I have a question for one of the ODs about glasses. I've never has RS (mainly due to this site) and due to dry eye issues, have stopped wearing my toric soft lenses and am in the process of trying others. I am a high myope (-8 and -7) with about -2 of astimatism in both eyes. I had a great pair of glasses purchased four years ago in Houston and recently in KY had them adjusted. Unfortunately the optician warped one of the lenses because he overheated them so I had him reorder lenses for the same frame. I got the numbers (high index 1.6 lens, same optical center, and same refraction) from my old optician wanting to duplicate the same lenses. However, these lenses seem off - hard to describe. I can see fin but I seem to have eyestrain almost immediately after putting them on. Is is possible that a different brand of high index lens is hard to adapt to? I admit I am very sensitive to any changes in glasses, but this seems a little ridiculous. It's been 3 days since I've worn them and it's not improving. The only difference between these lenses and the old ones is a different brand of high index lens, and they made these new ones a bit thicker in the center and did not polish the edges. Would that make a difference?
Brown eyed girl

It's a tough call and not unusual. Patients often adapt easily to large changes in prescription but struggle with little changes. Small differences in the base curve between the different makers' lenses (base curves can vary even though the Rx is the same) and the thickness may make the glasses seem awkward but it is difficult to know for sure. If all the numbers check out, I would be suspicious of the frame adjustment. Consider adjusting the frame closer to the eye and, if the frame has nose pads, make sure you are looking just a few millimeters above the lens centers when viewing distance. Have the optician mark the exact lens centers and see if a vertical difference exists between the right and left lenses and how that matches up with your eyes.

Polishing the edges increases internal reflections which degrades the quality slightly so I would not suspect that to be part of the issue.

Higher prescriptions carry more distortions but patients with high prescriptions are generally more adapted. Again, I would be suspicious of the adjustment. Consider "wrapping" the front slightly and increasing or decreasing the pantoscopic angle. Sometimes frames get "out of true" so make sure the frame front is not twisted at the bridge.

Thanks - unfortunately, the frames have been adjusted (actually they were wrapped when the new lenses were put in and I typically wore them flatter) and there has been no improvement. I did take the glasses to another optician and he noticed that the old lenses were a wider PD (61) and the new lenses were a PD of 59. He felt that in my high RX this might have caused the problem. Even though my true PD is 59, perhaps I was adjusted to the old one? That would explain why at the same index (1.67) the new lenses appeared thicker. My question for you - is that a plausible explanation before I go back to my optician and drive him even more crazy? PS my eye symptoms of "pulling" are still there - going on the 6th week!
Thanks

In your first post, you mentioned the index as 1.6, but in this post your said it is 1.67. That would be a significant difference in the two sets of lenses. Also, the higher index should have thinner edges than the 1.6 index.

If, in fact, both sets of lenses were the same index, and the only difference discernible is the PD, - a 61 mm PD should give a slightly thinner edge than the 59 mm PD. That edge thickness difference would be fairly small and of little significance. A more likely problem, with your prescription, is the 2 millimeter difference in PD. Going from 61 mm to 59 mm would generate about 1.5 prism diopters of base OUT prism, forcing you to converge your eyes more than your were used to. Although it is impossible to know without examining your binocular system, 1.5 prism diopters of base OUT could be the problem, particularly if you tend to be exophoric. High myopes are fairly adaptive from wearing their high prescriptions but, depending on your ocular posture, you may not tolerate the base OUT prism very well.

Eye examination findings can be particularly helpful in understanding eyeglass adaptation problems. Your optician can only look at the prescriptive data available to him/her. Remaking the glasses is their only option. In some cases, an incorrect PD can relieve certain posture problems. So, after wearing an incorrectly made pair of glasses, making the next pair correctly can frustrate the patient. In your case, a careful eye examination may be necessary to sort out the problem. You may, in fact, be exophoric and the 61 mm PD was easy to adapt to while, shifting the PD to 59 mm, although the correct PD, may create a definite pulling sensation.