# Optical Forums > General Optics and Eyecare Discussion Forum >  How strong can glasses be made? This got me curious

## Myoptic33

I am curious how strong is it possible to make glasses to. Someone in another forum said +50 to -60! I read some glasses stories and they say -60 is about the strongest they can make because your near point would only be 2/3 of an inch or 16.6cm from your eye! Is it also impossible to make glasses thicker than -60? What if someone is worse than -60(if thats even possible) wouldnt his eye be like twice as long as normal? Would he still be able to see a thing if he was -70 and wore -70 glasses(if they can be made this thick)  :Nerd:  



As for plus glasses, I read that its very rare to be +15 because your eye would be very short, only like 3/4 of normal! How high a hyperope can one be? What else would make one more than +15 besides short eye and flat corneas? Is there a such thing as myodisc but in a + verson? I often see magnifying glasses(not the glasses kind but the lope kind) that have a small disc on the bottom for "close up" zooming. 

Finally whats the highest myope/hyperope you know? whats the highest possible in theory? I have heard +25-+30 is the most farsighted any human can ever be and -50-65 is the most myopic one can ever be but ive never seen anyone worse than -20 or so myself 



http://www.geocities.com/specs4ever/phenomena.htm 



This is a fiction glasses story but I noticed this part: 



With -60D glasses, the focal point is 16mm or 0.66 inches from the front of the eye. The lenses of a persons glasses sit between 11 and 13 mm from the eye, and for any useful vision at all, the natural focal point has to be a bit beyond the front of the lens. 



would this mean that -70 glasses cant help much or something? -70 would mean a 14.3MM focal point. Isnt this still more than the 11-13mm the glasses sit from the eye? Anyone know the world record for highest myopia, is it that -70 someone showed me?  :Nerd:

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## chip anderson

You been smokin' too many of the funny cigarettes late at night.  I have made contact lenes at -35 or so.  A few at -60 but they were to facilitate certian treatments or examinations.  I have also made some to +35.  But let it be said that glasses and contact lenses can be made much stronger than any eye will ever require.  For some weird reason much of public believes "stronger is better."  Once you get beyond the point  were things focus on the retina, stronger is worse.

Such questions are like how large can shoes be made although men are never taller than eight feet.  There is no point in making shoes for people 10 feet tall.

Chip

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## Myoptic33

I didnt know contacts can be made such a high pescription without being so thick they would hurt your eye once inserted! I have never seen soft contact lenses over -12 and many stores actually only carry up to -6 to -10 as for plus, some dont have em at all, others have up to +6 to +8 I know RGP are the hard kind but they are thicker so can be made higher. There is no limit in theory as long as they get thicker and thicker. Not everyone can tolerate contacts and thick ones are less tolerant. Seems like alot of xtreme myopes cant tolerate their contacts(which would be RGP anyway)

I know too strong is bad, but I dont know how high myopia goes to, some say there have been people at -60 or even -70 diopters! Would this mean the eye is about twice as long as normal among other factors?

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## Happylady

We have one patient that wears a -29 contact lens. A few years ago she wanted to have some backup glasses. I don't remember the exact power, they were about a -32. She was unable to wear them.

She sees 20/40 with her contacts.

I had a man come into my shop once for an adjustment and his lenses were over -20. 

We have a few patients that wear lenses in the mid teens, but I see very few above -12 or -13.

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## chip anderson

One must remember that with forward lenses centration becomes more important.  Distortions are more and more present as one gets away from the center the stronger the lens is the more distortions occur as one moves from the away from the center.  This translates that even if one could see through the center of these extremly strong powers, the field of vision would be extremly limited.  Somewhat like looking through high powered binoculars and trying to see to the sides.  

I have made contacts for gonioscopic work and photo-coagulators in the 50+ diopter range but I think the strongest I have ever done for visual correction is in the neighborhood of 35-37 diopters.  However one must remember that if all is as it should be, for all practical purposes the center of the lens moves with the eye in a contact which is not the case with spectacles.

