I am confused with the prescription info

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I had one month checkup yesterday and got a prescription from eye surgeon's office. This is the prescription I got!

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I felt that ADD +2.50 is too strong because the power of my OTC reading glasses I use is +1.50. I could not ask it to the surgeon (eye exam was made by nurse before meeting the surgeon) because I got the prescription after they dilated my eyes and I could not read it. My question is whether ADD and the power of reading glasses are different or same?

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14 Replies

  • Edited

    If this is post cataract surgery, that is an excellent outcome if it is correct. 0.00 sphere and 0.00 cylinder! The only caution I would give you is that it is safer to get an eyeglass prescription at 6 weeks rather than 4 weeks. Did they do the full eye test exam (which is better, A or B?), or did they just use the auto-refractor with the hot air balloon or barn on the horizon? I would trust the full eye exam by an optometrist over the auto-refractor which is often done by a technician.

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    Yes, as far as I know the add in progressive or bifocal glasses is the same power scale as over the counter readers. An add of +2.5 is very standard. Every set of eyeglasses I have gotten has had this +2.5 D add. The only difference I can think of is that the eyeglass prescription for an add is most often used for progressive glasses. So, you have a transition from a distance prescription on the top to the full +2.5 D reading on the bottom. When you need less than +2.5 D you just look through the eyeglass lens a little higher up. So, you have in effect a variable reading power. When people get OTC readers they often leave them on, so a lower power can be less annoying when you look up at things further away.

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    You could ask your optometrist to give you a lower add, but +2.5 D is what you are going to get without asking.

    • Edited

      Thanks for the prompt reply. Yes, the lady (she looks like a technician or nurse, so I don't know whether she is an OD or not) did the full eye test exam (which is better, A or B?). She started with reading the letters on wall screen by covering one eye at a time and eye movement and blind spot test, which is better test, and several others by adding different eye drops (numbing drop, dilation drop, etc). My concern was related to the first test (reading the letters on screen). She started from the large character list to the smaller one. When it came down to the level where I could not clearly see, I told her that I am not sure what I saw. Then, she said to me to "guess" what I can see. I shared what I "guess" (by saying "it may look like this or that"). After that, she even shows the next lower level character list (the smaller characters). I said it is even more challenging to see, but she still insists me to blink eyes multiple times and share what I guess. She said then my vision is 20/15. When I tested my distance vision at home using a self-vision test chart on my computer screen, my vision was max 20/20 (some day, 20/30). I am concerned whether I feel dizzy if I wear over powered glasses.

    • Posted

      Amazing results. I don't think you will feel over powered with progressive prescription glasses, but there is really no need for them with the results you got. I would just wear the OTC readers that you find comfortable with. I do monovision so don't wear glasses, but my wife is full distance IOL and seems to have at least a dozen different OTC readers of different powers that she has planted here there and everywhere!

    • Edited

      Hahaha ~~~ The similar with your wife about the OTC readers. I'd prefer to wear glasses all day long at work rather than keep changing the modes of no glasses vs reading glasses. I have worn glasses over 40 years. Now I only have ADD issue (+ 2.5), no distance and astigmatism. Do you think I need to have a "premium" progressive lenses with 1.67 or higher High Index or "standard" progressive lenses for daily use ? How about a multi-functional glasses for an office computer work?

    • Posted

      I often forgot carrying the readers, so I prefer wearing progressive lenses glasses. Do you think I need to purchase a premium or a standard progressive lenses given +2.5 ADD? I heard that premium lens has much wider intermediate and short distance area.

    • Posted

      I am a Costco fan and have worn the Essilor Freedom Accolade HD progressives for years. I believe they are essentially the same as the Essilor Varilux. The last pair I got were the Kirkland Signature HD lenses. The sales people at Costco say they do not have as wide an area of view, but I really don't notice much difference. I think the issues with progressive are more pronounced when you have a strong distance myopic correction and then the + correction for reading. Once you have an IOL for distance you have next to zero distance correction and the only addition is the + add.

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      At some point I will get progressives and the ones I have now are the Kirkland and are corrected for one IOL and one natural lens. I probably will just get another Kirkland lens for the other eye.

    • Posted

      With your prescription I don't think there is much advantage in getting a high index lens. With the Costco Essilor it may be included and you have no choice. With their Kirkland HD I think I got less than a high index last time.

    • Posted

      Great! My vision insurance covers one lenses per year, so I will go with a premium progressive lenses with 1.67 High Index. For having a premium lenses with high index, I need to pay $180. The optician's office uses Essilor Varilux lenses for premium. For the standard one, I need to pay $10 co-pay. I need to pay around $150 for frames (even with insurance). Typically, the optician's office charges a lot for the frame.

      I checked CostCo optical and found that Kirkland HD progressive lens (High Index 1.60) is $130. If I want to upgrade to High Index 1.67, I need to pay $160. Their frame price is reasonable. Most Kirkland frames are $60-$70 ranges.

      So, I will pay some extra to get a premium lenses from an optician's office this time. I will try CostCo optical next time.

    • Posted

      I looked back over my recent eyeglass receipts from Costco. The last pair were "poly" Kirkland signature HD with anti-reflective coating at a cost of $180 for the lenses (Canada). I believe the refractive index of poly is 1.59. With frames these glasses were $260. The previous pair were the Essilor Freedom Accolade 3.0 with anti-reflective coating at a cost of $320 for the lenses only. These were 1.67 refractive index. With these lower prescription values with IOL corrected eyes I think there is no value to the higher refractive index lenses. And if it were possible I would get lenses WITHOUT anti-reflective coating. I find the coating makes cleaning them much more difficult and cleaning is needed more often. But, unfortunately at least at Coscto it gets bundled in and there is no way to avoid it.

    • Posted

      Thanks Ron for sharing your experience with different progressive lenses. I will think about the CostCo option. In the United States, it takes around 2 wks to get the glasses, so I am thinking to have a secondary glasses for preparing the unexpected broken or lost. CostCo's price sounds reasonable to me. I still go with 1.67 high index though because it is less heavy and costs only $30 more. Yes, I found that there are complaints associated with anti-reflective coating of the CostCo lenses.

    • Posted

      I tried on my progressives which are not exact for my eyes, but close with a +2.5 Add. Head position is definitely critical for good computer vision. I have been spoiled now with monovision where I can look in any direction and still see my monitor well. You might want to consider some "computer progressives" if your main purpose is for computer vision. I have never used them, but others report they work well.

    • Posted

      I use a cheap single focus eyeglasses pair for computer vision glasses and works well. +1.25D to my regular Rx

    • Posted

      I also heard "computer progressives" from CostCo optical. They called it as Multifunctional lenses. The lenses costs $90 if I chose 1.67 high index.

      The standard lenses with 1.60 high index is $70.

      I thought ADD +2.5 is too strong, but after I attended the church today and experienced difficulty in reading the bible with my +1.5 reading glasses (as you imagine, the font size of the bible is quite small), I felt that +2.5 may be the right strength for my eyes.

      Anyway, I made a reservation with an OD for another eye exam. After confirming the results, I will order glasses on next Wed when 7 wks for the left eye and 5 wks for the right eye passed after the surgery. I think my vision becomes stable at that time.

    • Posted

      6 weeks is the normal wait time for a stable prescription according to my optometrist.

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