Using a set of trial lenses bought online to do my own eye test and figure out the glasses prescription, plus what works best for glasses to work close up with.
This was pretty neat. I have worn glasses for 30+ years and never has anyone explained what all of these numbers meant until now when a woodworker showed me.
A a fellow bespectacled human, this is really interesting, as usually, doctors are busy and don't really explain what they are doing or very well. I would love to know more, as it would make me a better patient and help the doctor with better care. We can all stand to learn more about our own healthcare.
There are lots of videos on this online. I now know how to operate a phoropter (the thing the optometrist uses), even though I don't have one or intend to get one.
This is maybe a good way to check your lens prescriptions, but that is not the only testing that you (should) have performed at an eye exam. Checking for glaucoma, cataracts, early damage due to diabetes - those are just some of the things that a good eye exam tests for, in addition to the lens prescription.
I’m an optometrist and I liked this video a lot. I always like Matthias’ stuff. In this case he has made the process quite simple and it seems to work for him but his is a simple case it is really not that easy in many cases. For example, if you employ the maximum plus power spherical lens then you don’t always have to compensate for for that when deriving the negative cylinder, but you do if you are using positive cylinders. Also, the balancing technique is unreliable when the vision is a bit worse, or if you are younger. No testing was conducted for eye movements either, which can wildly alter the final prescription. Balancing all of these features, understanding their relationship to each other and considering the implication to health is the difficult bit.
how do you test with eye movements? a phoropter certainly doesn’t allow for it and I have never had an optometrist check that. I mentioned in the text why negative cylinder, plus I re checked spherical after cylinder.
@@matthiasrandomstuff2221 you need a second person or camera to conduct the cover/uncover test. When looking at a target with both eyes, cover one eye and observe twitching. Reverse by looking with one eye and uncovering the second eye. I wouldn't mess with prisim to correct these issues without expert advice, you can make it worse. Better to diy Brock string therapy than diy prism.
@@matthiasrandomstuff2221 You separate the sight impressions of left and right eye by a red/green or polarizing filter. this removes the fusion between both eyes. than you compensate with prism. its called the schober test. Greetings from germany
I would certainly like to see you make more content on this topic. Having multiple family members who are optometrists, and being an engineer myself, I am often told "engineers are the WORST patients". I believe we likely indeed are, but that is because I like to understand what someone is doing and what they are looking for... instead of the typical "which is better" because it is not always a simple answer.
Ah! But that's the secret of the cross cylinder astigmatism test! When you can't tell which is better they read the result. So if you keep insisting that one is better, the test goes on until they get sick of going back and forth and pick an average.
@@DeniseSkidmore the thing is, when testing for astigmatism, the question of "which is better" is not easy to answer, as one may be better in a different way then the other, and vice versa.
@@ToroMoto that's intentional. The two images have opposite values, they should blur the same amount but different directions. Or you could have the super common but more complex non-clylindrical astigmatism, which can't be easily tested and corrected with lenses.
I've worn glasses all my life, but I'm a procrastinator so I sometimes went over 5 years between eye appointments. My last exam was in 2016, and then along came the pandemic so I found myself in 2022 struggling a bit with my current prescription. So I went the same route, I purchased a lens kit on Amazon, along with a "nicer" trial lens frame because the ones that came with the lens kit was kinda like yours. Anyway, since I already had my prescription numbers from 2016 it gave me a nice starting point which made it easier to tweak my prescription. I have astigmatism, and that turned out to be the setting that changed the most and cleared up my vision. Because I already had a base prescription to start from the process was much easier for me, at least. I then took my updated numbers and ordered my lenses online, sent in my frames and in about a week I had my new glasses. So much better now! I will still see try to see an optometrist this year anyway, because it's important to actually have your eyes checked by a professional for signs of diseases, such as Glaucoma, Cataracts, etc.
So my uncle who married into my family, comes from Croatia. He went to the optometrist, and the optometrist asked him "Can you read the 4th line?". He replied "Read it? I know him !"
Many moons ago, I used to work overnight maintenance at a large American retailer with an optometry service. Every so often the floors needed to be redone in there and while waiting for the floor finish to dry between coats I got to fiddle around with all the equipment and ended up prescribing myself contacts - which I had never previously worn. I nailed it I guess because when I went in a few years later to get them legitimately - the prescription was the same! Fascinating topic.
@@ShaCaro Mine hasn't changed significantly nearl 20 years for what it's worth. One quarter diopter in one eye. edit: That might not be fair since I haven't been back in probably 5 years - but so long as I can still see I haven't felt a need I guess.
Do you know how to translate these measurements for glasses to contact lenses? Where I live opticians seem to take the prescription for glasses and do a rough calculation based on the distance from the glasses lens to the eye, but contact lens prescriptions are expensive as they want people to pay for a "trial fitting" of any new contact lenses which can take a month, even if its just an updated prescription, then they try to get you to take a "subscription" to buying lenses through them at 2 to 3 times the price of buying the lenses online. Seems almost like a scam. I was thinking the easiest way would be just to buy some lenses that are one step weaker / stronger and try them but wondered if there is a procedure to work out the correct lenses.
I'm guessing it is not your intention to influence people to forego a professional eye examination in favor of a diy refraction at home, but that will likely happen. In these days on buying glasses online, a creative yet deceptive person could become their own worst enemy as they skip the exam by the doctor and prescribe their own glasses for years at a time as they quietly go blind from undiagnosed eye disease. I don't suffer much heartburn from someone's temporary eyestrain or headaches from wearing a wacky self prescribed pair of glasses, it's the preventable permanent loss of vision caused by the delay or neglect of professional eyecare that is more concerning. It's fun to play with trial lenses at home, but don't let it prevent or delay you from a proper eye exam. - Retired (no financial dog in the fight) OD
Getting your eyes checked for free at Waterloo was quite a good perk for us when we were students. Now that I'm a senior I can finally get them checked for free again.
