(There was an interesting program on Type 2 Diabetes on ITV today but that is only a minor digression). My wife is 30 years old and has a form of cataracts. She can see, read, drive etc but has been diagnosed as having cataracts by her optician. She knows it runs in her family. She believes it might well relate to exposing her eyes to strong sun light in the Philippines. She has glasses for both driving and distance vision and that is the only key to the onlooker that her eyes are not perfect. However she is easily dazzled by sunlight or oncoming headlamps etc etc and has a tendency to want to wear dark glasses where many of us would not normally need them. Is this condition fairly common among Filipinos including younger adults?
I can’t comment on cataract in Filipinos but a Transition style lens may assist the discomfort of sunlight or at least provide convenience of an initially clear but reactive lens.
Ah. I hadn’t heard of those. She has a set of prescription fixed polarised lenses. The transition lens (just looked it up) seems like a good idea. Expensive?
Not sure on cost but if you do consider, look at the various manufacturers reaction times, not just going from dark to sunlight but vice versa. I do know that the most popular one, Transitions (tm) aren’t the fastest reacting, or last time I read at least.
Since you mentioned these lens I have looked and I see what you mean. I have got a feeling she might go for something like that. Thanks.
ive used reactives for years. from my viewpoint..i cant detect the change--till i see my reflection..and i'm surprised how dark they get.
That’s sounds useful. I didn’t realise that type of lens had been available for years. Sounds promising.
I got a set of varifocal specs made in the Phils in 2006 included photochromatic lens coatings, at the time they cost about £150 but here they would have been closer to £300-£400, sadly I lost them going through the x-ray machine at the entrance to NAIA in 2008. I got by with fixed focal length glasses and plain lenses for driving from then until a few months ago when I decided to get my eyes tested again at Specsavers, this time I once again got lightweight varifocal lenses multicoated and with the top end transitions photochromatic treatment they were doing a two for one offer and I paid about £400 so £200 for one pair. I picked them up the day I got back from the Phils and they are very well made, the photochromatic effect is stronger than I remember it being so these are really good sunglasses these days and they retain a little bit of tint while driving if it is bright outside, transitions respond to UV light, there are two types the simple type goes completely clear to fairly dark very quickly and back to clear fairly quickly, the second type responds to natural light to some extent as well as UV and so retains some small amount of tint when you are driving as the windscreen of the car normally fully blocks UV. I got the second type the fancy one, they go darker than the first type and they do it very quickly but they take a little longer to clear, maybe about 20 to 30 seconds when you go indoors. The varifocal lens has been a bit less successful this time as age has made my reading prescription stronger and I find the transition between reading distance and infinity to be a bit too strong, sadly the middle distance which I need for work is very poor as the angle available to middle distance vision is too small, so I tend to work without glasses when I use the computer. I also recently went online to selectspecs.com to see what they offered and picked up a pair of aviator style single vision lens glasses for 22 quid including postage, and they were really good, I just leave these in the car all the time in case I forget my fancy ones, although I barely need glasses for driving as oddly my distance vision has improved considerably in the last decade So you can spend a fortune or get something good for next to nothing, I'm thinking about getting a pair of fixed tint single vision sunglasses from selectspecs as well, they should cost about £40 to £70. I'll post a couple of pictures later.
Interesting. Did the X-ray machine eat them? So are we saying that when driving at night the reactive lenses will not react quickly enough to intermittent oncoming traffic headlights but otherwise they work great? Talking of Specsavers, it is quite noteworthy that Specsavers did not identify / diagnose / acknowledge my wife’s cataracts. We found out from another and more locally based optician.
Well, she was referred to an eye specialist at the local hospital and he advised her against that at that stage. She can see. The only pressing issue apart from an intolerance to stronger light at that time was passing her driving test ( there was a lot of potential for her to fail on the number plate recognition part of the test). The optician we turned to set her up with the right prescription for glasses and she passed the test. So at this point she sees no need to get it done but if it gets worse later in life she knows she has that option. We discovered it is very much a highly successful operation with gamechanging results. Sounds like these reactive lenses will help.
As well as the reaction times I should have also said, some darken more than others, again depending on how interested you are, you should be able to get the manufacturers photochromic performance statistics off their respective websites.
Transitions won't respond at night while driving, they are designed to respond to the levels of UV light in daylight, the energy in headlights is tiny compared to daylight and would not be enough even if they produced UV to affect a photochromatic lens. My sister has never been very complimentary to opticians, she always considered them to be overpaid technicians, as an Orthoptist she had to study a lot longer and in more detail than those who graduated as opticians but my sister's profession was never as highly regarded. An Orthoptist deals with eye conditions often squints and the likes in children but is also responsible for diagnosis of many other diseases of the eye, I suspect that she would just shrug at this kind of failure at a high street opticians. Regards my first set of varifocals, I had taken my glasses off and slotted them in the neck of my t-shirt as one is prone to do on holiday, I was a bit flustered and leaned over while getting my camera rucksack off my back and they must've fallen and I missed it and if anyone noticed they never bothered to try to tell me. It was a shame as I really liked them they were great and a bargain at the time.
As well as Photochromic and Polarised (not for night driving really) there are lenses out there that are customised specifically for driving, providing less glare (cuts high energy visible light from LED and Xenon headlights) and high contrast filtering. Supposedly
Those are very slow to clear Looks like they would be good enough for a nearby atom bomb going off, your eyes would be fine but the rest of you would be a charred and blackened corpse
... and those independent practice owners get far too much money (due to the fact they charge excessively IMO).
As witnessed by the quality and price at which you can get prescription glasses manufactured online just by submitting your prescription.
