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Encroaching reading problem


woolybanana
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Sorry to read that, WB.

When my husband’s cousin developed that problem we bought various sizes of magnifying sheets, some from our local optician, some over the internet.

When it turned out she had macular degeneration, we bought her a quite expensive headlamp used by cavers, so that light was directed precisely where it was needed.
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Have you had your eyes fully tested by an ophthalmologist?

I was totally unaware that I had cataracts until my son insisted I visited one after I made an almost fatal mistake in interpreting a road sign when moving from a 2-way road into a dual carriageway
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Oh, Gwardian, not sho shilly! I yav the tests dun reglrish, anuvvr in Desembr, buuut, wuz ‘opin fur hints about fings lyke magnifying sheetz or the equivalent. Problm wiv shmall prynt books like now thu lyfe of Thomas Cromwelll, anuthr grate

Glishman.

Remembr, theym all old on yere so ‘ave the same problems, blind as boots, dev as poosts, nuts as ferrets, nackered as dancing dalmatianz!?

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[quote user="woolybanana"]Oh, Gwardian, not sho shilly! I yav the tests dun reglrish, anuvvr in Desembr, buuut, wuz ‘opin fur hints about fings lyke magnifying sheetz or the equivalent. Problm wiv shmall prynt books like now thu lyfe of Thomas Cromwelll, anuthr grate

Glishman.

Remembr, theym all old on yere so ‘ave the same problems, blind as boots, dev as poosts, nuts as ferrets, nackered as dancing dalmatianz!?[/quote]

Speak for yourself. And do try to learn to speak English[:)]

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WB might be too thick for a PhD - or not, but I credited him with enough sense to get his eyes checked out properly.

I have found reading smallish print more difficult over the last few years, especially in the evenings and have bought new reading lamps to help - but have checks on my eyesight every year.

It has remained fairly steady, requiring only very minor changes in my prescriptions, but my eyes need assistance such as I described.
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Outside of any medical problems, for general small print stuff, take a picture with your phone then look at the photo, enlarging the specific area as required.

For books, a Kindle or similar is good for making the print size as large as you like for easier reading. Back light helps too.
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My next check is in December but in the meantime.... I know cataracts are growing and diabetes could get in there but so far so good on that score.

Does anybody find the plastic magnifying page thingummys useful? I am looking to upgrade my reading lights.

Nawww bak to thu Ginglish language n the rubgy n Borees, the greesed peeglet.

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Lehaut, good point about a kindle or similar.

I have a huge library on my ipad and enlarge the print when reading in the evening or when awake at night. The ipad isn’t as good as a kindle in sunshine, but at all other times I find it very good.

I haven’t personally used the plastic enlarging sheets, as I haven’t had the need, coping fine with my ipad and better reading lights. Two people I know have found them very useful for reading books, magazines, newspapers etc.

At the moment my cataracts aren’t very advanced, but my husband found reading a problem in the time leading up to his op; he used his ipad with enlarged print to be able to read.
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[quote user="NormanH"]
There is a long wait for a consultation.
I have just made an appointment, and the person I had hoped to see was not available before Jully 2020, so I have settled for another in April...

[/quote]

I had to wait a few months this year for an appointment 40 km away in Narbonne, as the wait was even longer in Carcassonne.

The ophthalmo told me to say it is urgent to get an earlier date in the future.

I don't understand talk I have heard of cataracts having to "grow" before they are removed.

The entire lens is removed, and replaced with an artificial one, so the size cannot be relevant.
Perhaps this view has propagated due to operations being delayed due to other reasons, such as its being thought the patient too young, increasing the chance of future problems in old age.

I had the operations on my eyes in 1992 and 1993, when I was apparently considered fairly young for the procedure. Both were successful, leaving me, by my own choice, with one eye short-sighted and the other long. The advantage of this is that although I wear specs with progressive lenses all the time,  I am still able to read, watch TV, even drive, without them by virtue of one eye's being suitable for the task.

Incidentally, my visit to the ophthalmo was unrelated to cataracts; I had a chalazion.

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Can you explain why you need to wear the progressive specs for me Nomoss please?

 

I have eyes as you describe, one had the cataract op after a detached retina and a series of post op recidives, one for close one for long and it was great until the last couple of years, I have a cataract developing in the good eye which now needs spectacles because of an astigmatism.

 

My problem which is rapidly worsening is losing intermediate vision, working at arms length, finding things on the bench or that have fallen on the floor,  selecting stuff from shop rayons (keep purchasing the wrong articles) reading glasses OK for close, distance glasses for long but lacking the inbetween, progressive lenses dont work for me because of the big difference between +ve correction in one eye and -ve in the other.

 

Multi-focaux contact lenses work well but move around and seperate from the curvature of the eye so are only effective maybe 10% of the time and are a huge hindrance the rest of the time.

