Should I see Optometrist?

[davemc]

<snip>Wish there was a way to vary one's viewing distance from a PC screen or have the screen adjust itself to variable distances even if it's just slightly that would save me allot of hassle

Do you have a chair that rocks back and swivels, that seems to help me a lot with that exact problem.

I also have not learnt to touch type properly, which means that I spend a lot of time looking from the keyboard to the screen.

But, the typing thing will not help while raiding in WoW.

Incidentally, how far away from the screen do you sit?

 

[mak2000]

@Jonny


I have the exact same problem. Started sometime last year but it depends a lot on the lighting aournd where you are working. It was terrible for the last few months when I moved to a new office and the lighting wasnt ideal for me. Anyways now that I have started at another office I dont seem to get as much blurring of sight. But I have researched some and will be going to see an Opto soon ( trying top find a good one).

Anyone has any ideas of how to find a good Optometrist (around Sandton) ?

 

[murraybiscuit]

yes, you should see an optometerist. and if you don't, you definitely should

 

[bin3]

This is what got me on the op. Not saying the rule is true to everyone, but if your eyesite remains the same over a period of years (even 2 yrs is long enough to measure the rate of change), the op will in no way help you yet.

I do apologise and I really don't know enough to be sure, but this doesn't make a lot of sense to me either.

What I can say is that I think I probably went to one of the best eye people in South Africa and for those interested, you are more than welcome to PM me for his name; He works from the Pretoria Eye Institute in South Africa; and the one thing I can say about him is that he won't cut if it isn't necessary or if it will do any harm.

In my personal friend and family group I know 4 people that went to him; My sight were the worse, so to a degree I got the best results. As mentioned this was more than 10 years ago so I shudder to think how far they have developed from then.

My dad had about 10 years of perfect eye sight after the op; now he does wear glasses again for reading. Normal R20 Click's specials seems to work well.

My brother actually had very good eye sight, was just fed up with glasses.

My one friend had pretty bad astigimatism in one eye though had very 'light' glasses, and is also smiling all the way.

My uncle couldn't sit still and had to redo his.

I 100% agree with the poster about multiple opinions; and I definitely agree that waiting has a lot of benefits; and there is definitely an issue with the thickness of certain parts of the eye having to be in a certain range before you will get any benefit but the stability issue does confuse me.

Lastly, all I can say is this: If I had the choice to do it again, I would do so in a heartbeat.

 

[Jonny Two Shoes]

Well I went to Eyetek in Town Square center in Constantia Kloof.

The lady there did a whole range of weird tests which was quite fun actually except that darn thing that shoots air into your eye, I can't even handle eye drops and that thing gave me a fright even though she warned me lol.

My vision is perfect but I have two minor problems.

One is of course dry eyes which I reckon is pretty common, nothing proper eye drops can't fix (Guess I will have to get used to them ). But she warned me about what eye drops I buy, some are not good and have preservatives and what not.

Then the other problem is something to do with the way my eyes focus in on close things. I'm not squint at all lol, but something about the vision part being a little further apart than normal and when I look at books and screens they have to do a lot of work to converge in on closer stuff which causes the discomfort. She seems to pick this up quite easily with affirmation on a certain test. So I am getting these prism type specs in 2-3 working days which somehow manipulates the image of books and computer screens so that my eyes don't have to do that much work. I should only use them when I expect prolonged focus on closer things like the PC monitor.

There was also very minor concern over blood pressure when she took a look at the images of my inner eye and something about the white line in my blood vessels I haven't had my blood pressure checked in years.

All in all the specs plus the free pair will cost R3200-00 which fortunately for me will be covered by my PMSA from momentum seeing as I have hardly used my savings at all.

 

[Pitbull]

Do you have a chair that rocks back and swivels, that seems to help me a lot with that exact problem.

I also have not learnt to touch type properly, which means that I spend a lot of time looking from the keyboard to the screen.

But, the typing thing will not help while raiding in WoW.

Incidentally, how far away from the screen do you sit?

My keyboard is about 10 cm from the screen and I type with my arms at full stretch. I would say about 1m from the screen. I also look at my keyboard while typing sometimes. But mostly I don't and that explains all the spelling mistakes But as you mentioned the problem is when I play WoW mostly as I hardly ever type. We use Vent and all the buttons I need to press I know by heart. Meaning I would sit about 4 hours long looking at my screen at about 1m distance. I do turn and watch the TV from time to time or have a conversation with the wife or what ever. I would say I have a look at the screen constantly for about 1 hour at a time. That is what causes my eyes to fixate at that range and it takes long for them to adjust again to normal when I'm not infront of the PC anymore.

However, once they have adjusted they are 100% normal again. and they can adjust quickly to things at distance just as long as I don't have another long session infront of my PC screen.

 

[ponder]

Laser treatment?

My optometrist is reluctant for me to do that and says I should rather wait until I am 24 or 25 when my eyes have properly stabilised. That's still around 2-3 years for me! This is despite the fact that my eyes have been stable for 1.5 years at -3.5.

Follow your optometrists advice and wait. The only thing that's going to happen is the your eyes might deteriorate a slight bit or not at all or the procedure could improve during that time. Had mine done about 13-14yrs ago, best thing I ever did

 

[Other Pineapple Smurf]

Ok, I think my medication got the better of me with my posts. Basically get a second opinion if you want the op done.

Always remember that your optom wants your business and will put you off where the doc wants your business and will try and convince you to do it. If both your optom and doc say yes, then go for it, but if one of them tells you to wait then get that second opinion. Just always keep in mind that the first op is very successful but subsequent (correction) ops yield poorer results.