[fairyslipper]

in reply to: New problems with eyes #1175174

I have very severe diplopia which is no longer correctable by ground in prisms or even a combination of my ground in prisms with stick on Fresnel prisms together. I also have very severe proptosis (31 on the ophthamometer readings) so patching one eye did not work with trials of several types of occluders. I tried the kind of patches that are like a pirate patch that go over your eye and have an elastic band around your head but my eye is so proptotic that my eye rubbed on the patch, even though it had kind of a pyramid like dome shape. Also I couldn’t wear my glasses with that type of occluder and absolutely need my glasses for the unpatched eye because I need the progressive lenses to see at near, medium and far. I also tried the kind of occluders that clip onto your glasses. That also didn’t work because I already have trouble with my eyes touching the lenses on my glasses. I have to clean the lenses on my glasses about 50 times a day because my eye rubs on the inside of the lense and gets a big smudge plus I get a funny little droplet pattern of tears that dries on the inside of the lenses from the constant tearing. Anything even slightly touching my eyes makes the tearing dramatically increase, so patches and occluders don’t work.

My 93 year old Mom has Myasthenia Gravis and she suffered from double vision for sixty years. Now she has macular degeneration and is legally blind so no longer has enough vision to experience the diplopia. After years of struggling with all kinds of patching and occluders, she finally learned a few years before she lost her vision about putting frosted Scotch Magic Tape on the inside of one lense in her glasses. So that is what I do. You can do it with your regular glasses if you wear glasses, or with either regular sunglasses if you don’t wear glasses, or fitover or clip on sunglasses if you do wear glasses. Or if you don’t need any correction, you could get a pair of regular glasses with no prescription in the lenses to wear with the frosted tape in one lense just for the purpose of occluding one lense so you don’t have the double vision.

This is the only type of occlusion that works for me right now. I already have a terrible time with my glasses slipping down on my nose. I see an optometrist and optician who are very outstanding. The optician explained to me that he had to make the temple pieces the length they are to minimize my eyes touching the lenses of my glasses as much as possible. I am hoping my upcoming orbital decompression surgeries will reduce the proptosis enough that I can get new glasses that will not slide down on my nose.

One little benefit of the Scotch Magic Tape method is that I don’t have to clean that side of my glasses 50 times a day like the other side, because you can’t see smudges or dried tears on that side.

Unfortunately I can only occlude my right eye which is the more severely affected one, because my visual acuity in that eye is so poor that if I alternated and patched my left eye, I couldn’t see well enough from my right eye to do anything. With my right eye, I see images way up in the sky and off to the right, and also everything going on with the muscles and proptosis in that eye makes my vision blurry at all distances.

Prisms, initially the stick on Fresnel type and then for years prisms ground into the lenses of my glasses worked for me, so maybe they would for you. I even had a few years when I didn’t need much if any prisms, but this latest flare up just kept progressing and progressing to the severe state I am now in. I have had Grave’s Disease for 40 years and the Grave’s eye disease for at least 17 years.

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