
Making My Own Glasses - olieidel
https://www.eidel.io/2019/04/24/making-my-own-glasses/
======
emptybits
Fascinating hacker story in an unexpected domain. Thank you!

A side note about "getting your numbers"... The author remarks, "she’s not
happy to share the measurements with me as she fears I’ll run off and get my
glasses made online".

This will obviously vary by jurisdiction but what the author describes may be
illegal in some places. e.g. where I live, there is a law since 2010 requiring
opticians and optometrists "to give clients, free of charge, a copy of their
prescription, sight-test assessment or contact-lens specifications — whether
or not it is requested by the client — and also to give a copy, free of
charge, to a third-party eyewear seller or other person if requested by the
client"[1]

[1] [https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/b-c-
changes-...](https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/b-c-changes-
eyewear-regulations-1.904446)

~~~
wonderwonder
This did strike me as strange. Imagine going to a doctor getting a blood test
and being told your numbers are good or bad but the doctor refusing to give
you the actual result. They are your results, you paid for them and are part
of an overall need to understand your health.

~~~
LoSboccacc
> you paid for them

most places that sell glasses do those for free tho. I agree they should be
given out and they do in europe, or at least in the two states I lived, but
being paid for is not the angle to come at it from

~~~
mikepurvis
I don't think I've ever had a free exam in Ontario— my insurance covers one
(up to like $200 or something) every two years, so that's about the cadence I
get them on.

So it's a paid-for thing; I don't feel bad about taking the prescription and
buying glasses online. That said, the glasses from the shop last way, way
longer than the online ones, so I really just use online for sunglasses or
like to get novelty frames for a costume or something.

~~~
jblakey
I'm in Ontario, too, and couldn't get my PD from Laurier Optical. So I left,
went on Amazon, and bought a PD Distance Measurer for a couple of hundred
bucks. Did my whole family, and now my wife feels better about ordering from
Zeni. Saved enough on a single pair of glasses to pay for the meter.

------
kmm
He probably saw the first result incorrectly, opticians almost exclusively use
negative cylinders, it seems incredibly unlikely that he would both stumble
upon a rare exception using positive cylinders, and that she'd coincidentally
get his astigmatism way wrong as well.

I share his, uhm, perfectionism regarding optical corrections, and it's led to
quite some anxiety. I feel like eye exams here aren't done with a lot of care,
and that they just aim for "good enough". I'm not sure what to do with the
knowledge that you can buy such an optician kit and test yourself. It's either
a great or an absolutely terrible idea.

~~~
olieidel
Some good thoughts. Totally agree with all your points.

------
donjoe
Everytime I read about glasses I have to think about the Luxottica-Monopoly
which kind of controls most of the market and prices of glasses/lenses.

[https://www.latimes.com/business/lazarus/la-fi-lazarus-
glass...](https://www.latimes.com/business/lazarus/la-fi-lazarus-glasses-
lenscrafters-luxottica-monopoly-20190305-story.html)

~~~
bredren
I remembered this as well. This bothers me, as I just had to get a new set and
they are ridiculously expensive. I originally opened the article hoping that
this was some kind of "I 3d printed my own frames" or something to that
effect. I am hoping someone will figure out how to disrupt this industry.

~~~
war1025
Zenni Optical [1], EyeBuyDirect [2], VisionPros[3] among others let you buy
online as long as you know the numbers.

[1] [https://www.zennioptical.com/](https://www.zennioptical.com/)

[2] [https://www.eyebuydirect.com/](https://www.eyebuydirect.com/)

[3] [https://www.visionpros.com/](https://www.visionpros.com/)

------
atoav
This is clearly a case where the sole act of him sharpening his own perception
of what glases do resulted in him getting better glases.

I work freelance as a colorist and re-recording mixer – both are professions
which are highly based on perception. And it is certainly true: if you try to
really go into the details of something, be it color, sound or anything else,
it already helps a lot if you sharpen your senses to these things. I always
say: you don't pay me for beeing able to use some software, you pay me for
having developed my senses over years in a way that others didn't.

~~~
olieidel
Totally agree. It's a cool idea that going very deep in a certain field yields
benefits which were unimaginable in the beginning (or to others).

------
AdrianB1
For more than 10 years I am going to the same optician for glasses. As a sport
pilot, I need to have 2 pairs at all times (one is kept as reserve in the
cockpit); changing one to another, with identical "everything", produces a
serious discomfort that I cannot explain. I learned to live with the idea that
eye sight is complicated.

