Do I need glasses or is the eye doctor trying to make a sale?

[Christine]

Like you, I am 45 (almost 46) and can no longer read much!!

I went to my opthamologist a month ago and begged for some reading glasses (I've been using the store ones and they aren't great). He adamantly refused and told me that I needed to continue to buy the store ones and they I just needed to shop around and find some that work for me (good quality, correct magnification). I am about a 1.25. The degradation of my vision is fairly rapids so I do think that by the time I would buy a prescription pair they would not work for me for too much longer.

I digress. The doctors office did tell me that if I went to an optometrist they would be MORE than willing to put me in a $300 pair of "readers."

 

[DVC~OKW~96]

Because you have been diagnosed with NIDDM, you need to have your vision checked and your eyes checked (two different exams) at least yearly.

I'm not sure why you think internet chatter is more valid than a licensed "eye doctor" but that's not the point.

As a person ages, the eyes change, and the vision changes along with them. With NIDDM, among other illnesses the eyes themselves (and again vision along with them) are compromised.

If you don't trust the vision professional you have seen, choose another, but find one you are comfortable working with for the long haul.

Your vision depends upon it.

 

[kaytieeldr]

Your eye doctor doesn't make money on glasses, unless you buy from him!

True! OP: your prescription IS yours, as you know. The optometrist/ophthamologist has to give you a copy. You can then shop around.

The advantage to physically going to some optician (independent or chain) vs. online, the first time, is that they will do any 'missing' measurements. If bifocals are out of your price range, you could consider going somewhere offering glasses at, say, two pair for $99 or somewhere offering buy one pair get one free - then get one pair with just the reading correction and the other with just the distance correction.

 

[Imzadi]

True! OP: your prescription IS yours, as you know. The optometrist/ophthamologist has to give you a copy. You can then shop around.

The advantage to physically going to some optician (independent or chain) vs. online, the first time, is that they will do any 'missing' measurements. If bifocals are out of your price range, you could consider going somewhere offering glasses at, say, two pair for $99 or somewhere offering buy one pair get one free - then get one pair with just the reading correction and the other with just the distance correction.

The OP has an astigmatism. That cheap $99 price quoted is usually not for correcting astigmatisms. The price automatically jumps up another $60+ per glasses.

 

[Daydreamer64]

Because you have been diagnosed with NIDDM, you need to have your vision checked and your eyes checked (two different exams) at least yearly.

I'm not sure why you think internet chatter is more valid than a licensed "eye doctor" but that's not the point.

As a person ages, the eyes change, and the vision changes along with them. With NIDDM, among other illnesses the eyes themselves (and again vision along with them) are compromised.

If you don't trust the vision professional you have seen, choose another, but find one you are comfortable working with for the long haul.

Your vision depends upon it.

It's not that I don't trust my doctor but that I don't have the money to get the glasses at this time.

I was asking if anyone had more experience understanding the perscription then I have, if they coiuld share their experience about if the perscription is an immediate need as in "may cause increasing problems", or if it was slight enough that I could wait for a few months to buy the glasses with no harm to my eyes.

Now that I have seen the doctor and have been educated on the needs of my eye care, I will be sure to go for the eye exams.

I went back to the shop and had them check and give me the missing measurement.

For now, I will try to get glasses that address my driving skills and I will get the perscription reading/bifocals at a later time when I can afford them.