I?m new to this group and have not made any posts yet. I?ve been trying
to work out precisely what I wanted to ask, but the question about the
?adult strabismus? interested me.

I had two surgeries for strabismus prior to age 5, which were not
completely successful. Later glasses *I think* had prismatic correction
until I left my childhood ophthalmologist behind. I have always felt as
if my left eye was pulling inward and for this reason did not attempt
eye contact with others ? not having eye contact, of course, was
psychological. The inward pulling sensation is not. In addition to this
feeling, there is by now (age 49) a 1.25D difference in prescription
between my two lenses not counting astigmatism, and I favor my ?good?
right eye, although I do use my left eye on occasion.  I seldom use
both eyes at once and have no depth perception.  In bright light I have
to close one eye and squint with the other. My youngest son, age 23,
inherited everything but the severe strabismus (he has a little), and
has ? for now ? Over a 3D difference in prescription from mine, and
does not use his left eye at all ? He can?t even read with it and
barely passed the DMV.

I think I inadvertently cheated on my last eye exam by not focusing my
eyes when checked for strabismus, as the new eye doctor told me the
surgeon did a ?good job?. I think the surgeon probably did the best he
could, but anyone who lives around me can tell my eyes still cross. I
had to pick from high school graduation proofs the one photo in which
my eye did not turn toward my nose (we weren?t allowed to wear lenses
in the photos due to reflection problems), and I have no reason aside
from my latest doctor?s opinion to think anything has fixed itself in
the years since.

I have my own questions. My last prescription, which I got in January,
is the least effective prescription I have ever had. Last week I went
back to the doctor?s office, which is in a chain store, to find out
what my vision scored on the Snellen chart. The doctor wasn?t in, so I
talked to the person behind the desk, who knew little to nothing about
eyes. This person told me I scored 20/30 +2, assuming this was my score
with unaided vision, which, given the strength of my prescription,
obviously is not, and then wanted to argue it with me.

I consider 20/30 +2 to be fairly good vision ? you can drive with it ?
But do not understand how my vision, even with glasses, could possibly
be so good. Nothing is clear and sharp at ANY distance. I, again, think
I inadvertently tricked the test ? By trying to do the best I could,
squinting, straining, looking at an angle, looking through my
eyelashes, guessing, and using my imagination, I was able to discern
the letters on the 20/30 line, although they were blurry to the point
most people probably couldn?t tell them apart. Because of my extremely
poor vision, over the years I have adapted my eyes to read what someone
who suddenly found themselves in the same situation probably could not.
I can also decipher old, bad handwriting on dark photocopies ? In other
words, I have trained my eyes to recognize things that most others
can?t.  If the same sized letters on the Snellen 20/30 line were on the
first page of a book I would give up before the end of the first
paragraph. Even the 20/50 line on a chart is blurry to me with these
glasses, but readable. There is NO WAY my eyes are corrected to 20/30,
and if they are I don?t even want to be near the highway with all those
blind people driving around.

I compared my vision with glasses to my daughter?s and one of her
friends? without and found that they both read 20/15 near, -1.  They
told me that they also read 20/15 on other vision tests they had taken,
and nothing was blurry. How can someone be judged on what they see
blurry the same as someone else who sees clearly? I don?t get it.
Should I lie and say I can?t tell the letters apart? Why didn?t this
happen at every other exam I?ve ever had?

I chose against bifocals because even now, as I write, though the words
are somewhat blurry, two prescriptions on the same lens would narrow
the already small space I have from which to see ? I have peripheral
vision, but it?s worthless for anything but colors and shapes, so the
size of my frames represent in reality, all I can see, and I do not see
anything easily or well.  I don?t want this any more narrow. Instead, I
will live with the near blur and use a magnifying glass for fine print.
Besides, things close are no fuzzier than things far. I?m at the point
now of misreading billboards.

So what do I do? My old glasses are too scratched up to wear (I run
into things a lot) and no doubt way outdated. I don?t think I should go
back to the same doctor. Even the optician failed by thinking my new
glasses would be much lighter than my old ones, and allowed me to get
frames that really aren?t right for my lenses.  I don?t trust the
doctor or the optician, and don?t think the glasses are going to last
long ? They?ve already come apart once. I want to say something to
these people, like DO YOU REALLY TEST PEOPLE THOROUGHLY?? She KNEW I
was guessing at over half of what I told her during the exam. When she
changed lenses, I could seldom tell which was better, but she insisted
on a definite answer.

But, I don?t want the stress. Considering the cost of the glasses vs.
my income, I can?t afford to get new ones all the time, especially if I
am not going to see better through them.

What is my real visual acuity according to the Snellen chart, since,
unaided, I can?t even read the top line? 20/unknown?

And what if this really is the best I can get? What happens when they
run out of strength to add to my prescription?

I?m very perplexed.
Thanks in advance for any help or advice.

Debbie