Chip

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## roderick_llewellyn

I am one of those people who fools around with "glasses over contacts" to synthesize high powers (my natural Rx is about -9.00 D). I have little problem wearing +20 contact lenses (Alden Classics), which create a spectacle -33 approx power. I have the glasses in both blended & unblended myodiscs, little difference in VA. I also have +25 CLs which produce a -42 spectacle Rx, done in a double-bowl style myodisc (35mm front bowl, 28mm back). This is harder to wear, mainly because the nose pads are too small for the heavy lenses (I also don't like tiny frames, sorry). My most powerful combination is a +30 CL with a -52 spectacle Rx. These glasses are surprisingly thin, only a few mm. They are double myodiscs, with a 20mm bowl size on both sides, in some kind of very high index material. Optics are poor, I suspect partially because of the extreme power and partially because of very high index. The -42 pair is much more tolerable (although much heavier and thicker).
As far as high plus powers go, you get them thru having your natural crystalline lens removed. And there is an equivalent to myodiscs for high hyperopes, called "lenticular" lenses. You don't see them much anymore due to intra-ocular lens implants.
Have fun! - Roderick L.

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## Myoptic33

I havent posted in a while! I got an email when you replied so here I am! Very interesing GoC experience! While I dont consider myself a regular wearer, ive done it on a few occasions with +8 contacts which is the highest one can find comercially without a special order or those hard, uncomfortable RGPs. Those -8 contacts added another -10 diopters to my existing -5. I have many pairs of glasses, spares and older pairs and I tried all sorts of combos. Was wearing three or four pairs of glasses! Of course all those pairs will minify much more than just one pair cause of the vertex distance of the pairs sitting on top of the others. I achieved a BCVA of 20/50!  :hammer: The contacts themselves have a lenticular design which was about 6mm diameter. My pupil expands beyond this making for quite an interesting effect with an intense blur in the center with the sides quite clear actually. I could not get an accurate 20/xxxx because of this but if I could, it would be in the 20/3000 range! I could see 20/200 from the sides so I was able to move around easy. Anyway with those three glasses on me, I felt like 10 feet tall and everything was so far away like looking at the wrong end of binoculars! I got dizzy walking and the walls appeared to curve in! Can you show me pictures of those myodiscs? Especially that -52 one!  :p

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## Happylady

> I am one of those people who fools around with "glasses over contacts" to synthesize high powers (my natural Rx is about -9.00 D). I have little problem wearing +20 contact lenses (Alden Classics), which create a spectacle -33 approx power. I have the glasses in both blended & unblended myodiscs, little difference in VA. I also have +25 CLs which produce a -42 spectacle Rx, done in a double-bowl style myodisc (35mm front bowl, 28mm back). This is harder to wear, mainly because the nose pads are too small for the heavy lenses (I also don't like tiny frames, sorry). My most powerful combination is a +30 CL with a -52 spectacle Rx. These glasses are surprisingly thin, only a few mm. They are double myodiscs, with a 20mm bowl size on both sides, in some kind of very high index material. Optics are poor, I suspect partially because of the extreme power and partially because of very high index. The -42 pair is much more tolerable (although much heavier and thicker).
> As far as high plus powers go, you get them thru having your natural crystalline lens removed. And there is an equivalent to myodiscs for high hyperopes, called "lenticular" lenses. You don't see them much anymore due to intra-ocular lens implants.
> Have fun! - Roderick L.


I am curious, why do you want to wear such thick or strong glasses? Is this something you just do once in a while or do you wear them often?

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## chip anderson

Roderick:  Hydron and several other "commercially" available softlens are available up to + or - 20.00 or more without being "special order" or custom made.

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## Myoptic33

I have never seen soft contacts commercially available past -16 and most stop at -10 or -12. Very few people have this high pescription so naturally not very many contacts are made this high. When my mom got her refill of -7.5 contacts the store didnt even have this pescription in stock so had to order some which she picked up a week later. They had lots of -1s, -2s, -3s and some -4s and -5s. Also lots of low pluses for hyperopes and presbyopes. See the post below from another thread. -96 diopters? -104??!!



