Photographer insists he knows more about eyes than his ophthalmologist, ends up spending €750 on prescription glasses that don't work: 'I know optics'

• 
  via Canva+ (rick734)

  Young man model trying on glasses that don't have the right prescription. 

• I don't have glasses, and never have needed them. Although I have proudly maintained my 20/20 vision all of my life, I recently learned all about the niche tangle of knowledge in the lens crafting world after meeting my husband. He's got all the eye issues, astigmatism, nearsightedness, and a slightly lazy left retina, and when we went to the doctor to get his latest lenses, the numbers on the page leapt out at me, reminding me how little I understood about the glasses-wearing community. 

  Power to y'all, because there are a lot of nuances to having decent vision, or at least the ability to read the road signs as they come blasting towards you on the highway. 

  Truthfully, there is probably a bit of overlap between the knowledge needed to understand your glasses prescription and the expertise gained from a lifetime of photography, but there are moments in all of our lives where we must gracefully accept that we are out of our element. 

  This professional photographer refused to accept that the specifics of his glasses prescription were well out of his wheelhouse, telling the doc's how to do their jobs and insisting that he knew better. Sure, he knew about lenses in his camera, but he didn't know anything about eyes, which made his eyes nearly pop out at the price tag of his stubborn decisions. 

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  via Canva+ (rick734)

  Male model upset that his prescription glasses aren't right. 

• “Professional photographer knew better than three ophthalmologists. It cost him €750.”

  “I'm a qualified dispensing optician in France. Qualified dispensing opticians here are trained in physiological optics and visual analysis. We can adapt a prescription when necessary, but we are not allowed to create one from scratch.”

• “Back when I was learning the trade, a colleague of mine had a perfect malicious compliance moment with a customer.”

  "At the time, a medical prescription wasn't legally required to buy glasses. This customer had seen three different ophthalmologists, received three different prescriptions, and decided to cherry-pick the parts he liked from each one to build his own "improved" prescription."

• “The worst part was the addition in his progressive lenses.”

  "For those unfamiliar: the addition is the extra magnifying power used for reading and near vision in the lower part of the lens. In almost all cases, the addition is identical in both eyes. Significant differences are extremely rare and usually tied to specific medical conditions."

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  Models depicting what it's like when you help a customer choose glasses.

• “This customer was not one of those cases.”

  "Instead, he wanted one eye focused for about 67 cm (26 inches) and the other for about 40 cm (16 inches). Think of walking with a stiletto heel on one foot and a flat shoe on the other. Unless your body is built for it, you're going to have a bad time."

• “My colleague explained, repeatedly, that this was a terrible idea. The customer replied:”

  "I'm a professional photographer. I know optics. Just do what I tell you."

• "My colleague warned him that our satisfaction guarantee would not apply, strongly advised against it as part of his professional duty, and had him sign a document acknowledging all of it. Remember: he was a licensed optician, not "just a salesperson" giving an opinion."

• “The customer doubled down:”

  "It'll work. I know what I'm doing."

  "So my colleague did exactly what he asked. The lenses arrived: a high-end pair of progressive lenses costing about €750 ($850)."

• “He put them on.”

  "This is incredibly uncomfortable. I can't see properly."

  "Yes."

  "But that's not normal."

  "Actually, it is."

  "So what are we going to do?"

  "We'? Nothing."

  "Silence."

• “In the end, we were kind enough to offer a discount on a replacement pair made with a sensible prescription.”

  "We could technically have used one of our manufacturer adaptation allowances and replaced the lenses at no cost. But those exist for genuine adaptation issues, prescription errors, dispensing errors, or unusual medical circumstances. This was none of those."

• “The lenses were made exactly as ordered and performed exactly as everyone except the customer expected them to.”

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