this.
sphere cylinder axis
R -6.00 -4.25 x173
L -7.25 -2.50 x007
the doctor that i recently went to answered a long standing question about why the first doctor had said that the rgp lenses were medically necessary. he said i had keratoconus, which is a progessive corneal disorder that causes the thinning of the cornea, which causes it to be cone shaped. this also causes irregular astimatism. now i have the rgp lenses again and i see better than ever. i hope that anyone with these symptoms contact an eye professional and ask for answers. they may be surprised by what you hear. and for those who believe that keratoconus doesn't cause pain, no the eye doesn't hurt itself. but the headaches that ensue from frequent changes in the eyes do cause a lot of pain, which unfortunately isn't well treated unless i am wearing rgp lenses. yes rgp lenses do hurt a little but to me it is a tradeoff. i can finally see well again and the headaches are gone.
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