Asymmetrical Information

? didn't you mention that you are astigmat in only one eye? Is that the close focus one? It would make sense then... The biggest thing, if you spend all day staring at a screen is to make sure that the lighting levels are corrected around your monitors, since your vision will improve somewhat based on brightness and contrast...

Don't know how this might apply to you, but when my aunt got Lasik, she had the two eyes done differently so one is good for long distances, the other for close-up. So she has permanent bifocals, albeit with a reduction of depth perception. I think she has two sets of glasses for when she knows she'll be driving or reading for long stretches at a time, or at night, but usually goes without.

I did this type of eye exercise when I was in high school, and they were really quite effective. It's weird but they work, as you're retraining your eye muscles how to focus.

When I was doing them, it was very easy to "see" those magic 3D pictures, too. Unfortunately I've lost the ability over the years, but I'm pretty sure I still have my chart around somewhere...

It was a big deal when I, like Joan, was in high school. I don't know how long ago her's was, but mine was, well, about a generation and a half ago. Still, it was very good and reduced my nearsightedness by about half.

The best thing about it was the same feeling I get now when I do a real good stretching sequence with my body. Moving the eyes around in big and large circles, doing play games with near and far focus, and especially those little panels with the mirrors...kewl!

Hope it helps, Megan.

Presbyopia. Presby - Elder. *sigh*

I can remember reading a book 25 years ago, 'Do you really need glasses?' Wish I could find it. It had convergence exercises, 'sunning' (eyes closed), and several othes. Thanks for the links to the exercises!

The Bates exercises are notorious quackery. See Martin Gardner's "Fads & Fallacies in the Name of Science" and http://www.quackwatch.org/11Ind/bates.html .

Presbyopia in your early 30's??? Megan, I hope you've had a checkup that eliminates any possibility of disease. That seems very young to noticeably start losing elasticity in the lenses of your eyes.

At 53, I'm using two pairs of glasses. One is set for distance vision (about -6 diopters, meaning I'm remarkably nearsighted). and the other for two to three feet (about -3), which my optometrist calls a "computer prescription". Both pairs have a small bifocal section at the bottom for reading up close. When I get to work, I swap to the "computer" pair. It makes working on the computer screen easier than working with "progressive" lenses that only had a tiny spot in the middle with the right focus for the computer, but that's not the main reason I got them. The more active part of my job - working on electronic equipment - was becoming nearly impossible. Often it wasn't possible to stick my head in the access door and get it up to the angle needed to see the wiring through the near-vision section in the lower part of the lenses. Now, I get in to about two feet away and see everything clearly. Things and people further away are a little blurry, but I can recognize people at 50 feet.

I had one advantage financially - because I am sometimes out on the factory floor, my employer pays for safety glasses. So I only had to pay for the first pair, out of the tax-exempt medical savings account. But the improvement was well worth paying the whole cost.

Megan didn't write this.