Research Subject

[da]

On Tuesday, I went for my 2nd of five visits to the optometrist as part of a research project on eyestrain. They gave me my new glasses, which initially made me a bit... alarmed... because the effect of turning my head was a bit like... that Hitchcock depth-of-field movie effect? You know the one I mean? Anyway, they did funky things to these glasses. I think it's a bit like progressive-lens bifocals, or maybe they're n-focals since it also does something odd side-to-side.

The research student tells me my eyes will figure out where to focus for close-up and distance work, which is slightly worrying, but the fact that I'm essentially adjusted to them this morning is at least promising.

Comments

[dcseain.livejournal.com]

I've worn bifocals for 23 years now, and progressives for the last 12. The side-to-side distortion/weirdness is not uncomen with multi-vision progressives, and is more pronounced with some lens shapes than others.

[da-lj.livejournal.com]

...once I thought about it, that made perfect sense, to me as well. Of course bifocals aren't just up/down. If they've got three (?) zones, one's usually (?) the center of the bottom...

I can't wait for the study to be over for them to tell me exactly what they did to these lenses. ;)

[dcseain.livejournal.com]

I had one pair of 'progressive bifocals' in which i could pick out 7 different viewing regions. A well-designed progressive lens has an optically infinite number of zones which are a straight line in the vertical centre of the lens, with each zone above and below that point being more bell-curve shaped, within the limits of lens shape.

They all come together in the horizontal centre of the lens, at each side. You should notice less distortion that way if you look up or down to the side through the lens.

Though, lens tech has come a long way. I have curved-lens sunglasses, the wrap toward my temples, which have my full astigmatism/presbyobia bifocal in them. Oddly, there's no distortion in the peripheral vision zones of the lens.

[dcseain.livejournal.com]

Oh, and on a completely other topic, some friends and i went to the AFI Silver Theater on Sunday. We opted to see Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown, or properly, Mujeres al borde de un ataque de nervios, only to discover that this was the first of 7 Almodóvar films showing in the coming weeks as part of the Viva Pedro! festival. El mambo taxi is just as fabulous as ever.

[da-lj.livejournal.com]

Awesome!

melted_snowball and I are thinking of renting all of his films in series as well; we haven't gotten around to starting yet.

I'd go every week for a festival, though.

[dr-tectonic.livejournal.com]

My guess on the side-to-side is that they have a different outer curvature than your old glasses. I had a pair that did that and they made me seasick; had to take them back.

[dr-tectonic.livejournal.com]

Or I could just be totally, totally WRONG. :/

[da-lj.livejournal.com]

Heh. I will let you all know when the study's done with me (probably in six weeks or so). That is, if they let me. :)

[kraig.livejournal.com]

I got my new ones last Friday. I like them so much I don't want to give them back - no headaches, no eyestrain at all since; the headaches were becoming a weekly occurrence and the eyestrain an every other day one.

My "regular" glasses are about 8 years old though, and are kinda scratched and yellowed (Linda used to smoke), and my prescription has changed slightly. I'm hoping that's not the only reason I've been suffering.

[da-lj.livejournal.com]

cool.

Did you see the same weird warping at the bottoms of the lenses?

[kraig.livejournal.com]

Nope.

Three possible reasons:
1 - I just can't see it, and you might be able to.
2 - Lens shape is different and therefore so is the effect (or ditto for prescription).
3 - I'm in a control group that just gets regular lenses anyway.

[da-lj.livejournal.com]

interesting. yep, all of those seem possible. I'm leaning toward #2, the lenses are just different.

Glad you're hapy with them in any case. :)

[sulle-stelle.livejournal.com]

What's this random eyestrain study all about? Aren't you afraid you'll end up with worse eye strain?

My presciption went through a big change in my early 20's. I still recall that, for about a week after getting the glasses, I had to hold onto the wall every time I went around a corner, because the floor would fly up and hit me in the face. :-)

[da-lj.livejournal.com]

The story is here; though it's not /all/ that interesting. http://da-lj.livejournal.com/114321.html

Just a university study.

They have an option that if the study-glasses cause problems, you can bail out, so I figured any option was better than the eye-strain I was having with my glasses. (Which was, on the whole, pretty bad; I can say now, since all of my strain symptoms have gone away with the new glasses!)

I'm glad my glasses never have changed quite that much!