Headache from new eyeglasses? ? Sistina Ophthalmology

You got new eyeglasses.

After some time of wearing them, you are experiencing a headache, dizziness, excessive eye strain. When this happens, you should either go back to the optician or go back to the ophthalmologist.

There are two reasons this may happen:

??Missed focus point on glasses or incorrect lenses

If you believe that this may be the issue, visit your optician with your glasses and explain to them your problem. Many optics will change the lenses for free.

If your lenses turn out to be fine, it may be an issue with the prescription.

??Faulty prescription by the ophthalmologist

It is very important to know the difference between the two basic eye examinations.

The first one is a basic eye exam and the ophthalmologist checks your anterior segment: measurement of visual acuity, measurement of eye pressure, refraction test, movement of eye muscles, etc.

This exam is recommended for patients with already known eye diseases, like a regular checkup.

The second one is a subspecialty eye exam in which the posterior segment (retina, eye nerve, etc) is also examined. For this exam, the ophthalmologist will cause dilation of the pupils so more light can reach the back of the eye. With this exam, the ophthalmologist has clear insight into your eye condition and can determine whether you have a new diopter, change of diopter, hidden diopter, and/or an eye disease for which you still don’t experience any symptoms.

This eye exam is recommended for people who have not had an eye examination before as well as for people who have not had an examination for a long time and have obvious changes in vision. Often an ophthalmologist may suggest this exam if he suspects that there may be some changes that can’t be seen with the basic eye exam. After this exam, your vision will be blurry for some time.

Given all this information, you probably already understand why ophthalmologists prefer to do a detailed examination with dilated pupils. It is best to schedule it on a day when you are rested and have time because with the detailed eye examination the ophthalmologist can detect and treat eye conditions in time and avoid any issue with the glasses prescription.