Originally Posted by Lewy
I remember attending a seminar by Norvilles several years ago. One of the questions asked at the time was "What is the highest minus lens you have dispensed". Personally I have dispensed a -33.00 as a bonded lenticular. In the audience the highest quoted was -42.00............. Norvilles topped it by a large margin, they had had an order for -96.00, YES you read it correctly, -96.00. To make the lenses thay had to cement 2 lenses back to back and each had an aperture of approx 12mm. A year later they had another order for the same client for -104.00, they physically couldn't make it.

Consensus of opinion was a guide dog or white stick would have been a better bet.

Lewy 



minus 96 diopters?  holy is this even possible? I saw one website that says they once made a -70 glasses and they said it was a world record too! His eyes got worse by -8 in one year? Wow whats his corrected vision? something like 20/2000? His uncorrected vision would be LP(light perception)
How much myopia is physically possible? Wouldnt your eyeballs be more than twice as long as normal, your corneas extremely steep, your lenses like three times thicker?

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## Caroline1008

> I am curious, why do you want to wear such thick or strong glasses? Is this something you just do once in a while or do you wear them often?


They are high myope fetishists, strange but true. I do not think I have ever met one but one never know as people who like the look of ultra high minus lenses no longer have to deal with us. They can buy online. In addition to wearing high plus contacts to increase their myopia, they will also insist on large frames and low index plastic lenses.

Ironically, most of my high minus patients want to get rid of their glasses or if they must wear glasses, they want the thinnest possible lenses. 

To each his/her own.

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## chip anderson

Pretty sure you can get at least + or - 25.00 but not in a disposeable.  I think around 35 or 37 either way is the strongest rigid lenses I have every fit, except for a couple of pstysical (sp) eyes that were also aphakic.   Now that I think of it I'm pretty sure you can get pediatric aphakic soft lenses up to at least +35.00.
As to freaks that would wear high minus glasses over plus contacts just for the cosmetic effect.  The belong in the same zoo with those who have ear loops, multiple tatoos, piercings and the like.  It' appearently easy for some people to slip into the subhuman just to be "individuals."

Chip

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## obxeyeguy

> They are high myope fetishists, strange but true. I do not think I have ever met one but one never know as people who like the look of ultra high minus lenses no longer have to deal with us. They can buy online. In addition to wearing high plus contacts to increase their myopia, they will also insist on large frames and low index plastic lenses.
> 
> Ironically, most of my high minus patients want to get rid of their glasses or if they must wear glasses, they want the thinnest possible lenses. 
> 
> To each his/her own.


Welcome to Optiboard!!  















Oh, and thanks for reviving a 4 year old thread.:D

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## Johns

> Oh, and thanks for reviving a 4 year old thread.:D


 
No joke!  At least it was a relevant topic.  I knew there were folks that had "Be A Pain In The But To My Optician Fetishes", but I wasn't sure there were Myopic Fetishes.  Is that like beer goggles?

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## Caroline1008

Hi Chip,

I think I would go only to the highest disposable possible before suggesting RGP or RGP and softlense piggyback only because so many develop issues with high Rx soft contact lenses. For some reason, it seems that people are more intolerant of lens sensation, itch etc. than CL wearers 20 yrs ago! :)

Hi Obyxeyeguy,

thanks for the welcome. We were talking about myodiscs at the office. The opticians I work with have never done one before and were quite certain it would be awful whereas our two assistants/receptionists have never heard of them so I googled myodiscs to show them what it was like. There were quite a lot of fetish sites but I found this thread on your board. Our highest myope is a -24 but he is wearing aspheric high index.

Hi Johns,

The internet has made it easier for people with similar interests to find each other. It is rather surprising what turns people on but while I see no harm in it, I don't think I would help anyone get high Rx lenses just for the sake of high Rx lenses.

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## Johns

> Hi Johns,
> 
> The internet has made it easier for people with similar interests to find each other. It is rather surprising what turns people on but while I see no harm in it, I don't think I would help anyone get high Rx lenses just for the sake of high Rx lenses.



Hey Caroline!

  Welcome!  I know where you're coming from, I was just pulling your chain. (that's my job around here!;))

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## rosaline1

I am scared to think that for are the glasses of +50 or +60 are made.
Anyway its good though the technology gets going.

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