What's you opinion/experience... eyesight and glasses/contacts

[BMW]

This year I got my first pair of glasses... trifocals. I had been having a hard time focusing on small print and sometimes I was trying to focus and it seemed that things "moved" as they came in to focus.

 

I have been amazed at the difference wearing glasses.

 

SO, I didn't have them on and realized how blurry some things were and I said, "Wow! I need to get my glasses on... I didn't realize how much of a difference they made."

 

And my dh said that was the reason he didn't want to get glasses. He has a bit of blurriness going on... not bad at all. But, he thinks if he gets glasses it will make it worse when he isn't wearing them. He thinks that our eyes depend on the glasses and that we stop seeing as good without them. Then we HAVE to wear them.

 

I don't know! What if my eyesight is the same as it was and I just noticed after getting glasses....

 

What do you think??

[Chrystal]

No, they don't make your eyes dependent on them. You just interpert your world differently. I remember when I got my first pair of glasses and looking around and realizing just how much of the world I had lost. I mean, the trees have leaves!! Can you believe it?! That was the way I felt. You lose all the detail. Your brain does adapt, somewhat. But there comes a time when it is dangerous how much of the detail you are missing. No one should miss a street sign (a detail comparatively) or small child running into the road because they are having to focus so much of thier energy in just seeing the road.

Just my 2 cents.

[Shelly in IL]

contacts since 8th grade and rigid glass permeable lenses for approx the last 25 years. My glasses/contact prescription has not changed much in the last 25 years (except for this year when I got bi-focals - and I think everyone goes through that change). I think he is safe.

[gardening momma]

I've had glasses since 4th grade and contacts since 10th grade (20 years now for contacts). Your eyes don't get worse from wearing glasses, you just notice what you can't see when you take them off. My dh also resists wearing his glasses, saying he doesn't need to see the details. It's baffling to me that he wouldn't want to, but my prescription is much stronger than his. If I held my hand a foot from my face it would be fuzzy. AND....here's something about eyes getting "worse"...my eyes have actually gotten a bit better. :w00t: (not that it's a result of wearing glasses or contacts, but obviously they haven't been harmed by it). Your eyes actually have to work harder (strain) to see when you don't have corrective lenses, so they'll only get worse if you need lenses and don't wear them.

[Carol in Cal.]

When I was a kid, my optometrist believed this, so my eyes were always undercorrected. That didn't prevent them from progressing to -10, which is my current prescription...so bad that I can't wear all brands of contacts or even all brands of fancy prescription sunglasses.

 

The only documentation I know of of what causes progressive eye damage functionally (rather than organically) is some data indicating that forcing too lengthy close focus too early contributes to nearsightedness.

[LostSurprise]

Not scientific data...but over-correcting a prescription seemed to hurt my eyesight. Over-correcting means that the prescription was so strong it gave me weeks/months of headaches. When told the doctor said I'd 'get used to them.' Eventually I did. Surprise! They were worse next time, and continued to worsen until I got a new eye doctor.

 

However, putting off glasses did not change my mothers nearsightedness in mid-age. She put it off for several years. It did not get better, only worsened. Now she regrets waiting.

[gardening momma]

Not scientific data...but over-correcting a prescription seemed to hurt my eyesight. Over-correcting means that the prescription was so strong it gave me weeks/months of headaches. When told the doctor said I'd 'get used to them.' Eventually I did. Surprise! They were worse next time, and continued to worsen until I got a new eye doctor.

I agree--overcorrecting is probably as bad or worse than undercorrecting. The eyes would have to work to focus, since an overcorrection would put things out of focus.