PD

[Lisa]

I went to the eye doctor today and he refused to give me my PD. He
was very nice to me until he discovered that I was planning on buying
my glasses online. Then of course he changed his tune. He insisted
that the glasses online were 2nd rate generics and that they can never
get the PD correct and of course if the glasses don't work that I
should not come back to him for help. He does not have to worry about
that. I will not be going to his office again! If he really cared
about his clients he would give use the PD part of the prescription
(even if he charged a few dollars more for it). Now I have to figure
this PD part myself. UGH!!!!

[powrwrap]

Did he measure your PD and then not give it to you? If so, you didn't
get your full prescription. I'd try to stop payment. If you paid by
check, call your bank and stop payment. The fee will be about $25-$30,
probably less than your eye exam. If by credit card call them and ask
them to reverse charges.

If he never measured your PD, I think you are out of luck.

[tsengik]

Thats outright unethical. Did he give you a prescription at all? If
I were you, I would call the office pretending to be a optical shop or
something and ask for it, claiming you need the full prescription by
law, even if its just to check against your own measurements, etc.
etc. My PD got measured automatically on one of the machines my eye
doctor used so there's a good chance you might be able to get it if
you lie the right way. I wonder if there's any place to report
doctors like this, short of going to a lawyer. What a load of crap.

[steve]

I would avoid that doctor in the future. What a creep! I measured my
PD using the "ruler and look in the mirror" method and came up with a
PD of 67. I got a friendly technician at an optical shop to do it
with the little box thing they use, and she came up with... 67. The
ruler and look in the mirror method works and you can always get a
friend to hold up the ruler and measure the PD. We've been convinced
this is something really hard, but it's not.
If you can't find a link on one of the eyeglasses dealers and a
downloadable ruler if you need that. I'll post a link if you like.
steve

[IMQ]

Hi Lisa,

PD measurement is not that difficult. It sounds intimidating but it is
really a simple process.

There are several suggestions on how to do it. Basically, you will
need a straight ruler with metric scale, then:

1. Do it yourself:

-- Stand in front of the bathroom mirror about an arm length or so
away, making sure you can see your pupils clearly.
-- Place the ruler straight across your face, just below the pupils
-- Make mental marks of your pupils on the rulers while holding it
still. Say, for example, your left pupil is on the 10mm mark, and your
right pupil is on the 70mm, then your PD would be the difference
between the two marks:

PD = 70mm - 10mm = 60mm

or

2. Have someone measure it for you.

-- Instead of standing in front of the mirror, have your friend,
brother, sister, or cousin do it for you

or

3. If you have a digital camera and a friend or someone:

-- Hold the ruler straight across your face just below the pupils
-- Have someone take a picture
-- Measure the marks on the ruler between your pupils.

It looks like a tedious process but it takes seconds (OK, maybe a
couple minutes) to do it.

I did choice (1) before I had someone from the optometrist's office
measure my PD with a pupilometer. The PD they gave me matched what I
measured myself with a straight ruler.

By the way, excellent decision on your part to take your business
elsewhere.

[IMQ]

I believe the word is out, and the local opticians are in fear of
their *patients* going to shop online for their glasses.

http://www.optiboard.com/forums/showthread.php?t=30150

Frankly, I believe part of the reason I go to have an eye exam so that
my vision can be corrected, if needed. If a new pair of glasses is
what I need, then the PD should be included in my Rx so that I can
have my glasses made at the place of my choosing, and it does not have
to be filled by the optician next door or inside my optometrist's
office.

Witholding part of the information essential for a completion of a
treatment so that the *patient* MUST pay for the service to an
unwanted provider is just plain wrong?

Just like going to any Doctor and get a prescription, I should be able
to get my prescription filled at any of the drug store of my choosing.
How about the Dr. witholding the dosage on the Rx as an equivalent to
witholding a PD measurement?

Am I wrong?

[Chuck Knight]

I can't believe I'm about to say this, but here goes.

The analogy is flawed. 

Withholding dosages would be unreasonable, as so many dosages are possible, and without specialized training and a medical/chemical diagnosis, the Pharmacist *couldn't* figure out the dosage.  Conversely, there are common gadgets ranging from a ruler, to the binocular gizmo, that give very accurate PD measurements to even untrained personnel.