I have never paid for eye prescription checks. It is always free if you buy glasses. Also those "glasses shops" have pretty often free checks even if you don't buy glasses from them. That is here in Finland.
Very interesting. I had never thought much about what the specific numbers to my prescription actually mean. Cool experiment to see it done "manually".
Very interesting. When everything was in lockdown, I realized I was going to be making several cross-country trips to see my ailing father. I've never had glasses, but at my age (55) I was suspecting some distance issues (evident while driving) that I never had before. I ordered a device called EyeQue that Bluetooth connects to your phone, you stick it to the screen of your phone and the app displays a series of different colored lines at different angles. Buttons on the device, adjust the relationship of those lines (via Bluetooth) and after a series of tests in each eye where you align the lines it returns you prescription. I bought a cheap pair of glasses online using this prescription to try and holy cow I never realized what I couldn't see. I've since used that prescription to purchase some better glasses and use them whenever I drive to great advantage. I'd love to see a comparison of how these types of devices compare.
You questioned your skill in determining the proper prescription. I'd trust you more. The professionals always rush to get to the part where they sell you a $600 pair of glasses I believe they don't take the time to really zero in on the best refraction. I suspect you know you can order them online from a number of vendors. I'm pretty sure all the lenses come from China anyway, so I might as well cut out a couple of the middle vendors. We have had excellent results with Zenni. You might find some cheap progressives suited you for work around the shop. I had no idea a refraction set would be so cheap. I ordered a few pairs of glasses at $7 each to get test lenses at +/- 0.25 and 0.5 diopters. Good job
I'm a trained optometrist so this was fun to watch. You've clearly done some research and are kind of doing the type of basic refraction a new first year student would do. You certainly wouldn't pass any exams or anything, but I was surprised to see you compensate the sph based on the cyl for example. Obviously I need to say please please please don't do this in lieu of getting your eyes checked properly. I have access to equipment worth north of 100k, plus I actually know what I'm doing - I don't even test my own eyes. It's not all about simply comparing lens A with lens B. With the key caveat that this is just for fun and you're not going to skip seeing a professional, there's a few things you could do with that basic kit to refine things a bit: You could print off a fan+block chart to get the cyl a bit better without a x-cyl, implement some simple checks to avoid easily over-minusing (+1.00 blur is enough but duochrome is interesting once you learn how it works), maybe use Humphriss immediate contrast when binocular balancing at the end. That trial frame is also annoyingly useless. You always need a way of centering the lenses.
I have always wanted to get a set of trial lenses like this to see whether or not my prescription needs to be updated and also to experiment with different amounts of magnification for close-up work. I'd definitely like to see you talk more about this =)
If I ever go to the optometrist and there is a dust collector and a table saw, l'm leaving. Wait, on second thought, I'm staying for the entertainment.
I know you would. But I don't ask -- cause only people interested would answer, so the answer wouldn't be that useful. What really matters is how many people actually end up viewing the video.
@@matthiasrandomstuff2221, I have to share this video with my optometrist the next time I have my eyes checked, this coming June I think. Not that he’ll learn anything but how to explain it in under twelve minutes. Thanks for explaining something I’ve had done numerous times in my 71 years but never knew quite how it worked.
I am still fairly new to needing glasses, so this was really interesting. Keep meaning to see if anybody has tried making their own glasses, as that would be interesting too.
I've always wondered about this, I've always felt like I could do better if I was able to pick and adjust the trial lens changes myself as the operator seems to be rushing or pushing to get to their next scheduled client I also end up feeling pressured to hurry
After watching this video, I got a set of lenses and a trial frame. What I really liked was being able to find and adjust the spherical diopters by dialing it in myself to the optimum instead of relying on the old "which is better, 1 or 2?" routine.
Hello Matthias, As long as your doing eye ware. I keep seeing ads about glasses with two lenses over each eye that are adjustable. It looks like it could be great for doing very close up work. I'm 76 and wear reading glasses but at times I also need a magnifier with my glasses to read fine print. What do you think? Thanks Jim
@@matthiasrandomstuff2221 Yeah, I thought maybe some hate but also maybe some friendly actual optometrists chiming in with helpful--"Good, but don't forget about..."
I happen to have an eye appointment to tomorrow. Maybe I’ll bring this video up and suggest I skip my next appointment just to see the reaction that gets me 😂
You could just always wear the trial frame! Switch the lenses when you need to switch between near and far. Free glasses for life! Opticians don't want you to know this trick.
Very interesting and relevant, thanks. This time around I tried one of the internet glasses companies, and took my updated prescription and was amazed at how good the glasses were and how useful it was to get reading, computer and distance glasses as I would normally have used up my budget just on one and not got the experience of all three. I only tried one internet retailer, and leaned heavily on reviews for frames, but I was happy with my test sample of one vendor, I suspect they are all pretty similar quality and will never go back to a store for glasses.
That's a tough one to test, because how far back on the nose your glasses sit can easily throw it off by 1/4 diopter. On the plus side, if you need reading glasses, you can just slide your glasses down your nose a bit for closer focus!
out of experience, its hard to tell with those increments of something it would be way easier to tell if you hit the spot if it was analgue so to speak at the optician its often like: "is that better or worse?" idk man looks almost the same (not to add that I need prisms to correct one of my eyes that almost sees nothing [it gets ignored by my brain most of the time so I am lucky if I actually see the double pictures when I am at the optician])
What I'd like is a gadget with three knobs - sphere, cylinder and axis, that you can just tweak yourself until you get it right. It wouldn't take a minute to dial in your prescription. Though you'd have to be given instructions on how to avoid over-minusing you prescription.
