I wish they would do that for me because the A or B questions are so anxiety inducing. I just want to see properly, not take a test where struggling to give the right answer means I don't get to see as clearly as I could otherwise
this post was submitted on 21 Sep 2025
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I wish they would do that for me
They do. It's why your first A/B question doesn't look like a giant blurry mess. The machine already got it close, now they are fine tuning the final result with your input.
Find an eye doctor that has the time for you, so you don't feel rushed. My family always used to take us to wal-mart when we were kids, and I still kept going there as an adult. Until one time I had to go to somewhere closer one day. And it was night and day. At walmart you always felt rushed like they booked each appointment for 5 minutes or something. At a proper eye doctor, we sat and talked about all my eye health, not just vision. And never once did it feel like they were just trying to get through the appointment. They were interested to hear about my health. But most importantly, they were very open to spending twice as much time doing the a/b testing at a comfortable pace. And I didn't have to suggest it, they could tell it would benefit me.
“It’s hard to tell the difference” is an option
Not had a test in over a decade but I remember having a guy that wouldn't accept that as an option. Although most do.
Eyesight is fine for close up, little fuzzy at a distance but I can still make out the towers on the oil refinery 15km away even if i can't make out the houses in the town next to it anymore. Realistically I would be given glasses for long distance and then never wear them.
Here's something to think about that might help. Some of those A/B tests are red herrings! They'll swap a clear lens in and out, the result being both the same. Or, they'll swap the one you selected last from the "A" position and use it as "B" instead! All in an effort to throw you off their scent. Then, they'll even test you against the ones you already tested against!
they’ll even test you against the ones you already tested against
Yep, they are trying to get you as close as possible to your best prescription. So making sure is important.
I don't need glasses, but got my vision tested because it was covered so why not? I remember the optometrist asking me to read something that was really small text and hard to read. I could make out like maybe 1/2 of it and then she was like I'm just messing with you, you weren't actually expected to be able to read that. Brief panic lol.
You can ask to check again, take your time if you're unsure.
My optometrist has been getting impatient these last couple of years.
My doc just throws it in my face, takes a couple of better/worse questions, "That's what I thought." Done.
No need to be anxious! "Can't tell." is a valid answer.
You might consider asking them, and they very well might do that assuming they have the equipment.
They're likely just trying to verify that the equipment got it right.
If they give you an A or B test and you can't tell after two iterations, you just say same. If you can't tell the difference on demand, it's not going to make a significant difference to your prescription.
JFC dude...this is not "a test" in the sort that you can give correct/incorrect answers. Say whether it is better/not better/no difference, and they take it from there. These are only to get as close to perfect to your subjective opinion on what good vision is, the objective part is all done automatically with no input from you...they hold your hand every step of the way and guide you, you barely need to have cognitive function to get a good result with a half decent optometrist (a baby with no communication will literally do just fine, as seen in the post). Making it some crazy test scenario that you have to somehow perform in is fucking nuts.
JFC dude, somebody has anxiety and you can't handle it. You should probably focus on your attitude.
They do, and then they fine tune the prescription with the "A or B" questions.
You can skip that part if you want, but it's only going to result in an even less accurate prescription, which babies don't mind cause they can't read.
FWIW, I used to be the same way, but eventually you get over it as you get older, because eventually you stop noticing there's a problem! Happens even to the best of us.
In general lots of doctors can safely disregard whatever fresh nonsense drivel a patient says in favor of purely observational imperical diagnosis
This is a really fun TIL
Then why do they ask me these questions? You are the doctor, fix me.
Though recently waited YEARS to get a problem diagnosed. Paramedic suggested a possible cause and said I would need to go to a GP to see if it that was the problem, GP dismissed that idea without testing anything and sent me home. All they needed to do was an ultrasound scan. The main reason it took so long is because every time I saw someone about it they would dismiss it as something else and it will probably go away. But at the same time its a very mild issue that could just be ignored so it isn't exactly a high priority, diagnosis is more peace of mind that it isn't something more serious.
That's because in many other circumstances they can't. Doctors are also taught to treat the patient, not the issue. If they find something e.g. in hospital but it doesn't cause you symptoms (yet), they will likely leave it be, because in terms of QoL calculus further testing, anxiety and stress from any treatment they would do would likely exceed the actual perceived (by you) benefit.
At least that's how I understand it. It's honestly a disconnect because I think majority of people view their body more like a car and their doctors like the auto mechanics, and it is their responsibility to not only repair it when it breaks, but to maintain it to prevent it from breaking in the first place and keep it 'within normal parameters' so to speak.
However there's a vastly bigger segment of the population - the elderly (>45) - for whom this is not the case, they tend to mistrust medicine, have very little basic scientific or medical knowledge and what they do have tends to be either misinformation or severely out of date, often they lack the capacity or willingness to even understand what is told to them, they simply don't accept that huffing arsenic at work is "probably not good" for them, because they've been doing it all their life.
They will never accept that a doctor isn't an evil agent of the new world order who wants to put a microchip in them to stop them from saying slurs or beating their wife/kid, but actually is just being nice and helpful.
So they don't bother.
Could this be automated like those blood pressure machines they have at pharmacies?
The "auto" in autofrefactor is because it's the automatic test. It's the "Look at the farmhouse/balloon" test.
There are several videos about how it works, but if you want to waste some time, this one is about where the image comes from
Eventually, yes. But your optometrist does more than just check your refractive correction, but it's likely nothing that a couple of pictures, a short video and some AI can't muddle through with a pretty high precision.
Getting your refractive index would allow them to at least order your glasses. And they could always send off your imagery to a service that looks at the data. Hell, if you're a contact wearer, they could probably just dispense them from the machine.
The one thing that would still be missing is a place to actually properly fit you, and then fix your frames after you've settled them a few times.
Cause science you dumbkoff
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rocket very thirsty