Wondering if my astigmatism prescription is correct.?

Question

I recently filled the eyeglass prescription that an optometrist at Walmart Vision gave me. My prescription is -7.00 for the right eye, and -5.00 for the left eye with an astigmatism correction factor of - 50 (cyl) and 30 (axis). The cylinder factor is -50 with no decimal places. This seemed kind of high to me since I also wear normal contact lenses and see just fine out of those. I filled the prescription anyway, and when I wear the eyeglasses, I feel like I am in a fun house. Everything looks slanted at an angle and magnified very large.

Also, the optometrist did not have my previous eyeglass prescription. When I called and asked about it today, he said that he had seen a corrective factor in my old glasses and so included it on my new prescription. However, he did not test me for the astigmatism himself. However, if I had a corrective factor before and it is the same one he prescribed, then why am I having these problems?

What should I do? Is a -50 cyl. factor normal?

Answer 1

If spherical (ordinary) contacts seem satisfactory, that was almost certainly intended to be -0.50.

"he did not test me for the astigmatism himself"

He did if he did a refraction.

If he just read the Rx off the old glasses, that's a different situation with its own puzzles: was it supposed to be an examination?

There might easily have been half a dioptre of astigmatism on a previous spectacle Rx: it's hardly remarkable, and wouldn't necessarily have been specifically mentioned.

I think the last time I checked that was the national average amount...  Absolutely normal.

If the person who made the Rx assumed it was supposed to be 5.00, the vision would be amazingly bad, with everything stretched out at an angle.

(if uncertain, they should have checked, but the optometrist should have made the RX clear. This is where it's much easier if the prescriber and dispenser are the same firm.)

You need to get the glasses, and the intended Rx,  both confirmed and compared.

Answer 2

Yes, it is correct. It is just that the degree is lesser than 0.75 which is the borderline for wearing toric lenses.