Bringing the excellence of Matthias' curiosity and thoroughness to a topic I knew nothing about, but have become more interested in now that I too require glasses for any kind of detail work. Thanks for taking the time to make this video and explain it.
Years ago, the magazine Electronic Design had an Electrical Engineer named Bob Pease write editorial style articles. Often times he would write about things unrelated to electronics. I remember one such article was about trying to get glasses from the optometrist that would be the proper prescription for night drving. His contention was that changes in light levels affected his pupils which in turn affected focus. I can't remember how or if he resolved the issue.
Yes, I independently discovered that as well. There's a potential future video on that topic. Of course, nowadays you can just order glasses of any prescription you want online, so no need to argue with anyone.
@@anullhandle My friend had read an article that Bob wrote and mailed him to talk about it. Bob took the time to write a detailed letter and mail it back to him. He was very passionate about engineering. It was such a shame when he died.
I found this very interesting. I have often thought that there is nothing mysterious to measuring eye sight for prescription spectacles and you have demonstrated that is the case.
That was my thinking as well. It seemed to me that it didn't take a college degree to figure out how to swap lenses in and out until you find the right combination. Or to pay someone hundreds of dollars to do it for you.
This was honestly really insightful! I'd watch more of this. I don't really know much about this stuff either, but I definitely felt like I learned at least a little bit.
This was quite different and also extremely interesting. I am curious now how it compares to something like EyeQue. I used their at home tester to get my prescription and was pretty impressed with the results. I think it uses prisms or something to do alignment in a circle. I'm not sure how it compares to traditional eye exams.
I am EVERY optometrist's and ophthalmologist's nightmare. Which is better, A or B? "uhhhh, can you try that again......uhhh can you try that again...." LOL.
Always interesting to watch your videos. A word of caution. Opticians do retinal examinations and check for glaucoma. I’d still get my eyes checked professionally even if you are confident of producing the correct prescription.
I am very nearsighted and have often wondered if I could do as good or a little better than the eye doctor in setting my prescription. Great topic so keep up the great work!!
Prescriptions for me have been not as good as when I first started wearing glasses. I think it's in part to the culture that has grown around prescription lenses. I got my first glasses, at at time, if someone described the idea of 'Lens Crafters' people would have thought they come from Mars. The idea of a prescription kiosk would have been both illegal and a joke. That was then. I think that the contemporary opticians that are servicing the public today have been deregulated out of their profession, and that the care and quality of service we used to think of as a standard is something of an anachronism. In any case, I am nearsighted and I think that the optician gave me lenses that are like you, 20/30 or something awful like that. I can't read street signs and I can barely read this computer screen, and I do not have a large correction lens. I'm thinking of ordering one of those kits myself. Looking forward to more videos on this topic. Thanks for the content. Keep up the good work. בס'ד
(with apologies) "...I'm not an Optometrist..." I see...lol. 🤓 Thanks for sharing you insights into how the prscriptions for our glasses works. Cheers from NB
I have a seldom-used physics degree, and I still use the U of Waterloo Optometry Clinic for my eye tests. Although asking for a thorough explanation from the student doing the test sort of puts them on the spot, it also challenges their depth of understanding. Though I usually avoid grilling the student when their supervisor is present; I don't want to put them too much in the hot seat! The other bonus is, because it is an optometry school, the eye test is quite extensive, much more than just measuring the prescription, and has found interesting conditions in both myself (traction (adhesion) between the retina and the vitreous humor), and my wife (protruding optic nerves leading to a partially-blocked cranial vein).
One of the biggest issues with lens prescriptions regardless if done by a professional or by the patient themself is that most people are not self-aware of what optimal focus meant. For example, my dad thinks that good vision means being able to see tiny serial numbers of semiconductors at his far-point (max distance the human eye can focus) .... thus all his prescriptions end up looking like magnifying glasses
There are lots of comments so forgive if this has already been covered, but I also bought a trial lens system that had 38mm lenses, but the throw away frame they included was for 35 or 36.5mm lenses which are sizes used in Asia. The kit is Chinese and is clearly intended for the US and Europe as the labeling is in English. So I don't mind going shopping for a 38mm compatible test frame. The big lens kit price was reasonable. Other people doing this will probably also have to go shopping for a useable frame separately.
For problems focusing near poor people buy doiptrie -1 to -3 glasses at aldi, $3 each, and test them. For focusing far the best method was to buy a really big PC monitor, 32 inch or more, and sit 1.5m away. Takes a year to show effect.
Don't forget light levels! Dim light makes it harder to focus. "Eye strain" is an annoyance, and will not harm the eyes. I used to hate having "eyeglasses required" on my driver's license, so I hacked it. While waiting for the DMV creature to test my vision, I stare at a bright light. This reduces pupil size and brings vision into focus, so I pass easily. Audiology is an even bigger ripoff, and could go away for most people.
Ive been doing this for myself and a few friends for about 10 years. I got some much welcomed relief from headaches by intentionally under-correcting long distance vision to 20/30 instead of 20/20. As a side benefit to under-correcting, within a month my vision improved by a diopter. I have a large set of trial lenses so that I don't need to stack lenses, and I have a set of plastic trial frames for different eye spacing, which is very important for my stronger lenses. My vision is affected by MS, and being somewhat under corrected, and having the right slightly under-corrected RX for near, mid and long distance tasks has been very helpful in reducing headaches. Zenni has made this experimentation affordable for me. The process is pretty easy, as you have brilliantly and briefly demonstrated. Great work, Mathias!
