The Strabismus Institute
Part 4 - Another Test, continued
“Very good, that is what I hoped you would say. I can pretty well assure you that you WILL notice the difference when you take them off. One of the interesting things about how your eye positioning system works is that you have no way to tell where your eyes are actually pointing except by the relationship between the images from your two eyes. The system is amazingly sophisticated and complex with some very clever interconnections between your focusing muscles and your eye positioning muscles. Let’s go see how Betty is getting along.”
On the way, Jim stopped, suddenly. “Jack, I just had a idea, let me step into my office for a moment.”
Jim came out of his office with a small glasses case in his hand and we continued to the lounge where Betty had been waiting.
“We are back, Betty. How have you been doing.”
“Very well, thank you. I found a movie that I have been wanting to see and I made some visits to the break room. I don’t know who makes your coffee, but like everything else about this place, it is first class. How did the test go?”
“I’m glad you like the coffee, it is a special blend. We finished Jack’s second test and it appears that a bit more prism may be helpful. I made up that trial frame Jack is wearing, but as we were coming here, I had another idea. Would you two like to go do something for the next couple of hours while the lab is making glasses with the new prescription?”
I turned to Betty, “What do you think? I would sure rather do something than just sit here.”
Betty replied, “I would, I don’t often get to this part of town and I noticed that we passed one of the most upscale malls in town, just a few block before we got here. However, I don’t know if Jack would like to go to the mall wearing the trial frames. They aren’t very attractive.”
“I was thinking nearly the same thing, Betty. A few months ago, I had the lab make up some clip-on glasses like the ones I gave Jack to use for close work, until we get his final diagnosis and prescription.”
Jim turned to me, “The only difference is, that these clip-ons are 8/8 BO prism. If we clip these on your 32/32 glasses, that will result in 40/40 BO prism, but they would not be nearly as noticeable as wearing a clinical trial frame to the mall. What do you think, Jack?”
“Well, that would be a little more prism than the test program suggested, would that be a problem?”
“Unlikely, Jack. It is only a total of 2 diopters more Base Out. Let s try them. I doubt you can tell the difference.”
Jim attached the clip-ons to the 32/32 glasses and I put them on.
“These glasses, even with the clip-ons, are much more comfortable than the trial frames, but I can’t tell any difference, optically.”
I turned to Betty, “What do you think? Would you be embarrassed to be seen in public with me wearing these, high-prism, cross-eyed glasses?”
“Don’t be stupid, Jack. Remember what you said when I had to get hearing aids and I was worried about what other people might think? "
“What did I say?”
“You said, First of all, it is none of their business! I think there was a strong word or two just before business . And second, hearing aids, like glasses, are just tools that you wear for YOUR benefit, not for the benefit of others. And I say, If you need to wear some strong glasses to see well, and someone else doesn’t like it, that’s just tough. It is their little problem. If they don’t like it, they can stuff it.”
Jim started laughing, “Betty, please don’t mince words or hold back. You are among friends here. You can say what you REALLY think.”
At that, we all were laughing. Finally, Jim said, “Actually, there may be some benefit to others by wearing hearing aids. They don’t have to talk very loud for you to hear them, although you may prefer not to hear them at all.”
I looked around to see if our laughter was disturbing anyone and said, “We better head for the mall before they throw us out of here for making so much noise. When should we be back?”
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