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Be extra careful when ordering prism glasses as some opticians have no idea what to do with strabismic patients and may calculate their own pupillary distance (PD) measurement that will not be the same as the developmental optometrist's PD. The difference in the PD measurement can have disastrous effects on your prescription. Although Luxottica Retail says they'll change their training programs for their opticians after my incident, I don't know if they really will. Even if you go to non-Luxottica owned optical stores, make sure the optician doesn't override your doctor's prescription because of the "Standard Operating Procedure" for measuring PD.
I am not exaggerating when I say that what I experienced could have been fatal. Below is the description of what happened to me.
After two and a half LONG years in VT, I finally got a prescription for prism glasses in mid May. I went to Sears Optical to fill the prescription and after a long delay in making my lenses, I received a pair that almost caused me to crash my car because the pupillary distance was incorrectly calculated by the optician.
Effect: I had to drive with one eye closed because my left field of vision moved faster than my right field. The divider lanes on the left doubled at a 20 degree angle into my lane, causing me to get confused as to where my lane was. At night, the extra divider lane was not only at a 20 degree angle but it was sometimes elevated above ground. If you've ever had to drive with an eye closed, you know how hard it is.
I couldn't look down when descending a staircase because the end of the step would also double at a 20 degree angle, making it hard for me to see where the end of each step was. Other lines, whether they be on sidewalks or my kitchen floor, would double or be distorted.
Problem: After another pair of glasses which also were wrong, the Sears optometrist compared my developmental optometrist's original prescription with what was entered into the computer.
My doctor, on May 15, had prescribed a PD of 60 mm. Stephanie, the Sears optician, following "standard operating procedure" for Sears Optical, measured my PD per each eye with a measuring device (pupilometer?), and came to a total PD of 56mm. She overrode my doctor's PD calculation and entered her PD measurement into the computer prescription. The missing 4mm in the PD altered the horizontal prism in the glasses and made my life extremely difficult.
Those 4mm could have caused a car accident because of my distorted vision.
More at IMPORTANT: Opticians don't know how to measure PD for strabismics - Sovoto
This is really important for me for a couple reasons. I live in Pennsylvania and in PA you don't have to have a licensed optician do your lenses. In New Jersey, you do. The chains are the worst. I found this out when I first got my progressives and they weren't adjusted corrrectly. I went back and forth a few times to a shop in PA. Finally, I asked Dr Herzberg for a referral and she gave me a very good optician in NJ. Got my lenses straightened out right away.
MIL went to a chain for lenses and we went back and forth a number of times. I took her to NJ and got her straightened out.
With prisms, I am very picky and I have seen an optician in PA but I stick with the one recommended by my developmental optometrist.
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