Now You Can Check Your Vision at Home

When my son was two, I had Lasik eye surgery.  Previously, my eyes were 20/200, they were terrible.  Afterward, my vision was 20/15.  I’ll never forget how it felt to wake up the next morning and be able to see.  I no longer needed to reach for my glasses.  There was so much more light on the things, it was amazing.

Fast forward 10 years and I have seen how my eyesight is degrading, especially these past two years.  What once was crystal clear has become cloudy or shady.  Reading the lyrics on the screen at church has become more difficult.  Sigh.

Is it my tablet or my phone that is causing this?  Is it environmental or is it just getting older?  I really have no idea of knowing.  Honestly, besides an eye check-up a couple of years ago, I haven’t been to an optometrist for 10 years.  So I’ve had no other way to track my eyesight and if it’s fading at a quick or slow pace.

At the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) last year, I ran across a handy little device that can help you test your eyesight…at home…and it costs just under $30.  It’s called the EyeQue Personal Vision Tracker; it’s a small optical miniscope you use with an app on your phone to estimate your visual acuity in each eye.  It can help determine the refractive error and help you assess changes in your vision over time.

What is visual acuity? Visual acuity is the clarity and sharpness of a person’s vision.  Its measure is the fraction we are all so familiar with.  A person with 20/20 vision has normal vision.  A person with 20/100 vision needs to be 20 feet away to see an object that people with 20/20 vision can see at 100 feet.

The EyeQue Personal Vision Tracker measures the focal length correction needed to get light to focus on your retina.  This needed “correction” is called the refractive correction.  EyeQue uses these numbers to determine your EyeGlass Numbers or in other words, your eyeglass “prescription.”

How To Use

To begin, ensure your smartphone will work with the EyeQue Personal Vision Tracker, then download the EyeQue app.  It needs to be used on your smartphone estimate your refractive error.

Steps

1.  Open the app and place your EyeQue Personal Vision Tracker on the square shown on the screen.  Strap the miniscope onto the phone with the included strap.
2.  Begin the test.  Focus your left eye on an object 5 feet away, look into the tracker with your right eye, and ensure the dial on the EyeQue Personal Vision Tracker is set to 1.
3.  You will see a red bar and a green bar.  Using the + or – buttons, move the two bars together so one completely overlaps the other.
4.  After you’re done, press next and move to the next setting on the tracker to  #2.
5.  Repeat this process until you’ve gone through all 9 steps.
6. Now repeat the process with your left eye.

To ensure you get an accurate reading, you will need to perform this test at least 3 times.  You will then be given your Eyeglass Numbers.  Once EyeQue feels they have good enough information, you will be shown your score for all three + complete tests.

Do You Have Astigmatism?

The reason you need to test each eye 9 times is so EyeQue can assess your eyes for astigmatism.  Astigmatism typically is something you are born with and can cause blurry vision. 

It means an eye is cylindrical (like a football) like rather than spherical.  This happens when an eye is elongated in one direction relative to another.  EyeQue will let you know if you have astigmatism and what the numbers are for each eye.

What Do the Results Mean?

Your results will give you numbers to help you assess your visual acuity and what you need to order glasses. 

You will receive a detailed set of measurements in the same format as your optometrist’s eyeglass prescription.   You can then purchase glasses online using your EyeGlass Numbers.

Although you will not be given the traditional 20/20 rating that we are all used to, you can get a better understanding with this How to Convert Diopters to 20/20 Vision chart. 

My EyeGlass Numbers are -.75 and -1.25.  So, based on this chart, I’m guessing that I am roughly 20/60.  I was relieved to see my vision wasn’t as bad as I thought it could be.  In a few months, I will test it again to ensure my eyes don’t continue to degrade.

Because there are no numbers under the Cylindrical column, I do not have astigmatism.

Is it Time for Reading Glasses?

If you state in your EyeQue profile that your age as 40 or above, EyeQue automatically provides a bifocal assessment for you.  Your EyeGlass Numbers provide you with a NVADD number.  The NV stands for “near vision.”  ADD means to add a bifocal magnifying section to the bottom of the lens. 

As my NVADD is +1.75 I have a moderate need for reading glasses and bifocals would be the best solution for me.

How Do You Know EyeGlass Numbers Are Accurate?

The EyeQue PVT is registered as a Class 1 medical device with a 510K exemption by the FDA.

After you have generated your EyeGlass Numbers you will also see a confidence score.  This score ranges from poor to high.  This confidence score is based on the precision of the test results. 

If the confidence level is high or good, then you can go ahead and use the EyeGlass Numbers to order glasses.  If you receive a poor or fair confidence level, you should continue taking tests until your results are more accurate.

Along with your EyeGlass Numbers, EyeQue provides a Pupillary Distance ruler to help you measure.  These results are needed when ordering glasses online.

The EyeQue Personal Vision Tracker sells for $29.95 plus $3.50 for shipping and handling on the EyeQue website.  Your purchase includes a one-year EyeQue subscription with unlimited vision tests and storage of your data.  After the first year, the subscription will be $4.99 every year.

A Mom’s Perspective

While at CES this year, I stopped by the EyeQue tradeshow booth to talk to them further about EyeQue.  I spoke with the product’s co-founder, John Serri, PhD. 

 

EyeQue is dedicated to helping people learn to care for their eyes at an affordable price.  Their hope is to bring EyeQue to billions of people around the world, many of which have never had the opportunity to test their eye and correct their vision.

*I was given an EyeQue Personal Vision Tracker for purposes of review.  All opinions and EyeGlass numbers are my own. 🙂