Measurements at different points in time can differ slightly: in the morning
just after I wake up I get some values, after staring at this monitor for 12
hours I get slightly different results. I always make the glasses from the
morning measurement, but luckily the values rarely differ from one year to
another (I change the lenses every year on the pair I wear on the motorcycle,
riding with the visor up I get the lenses scratched in about one year from the
dust in the air).

~~~
gvb
I suspect the discomfort when switching glasses is that the inter-ocular
distance is different between the two glasses (one is likely right or "more
right"). You have the right correction, but it is off-axis WRT your pupils
with one pair.

When I go to my $$$ optician, the technician marks my pupils on the blanks in
the frame that I've selected using a sharpie (before the glasses are made) and
adds the inter-ocular measurement to the glasses information. When I put on
the resulting glasses, I don't have any eye strain symptoms and my vision is
good (instantly).

When I went to cheap storefront glasses places (I don't do that any more) and
I put on the resulting glasses, I get a "stress" signal from my eyes and then
they adjust to work with the suboptimal glasses but the eye strain is always
there.

~~~
AdrianB1
My optician friend is doing the inter-ocular distance right, he showed me the
process while he was cutting the lenses on a high-end computerized machine.
But the only difference between my glasses are the frames, there are some
differences in the frames that makes a difference in the final product. I
guess it is the angle between the lenses, even a small difference can be
creating the discomfort. It takes me a few hours to adjust.

------
scoot
Misleading title. He tested his own eyesight and ordered glasses online. He
didn't make his own glasses.

Still an interesting read, just not what I expected from the title and lead.

~~~
cptskippy
Eh... he provided custom specifications to a manufacturer.

Apple makes it's own SoCs for the iPhone, only Apple can't make
semiconductors. They provide specifications to a manufacturer. Apple makes the
iPhone, except it's Foxconn that manufacturers it.

The APU in the Xbox One is made by Microsoft, but it's composed primarily of
off the shelf designed CPU and GPU cores from AMD and manufactured by
TSMC/GF/<insert foundary>.

~~~
jqadams
By this logic, I am “making” my own pizza every time I tell Dominos to make me
a 20cm pizza with cheese and sauce. I am “making” an IKA sofa when I order it
online, telling the manufacturer the model, the size (2 seat, 3, etc).

No, what the OP did was check/confirm his numbers and then bought a pair of
glasses from a website. Many people buy them from websites, typing in the
numbers they received from their doctor. None of these people are “making”
anything.

~~~
cptskippy
I don't disagree with you, and the line between ordering and making is fuzzy.

Your examples of an Ikea Sofa and Pizza are great examples of either end of
the spectrum. An Ikea sofa has finite configurations that could all be
permuted into model numbers, the parts are interchangeable and swapped between
models, and prefabricated. A pizza however is completely made to order on
demand and if there's a mistake the components are nonrecoverable waste.

With Apple's custom SoC, they're designing a custom circuit however that
specification is sent to someone else to manufacture. At it's core, it's not
unlike ordering a pizza of astronomically greater complexity. So what makes a
custom pizza just an order and not a make? Is it the relative
simplicity/complexity of the task?

If I enlist a factory in China to manufacture custom mouse pads based on my
exact specifications, did I make a mouse pad or just order it? Does it matter
if the mouse pads are just press cut fabric backed neoprene in various colors
and shapes?

Glasses are somewhere between an Ikea Sofa and a Pizza in terms of modularity.
The lenses and frames are off the shelf but once cut the lenses are spent if
an error is made. Glasses however have much more exacting specifications than
a pizza or a Sofa.

------
chooseaname
> As a doctor I know some things about the human eye so I understand how to
> use those lenses. However, I have no clue about the magic ritual of the
> optician (“Do you see better with this lens?” - selects random lens and
> holds it in front of my eye).

>Luckily, I didn’t have to.

There's a specific reason why they do this and ask you to make a decision in
an instant. It's called accommodation. Your eyes will quickly try and
accommodate and find focus if they're allowed to stare too long. This could
explain the reason he got such different results from the exams. He was trying
too hard. Just follow directions.

Edit:

> One more thing. Do you remember the process in which an optician makes you
> wear a new pair of glasses and stares at you with this optician-look, takes
> the pair of glasses away from you again, goes to the back office and starts
> bending parts of it in a seemingly random manner, comes back, hands you the
> pair of glasses which now suddenly fit perfectly?

> Yeah, I attempted to do that with my new pair of glasses and noticed that I
> suck at it. I would bend it to look similar like the glasses from the
> optician only to realize that the back of my ears were hurting after a few
> hours of wear.

Is he really a Doctor??? He doesn't know there's a Mastoid bone there that the
"bending" (aka: Adjusting) the optician is doing is to AVOID putting pressure
on that bone!?

