Getting Used to a New Prescription

Almost always a new eyeglass prescription for lenses works well for the patient, letting the patient see better than with his/her old prescription. After all, it is the patient who helped select the new prescription in the doctor’s office. When you said, “Better,” after the doctor said, “Better/worse . . . better/worse,” the doctor believed you, and wrote your answers down as your new prescription.

Most patients, when they try out their new lenses for the first time, know that they can see better, even if they realize that they see differently, and that they may have to get used to the new way the world appears. That adaptation time period varies from a few hours to a few days.

But the new prescription “working” does not mean that the patient has comfortable vision when he/she first looks through the new lenses. Many patients are sometimes startled at how different the world looks at first sight through their new lenses. They assume that because everything appears so different, that they are not seeing well.

Usually that is not the case; in fact, at Empire Optical we hand you a reading card so you can check your near vision, and let you look across the room at a wall chart that tells you how well you are seeing. Far and away most patients, even when their prescription has been changed quite a bit, will check out 20/20 for near and far vision right away. Seeing well is not usually the problem; getting comfortable with the new vision is most often the struggle.

The key to getting used to a new prescription is to wear the new lenses. Most doctors do not want you to contact them for seven to ten days after you have received your new lenses. Doctors know, as opticians know, that 90% of the patients who experience real trouble initially with their new prescription will be doing fine after a week. However, if you wear your glasses for a week, whatever vision you have at the end of that week is probably the vision you will keep. Even very good doctors sometimes have to change the prescription. If the new prescription does not work out, Empire Optical will work with you to get you into something you can see with. For 60 days after your purchase, Empire Optical will change your lenses because of a doctor’s new prescription at no additional charge.
At Empire Optical, we will do all we can to help you get used to your new prescription.