What Glasses?

[menzies233]

Never had the need to wear glasses before, always been 20/20 until the last year or so. Now i find reading books at about 18 inches from my face extremely difficult to focus on. If I move the book further away the print becomes clearer, but the way things are going I will need 10 foot arms to get the print into focus.

Medium and long range vision is not so much of a problem, however if i am looking at something closer, say 3 metres or so, then it is taking a little while for my eyes to adjust to long range, and night vision is getting worse.

Any suggestions for glasses or even maybe laser surgery? I find glasses terrible to wear and they only seem any help at one particular range, it feels like the iris is not able to open and close quick enough to respond to changing conditions.

I was thinking of visiting somewhere like Top Charoen, but to be honest, I never trusted opticians or dentists in the UK so it is hard for me to trust them here.

Anyone have any feedback as to where might be a reliable / honest place to get a good eye test?

(I took an eye test at the RAM hospital in Chiang Mai a year back and they gave me 20/20, but that was reading a chart from over 20 feet or so, I struggled with the bottom line but they seemed happy enough - however, from my experience my eyes feel like they are going to pot)

Cheers!

[coops]

A good hospital optical department should give you a decent eye test - Top Charoen NO as it's probably just a teenager with no qualifications, just an ability to press go on the electronic auto tester... a good optician with optometrist would be fine.

You have started to get Presbyopia - this is not 'long sight' as commonly mislabeled, but a natural part of getting older for most people. Google it, but essentially your lens is getting less flexible with age which results in you being less able to 'accomodate' ie focus at shorter distances, while your far distance vision is fine,

I also have short sight & some astigmatism as well as the presbyopia, so for me glasses with progressive lenses work well and allow good vision at far, medium and near distances...

For you - as you seem to have 20/20 for distance, you ONLY need 'reading glasses'.. commonly this will be told to you by the optician as how much 'add' you need for near distance reading.

You can even get away with a cheapo fit yourself pair with +0.5 , +1 etce etc labelled on them - you simply try them on and see which feels best for you - for general use.

But for best comfort reading, see an optician and get a pair of reading glasses.

Or you could get Lasik 'Monovision done' - BUT this usually would be done to someone with short sight as well as presbyopia. This method intentionally leaves one eye short sighted (say around -0.5 ) and the other corrected to zero. So one eye is good for ditance and the other for reading - sounds odd, but after a few weeks your brain learns to cope and does it without you worrying about it. A friend has had this, and is now happy with it - but as can happen, initially she did get headaches and poor vision as her brain learnt to cope with it.

Since you don't have short sight, it isn't a terribly good idea to intentionally make one of your eyes vision worse ie short sighted... so you're left with reading glasses really (which are way more simple and cheaper than progressive lenses).

[kkerry]

This may seem like a silly suggestion but if you don't feel you have to use them for hours everyday, then next time you are in a local market, look for a stall that sells cheap plastic reading glasses. Try a few pair on to get the magnification right. For less than a 100 baht you should find a pair that will help.

For eye tests I found optical shops selling glasses not all that great. For a proper test try a hospital with an eye clinic. A proper check-up will test not only your vision but just as importantly, the health of your eyes. It can cost anywhere from 1,000-3,000 baht in my experience, depending on how detailed you want to go e.g if they take an image of your eye that you can view on a computer screen. The older you get the more important it is to have an annual check-up.

[Craig krup]

You've got presbyopia. If you can see at a distance when you're young then you have to need reading glasses beyond 45 - hence the stereotype of the old bobby looking through his half-moon glasses when he's writing in his pocketbook.

You've a cornea (say 45 dioptres) and a lens (say twelve). You need about two dioptres of focusing to read comfortably. For 50 baht you could get a pair of reading glasses that would probably do you, although you do need to be certain that you don't have glaucoma or anything similar.

[Craig krup]

Incidentally, don't have laser surgery. Corneas don't like being steepened, and your eye is now a fix focus machine, so given that fact you might as well leave the focus where it is - at distance - and find a pair of glasses to read with. If and when you need cataract surgery you can ask the surgeon whether it's worth leaving your non-dominant eye -1.

[johnatong]

You ideally should ask for eyes to be examined and "refracted" (tested) at a hospital eye department. You will come away with an accurate prescription that you should have made up a "mom and pop" store. Stay away from the big name places which are outrageously expensive.

You can also consider (using the prescription) ordering glasses on line.