I've heard that a bunch about under-correcting actually improving your eyes. It kinda makes sense that if you perfectly correct your vision, your eyes don't really have to work to focus and thereby stop trying at those corrected distances. If you under correct your eyes have to work just a little bit to bring into focus and that's essentially daily eye training to make your eye muscles work better/harder. There are stories of people essentially going from 3-5 diopter to going glasses free by progressively under correcting as their eyes got better at focusing. It also makes sense why optometry doesn't do this. They like having customers.
I ♥️ Zenni too. my wifes prefers to undercorrect for comfort as well. I'll never admit to sending Zenni custom "prescriptions" because that might be a federal crime, but I suppose one could do that if you weren't afraid of jail time 😜
W.t.h. are you taking about? You are the Skillshare in person. Do more of this content, i love it. I bet you could land a spaceship on Mars, create its atmosphere, invent infinite fuel energy to land back to Terra, because you forget your glasses. And as bonus: invent time machine, when you are really bored.
Fantastic video Matthias. I found it really interesting. I would certainly be interested in more videos on this topic. Seeing as I am also not an optometrist, I think it is easier for me to understand the subject when you approach the explanations as you would an engineering topic. -- It is essentially engineering anyway, most things are. I would also love to see if you can produce a more functional set of trial frames out of wood and wire. I did start messing around in CAD to see if I could come up with something functional and easy enough to build. I'll give it an hour or two more and if my creation is halfway convincing I will send it over to you, perhaps you could use it as inspiration for your own (doubtless better) pair.
You sir are a dork! But I really did enjoy the video. I'm very near sighted myself and at my early 40's mark, I hope to be close to done with crazy big changes.
1:11 "least negative" is a bit unclear for me. Given that you should pick the most positive of the two if you're on the positive side, I assume least negative means the lowest number when in the negative range? I.e. prefer -1 over -0,5?
THIS is better than the "Which is better: A or B/1 or 2"? How so, when for some of the adjustments you have to keep taking the glasses off to make them, and so while doing that you'd lose the memory of your previous look quality, especially when they're really close; and for the adjustments where you can just hold another lens out in front and then away and back, or/and rotate it there in front, you might not be consistent because your hold distance and rotation will change a bit as compared against the big frame used at the office?
I'd say for $210, you just bought yourself glasses for the rest of your life. Not a bad deal if you don't mind looking like a bit of a freak at Tim Hortons. Thanks Matthias
This was pretty neat. I have worn glasses for 30+ years and never has anyone explained what all of these numbers meant until now when a woodworker showed me.
Have you seen his experiments? He's not your regular woodworker he's THE WOODWORKER.
and he is only a part time woodworker. he is a science geek 100%
@@jenkinseric2 engineer who expresses through wood
I wished he actually explained the optics/physics and the different kinds of lenses...
bet you never thought you'd have it explained by a woodworker 🤣
A a fellow bespectacled human, this is really interesting, as usually, doctors are busy and don't really explain what they are doing or very well. I would love to know more, as it would make me a better patient and help the doctor with better care.
We can all stand to learn more about our own healthcare.
There are lots of videos on this online. I now know how to operate a phoropter (the thing the optometrist uses), even though I don't have one or intend to get one.
This is just the best thumbnail! Bravo!
😂New Canadian Health Care? 🤣
I love the frames.
Steam Punk?
You may be on to something.
Awesome video and very interesting thanks
OMG, you're a lunatic. Love it.
This is maybe a good way to check your lens prescriptions, but that is not the only testing that you (should) have performed at an eye exam.
Checking for glaucoma, cataracts, early damage due to diabetes - those are just some of the things that a good eye exam tests for, in addition to the lens prescription.
very interesting. More on the subject would appreciated
Your New Glasses definately Fit your Character, Mattias! 😂
Looking forward to your building a better test rig! Perhaps a co lab with the optometrist below?
Next week - DIY hardwood hip replacement
After his hip wore out from jumping on too many absolutely rock solid DIY tables/cabinets/etc?
With drywall screws 😁
Lignum Vitae.
Argh, that would be great. The sea has done a number on me hip, argh.
Bwaaa ha ha!
OK, this is prime Random Stuff material. I'm in for this.
Me too! And I don't even wear eyeglasses.
« Matthias is like a box of chocolate, you never know what you’re gonna get. »
Bring it on, it’s always fun to follow along.
I’m an optometrist and I liked this video a lot. I always like Matthias’ stuff. In this case he has made the process quite simple and it seems to work for him but his is a simple case it is really not that easy in many cases. For example, if you employ the maximum plus power spherical lens then you don’t always have to compensate for for that when deriving the negative cylinder, but you do if you are using positive cylinders. Also, the balancing technique is unreliable when the vision is a bit worse, or if you are younger. No testing was conducted for eye movements either, which can wildly alter the final prescription. Balancing all of these features, understanding their relationship to each other and considering the implication to health is the difficult bit.
how do you test with eye movements? a phoropter certainly doesn’t allow for it and I have never had an optometrist check that. I mentioned in the text why negative cylinder, plus I re checked spherical after cylinder.
My optometrist makes me follow his finger or a len around: left right, up down, in and out.
@@matthiasrandomstuff2221 you need a second person or camera to conduct the cover/uncover test. When looking at a target with both eyes, cover one eye and observe twitching. Reverse by looking with one eye and uncovering the second eye.
I wouldn't mess with prisim to correct these issues without expert advice, you can make it worse. Better to diy Brock string therapy than diy prism.