 

I have decided to have elective lens replacement surgery with multi-focaux lenses to both eyes as the best solution, they will need to fit a tandem lens to the existing one. I am concerned however that you have to wear glasses in addition to your implanted lenses.

 

I am hoping that its because the multi-focaux ones were not available then and your long distance eye has developed like mine with advancing presbyte and that if you had multi-focaux lens implants the glasses would not be needed.

 

Really interested to hear as its a lot of money that I am about to commit to a one way trip.

 

dont visit the forum often so could you PM me when you reply or reply by PM if you prefer.

 

Many thanks. 

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I have worn glasses with progressive lenses since a couple of years after my second cataract operation, as this enables binocular vision under all circumstances. The best proof of this is that when driving I have equally good binocular vision of all distances on the road, and also when I look down at the dashboard. I don't know whether the difference in correction for my eyes is any more or less than yours. The lenses are very different, but the progression of my vision for all distances is very good. Spherical correction is:- Right: Far  +2.00 Near +5.00 Left: Far -1.25 Near +1.75.

The prescription has changed only very slightly over the years., and I certainly have not become significantly more long or short sighted in either eye.

The first operation gave me one long sighted eye, as previously both were short sighted, and I was happy to drive without any glasses after it, as the other eye still had some accommodation, and the cataract was not seriously affecting it..

After the second operation both eyes had fixed foci, I became increasingly aware of the loss of binocular vision, and decided to get progressive lens glasses. I had worn glasses since my teens, so going back to them was not a problem.

When I bought glasses on line I found they didn't work satisfactorily, but on visiting an optician in Spain it turned out that the prescription was correct, but the positioning of the lenses relative to my eyes was not. This was only due to the adjustment of the nose rests, and easily cured, as I had correctly specified the intraocular distance.

So the fit of the glasses, correct measurement for this, and adjustment of the position by the optician is extremely important. Maybe you should have this verified if your progressive glasses don't work.

I buy my glasses in Spain because they do everything in the same place, as in the UK, the prices are better than in France, and there is no waiting for appointments involved. I do phone a few days in advance for an appointment, but have never been refused one on the day I chose.

The only real disadvantages are when trying to focus on something close, but above my normal line of sight, or when lying on one side, when it is awkward to look through the lower part of the lenses.

I am sure major advances have been made in the 26 years since my operations, but doubt if I would have considered contact lenses.

I wore them for quite a few years, but went back to glasses for a large number of reasons, one being that I had a job where I was on 24 hour call, and couldn't keep the whole operation waiting while I put in my lenses.

I certainly wouldn't consider any operation to change the implants I have. The first was done at great expense by a Harley Street specialist, who told me it could never be changed without a high risk of damage to the capsular bag, so I am extremely reluctant to go against his advice, whatever the improvements in techniques. I am quite happy to stay with something which has been satisfactory for many years.

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I rapidly adapted to monocular vision and was very happy that way, but I could also wear monocular corrected long vision glasses, remove them for close work and adapt immediately, its the progression of the longsightedness in the unoperated on eye that means I have lost the intermediate vision and probably aggravated by the growing cataract.

 

Neither system considers it acute enough to operate but in terms of quality of life I struggle to do what Ilove to do with glasses be it bricolage or sport.

 

Thanks for your précisions, when I wore multifocaux contact lenses everthing was great when they worked, when they were correctly aligned and formed to the eye, I believe that with implants my vision would be just like that and I think that you have confirmed that.

 

The progressive lenses I have tried have been from the net then also a local optician, its not a problem with me adapting but that they are just unusable, to see long distance more than say 4 metres there is just a tiny bit at the top and I have to have my head tipped all the time, for reading its just a tiny bit in the centre at the bottom, I cant read a line of text, only one or two words at a time.

 

When you wear your progressive glasses and have binocular vision, you can read the vehicle instrument panel but would you have to remove the glasses to read a newspaper, use the computer, read the instructions on packaging etc?

 

I realise that there will be times i need to put on reading glasses, small print, bad light, precision work etc but I want to be able to do DIY without constantly switching between pairs of glasses.

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I wear my glasses all the time, whether driving, watching TV, gardening, working on cars, or reading.

I resort to a magnifying glass for really tiny writing, but I can read the part numbers on Bosch spark plugs like this without one [url]https://picclick.fr/2x-Bosch-Z%C3%BCndkerze-MAG340T2SP-Spark-Plug-Bougie-Candela-232846008638.html#&gid=1&pid=4[/url]

The active part of the "lenses" is quite small in relation to the size of the actual piece of glass, so the vertical position of and distance from, the eyes is extremely important.

It is possible that the problems you mention may simply be due to bad positioning of the lenses, or a faulty measurement of the intraocular measurement (distance between eye centres).

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