Pain and pressure above good eye when wearing and taking off reading glasses

[booklover101739]

I went for my first eye test on monday and been wearing the glasses on and off for about a week. I can see fine exept my right eye is a little farsighted. I was wearing them to see signs and far shapes. but now I hear there more the reading close up. now I am getting a migraine heading and pressure abou my left eye (my good eye) Help??!!

[NeuroLymeNYC]

I defer to Dr. Mathur and offer the following only as an opinion based upon my own first hand experience.

You should absolutely have the lenses checked against the prescription (I've had the misfortune of "the wrong lenses in the right frames.") This is a simple process of a licensed optometrist placing the frames under an instrument that resembles a microscope and comparing the lens to the Rx.

If the prescription is correct, abut the axis misaligned I can say from my own experience that it definitely can create eye pain. You can think of the axis alignment as the "sweet spot" of the lens matching each eye. I would suggest that you call ahead and explain that your a chronic pain patient (I am assuming you are because you have posted in this forum) and that you need personal attention. For me, this has brought out the best in people and allowed them to not only do their best work, but understand WHY it is so important.

Lastly, you mention that you were using glasses for distance reading, but now are using them for close up work, such as reading. Are you using multifocal lenses, also known as bifocals? (good article on the differences at http://www.allaboutvision.com/lenses/multifocal.htm) If so, I strongly encourage you to consider investing in TWO pair of glasses; one for reading and one for distance.

Why? The eyes' efforts to find the right part of the lens to look through for reading a book (as opposed to reading a distant sign) are extremely taxing to patients with eye pain. It doesn't bother most of the population, but in my case, I lost sight after about 30 minutes. The switch to a reading only lens made all the difference, and I can now work for hours. The only downside is keeping track of two pairs of lenses, but you can decide the pain/benefit ratio.

If you choose to go with a reading only eyeglass prescription, make sure it is optimized for the distance you hold a book when reading, or in my case the distance from the bridge of my nose to the computer screen. I was fortunate to be "taken under the wing" of a great ophthalmologist who did all of the above, and who insisted I use a tape measure to keep the computer monitor at the correct difference. In my case, if the chair had been pushed back or monitor forward by as little as a few inches it would shorten my day and increase my pain.

From your screen name it sounds like you enjoy reading. You may not want to hear this, but you might want to consider a $79 Kindle which will "read" the book to you via a text to speech chip built in. The voice is actually quite good. In my case, I save my vision for that which brings me joy, and let the Kindle do the heavy lifting on books, newspapers, magazines and articles that I need to read for business.

Good luck. Please post your outcome here on the forum and let us know how things are working out.

[Dr. Kokil Mathur]

Hi!

You probably need to take your glasses back to the optometrist. There is a possibility that their axis is not aligned well. Also, at times the power adjustment is not correct.

If this aspect is ruled out then it is best to go for a retest of your ‘good eye’. Do discuss this with your doctor and get yourself examined. Take care!