@@matthiasrandomstuff2221 You separate the sight impressions of left and right eye by a red/green or polarizing filter. this removes the fusion between both eyes. than you compensate with prism. its called the schober test. Greetings from germany
@@DeniseSkidmore I have seen some videos that are vehemently against optometrists prescribing prism lenses if the need is not extreme.
I'm fascinated that you can make a video about almost anything and make it interesting :)
Try Asianometry ;)
That's cause he's a nerd, like the rest of us..... Well actually, way better than us.
But yeah +1 to asianometry. That channel rocks!!!
I would certainly like to see you make more content on this topic. Having multiple family members who are optometrists, and being an engineer myself, I am often told "engineers are the WORST patients". I believe we likely indeed are, but that is because I like to understand what someone is doing and what they are looking for... instead of the typical "which is better" because it is not always a simple answer.
haha!
It was obvious I had "the knack" from a young age. Takes another ~25yrs for the perception to kick in.
Ah! But that's the secret of the cross cylinder astigmatism test! When you can't tell which is better they read the result. So if you keep insisting that one is better, the test goes on until they get sick of going back and forth and pick an average.
@@DeniseSkidmore the thing is, when testing for astigmatism, the question of "which is better" is not easy to answer, as one may be better in a different way then the other, and vice versa.
yea optometrists should be more transparent about what they're doing.
@@ToroMoto that's intentional. The two images have opposite values, they should blur the same amount but different directions.
Or you could have the super common but more complex non-clylindrical astigmatism, which can't be easily tested and corrected with lenses.
I'm disappointed you didn't grind and polish your own lenses
Just order from Aliexpress or elsewhere. Not really worth it :D
I did not see this video coming.
Maybe he can set u up with some glasses that can help u see it coming next time 🤣
I've worn glasses all my life, but I'm a procrastinator so I sometimes went over 5 years between eye appointments. My last exam was in 2016, and then along came the pandemic so I found myself in 2022 struggling a bit with my current prescription. So I went the same route, I purchased a lens kit on Amazon, along with a "nicer" trial lens frame because the ones that came with the lens kit was kinda like yours. Anyway, since I already had my prescription numbers from 2016 it gave me a nice starting point which made it easier to tweak my prescription. I have astigmatism, and that turned out to be the setting that changed the most and cleared up my vision. Because I already had a base prescription to start from the process was much easier for me, at least. I then took my updated numbers and ordered my lenses online, sent in my frames and in about a week I had my new glasses. So much better now! I will still see try to see an optometrist this year anyway, because it's important to actually have your eyes checked by a professional for signs of diseases, such as Glaucoma, Cataracts, etc.
Next week DIY Root canal : )
Is there anything you don’t know, amazed at your knowledge ❤️😊
So my uncle who married into my family, comes from Croatia. He went to the optometrist, and the optometrist asked him "Can you read the 4th line?". He replied "Read it? I know him !"
Is there anything that this guy doesn't do by himself ? Lol
Many moons ago, I used to work overnight maintenance at a large American retailer with an optometry service. Every so often the floors needed to be redone in there and while waiting for the floor finish to dry between coats I got to fiddle around with all the equipment and ended up prescribing myself contacts - which I had never previously worn. I nailed it I guess because when I went in a few years later to get them legitimately - the prescription was the same!
Fascinating topic.
Your prescription doesn't normally stay the same over time.
@@ShaCaro Mine hasn't changed significantly nearl 20 years for what it's worth. One quarter diopter in one eye. edit: That might not be fair since I haven't been back in probably 5 years - but so long as I can still see I haven't felt a need I guess.
@@ShaCaro I got my first glasses in 1996, (-1, -.75) the prescription has not changed since then.
Do you know how to translate these measurements for glasses to contact lenses? Where I live opticians seem to take the prescription for glasses and do a rough calculation based on the distance from the glasses lens to the eye, but contact lens prescriptions are expensive as they want people to pay for a "trial fitting" of any new contact lenses which can take a month, even if its just an updated prescription, then they try to get you to take a "subscription" to buying lenses through them at 2 to 3 times the price of buying the lenses online. Seems almost like a scam. I was thinking the easiest way would be just to buy some lenses that are one step weaker / stronger and try them but wondered if there is a procedure to work out the correct lenses.
I'm guessing it is not your intention to influence people to forego a professional eye examination in favor of a diy refraction at home, but that will likely happen. In these days on buying glasses online, a creative yet deceptive person could become their own worst enemy as they skip the exam by the doctor and prescribe their own glasses for years at a time as they quietly go blind from undiagnosed eye disease. I don't suffer much heartburn from someone's temporary eyestrain or headaches from wearing a wacky self prescribed pair of glasses, it's the preventable permanent loss of vision caused by the delay or neglect of professional eyecare that is more concerning. It's fun to play with trial lenses at home, but don't let it prevent or delay you from a proper eye exam. - Retired (no financial dog in the fight) OD
Rick Moranis - I finally figured out who u remind me of. 😂
He was a few seconds away from Gozer the destroyer talk
Dear Matthias, we all have an inner optometrist trying to get out. Newton would be proud of you.
Best wishes, John
You're making me want to buy such a set just for fiddling. I don't even have glasses
Making a video about it was part of my excuse to buy a set! :)
Getting your eyes checked for free at Waterloo was quite a good perk for us when we were students. Now that I'm a senior I can finally get them checked for free again.
But it takes them a long time cause they like to check everything they can for practice.
@@matthiasrandomstuff2221
got a free teeth cleaning from the dental school and it took 4 hours.
@@tallswede80 Blimey
Well just listen to a podcast or something.
I have never paid for eye prescription checks. It is always free if you buy glasses. Also those "glasses shops" have pretty often free checks even if you don't buy glasses from them. That is here in Finland.
