Hey, I’ve been told if I have double vision it’ll be illegal for me to drive? I was wondering if anyone here gets double vision, but drives, or any info on this? I also have very bad sight in one eye.
Newly Diagnosed (14)
Beth xx
Hi I had double vision for 11 weeks and just avoided driving, was told not to drive by optimolagist and said should tell dvla, but I didn’t and just waited for it to pass. You can get prisms fitted that make it legal to drive Gray
Thank you for the reply. I’ve tried prisms but they don’t actually work and I can’t get on with them. As mentioned above, I’m only 14 at the moment, so haven’t even learnt how to drive yet anyway, plus my double vision is constant and never goes away.
Beth .
I use an eye patch when double vision is affecting me when I’m driving - DVLA are aware of this. And i know someone who has a glass eye and i allowed to drive. (no idea why that 1st sentence is in italics but it won’t let me change it )
Like yourself I have very poor eyesight in one eye, following optic neuritis, which i find makes my eyes v tired and gives me headaches - so I quite often use patch when reading or watching tv. I felt prisms in my glasses made me dizzy…
Carrie
try an eye patch.
i did when i had dv and was able to drive no problem.
got some strange looks though of people that knew me lol
Hello Beth and welcome. I see from your profile your a fan of the Artic monkeys…I’m 57 but I like their songs
Your very young to be diagnosed with MS…I hope you have plenty of support and coping ok?
Perhaps seeing an ophthalmologist regarding the doulble vision might be the best bet for you, if prisms aren’t helping.
What do your mum and dad think Beth?
Haha! Reyt good idea “mickthetrick”! Haha! I’ll do that! Haha, who knows, might start a new fashion craze?orrr Maybe not…! And hello “blossom” I AM A MASSIVE FAN OF THE ARCTIC’S! Saw them in Birmingham last year! I have LOADS of support thank you, and this site, and ms society is brilliant isn’t it?!!
Hi Beth.
Stick-on prisms cut down on the light going into one eye - that causes a differential load on the eye muscles - that could cause discomfort or worse.
Glasses where the whole lens is a prism (say a touch thicker at top or bottom) can work very well since the light going into each eye is the same. I am currently driving with bi-focal glasses made that way - and with the correction shared between the two lenses. Works for me.
The eyepatch will work well. It is best if worn over the “bad” eye, and is also better if it is translucent (same light on each eye, again). You do not need two eyes for distance vision for much over 50 feet. You can try this if you wear (say) a baseball cap, and have a strip of card about 1.5 inches wide, and about 4 inches long, tucked behind your glasses and up under the headband of the cap. Ok, so it will feel funny, and you may look silly, but it is a good test. If you are artistic, you could put fake chinese characters on the front of the card, and tell people that it is a remedy against the curious.
Geoff