New glasses really help with welding

[California]

I try to remember to grab an old pair of glasses for grinding and welding. Somehow those darn little sparks manage to pock the lenses even with a faceshield or hood in place.

I had Zenni make a second pair for shop use. Cheapest heavy plastic frames, non high-index (thicker) lenses, the only option is side shields. These also go in my luggage as emergency spares for travel.

Zenni can make prescription safety glasses, too.

 

[jk96]

Several months ago I had a cataract replaced in my right eye. The new lens was supposed to be the same focal length as my left eye. Well, for whatever reason it turned out to be only useful for close vision while my left eye remained focused for distance. I'm still arguing about this with my eye doctor. But since I'm stuck with this difference in focal lengths I have purchased glasses from Zenni online. Way cheaper than buying glasses from any local pace and they all have their glasses made in China so I just cut out the middleman. The upshot is that now I can weld again. With the difference in my eyes focal lengths I had to close one eye to see the weld clearly. This of course meant that I had no depth perception. Now, with the new glasses, I have good depth perception again. I practiced today TIG welding, which I had not done for months, and once again I can lay down good beads and I am not dipping the tungsten. HOORAY!
Eric

I wear contact. I recently had my near vision finally go and was using readers. Last visit to the eye doctor they did something similar. Right eye prescription stayed the same and left eye was adjusted to a slightly weaker prescription for reading. It has worked well for me. I see fine both near and far and no issues with depth perception. You do need to make sure your correct prescription for seeing far away is your dominant eye. My wife tried the same thing and didn't work. They assumed since she was right handed she was right eye dominant. She's actually left eye dominant and had her prescription flip flopped.

 

[KennyG]

There's a bit of advice embedded in the first post. When you have cataract surgery (and almost everyone who doesn't die young does) spend the extra money to get the vision corrected. Standard surgery just clears your vision and you still need glasses.

Go to an experienced surgeon and you will get the best vision possible. I started wearing glasses in the third grade but now I have 20/15 vision and only need reading glasses in low light.

If you are considering asymmetrical vision with close vision in one eye, have them give you glasses or contacts with those corrections to try. I tried it and it made me sick.

 

[California]

I'm naturally farsighted. 5 years ago I got a new prescription with slightly different magnification in the two lenses. Now I still don't have the depth perception I had taken for granted all my life.

Notably, approaching cars stopped ahead I used to be able to apply brakes in a manner that didn't need to be adjusted as I got closer, just a smooth stop at appropriate distance without varying the braking. Now I'm making corrections as I get closer. I might try ordering from Zenni with identical magnification just to see if that's suitable for other use than driving.

 

[etpm]

When you have cataract surgery (and almost everyone who doesn't die young does) spend the extra money to get the vision corrected.

I paid 1800 bucks extra to get the astigmatism in my right eye corrected. The lens was supposed to keep my vision the same as my left eye. It didn't. I am now near sighted in my right eye and far sighted in my left. I paid extra so that I could keep on using cheap readers and now I need prescription glasses. Nobody will admit fault or explain how I ended up with such a huge disparity in my vision.
Eric