PS- New side hustle?? I'm imagining taking this kit door to door to sell this service 😆
Very interesting. I had never thought much about what the specific numbers to my prescription actually mean. Cool experiment to see it done "manually".
Very interesting. When everything was in lockdown, I realized I was going to be making several cross-country trips to see my ailing father. I've never had glasses, but at my age (55) I was suspecting some distance issues (evident while driving) that I never had before. I ordered a device called EyeQue that Bluetooth connects to your phone, you stick it to the screen of your phone and the app displays a series of different colored lines at different angles. Buttons on the device, adjust the relationship of those lines (via Bluetooth) and after a series of tests in each eye where you align the lines it returns you prescription. I bought a cheap pair of glasses online using this prescription to try and holy cow I never realized what I couldn't see. I've since used that prescription to purchase some better glasses and use them whenever I drive to great advantage. I'd love to see a comparison of how these types of devices compare.
Not the most fashionable, but dont look terrible! 🤣💕👍
You questioned your skill in determining the proper prescription. I'd trust you more. The professionals always rush to get to the part where they sell you a $600 pair of glasses I believe they don't take the time to really zero in on the best refraction. I suspect you know you can order them online from a number of vendors. I'm pretty sure all the lenses come from China anyway, so I might as well cut out a couple of the middle vendors. We have had excellent results with Zenni. You might find some cheap progressives suited you for work around the shop. I had no idea a refraction set would be so cheap. I ordered a few pairs of glasses at $7 each to get test lenses at +/- 0.25 and 0.5 diopters. Good job
I'm a trained optometrist so this was fun to watch. You've clearly done some research and are kind of doing the type of basic refraction a new first year student would do. You certainly wouldn't pass any exams or anything, but I was surprised to see you compensate the sph based on the cyl for example.
Obviously I need to say please please please don't do this in lieu of getting your eyes checked properly. I have access to equipment worth north of 100k, plus I actually know what I'm doing - I don't even test my own eyes. It's not all about simply comparing lens A with lens B.
With the key caveat that this is just for fun and you're not going to skip seeing a professional, there's a few things you could do with that basic kit to refine things a bit: You could print off a fan+block chart to get the cyl a bit better without a x-cyl, implement some simple checks to avoid easily over-minusing (+1.00 blur is enough but duochrome is interesting once you learn how it works), maybe use Humphriss immediate contrast when binocular balancing at the end.
That trial frame is also annoyingly useless. You always need a way of centering the lenses.
Well now I know I'll watch anything you post.
I wonder if he will use ' me ' nails for the hard wood frame he makes? Or maybe a Raspberry Pi to make auto focusing glasses!
Love this. Will you make wooden frames for new glasses?
I have always wanted to get a set of trial lenses like this to see whether or not my prescription needs to be updated and also to experiment with different amounts of magnification for close-up work. I'd definitely like to see you talk more about this =)
Hi Matthias,
You can use a DIAL LENS, glasses to accomplish the same result.
Works for me.
Try it!😊
When you've mastered your (woodworking) craft so you start doing side quests....
If I ever go to the optometrist and there is a dust collector and a table saw, l'm leaving.
Wait, on second thought, I'm staying for the entertainment.
Hi Matthias,
My question:
Your refraction is positive, by about +0.25 Diopter. (Average)
Can you read 20/30 and better with no glasses at all?
I would enjoy more videos on this (or other subjects) from your perspective. 🙂👍
I know you would. But I don't ask -- cause only people interested would answer, so the answer wouldn't be that useful. What really matters is how many people actually end up viewing the video.
@@matthiasrandomstuff2221, I have to share this video with my optometrist the next time I have my eyes checked, this coming June I think. Not that he’ll learn anything but how to explain it in under twelve minutes. Thanks for explaining something I’ve had done numerous times in my 71 years but never knew quite how it worked.
I am still fairly new to needing glasses, so this was really interesting. Keep meaning to see if anybody has tried making their own glasses, as that would be interesting too.
Man, you really love physics.
I've always wondered about this, I've always felt like I could do better if I was able to pick and adjust the trial lens changes myself as the operator seems to be rushing or pushing to get to their next scheduled client I also end up feeling pressured to hurry
After watching this video, I got a set of lenses and a trial frame. What I really liked was being able to find and adjust the spherical diopters by dialing it in myself to the optimum instead of relying on the old "which is better, 1 or 2?" routine.
Hello Matthias,
As long as your doing eye ware. I keep seeing ads about glasses with two lenses over each eye that are adjustable. It looks like it could be great for doing very close up work. I'm 76 and wear reading glasses but at times I also need a magnifier with my glasses to read fine print. What do you think? Thanks Jim
I can smell the controversy, I like it. I’ll check back when I smell something brewing.
I was expectign some hate in the comments on this video, but surprisingly, so far, none.
@@matthiasrandomstuff2221 Yeah, I thought maybe some hate but also maybe some friendly actual optometrists chiming in with helpful--"Good, but don't forget about..."
@@matthiasrandomstuff2221 Oh, I know better than to send this link to my friend the Optician... 😁
I think he may have screwed up the left and the right when he was recording his details. Hope he checks again before he orders classes online
Next week, "Matthias shows us how to remove your appendix" 😉
You know you can just wear the optical equipment itself and never need glasses ever again and just adjust as it changes
the D in OD is dexter. Dexter is Latin for right (as in direction, not correctness), and sinister is Latin for left.
I happen to have an eye appointment to tomorrow. Maybe I’ll bring this video up and suggest I skip my next appointment just to see the reaction that gets me 😂
You could just always wear the trial frame! Switch the lenses when you need to switch between near and far.