[Craig krup]

You ideally should ask for eyes to be examined and "refracted" (tested) at a hospital eye department. You will come away with an accurate prescription that you should have made up a "mom and pop" store. Stay away from the big name places which are outrageously expensive.

You can also consider (using the prescription) ordering glasses on line.

If you do get someone to accurately measure the distance between your pupils. If you accept the default on the online form you might not be looking through the center of the lens.

[joeyg]

First there are good specialists as well as GPs here in Thailand. Do a little homework. Then check out

https://www.acbo.org.au/for-patients/your-questions-answered/what-is-behavioural-optometry

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Behavioral_optometry

Been doing the Bates Method for 25 years. Still have 20/20 at 64. And spend way to much time on the computer doing Medical Technical writing etc.

https://www.google.co.th/search?q=bates+method+of+eye+improvement&oq=bates+method+of+eye+improvement+&aqs=chrome..69i57j0l5.14279j0j7&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8

Also clean up your diet and get back in shape...

[johnatong]

First there are good specialists as well as GPs here in Thailand. Do a little homework. Then check out

https://www.acbo.org.au/for-patients/your-questions-answered/what-is-behavioural-optometry

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Behavioral_optometry

Been doing the Bates Method for 25 years. Still have 20/20 at 64. And spend way to much time on the computer doing Medical Technical writing etc.

https://www.google.co.th/search?q=bates+method+of+eye+improvement&oq=bates+method+of+eye+improvement+&aqs=chrome..69i57j0l5.14279j0j7&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8

Also clean up your diet and get back in shape...

There is zero scientific evidence which supports the "Bates Method" which is a form of pure Quackery.

[joeyg]

First there are good specialists as well as GPs here in Thailand. Do a little homework. Then check out

https://www.acbo.org.au/for-patients/your-questions-answered/what-is-behavioural-optometry

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Behavioral_optometry

Been doing the Bates Method for 25 years. Still have 20/20 at 64. And spend way to much time on the computer doing Medical Technical writing etc.

https://www.google.co.th/search?q=bates+method+of+eye+improvement&oq=bates+method+of+eye+improvement+&aqs=chrome..69i57j0l5.14279j0j7&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8

Also clean up your diet and get back in shape...

There is zero scientific evidence which supports the "Bates Method" which is a form of pure Quackery.

I am retired now but practiced as a Primary Care Physician for over 25 years. It has preserved my eye sight and has worked well for the majority of my patients. That's called strong Empirical Evidence. I usually don't take the time to respond to most post these days. Tired of the bickering and bantering and pseudo experts.

You sound like an expert on quackery though, so these journal citations should be interesting for you. Enjoy. First one from the editor of New England Journal of Medicine, you might have heard of it during your years of research, "

NEJM editor: “No longer possible to believe much of clinical research published”

https://ethicalnag.org/2009/11/09/nejm-editor/

And,

Editors In Chief of World’s Most Prestigious Medical Journals: “Much of the Scientific Literature, Perhaps HALF, May Simply Be Untrue” … “It Is Simply No Longer Possible To Believe Much of the Clinical Research That Is Published”

http://www.washingtonsblog.com/2015/06/editors-in-chief-of-worlds-most-prestigious-medical-journals-much-of-the-scientific-literature-perhaps-half-may-simply-be-untrue-it-is-simply-no-longer-poss.html

I could go on but you got the idea, you can do your own homework. Now what was it that you did for a living?

[DDbkh]

I heard that the Master Bates method makes you go blind!

[joeyg]

I heard that the Master Bates method makes you go blind!

Another old wives tale. It just grows hair on your palms...

[Craig krup]

The Bates method just exploits blur differentiation. An unfocused eye still has different patterns on the retina for different letters (or optotypes) on the Snellen chart so you can train yourself - once you know the chart you're looking at - to outperform by learning which pattern on the eye (blurred though it is) corresponds to which letter.

[topt]

First there are good specialists as well as GPs here in Thailand. Do a little homework. Then check out

https://www.acbo.org.au/for-patients/your-questions-answered/what-is-behavioural-optometry

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Behavioral_optometry

Been doing the Bates Method for 25 years. Still have 20/20 at 64. And spend way to much time on the computer doing Medical Technical writing etc.

https://www.google.co.th/search?q=bates+method+of+eye+improvement&oq=bates+method+of+eye+improvement+&aqs=chrome..69i57j0l5.14279j0j7&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8

Also clean up your diet and get back in shape...

