Help, please: my eyesight

[kfengraver]

my eyesight is gettind wrose. i am useing my scope alot more these days for stone setting. when looking through the scope i see just fine. but when done i cant see anything without a optivisor or reading glasses. so, should i be useing glasses while looking through the scope? its like, look for stone at bench then look through scope to set, then bench, the scope and so on. not sure if i am explaining my issue correctly or not. dose anybody out there has this problem? any help or advice would be great.

 

[KCSteve]

I wear my glasses when using my scope. You get a somewhat smaller field of view though.

 

[James Roettger]

You don't need glasses when using the scope because there is an adjustment ring on the left eye piece to allow for variances between your eyes. First close the left eye and focus with just the right eye. Then close the right eye and use the just screw ring on the scope to focus just the left eye piece. After this only an occasional adjustment is needed. Glasses with a scope just makes things worse and could scratch the eye pieces if contact is made. I often use one optivisor (say a #4) to find the right tool and then often use a stronger optivisor (maybe a 7 or 10) to do the work. I have 5 optivisors 2, 4, 5, 7 and 10 plus a scope and use it all depending on the job. I always use the lowest level of magnification possible to adequately do the job. I use prescription reading glasses only with my optivisors. It's called getting older and started in my 40's

 

[Kevin Scott]

According to my eye doctor, if you have an Astigmatism in one or both eyes, you need prescription eyeglasses, and you need to wear them when using any magnification. Otherwise, you will further damage your eyes.

If not, then you can get by with reading glasses etc, and don't need to wear glasses when using a scope or other magnification.

I am 58 years old, been working with magnification daily for over 24 years. Have astigmatism is right eye. After needing bifocals about 16 years ago my eyes have not gotten worse. Have not had to go to stronger magnification. Doctor says my corrected eyesight is like an eagle. I think it is due to having proper eyeglasses, and wearing them all the time, even though for many things I could get away with not using them. But I think that damages your eyes.

See a good eye doctor, and get an eye exam. Explain your problem and the work you do.

I have unlined bifocals, lined bifocals and perscription reading glasses. For close work with magnification, the perscription reading glasses are the best. I like the lined bifocals for most everything, except I can't get middle distances in focus. For reading and close work, I like the unlined bifocals the least. They have a very small sweet spot in the reading - close up area. But I can see middle and distance in focus very well.

 

[Chujybear]

fist time i got my optivisor, i got a fright..
after a long session.. (6 hrs, i think) i looked out at the docks, and all was blurry.. my blurry vision persisted that day until i went to bed.. back to normal the next day.. but these days i take breaks to look distance with my naked eye..
not sure if same would apply under scope.. i take breaks with it too.. habit

 

[DakotaDocMartin]

fist time i got my optivisor, i got a fright..
after a long session.. (6 hrs, i think) i looked out at the docks, and all was blurry.. my blurry vision persisted that day until i went to bed.. back to normal the next day.. but these days i take breaks to look distance with my naked eye.

I think that's exactly what he's talking about. I have the same thing happen to me whether it's prolonged use of a microscope or Optivisors.

Focus in our eyes is done with small muscles that stretch the lens to change it's shape. As we age, the lenses in our eyes become less able to change shape until they basically harden and won't anymore. This is known as "presbyopia" or old-age vision.

So, what is probably happening is the lenses take awhile to change back (while they still can) which causes the blurry vision in the distance after working with magnification.

 

[oiseau metal arts]

fist time i got my optivisor, i got a fright..
after a long session.. (6 hrs, i think) i looked out at the docks, and all was blurry.. my blurry vision persisted that day until i went to bed.. back to normal the next day.. but these days i take breaks to look distance with my naked eye..
not sure if same would apply under scope.. i take breaks with it too.. habit

i was just going to mention same thing. about looking up and focusing on something at different distances from time to time.
it was at a grs class i first used a scope and it gave me the worst headache. i eventually got use to using it, but still look up across the room or out the window every so often.

 

[Andrew Biggs]

Wearing glasses is a pain in the backside............not wearing them is an even bigger pain and taking glasses on and off again is even worse!!