Free glasses for life! Opticians don't want you to know this trick.
Very interesting and relevant, thanks. This time around I tried one of the internet glasses companies, and took my updated prescription and was amazed at how good the glasses were and how useful it was to get reading, computer and distance glasses as I would normally have used up my budget just on one and not got the experience of all three. I only tried one internet retailer, and leaned heavily on reviews for frames, but I was happy with my test sample of one vendor, I suspect they are all pretty similar quality and will never go back to a store for glasses.
Wood frame glasses video dropping in 3..2..
And next week Matthias builds a DIY rig to measure intraocular pressure.
Seems like you keep looking at the screen of your camera rather than the actual lens of the camera. Did you upgrade your camera?
This is great. Would like to see you as Dr and Rachel or kids as patients with you saying better 1 or 2. 3 or 4…
My eyes are +7.50 SPH right and left. I would love to see more videos about this!
That's a tough one to test, because how far back on the nose your glasses sit can easily throw it off by 1/4 diopter. On the plus side, if you need reading glasses, you can just slide your glasses down your nose a bit for closer focus!
out of experience, its hard to tell with those increments of something
it would be way easier to tell if you hit the spot if it was analgue so to speak
at the optician its often like: "is that better or worse?"
idk man looks almost the same (not to add that I need prisms to correct one of my eyes that almost sees nothing [it gets ignored by my brain most of the time so I am lucky if I actually see the double pictures when I am at the optician])
What I'd like is a gadget with three knobs - sphere, cylinder and axis, that you can just tweak yourself until you get it right. It wouldn't take a minute to dial in your prescription. Though you'd have to be given instructions on how to avoid over-minusing you prescription.
Bringing the excellence of Matthias' curiosity and thoroughness to a topic I knew nothing about, but have become more interested in now that I too require glasses for any kind of detail work. Thanks for taking the time to make this video and explain it.
Likely the most accurate glasses prescription determined on a wood planer. Also, the only one determined on a wood planer
Years ago, the magazine Electronic Design had an Electrical Engineer named Bob Pease write editorial style articles. Often times he would write about things unrelated to electronics. I remember one such article was about trying to get glasses from the optometrist that would be the proper prescription for night drving. His contention was that changes in light levels affected his pupils which in turn affected focus. I can't remember how or if he resolved the issue.
Yes, I independently discovered that as well. There's a potential future video on that topic. Of course, nowadays you can just order glasses of any prescription you want online, so no need to argue with anyone.
Bob was a real engineer, would tell you straight up on the phone when their marketing wanks played games on data sheets etc.
@@anullhandle My friend had read an article that Bob wrote and mailed him to talk about it. Bob took the time to write a detailed letter and mail it back to him. He was very passionate about engineering. It was such a shame when he died.
I found this very interesting. I have often thought that there is nothing mysterious to measuring eye sight for prescription spectacles and you have demonstrated that is the case.
That was my thinking as well. It seemed to me that it didn't take a college degree to figure out how to swap lenses in and out until you find the right combination. Or to pay someone hundreds of dollars to do it for you.
This was honestly really insightful! I'd watch more of this. I don't really know much about this stuff either, but I definitely felt like I learned at least a little bit.
I literally just had eye test because of my headaches and strain. I had Oct scans too.
i remember the sad day i walked out to the garage and couldn't read the tape measure anymore... had to get some reading glasses.
good video and info.
This was quite different and also extremely interesting. I am curious now how it compares to something like EyeQue. I used their at home tester to get my prescription and was pretty impressed with the results. I think it uses prisms or something to do alignment in a circle. I'm not sure how it compares to traditional eye exams.
I am EVERY optometrist's and ophthalmologist's nightmare. Which is better, A or B? "uhhhh, can you try that again......uhhh can you try that again...." LOL.
Always interesting to watch your videos. A word of caution. Opticians do retinal examinations and check for glaucoma. I’d still get my eyes checked professionally even if you are confident of producing the correct prescription.
This is interesting! I like the idea of doing things at home without requiring the expense of the medical-industrial complex.
I am very nearsighted and have often wondered if I could do as good or a little better than the eye doctor in setting my prescription. Great topic so keep up the great work!!
I would really appreciate a "theory"-video on this topic - like the basics on what problems can be corrected and how.
I'd go into the theory more, but it makes the videos more long winded and most of the audience would probably drift away.
do you know where i can buy one but complete? yours have alot of missing diopters
amazon or aliexpress. with this set you have to stack lenses at higher diopters.
Next home dentistry!
Prescriptions for me have been not as good as when I first started wearing glasses. I think it's in part to the culture that has grown around prescription lenses. I got my first glasses, at at time, if someone described the idea of 'Lens Crafters' people would have thought they come from Mars. The idea of a prescription kiosk would have been both illegal and a joke. That was then. I think that the contemporary opticians that are servicing the public today have been deregulated out of their profession, and that the care and quality of service we used to think of as a standard is something of an anachronism.
In any case, I am nearsighted and I think that the optician gave me lenses that are like you, 20/30 or something awful like that. I can't read street signs and I can barely read this computer screen, and I do not have a large correction lens.
I'm thinking of ordering one of those kits myself. Looking forward to more videos on this topic.
Thanks for the content.
Keep up the good work.
בס'ד
100% the most random
(with apologies)
"...I'm not an Optometrist..." I see...lol. 🤓
Thanks for sharing you insights into how the prscriptions for our glasses works.
Cheers from NB
This was really interesting! Thanks for the short overview of the process.
Really going all in with the mad scientist look. I dig it!