I was interested to have a look at your links especially as not heard of the "Bates method" before.

However you lost it for me with your last line - how would you know what "shape" the OP was in and what he eats..........

[joeyg]

First there are good specialists as well as GPs here in Thailand. Do a little homework. Then check out

https://www.acbo.org.au/for-patients/your-questions-answered/what-is-behavioural-optometry

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Behavioral_optometry

Been doing the Bates Method for 25 years. Still have 20/20 at 64. And spend way to much time on the computer doing Medical Technical writing etc.

https://www.google.co.th/search?q=bates+method+of+eye+improvement&oq=bates+method+of+eye+improvement+&aqs=chrome..69i57j0l5.14279j0j7&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8

Also clean up your diet and get back in shape...

I was interested to have a look at your links especially as not heard of the "Bates method" before.

However you lost it for me with your last line - how would you know what "shape" the OP was in and what he eats..........

there is always room for optimizing fitness and diet. How about you?

[topt]

First there are good specialists as well as GPs here in Thailand. Do a little homework. Then check out

https://www.acbo.org.au/for-patients/your-questions-answered/what-is-behavioural-optometry

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Behavioral_optometry

Been doing the Bates Method for 25 years. Still have 20/20 at 64. And spend way to much time on the computer doing Medical Technical writing etc.

https://www.google.co.th/search?q=bates+method+of+eye+improvement&oq=bates+method+of+eye+improvement+&aqs=chrome..69i57j0l5.14279j0j7&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8

Also clean up your diet and get back in shape...

I was interested to have a look at your links especially as not heard of the "Bates method" before.

However you lost it for me with your last line - how would you know what "shape" the OP was in and what he eats..........

there is always room for optimizing fitness and diet. How about you?

Trite and patronising to boot.

I am just off to play squash.

[johnatong]

First there are good specialists as well as GPs here in Thailand. Do a little homework. Then check out

https://www.acbo.org.au/for-patients/your-questions-answered/what-is-behavioural-optometry

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Behavioral_optometry

Been doing the Bates Method for 25 years. Still have 20/20 at 64. And spend way to much time on the computer doing Medical Technical writing etc.

https://www.google.co.th/search?q=bates+method+of+eye+improvement&oq=bates+method+of+eye+improvement+&aqs=chrome..69i57j0l5.14279j0j7&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8

Also clean up your diet and get back in shape...

There is zero scientific evidence which supports the "Bates Method" which is a form of pure Quackery.

I am retired now but practiced as a Primary Care Physician for over 25 years. It has preserved my eye sight and has worked well for the majority of my patients. That's called strong Empirical Evidence. I usually don't take the time to respond to most post these days. Tired of the bickering and bantering and pseudo experts.

You sound like an expert on quackery though, so these journal citations should be interesting for you. Enjoy. First one from the editor of New England Journal of Medicine, you might have heard of it during your years of research, "

NEJM editor: “No longer possible to believe much of clinical research published”

https://ethicalnag.org/2009/11/09/nejm-editor/

And,

Editors In Chief of World’s Most Prestigious Medical Journals: “Much of the Scientific Literature, Perhaps HALF, May Simply Be Untrue” … “It Is Simply No Longer Possible To Believe Much of the Clinical Research That Is Published”

http://www.washingtonsblog.com/2015/06/editors-in-chief-of-worlds-most-prestigious-medical-journals-much-of-the-scientific-literature-perhaps-half-may-simply-be-untrue-it-is-simply-no-longer-poss.html

I could go on but you got the idea, you can do your own homework. Now what was it that you did for a living?

I thank the powers that be that you are no longer a "Physician" ! Were you ever ?

I say again there is zero scientific evidence which supports the "Bates Method" which is a form of pure Quackery.

[Stradavarius37]

Never trusted doctors...lmao. Figure it out for yourself then. The barstool doctors on TV will be happy to help!

[joeyg]

Yep it gets nasty real fast. No good deed goes unpunished...

[opalred]

keep a way from those ripoff eye or glass shops

years ago told needed glasses by one the frame broke after a few weeks

took back to shop and tol;d have to pay another 3000b to fix

told them to stick up where it hurts

after a few years went to another shop tested and payed 6000bfor glasses

after some time wife took me to public eye hospital

i had glaucoma and now being treated daily for past few years no glasses

so lesson learnt go to eye dr first

not them cheating eye shops tell you anything to get money