To follow up from January 2012. In January 2012, I was losing my sight in both eyes after having cataract surgery in 2010. The optometrist, Dr. Schell's attitude always included the words "at your age" it is the best you get. I was 47 at this point. It was another 13 months before I received a YAG, laser surgery to get rid of the scar tissue. Since the Crystal lens is back in your eye, the scar tissue is forced up against the lens and stops it from flexing. I was told this on the day of the Yag surgery, Feb 13, 2013. I no longer could tell when the eye chart was put on the wall, but could see down at the end of a hall. Felt very weird and frustrating that no one understood except the surgeon. I came out the surgery with more light than I could stand. It was amazing, but painful and hard to get through the day. That amount of vision did not last, but in 2016 my prescription remained the same. I definitely need glasses to drive, they annoy me to walk around the house though. Need reading glasses to read newsprint, but not the computer. Still have other problems. In the original surgery on my left eye, there was intense pain(think labour pain). I believe I had problems with the muscle relaxant, which I had noted in my file and spoke to the anesthesiologist about. He just rolled his eyes. He gave me too much for my system, the surgeon commented that my eye was spinning and then pain. I have complained continually that I am missing vision on my left side. I have also flew over the top of items, since they were below my line of vision. In my last appointment (7 years since surgery!), there was mention of a retina tear. There is two lumps in close proximity to the tear, The last optometrist mentioned the lumps might be cancer, the latest says maybe the start of AMD. Still believe it is better than being blind, but not a miracle cure. I do not feel the crystal lens flex like your natural lens. I have been in tense situations and when the other person crosses their arms, I think Great!, they are finally listening. After several different situations of arms being crossed, I know I am missing visual clues!:) Trying to learn patience... Sorry for the long post. Hope it is helpful.

This "fad" gives me the chills. Does your GD wear contact lenses normally? There are a lot of Web sites that sell these things, and the ones that I just looked at require a prescription to get these (and prescriptions for glasses are not the same thing as a prescription for contact lenses). When people wear different-colored contacts to change their eye color, they are getting them through their doctor's prescription. Legit Web companies will not sell without a copy of a prescription, period. (I have an ophthalmologist in the family.) Check out Lens.com (just the first site I hit on) for some FAQs about these things. Contact lenses of any type need to fit the individual's eye -- there are all sorts of variations that only a trained professional can measure. And no offense to opticians -- I'll let them order my glasses, but only with a prescription from an ophthalmologist. And if I had kids, no way would I walk into an optician's at the local mall and buy this stuff, which is what it sounds like happened. If they were purchased from one of those Halloween costume stores that pop up during this season, I would be even more worried. (The fad lenses seem to cost under $30.) Mona: Do you know which mall they went to? If I were in your shoes, I'd go do a little in-person research. I'd want to know if there is SOME eye doctor on the premises and whether the specific lenses it sells are FDA-approved, and that's just for starters. But the bottom line for me is that I would never jeopardize a child's eyesight by buying her something that I have not researched thoroughly and gotten my ophthalmologist's approval for. A $30 fad for a few hours of fun is not worth the possible issues.

I think I know what the problem is with the cost for the prescription. I go to the eye dr. every 4 months, because of an eye health issue. Now and then I need a new prescription, most times I don't. The EXAM is different. If you go to the eye dr. and can easily read the chart, that's the end of that part of the exam. However, if you do need a new prescription, they generally use a very expensive piece of equipment to read what prescription you need, then they verify it with the "Which is better this or that?" routine. You're not paying for the piece of paper you get, but the exam itself--which involves extra extra time and equipment. Since I go so often, I can assure you, the price varies by what you have done. If I just go for a quick exam, it's less, if I have my eyes dilated (about once a year), that's a little extra; if I need 'the works'--including the exam for new glasses--that costs the most. You do realize, that taking a pair of glasses you bought new elsewhere to your neighborhood optician to have them fitted is about the same as carrying a cup into McD's with you and going over to the soda machine and filling it, right? Opticians don't appreciate that sort of thing. Many do simple repairs and adjustments for free, no matter where you bought your glasses, but that sort of thing is exactly why many of them are now starting to CHARGE all their customers for those things that used to be just a part of customer service. Opticians, in most states, anyway, are medical professionals who have had to go to school for years, and put a lot of time and effort into learning their specialty. As the mother of one--I can assure you that your gal at LC may have fitted your glasses with a smile on her face while you were in the store, but she wasn't happy about it. After all, she lost time she could have been using to help a paying customer, and she didn't get the commission on the pair of glasses she fitted to your face. Opticians really do consider that kind of thing very rude. They are generally much too professional to tell you that to your face, but they're just working people like you and I, trying to make it, and they can't really afford to give their work away for free--although a lot of people think they should.

Just wanted to update on our situation. Today we had a regional Marvin rep, the manager of the vendor for their windows in our area, and a sales rep, out at our house and we inspected every single window that caused me concern. I will say that they were all fantastic, offering to replace many sashes for a 5th time now and they'll continue to do so until we are satisfied. The explanation I received for inaccuracies were that the grids are made by machine, but assembled onto the window by a person (actually he explained mostly women do this because they are more meticulous). That said, they all recognized that some of the sashes look bad and need replacing. We'll see what happens, but I wanted to post my update and say that I'm satisfied with their commitment to customer service and am so glad we had our meeting today.