I use the Meiji microscope with the "for glasses" eyepieces. Basically they are the same as normal ones with a rubber O ring so when your glasses touch the eyepiece they don't scratch your glasses. Other brands will probably have a similar thing. Or you could maybe adapt some rubber cups to suit.

Cheers
Andrew

 

[Tim Wells]

As you age especially past 40 (seems to be the magic number) your eyes take longer to focus up close because they are harder and a bit less pliable, hence the delay in focusing. The same thing happens to me as the original poster no matter what I use for magnification. I use those cheap 1.25-1.50 power readers for anything small closer than arms length so when I have to change gravers I use glasses and just accept it.

Take breaks frequently as the others have said, seems to help.

 

[Brian Marshall]

I simply cannot find my glasses if I take them off and put them down.

Some years back, I stopped caring what anyone thinks and put a cord on 'em.

I may look like a dork having 'em hang around my neck - but I get a lot more work done with a lot less cussing.

I don't wear them while using the scope, but when I get up from the bench or have to look for something I dropped - I KNOW exactly where they are all the time!


Brian



Well, except for a couple times I spent an hour looking for them because I had put them on top of my head...

 

[Sam]

When using a microscope your eyes are focused at infinity. In other words, using a scope is like you're focused on the horizon, which is actually better for your eyes than using headset magnifiers, glasses, etc. Certainly nothing wrong with occasionally looking out the window, but I'm not sure it's actually helping, since there's little or no eye strain when using a scope. This was confirmed by two ophthalmologists.

Brian: Same here...glasses around the neck for several years now.

 

[mitch]

"glasses around the neck"

i'm currently going thru the long overdue process of making the switch to bifocals (tried the progressive line-less type- N. F. W.) and am now waiting for the lined version. if they don't work for me i'll be back to single vision lenses and probably a pair of prescription readers. i'm thinking of going with a lorgnette, complete with rhinestones, a la Lovey Howell. what do y'all think?

 

[Brian Marshall]

Mitch, fine with me if you want to be a fashionista. But why complicate my life?

I've got a pack of overly exuberant young dogs. At least once a month one of them will get a paw caught in the cord while we're messing around.

I learned about a year ago to use small "O" rings to attach the cord - they let loose pretty easy... a playful 55 lb. dog can strangle you if he gets a foot caught in the cord.

If I added rhinestones and beads and such, I'd probly lose half a day crawling around trying to find them all...


Brian

 

[diandwill]

Mitch, I don't know why but flashed a picture of the Rhinestone glasses, a fancy outfit (think Liberace) and a flamboyant exhibition of Hand Engraving, probably at the local Mall. Not that I think you would do that, and I know I wouldn't, just a flash through my mind! It WOULD be funny!

 

[Sam]

I wear monovision contacts with my left eye focused for distance and my right (astigmatism) eye focused for closeup. Works pretty well for most situations but I still grab my reading glasses for drawing and when I'm teaching.

I tried glasses but because of the astigmatism in my right eye, the view was very disorienting. Kind of hard to describe as everything was in sharp focus but the sensation was really weird. I was at the point of trying glasses again when my eye doc suggested contacts. I can either wear distance vision contacts in both eyes which is great with no weird astigmatism sensations like the glasses, but everything up close is a total blur. She then gave me a close-up right eye contact and that is a good compromise.

 

[Chujybear]

My dad just had his lenses in his eyes surgically replaced with bifocals. Now he walks around reading everything. It's funny as all heck

 

[Arnaud Van Tilburgh]

I have eyeglasses, an ear-help and denture. I don't know what will be next....
I'm looking true the microscope with my eyeglasses and all the extra helps i have on.
I don't know your age, but I think at my age all of that is normal. And you won't have more problems with eyesight when using magnification.
Another thing is that when my eyesight was much better when I was younger, no one used a microscope for goldsmitting or stone-setting, perhaps it even didn't exist 20 years ago.
But even with that better eyesight, setting pave 1 mm stones, sure it didn't look that good as I do now with less eyesight using a scope.

arnaud