~~~
olieidel
Yes, I am a doctor. As far as I remember, I studied medicine and graduated.

As other comments point out, medicine is a very specialized field nowadays and
I didn't specialize in any field (I got into coding healthcare software
instead) - in Germany you study all disciplines at University (min. 6 years)
and then specialize during something comparable to US residency in a hospital.

I understand the process of accommodation. This poses the risk of e.g. over-
correcting short-sightedness if you're not aware of it because, with each lens
of increasing strength, you accommodate and think "geez, everything just got
sharper.. again!". I was aware of this and, as you can find in my article,
actually ended up using very similar values for dioptries (the spheres) as the
opticians. So either all of us totally forgot about accommodation or all of us
were aware of it :)

My values mainly differed regarding to astigmatism, and accommodation doesn't
play a significant role there.

I am also aware of the bone behind my ears, thanks for reminding me :)

While you do learn a lot of stuff in med school, learning how to bend those
things of glasses which go behind your ears is not part of that. I suppose
that's not a skill which can be taught well, anyway - it's more like
craftsmanship, getting it right by having done it lots of times.

~~~
jaclaz
If I may, particularly as a doctor yourself, you should call the eye doctor
"ophthalmologist", as you surely know if you use "part of the body + doctor"
there might be issues should you report a visit by a "proctologist" ...

~~~
patrec
Why replace a good, short and clear word with a bad and long word that adds no
information, but fewer people will understand? [Edit: I think I'm wrong about
the adding no information, depending on country there might be other types of
eye doctors than ophthalmologists]

~~~
jaclaz
Come on, it was only a (good?) old joke ...

------
tyingq
This article found 13 out of 30 opticians were off by a significant amount
(poor or very poor): [https://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/entry/high-street-
opticians...](https://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/entry/high-street-opticians-
giving-shocking-eye-tests-and-incorrect-prescriptions-report-
reveals_uk_59e5ccf5e4b02a215b32b068)

~~~
superkuh
I had great glasses for about 25 years. Then my eye doctor retired. Over the
next couple years the first couple pairs I received from the same location's
new doctors were bad enough to cause me to return them. The third has been
marginally acceptable. It's a real shame when talent retires.

~~~
ddalex
I had someone recently quit my team for a way better opportunity that my
company couldn't provide.

More or less jokingly we showed up with chains on the last day to bind him to
the desk :) we allowed him to part after a couple of beers though.

Yes its super painful to lose talent.

------
nickjj
As a life long glasses wearer I don't really agree there's a problem with the
"better or worse" method. It's a pretty interesting implementation of
bisection search and it's a very controlled environment. It's also a great
example of how constraints (time) helps you arrive at a good answer without
over thinking it.

If you were out wandering the streets or looking at random things with no
constraints you would be overwhelmed with choice and it would be very hard to
draw a conclusion. You may decide what's right is based on looking at
something, only to find out after all of that something else 4 days later
looks way off because you didn't see that during your real world test. You end
up being individually burdened with making the decision instead of letting
science do its thing.

The only issue I have is frames because it's very possible to get frames that
are comfortable for the few minutes you try them on in the store but they end
up being horrendously uncomfortable after a day or few days of usage (even
after many adjustments).

I don't know how to solve that problem though because in order to wear the
frames for a long test period you would need to be able to see, which means
your real lenses need to be placed inside.

------
dh-g
Title is a bit misleading and got my hopes of that this was about grinding
down glass into perscription lenes. Interesting none the less.

------
oldandcold
Wonderful read. I've been wearing glasses for 40+ years...and I agree with the
generally subjective nature of the exam. "better 1 or 2". "this one or that
one"... etc. Is it just a bit less blurry? Or am I guessing because I want to
get out of here? At my dox, they check my Rx with a machine, then the doc does
the A/B testing. They know what the answer is...but they need me to validate.
Then there is time... the doc has only so much time to do the A/B testing. A
few hours of A/B would statistically improve the outcome. And really, fuzzy or
sharp letters on a screen is not what I look at all day...show me a monitor or
a book and ask me what I see. I would love to do my own testing with a box of
lenses...

------
jefftk
_> Do you remember the process in which an optician makes you wear a new pair
of glasses and stares at you with this optician-look, takes the pair of
glasses away from you again, goes to the back office and starts bending parts
of it in a seemingly random manner, comes back, hands you the pair of glasses
which now suddenly fit perfectly? Yeah, I attempted to do that with my new
pair of glasses and noticed that I suck at it. I would bend it to look similar
like the glasses from the optician only to realize that the back of my ears
were hurting after a few hours of wear. Then I would bend them differently
only to have them repeatedly slip forward on my nose warranting me to push
them up every few minutes. After two weeks of bending, it still fits less well
than the other pair. So I guess there are some subtleties of making glasses
which are not easily replaceable through an online store._

I've done this with several pairs, and the main thing is you need to heat them
to get the plastic into a temperature where it will hold a new bend. I've used
a hair dryer for this, though you need to be careful not to over-heat them or
the plastic will blister.

You can also go into a glasses shop and ask if they can adjust them, though
when I tried this they wouldn't take my money and just did it for free, which
I felt bad about.

