Optical question...

Hi all,  Has anyone had problems with wearing glasses, in this case varifocals.  I have a friend who approx 3 yrs ago had both cateracts operated on, she said it was like having net curtains taken away from in front of her eyes, and was delighted with the result.  Approx 2 yrs ago she suffered a small stroke that affected the optical area of her brain, she did however make a good recovery and functions normally, she was told to wear her glasses as peviously prescribed.  The hospital has called her in for many follow up appts and each timed asked if there was any improvement in her sight to which she replied 'no'.  She feels the glasses have infact made her sight worse and has decided to try to manage without them.  2 weeks of wearing no glasses have passed and she feels her eyes are slowly adjusting.  Can anyone telll me is there any independant organisation she can contact to ask whether she is doing the right thing or possibly causing herslf even more problems for the future.  Thanks for any replies in advance.

Oh sorry, maybe I should have said my friend does live in Italy and has been treated for the above by her local hospital.

Angela, I would advise your friend to heed advice given about her eyesight by Ophthalmic professionals, as after all they should know best. I've worn Varifocals for years now and never have a problem with them, however your friend, given having a stroke may have blood pressure issues which affect eyesight to some degree. If in doubt get her to pop along to her nearest Opticians as they can probably advise.

When you say that your friend is "wearing the same glasses as previously prescribed", do you mean by this glasses prescribed BEFORE the cataract operation?

Those are not likely to work. The cataract operation involves removing the natural lens of the eye, and inserting a plastic one, and the plastic one is generally designed to correct distance vision, even if the patient was very short-sighted before. Frequently people who have had cataract operations only need glasses for reading.

I can't imagine that she is doing herself any harm by not wearing her specs, but of course it would be sensible for her to have an eye examination - maybe at the hospital where she was treated for the stroke.

it's important that she goes to see an occulist specialist.there's an excellent one in the Mazzoni hospital in ascoli piceno but there are others of course.she'll need to get a prescription visit thru her local doctor and take it from there .i'm always suprised how many go to opticians rather than occulist doctors when they have problems .

Many thanks all for your replies.....Lax, no my friend has not been wearing the glasses previously supplied...After the stroke the hospital tested her sight and she took the prescription to the opticians.  Sebastiano, I will ask her if it was an occulist specialist she saw in the hospital.....I can only assume so.  I think I will suggest, just to be on the safe side she goes and gets things checked out again just to be on the safe side.