This is a followup to my thread "I think my OD gave up on me".  The
brief summary is: I asked to try RGP contacts.  The first set back was
pretty good, but they were "low riders" and I got glare from the top
edge of the lens.  Night vision was slightly annoying due to some
flaring/starbursting.  So I went back and convinced them to address the
problem, which they attempted with larger lenses, but the prescription
came back with too much minus power (and some imbalance) resulting in
eye strain.  They ordered one more set and they came back with too much
plus, resulting in blurry vision at distance.  At that point, they
basically gave up.

As a result of feedback from this group, I requested that they modify
the lenses for more minus and I would pay the bill ($50).  They did
this, and the lenses I got back gave clear vision, but caused (for some
reason) frequent foggy/dry vision (still sharp) and terrible night
vision in terms of starbursting.

So now I'm kind of on my own.  No followup was suggested.  And as a
matter of fact, none was ever suggested after the first fitting.  This
bothered me not only because the correctness of the Rx would not be
confirmed, but also because I wanted to make sure the fit was healthy
for my eyes.

Is it too much to ask that my doctor would actually take an interest in
helping me achieve my goal of clear vision in contact lenses, and
follow through to make sure I'm happy?

From postings here and research elsewhere on the net, I know there are
all kinds of options for contacts. First of all, many brands of soft
toric.  Within RGP there are all kinds of parameters: Size, curvature,
rigidity of material, other material parameters, size of OZ, spherical,
back toric, bi-toric, scleral, and surely numerous other things I,
layman, haven't heard of.  Is it appropriate to give up after the first
try?  I never told them I needed and easy or cheap solution.

The followup after the very first set of lenses really was like that.
I said "the vision is great, but I get a lot of glare, and kind of hazy
night vision.  Is there something we can adjust to fix that?"  The
reply was basically "no, you'll probably get used to it, have a nice
day."  And I was surprised that no over-refraction was done to see
whether the Rx was correct (I read the eye chart, 5 feet away).

One thought I have is this:  I don't believe that if the OD was trying
to fit himself in contacts that he would give up without thoroughly
exploring the options.  It doesn't seem right to tell me that this is
as good as it gets yet.  A more comforting response would be, e.g.,
"There are some other parameters we could play with in RGP, but the
trial and error process could get expensive. Why not try some soft
torics first, and if that doesn't work out, we can consider the
options."

I'm really just interested in generating some discussion on this.  I
realize I'm a somewhat difficult patient since I'm astigmatic and have
high standards for my vision.  I need to decide whether I should search
for a better OD or not.  If I don't, then I have an okay pair of RGPs
that I think could probably be better, but no avenue to improve them.
I'll probably ask to try some soft torics, just so I know what the
current generation is capable of.

The whole experience kind of reminds me of the time I went to the MD
complaining of fatigue.  He ordered a blood test and a day later a
nurse called and said "the blood test came back normal, have a nice
day."

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