I feel really weird posting this here, because I'm not that vision impaired, but I didn't know where else to post. I've worn corrective lenses since 6th grade and until a few years ago they were always able to correct vision to near 20/20, but this last time not only could they not really "perfect" it, he really couldn't even come very close. Is this better or is this better? I've never been in a situation where it's all just... bad. He's telling me he can't understand why I can't read the last line when I can't even read the second line. I've always been near-sighted and at 45 I'm now losing my near vision like most people. I'd always worn contacts, but a few years ago I switched to progressive glasses, because of all the horror stories I'd heard about multi-focal contacts. At first, I was thrilled, because I'd gone so long without an exam or updating my prescription. By that time my middle and near vision was horrible. The progressive glasses seemed like a near miracle, but as normally happens in a couple of years they weren't enough again. No problem. I'm used to that. What I'm not used to is the impairment being so apparently difficult to correct BOTH my near and far vision AND the optician being so perplexed. There was none of the, oh well you have a slight astigmatism in your left eye we can't totally correct, it was just... nothing was much better in either eye. He was an older man and I didn't get the sense he's just not good at his job, nor did he make me feel like I must not be being truthful, but that he was so obviously unusually frustrated and seemed to have NO IDEA why he couldn't correct my vision to anywhere near his expectations has left me unsettled.

The weirdest part was that when he finally gave up and gave me a pair of concentric multi-focal contacts, they were incredible! It felt like I was back to all the years I wore contacts. I had zero issues getting used to them and drove home in them, which he also said was unusual. I've been wearing them most of the time, but tonight my eyes were tired and I've slowly begun noticing they aren't as magical as I first thought. So I put on the progressive glasses I purchased at the same time. I cannot see nearly as well. Everything is blurry no matter where I look through the lenses. They're pretty much the same as my previous pair. Is this a thing where they can't prescribe a prescription for glasses that corrects your vision nearly as well as contacts?

If he had told me yeah, this happens when you get older that everything can't be corrected that would be one thing. But he was clearly frustrated and confused that he was able to correct it so little. I actually floated the idea to him that maybe I've just reached a point\\age where it can't be corrected all that well and he was adamant he should be able to, but he really couldn't find lenses that were any better than my previous glasses and when I got home and looked at the strength of my new contacts they aren't that much higher than the contacts I wore 5 years ago. They're only -3.75 med +2.00 for near.

I'm sure I sound like I'm whining, because they can't make my vision perfect, but I'm really not. I'm just very unsettled that I feel like something more is going on than just normal aging. My father was legally blind as were his 2 brothers. I watched his struggles and theirs to find corrective lenses that worked. He wore hard contacts and I didn't really understand the depth of his impairment until he decided to get his pilot's license and he had to work with his ophthalmologist through trial and error to find lenses he could see through well enough to pass the vision test. They all eventually had cataract surgery (they didn't have cataracts) which corrected their far vision to almost perfect. Their vision problems are hereditary and I don't believe it's related to whatever is going on with my vision. I only bring it up in that I learned fairly early that not everything is correctable and you just do the best you can. I just really feel like something isn't right and I want someone to be able to tell me yeah, this is happening and it's just a thing and it's going to get worse and we can only do so much. How could the optician have NO IDEA why he couldn't correct it? He said there was nothing wrong with my eyes, but something is wrong. I know in my gut something is wrong, it's getting worse, and I'd really like to know if this is normal or if I should expect things to get much worse and to be less and less correctable because that's what it feels like.

Tldr: Previously correctable vision is less and less correctable. Optician believes this should not be the case and seems to have not the vaguest idea why this is. His confusion\\frustration is\\was more unsettling than corrective lenses being significantly less successful than in the past.