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Re: Eyes Tire Easily with New Prescription
Alan wrote:
I have a new prescription for my glasses. The new prescription is not as strong in my bad eye as it was previously (+5 instead of +5.5) but the axis has been changed a bit. The new lenses have been in for a week now and I think I am slowly getting used to them but I am finding that my eyes (both the bad eye and the good one) are tiring easily and losing focus for a short time. This is usually when I have been reading for five or ten mins. Is this expected while adapting to a new prescription? Is it just the eye muscles getting used to being used in a slightly different way?
Dr Langis Michaud's response:
Dear Alan
You have a hyperopic prescription meaning that your eyes have to adjust all the time to see clearly, at far and mostly at near. I don’t know your age but it is quite rare that hyperopes at your level “improves” at a given time. Usually, hyperopia is structured after 15-20 years old and does not vary until 40-45 years old when it progresses.
The best way to find your real prescription and accordingly to alleviate the “stress and fatigue” symptoms you have is to ask your optometrist to make an eye examination under cycloplegia. At this time, optometrist uses a diagnostic drug (a cycloplegic) that alter the capacity of the cristalline lens, inside of the eye, to adjust for hyperopia. This is why the optometrist can mesure the “real” power of your eye. Habitually, the prescription of your glasses have to match with this results to alleviate any fatigue or effort to focus, especially at near.
If the prescription is confirmed and right (at +5) the problem could be in the centration of the glasses in your frame. At this level of prescription, we have to be very cautious in the choice of the material, the type and shape of the frame that is selected and to make the appropriate mesurements in height and width to center the lenses according to your pupils.
In summary, I would first check the accuracy of the prescription by a cycloplegic exam of the eyes and to revist the fitting and centration of the lenses if the prescription is confirmed as valid.
Good luck,
Dr. Langis Michaud, Associate Professor, U de Montréal
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