That look at @1:24 😂
I have a seldom-used physics degree, and I still use the U of Waterloo Optometry Clinic for my eye tests. Although asking for a thorough explanation from the student doing the test sort of puts them on the spot, it also challenges their depth of understanding. Though I usually avoid grilling the student when their supervisor is present; I don't want to put them too much in the hot seat!
The other bonus is, because it is an optometry school, the eye test is quite extensive, much more than just measuring the prescription, and has found interesting conditions in both myself (traction (adhesion) between the retina and the vitreous humor), and my wife (protruding optic nerves leading to a partially-blocked cranial vein).
One of the biggest issues with lens prescriptions regardless if done by a professional or by the patient themself is that most people are not self-aware of what optimal focus meant. For example, my dad thinks that good vision means being able to see tiny serial numbers of semiconductors at his far-point (max distance the human eye can focus) .... thus all his prescriptions end up looking like magnifying glasses
Once you lose ability to close focus (comes with age), for closeup work, that's actually a good idea. Just not for distance vision and driving.
The future of privatized healthcare we deserve. Vision solved by a kit from Amazon. 😂 Honestly though this kit looks great.
Yes good stuff, make more.
There are lots of comments so forgive if this has already been covered, but I also bought a trial lens system that had 38mm lenses, but the throw away frame they included was for 35 or 36.5mm lenses which are sizes used in Asia. The kit is Chinese and is clearly intended for the US and Europe as the labeling is in English. So I don't mind going shopping for a 38mm compatible test frame. The big lens kit price was reasonable. Other people doing this will probably also have to go shopping for a useable frame separately.
Vision correction from Amazon. What could possibly go wrong? Be careful, You could make a spectacle of yourself.
For problems focusing near poor people buy doiptrie -1 to -3 glasses at aldi, $3 each, and test them.
For focusing far the best method was to buy a really big PC monitor, 32 inch or more, and sit 1.5m away. Takes a year to show effect.
Don't forget light levels! Dim light makes it harder to focus. "Eye strain" is an annoyance, and will not harm the eyes. I used to hate having "eyeglasses required" on my driver's license, so I hacked it. While waiting for the DMV creature to test my vision, I stare at a bright light. This reduces pupil size and brings vision into focus, so I pass easily. Audiology is an even bigger ripoff, and could go away for most people.
Ive been doing this for myself and a few friends for about 10 years. I got some much welcomed relief from headaches by intentionally under-correcting long distance vision to 20/30 instead of 20/20. As a side benefit to under-correcting, within a month my vision improved by a diopter.
I have a large set of trial lenses so that I don't need to stack lenses, and I have a set of plastic trial frames for different eye spacing, which is very important for my stronger lenses. My vision is affected by MS, and being somewhat under corrected, and having the right slightly under-corrected RX for near, mid and long distance tasks has been very helpful in reducing headaches. Zenni has made this experimentation affordable for me. The process is pretty easy, as you have brilliantly and briefly demonstrated. Great work, Mathias!
I've heard that a bunch about under-correcting actually improving your eyes. It kinda makes sense that if you perfectly correct your vision, your eyes don't really have to work to focus and thereby stop trying at those corrected distances. If you under correct your eyes have to work just a little bit to bring into focus and that's essentially daily eye training to make your eye muscles work better/harder. There are stories of people essentially going from 3-5 diopter to going glasses free by progressively under correcting as their eyes got better at focusing. It also makes sense why optometry doesn't do this. They like having customers.
I ♥️ Zenni too. my wifes prefers to undercorrect for comfort as well. I'll never admit to sending Zenni custom "prescriptions" because that might be a federal crime, but I suppose one could do that if you weren't afraid of jail time 😜
W.t.h. are you taking about? You are the Skillshare in person. Do more of this content, i love it. I bet you could land a spaceship on Mars, create its atmosphere, invent infinite fuel energy to land back to Terra, because you forget your glasses. And as bonus: invent time machine, when you are really bored.
Fantastic video Matthias. I found it really interesting. I would certainly be interested in more videos on this topic. Seeing as I am also not an optometrist, I think it is easier for me to understand the subject when you approach the explanations as you would an engineering topic. -- It is essentially engineering anyway, most things are.
I would also love to see if you can produce a more functional set of trial frames out of wood and wire. I did start messing around in CAD to see if I could come up with something functional and easy enough to build. I'll give it an hour or two more and if my creation is halfway convincing I will send it over to you, perhaps you could use it as inspiration for your own (doubtless better) pair.
It would be really fantastic if there were a 3d-printable higher-quality frame which could be used to "upgrade" a relatively inexpensive lens kit.
You sir are a dork! But I really did enjoy the video.
I'm very near sighted myself and at my early 40's mark, I hope to be close to done with crazy big changes.
1:11 "least negative" is a bit unclear for me. Given that you should pick the most positive of the two if you're on the positive side, I assume least negative means the lowest number when in the negative range? I.e. prefer -1 over -0,5?
THIS is better than the "Which is better: A or B/1 or 2"? How so, when for some of the adjustments you have to keep taking the glasses off to make them, and so while doing that you'd lose the memory of your previous look quality, especially when they're really close; and for the adjustments where you can just hold another lens out in front and then away and back, or/and rotate it there in front, you might not be consistent because your hold distance and rotation will change a bit as compared against the big frame used at the office?
$210? Here in the land of unregulated private health care that will probably pay for itself in... once.
DIY glasses prescription! Epic
Very random video. But this channel is random stuff after all. I liked this video a lot. Very interesting topic
I'd say for $210, you just bought yourself glasses for the rest of your life. Not a bad deal if you don't mind looking like a bit of a freak at Tim Hortons. Thanks Matthias