~~~
jqadams
Unfortunately, lots of places will refuse to fit/bend your glasses unless you
got them from their stores. It’s just easier and less of a hassle for them to
have a blanket ban vs worrying about breaking the person’s glasses and being
charged/sued for it.

~~~
astura
LensCrafters will fit/adjust any/all glasses for free without any questions.
Bonus: there is usually one in most malls.

I've brought probably 10 frames there multiple times over the last couple
decades, only one of which I actually bought there.

------
olieidel
Whoa, this is unexpected. I'm the author. Thanks for reading and for all your
comments! Will reply to as many as possible.

------
alfonsodev
> Optician: “Now with this lens, do you see better or worse?”

> O: “Honestly, I have no clue. Maybe. Maybe not? The letters look similar but
> different.”

[edit] Reprahsing to make it clearer:

will it be possible in the future to measure objectively?

~~~
cameronh90
Sort of. There's a device called an autorefractor which can get a pretty good
estimate out of your refractive error. However traditional eyesight tests tend
to provide better results.

I believe wavefront guided LASIK uses some kind of automatic method of
determining refractive error called an aberrometer. Some ophthalmologists have
a device called an i-profiler that they use as part of their assessment which
appears to be an aberrometer.

Everything I've read on the matter seems to me to indicate that there is
possibly some kind of hybrid automated autorefractor/aberrometer type
technology that could be created to give fairly objective and accurate
measurements of refractive error with no human operator, but given that
legally an ophthalmologist would need to sign off the prescription anyway the
upside is probably limited.

~~~
IronWolve
I was excited to get lasik when wavefront came out due to one eye having
astigmatism. I came out with 20:15 in one eye, 20/20 in the other.
Overcorrection is normally avoided, but I jumped when wavefront lasik came
out. Totally worth it.

------
Androider
I wonder if the use of a lensmeter makes you fall into a local optimum while
missing out on a potential global optimum?

Let's say I go to a bad optician and get a pair of lenses that have something
way off like the cylinder is the wrong way around, or toric lenses for
astigmatism when you actually don't have it. Everything looks like crap but
then you get used to it (the brain is amazing at adapting). Then a few years
later you go get another pair, and they use the lensmeter reading as the
baseline.

I think I have astigmatism, or do I? It took me more than two months until I
stopped getting headaches after getting my first glasses and I could see
decently. Every glasses since then are based on that first reading. Maybe I've
just become used to it, and there exists a significantly better lens that I
could become used to as well.

~~~
logfromblammo
You can calculate a spherical-only prescription from an astigmatism
prescription. Order cheapest-possible glasses using those lenses, and wear
them for a while before visiting a new optometrist. Leave them behind before
you go in, and say you lost your glasses in the ocean, or they got crushed
under a truck tire, or something. If you end up with a prescription that has a
cylindrical component, and it has the same axis and magnitude as your previous
prescription, then you have an objectively-measured, independently-repeated
astigmatism.