It is reasonable for the PD to be measured by the dispensary...much more so, than a medication dosage being set by the Pharmacist.

I think PD should be included on all prescriptions, but that doesn't mean it's right for him to leave it off.  If he measured it and left it off, then I think it's almost criminal...just remember that not all doctors measure it, during an exam.

     -- Chuck Knight

[IMQ]

Perhaps I was a little extreme in trying to illustrate the point that
without the PD, the prescription for vision correction would be
incomplete.

Sorry about that.

It is common sense that without knowing the exact dosage to take, one
should never attempt the trial-and-error method to find the right
dosage.

On Jul 2, 1:12 am, "Chuck Knight" <chuckkni...@gmail.com> wrote:

[powrwrap]

4. Have a friend or relative help you. Put on a current pair of
glasses. Focus on an object at eye-level at least 6 feet away. Using
an erasable marker, have your helper place dots over the spot on the
lens where the center of your pupils are located. Take a ruler and
measure the distance between the dots. Record this measurement.

Clean off the marks.

Repeat two more times. Take the average reading and use it for your
PD.

[steve]

Re: http://www.optiboard.com/forums/showthread.php?t=30150

Boy, that thread is interesting... A bunch of folks whining about
giving out the PD that they measure anyway, according to their posts.
They resent being required by some states to give it out This post
was particularly annoying:

>"Write it down in inches and forget about it!
>
>__________________
>The Man, The Myth, The Legend,

>Fezz"

There are other posts that chuckle about how funny a PD in inches
would be.

These creeps want the state to enforce their monopoly on selling
glasses, they think we're too stupid to measure a PD ourselves, and
they think we're also too stupid convert from inches to metric.
Would these jerks really sabotage somebody so that they would get a
bad pair of glasses online? Of course. I wonder if that is criminal
as well as immoral?

Go read these posts; I would be careful who I got my eyes checked by.
Before I pay to get my eyes checked again, I will be sure that a PD is
part of the prescription, even though my PD isn' t going to change :)

These posts are also a good reminder about how careful one should be
about what one says in any email, particularly on an open list. Some
of the folks who made nasty comments have their real names and
addresses there.
steve

> I wrong?

[Jennah]

another option is to go somewhere like Wal-mart or costco and ask for
your PD. I've never had any problems at WalMart, it takes them roughly
5 seconds to do. Though it might be a bit more annoying, you could
maybe also ask your local LensCrafters etc for the PD after you browse
their frames to look for comparables online.

Thankfully, once you get this measurement once, you can write it down
and it won't change! I go for an appt in Sept and am planning on
taking a couple pairs of my online ones to see what they say. They
already told my mom she shouldn't get progressives online, and she did
and is totally happy with them!

[Paul]

In some states, optometrists are supposed to have no connection with
optical shops.

[steve]

The people on the optiboard thread continue to crack themselves up at
the expense of their patients. Demand a PD before the exam. Honest
opticians shouldn't care, but they may want to warn you about the
quality of what you get from the Internet.

The last optician I had for an exam was great. We both travel to Asia
from time to time, and we compared notes on buying glasses there. He
felt that the quality of the lenses in glasses you buy from a cheap
optical shop on the street in say, the Philippines, is lower than what
you get from a brick and motor here in the US. He claimed that he
often found the lenses from cheap Asian outlets to be "a little off."
However, he also said that he bought bunches of glasses for his family
when he went there because they are cheap.

That's exactly the way I feel about online glasses. I can afford to
throw away the ones I don't like at these prices.

steve

[steve]

http://www.optiboard.com/forums/showthread.php?t=28588&highlight=part+prescription
is also interesting. The contempt these people have for their
patients is astounding.

I hope most opticians aren't like this. I hope that the responsible
majority of opticians are as appalled by these attitudes as I am.
steve

[Ev]

On the optiboard.com forum, one of their people (in a post from 2001)
suggested that the easy way to measure a PD was to measure from the
inside edge of one iris to the outside edge of the other iris while
the person is focusing either close or far.

It pains me that that never occurred to me, but it does seem extremely
simple and accurate and obvious. Anybody try it?

Ev