Eye Problem (Please Help)

[stephert]

Background: I've been able to read fine and I enjoyed (as much as one can) doing school.  Over a year ago (last may/june) I started having eye problems. Basically it seems really hard to focus fully on words (especially up close for reading and computer).  I put off doing anything about it until I couldn't deal with it anymore during that fall semester. So I went to the optometrist several times and they just gave me reading glasses (+1.00 and +1.50) both times with a slight change for astigmatism. Basically, I've been farsighted as long as I can remember, but I've never had to use reading glasses.  At the start of the spring semester I went to an ophthalmologist and explained my symptoms.  He couldn't find anything wrong with my eyes, and I believe he performed a refraction and he dilated and checked out my eyes.  No problems found.  At that point I kind of gave up because I didn't know where to go.  Then I realized somehow that reflecting light from my computer screen when I was reading made it definitely detectably easier to read. Also, if I read under a really bright light so some of the light kind of reflected off the page it made it easier to read as well.  So I went back to the opthamologist and explained this and he tested me for Convergence Insufficiency Syndrome with the prism bars and said that's what I had. So I did pencil pushups for 2 months and went back. Apparently I hadn't been doing them correctly so he told me to do it for 4-5 mins 3x a day.  This I did and I thought it helped some but I wasn't sure when I went back 4 weeks ago.   Then he referred me to an orthoptist to work on eye excercises.  I went there a couple days ago, and she said I didn't have Convergence Insufficiency because one of my eyes turns in slightly when she tested me by moving some rod in front of my face back and forth. I'm assuming this is slight strabismus because that's what she made it sound like. So another doctor came in and did a refraction/dilated eyes test and then wrote me a prescription for eye glasses that were 0.75 L and R for distance (because she said I had latent hyperopia).  I didn't realize until my eyes returned to normal that this was a weaker pair of reading glasses than I already had, and that reading glasses don't help. So I had a few questions.

1) Does having my eye turn in slightly automatically mean I can't have Convergence Insufficiency Syndrome?

2) does reflected light (making it easier to read) mean that I could have strabismus.  In other words, would having strabismus make me experience this?

3) Is a prescription of +0.75 going to help me even though I have prescriptions for 1.00 and 1.50 that don't help.  I don't think this is the case but I figured I'd ask

4) What should I do next? I've had this for over a year and I just want to fix it.

Thanks for reading this was long I know.

[Ray T Oyakawa, MD]

Since you are a graduate student, google latent hyperopia and convergence insufficiency.

You had reading glasses of  +1.00 and +1.50.  Now your new prescription is for distance and to use full time.  This is different from readers.


Dr. O.

[stephert]

Oh yeah and I'm 23 and in grad school so reading is kind of a big deal.