------
diffuse_l
I'm still not sure how the whole process of choosing lenses seems to work
quite well, despite being so far removed from actual day to day usage. In the
~37 years I have glasses the process only failed twice. The last time I needed
to order new glasses, after wearing the glasses for a day (I know from
experience that it sometimes takes time to adjust to new glasses), I returned
to the store and told them that the glasses weren't good enough. To make a
long story short, after going back there at least three times, and after the
optometrist said something along the lines of "maybe you only think you are
not seeing well with those glasses", I had to start making a ruckus till they
changed both lenses.

Maybe the failure rate is low enough that it is not worth it to improve the
process...

------
littlecosmic
I’m glad that a good result was had, but none of these results are that
surprising if you have experience in ophthalmic optics.

The initial prescription and the final one are only a little different when
you consider the change of acuity they can deliver (from a physics
perspective). For a script like that, the frame choice, lens design and
vertical placement of the optical centres (if the frame is a little deep)
could all have a similar effect on acuity.

It is also very common for there to be differences like he found between an
auto-refraction and a subjective refraction.

It’s possible that they are too focused in on the prescription itself and
there are issues around the lens positioning/design that are involved here as
well.

------
logfromblammo
I were assembling a home-optometry kit, I would use adjustable oil lenses and
a laser pointer. The speckle pattern of the laser dot is affected by whether
the observer is myopic or hyperopic. Adjust the oil glasses until, when moving
your head, the laser speckle dots do not appear to move. If they move opposite
to your head motion, make the lens diopter more negative, and if they move in
the same direction, make the lens diopter less negative.

After determining exact spherical diopter, then test for astigmatism by
spinning a set of parallel black lines on a white field, and parallel white
lines on a black field. Or just look at a printout of an astigmatism dial
chart.

------
ggariepy
I've had nothing but terrible luck getting progressive lenses for years. I'm
in the -7 diopter range, so the correction has to be pretty strong. Usually
the script is dead on for some part of the visual range but hardly anything
else works clearly. The single vision lenses I have for computer use are right
on point. I have a pretty significant astigmatism in my left (non-dominant)
eye, and that one is always jacked up.

I've been going to the same ophthalmologist for several years now and over
that time he's made a few mistakes in the script; twice I've had to have the
glasses remade because of errors on his part. He came highly recommended, but
the recommendations you get tend to be aligned with whatever hospital system
you get them from, rather than true recommendations based on actual
craftsmanship.

I'd be interested in figuring out how to find an ophthalmologist who uses the
Zeiss i.Scription tool in combination with a subjective test. I probably need
to start going first thing in the morning as well; since I have to have my
eyes dilated I tend to go in the afternoons after I've been hacking code most
of the day; it sounds like that could be hurting the quality of the
prescriptions.

If anyone in the Detroit Metro knows of a good ophthalmologist with the Zeiss
machine, do send me a note.

------
77pt77
> she’s not happy to share the measurements with me as she fears I’ll run off
> and get my glasses made online (I’d never do that!).

This is ridiculous. Why should I not be given the value measurements that have
just been made?

That's why I bought my own optician test lens set and now do the measurements
myself. I can also test these measurements over a long period of time looking
at a screen for example.

I've had people stop short of saying I should be arrested and that I'm doing
something illegal.

The cost, one or two visits to the optometrist.

~~~
whamlastxmas
Because the measurement was free and provided with the assumption they're
recovering the cost of equipment and labor when you purchase glasses through
them.

------
DoctorOetker
>I needed an “optician kit” consisting of:

>Trial lenses: A large number of lenses with varying corrections

>Trial frame: A pair of glasses without lenses into which you can insert the
trial lenses

>Turns out, you can order these kits online from very trustworthy Chinese
resellers for around 190€.

Seems like it would be nice to have these available for rent. I would rent
that for 20 euros a week, and after 10 rent-outs it has payed itself back

~~~
ddalex
Why not do it?

------
jakobegger
If you want the absolute best possible correction, you also need to make sure
the optical center of the lens is in the right spot. With my current frames
it's a bit too low, so I need to lift my glasses a bit to make sure I see as
sharp as possible, which is annoying.

It's a small effect, but it is noticable.

------
0x0aff374668
Funny, I've been struggling with exactly this issue. Over the past few years
my eyes have worsened to the point where doctors cannot find a contact scrip
that works in both eyes: we have to compromise with one eye fixing far-away
and the other fixing near. I had TWO optemtrists generate an Rx and they
differed in all domains, with the astigmatic axis off by 90-degrees in both
eyes! I've wanted to buy a lens kit and do it myself for years, but after
reading how complex a process it is to find a compromise due to all the daily
fluctuations, I'm ready to accept that my eyesight is just a mess and nothing
can fix it for ALL scenarios.

------
driverdan
You can't wear contacts for flying or passing the exam?

The best eye "hack" I've done is getting Lasik. I wore glasses and then
contacts for about 20 years and got Lasik done 3 years ago. It's worth
whatever it costs you.

~~~
novok
There are some eyes that are somewhat risky to treat with lasik, such as
having pupils that dilate to 8mm+

~~~
kevin_thibedeau
It's not worthwhile for nearsighted people beyond middle age. It also
structurally weakens the eye so not a good thing depending on your occupation
and hobbies.

------
m0zg
And now consider that your _other_ doctors are also mostly just guessing,
often poorly, at the expense of your health. This is why medical error is the
third leading cause of death in the US:
[https://www.cnbc.com/2018/02/22/medical-errors-third-
leading...](https://www.cnbc.com/2018/02/22/medical-errors-third-leading-
cause-of-death-in-america.html). The stats are likely to be even worse in less
developed countries or ones where doctor is not as prestigious a profession.

------
umvi
> and she’s not happy to share the measurements with me as she fears I’ll run
> off and get my glasses made online

I hate this! Are they really allowed to do this?

"What's my prescription?" "Not telling"

~~~
css
They are most certainly not allowed to withhold it: [https://www.ftc.gov/tips-
advice/business-center/guidance/com...](https://www.ftc.gov/tips-
advice/business-center/guidance/complying-eyeglass-rule)

~~~
pacaro
TFA is most likely set in Germany, where different rules apply

------
bonestamp2
I went for a Lasik consult recently and they said they have to dilate my eyes
to get the most accurate reading since the muscles can compensate and give
variable readings. It's true, my last two prescriptions differed from the
reading they got with my eyes dilated. Maybe it was just an extra money grab
but if it's true and I had known that before I would have asked them to dilate
my eyes when I wanted to get glasses too.

------
amingilani
This is amazing, however, I have the opposite problem: how do I measure for
contact lenses?

I've never been able to get a good fit for my contacts although my glasses
have always worked well enough. The weird thing is that when I go to get
contact lenses, the retailer orders them according to my glasses prescription,
but subtracts seemingly arbitrary values from it to arrive at the contact
lenses' values.

I live in Pakistan, btw.

~~~
vanattab
Do you have a stigmatism? Contacts offten don't work well with people of
stigmatism.

~~~
amingilani
I do have astigmatism, actually. However, looking at the prescription of the
author in the article, it appears that he does too!

~~~
olieidel
Yes, I do. I had lenses with cylinders (for correcting it) in the past and
didn't like them. They're larger and asymmetric - the lower side must be
heavier so that they always align correctly on your eye.

With not-so-bad astigmatism, you can get away with not correcting it in your
contact lenses. That's what I currently do. It works okay and brings you to a
good level of vision (1.0 here in Germany, probably 20/20 in the US).

~~~
amingilani
Ahhh, that won't work for me. I started off like that, but getting cylinders
made a huge difference in my contacts. I've tried the bottom-heavy ones, as
well as the ones with a "1" that's supposed to be positioned at the bottom
manually. Neither has worked too well.

The shifting position isn't a problem, I think the bottom-heavy ones adjust
fine with a little bit of practice, but the experience is never that good.

~~~
lovehashbrowns
I have astigmatism as well and the ones I use are acuvue daily moist. They
apparently use some blinking technology to keep them stable. To be honest, I
didn't know they were supposed to remain stable until I saw your comments, so
I guess they work well for me. There are only very specific situations where I
get discomfort and they misalign for me, but a few blinks puts them back in
their spot.

------
tabtab
An ear-handle broke off of a pair of eyeglasses I had a few years ago, and
nobody could repair it. I tried 4 shops, including a jewelry shop. Being that
progressive-focus prescription lenses are expensive, I didn't want to buy a
new set. (Progressive focus is similar to "bifocals".)

Hopefully shops with 3D printers etc. will give consumers more repair options.

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mschuster91
> I have a few seconds to decide whether I see some letters better and this
> decision will decide which lenses I’ll have in my glasses for the next few
> years? Absurd!

From personal experience: don't do these tests if you're tired, have headaches
or are otherwise impaired. For example if your eyes simply want to shut and
you're forcing them to open the musculature will affect your vision.

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djhworld
I'm going for my regular eye test tomorrow, I'm similar to the author with
toric contact lenses (for astigmatism) and glasses for all other times.

I'm not looking forward to the "does this look better or worse?" dance and can
totally relate to the author's frustration!

~~~
olieidel
Good luck!

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retpirato
I'm generally wary of anyone who says they're a perfectionist, because I
usually find them to be absurdly picky about silly things for no real reason,
but this guy has a point about not being able to tell if glasses are right for
you based on staring at some letters.

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phonebucket
That was a great read, but one of the summary conclusions jarred with me a
bit:

> Want to optimize your medication? Read up on all relevant studies and
> guidelines.

I am surprised to have seen this penned by a doctor. Relevant studies and
guidelines are a minefield for amateurs.

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sova
Very impressed my good man. Would it be possible to automate this process a
bit and get some statistically sound measurements from doing it 100 times? Can
we turn this into an online business? :D

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specialist
Great read. Thanks.

I've also received lenses that don't match the prescription. My
ophthalmologist says that source of error is common. So now I have the
doctor's office verify my lenses.

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gherkinnn
> She seems to forget the fact that I’m a doctor

> As a doctor I know some things about the human eye

Something about these sentences identify our author here as German. And low
and behold, it turns out he is.

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devxpy
A similar incident happened with me too. Visited an optician, immediately
followed by a doctor the same day. The measurements varied by 1 whole digit!

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megous
So, anyone read the manual for the measurment instruments used and
investigated what is the specified error of measurement?

Maybe variation can be attributed to that.

~~~
AdrianB1
Eye fatigue gives a much higher difference than the error margin of the
instruments.

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redog
Good story but I'm a touch disappointed as I came in expecting a story about
making the lenses.

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moneywoes
Suddenly I feel very less confident in my prescription that I just received

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newnewpdro
Wish he included a link for the kit of test lenses he purchased

~~~
olieidel
It's a pretty generic kit sold on ebay from various chinese resellers. It's
not too hard to find if you search for "optician kit" or so, price is around
180€ in Germany :)

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edouard-harris
I hope someone reads this and starts Stitch Fix for eyeglasses.

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yupyupyupyup
I would pay attention to what eye doctors call overcorrecting.. of course you
see better but your eyes become lazier and lazier

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Uhuhreally
expected to read an article about someone 3d-printing their own glasses, was
disappointed

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edisonjoao
nice

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turk73
I wanted to be an Optometrist but went into software engineering instead. I
think Optometry is fertile ground for disruption by technology. Similar to
pharmacists, the only thing keeping so many employed is a cartel.

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coldtea
> _I have a few seconds to decide whether I see some letters better and this
> decision will decide which lenses I’ll have in my glasses for the next few
> years? Absurd!_

On the contrary, it seems totally logical. If the difference is so small that
you can't assuredly decide between two options, either will do.

> _How can a trustworthy decision be made in this not-real-life scenario of
> staring at letters on a wall? I want to be able to decide while going about
> my daily routine: Staring at computer screens, looking out of the window,
> looking into space. My daily routine doesn’t include staring at the same
> five letters projected onto a white wall and reading them out loud._

Yeah, so? Who told you you'll find anything more doing that, that you would
looking at the projected letters?

> _I went through with it and the pair of glasses arrived around two weeks
> later. Putting them on for the first time, my vision was just as perfect as
> with the trial lenses. Awesome! This was hands-down the best pair of glasses
> I ever had. Better yet, it was the first pair of glasses with which I could
> see better than with contact lenses (as those don’t have a cylinder)._

For all the skepticism at others (eye professionals at that), did he checked
his enthusiasm for placebo effect? Or the IKEA effect for that matter?

The guy seems eccentric in a creative way, but unbearable...

~~~
olieidel
> For all the skepticism at others (eye professionals at that), did he checked
> his enthusiasm for placebo effect?

Yes. I have two pairs of glasses here: The optician-made ones and my self-
prescribed ones. I have controlled for the frame - both have the same one.

I see much better with my self-prescribed ones. If you don't believe me, feel
free to drop by and we'll do a blinded (heh) test. :)

