do glasses make your eyesight worse ?

Soldato
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yes so i sometimes need reading glasses but my eyesight seems to vary ,i notice that when people wear glasses they tend to end up needing stronger and stronger lenses .
is this caused exclusively by their eye condition or is there a chance that the process of wearing glasses can weaken eyesight.
rather than just googling. thought i would ask incase anyone has personal experiance
my eyes have been checked out btw for the floaters i get ,no problems
 
Soldato
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I'm on the same prescription now as I was 30 years ago. I wear my glasses all the time (when awake obviously). Eyesight can degenerate with age but not because you've given them additional support prescription wise, it's not a muscle.
 
Soldato
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From my own experience i'd say yes, but then I think its more that you put off getting them till you absolutely need to and then you realise how poor your vision has become when you get them.

It was explained to me by an optician that your eye muscles lose performance over the years and when they are younger can make up for your poorer sight but as you get older they can't do that so well, that then gets worse as you get older. Over the last 12 years I have gone from not wearing them to using varifocals.
Obviously sight problems you are born with are different but age ones are you getting on a trip your not getting off!
 
Soldato
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You can definately damage your eyes but not looking after them, for example I had my first eye test for about 25 years and got prescribed glasses. I now realise how blurred my eyesight has become and I know it's partly, or largely due to sitting infront of a PC screen for years and years. By viewing things at such short distances and not longer distances my eyes have become physically damaged (myopia). Since i've become aware of this I've stopped using the PC as much and I would say they've improved but I'm definately a believer that if you don't use your eyes probably they will physically damage.

So I would imagine that using glasses could damage your eyes as it's not natural for them to see things through the lens of a glass.
 
Soldato
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People need reading glasses as they get older as their lenses harden over time, causing the muscles that bend the lenses to focus your eyes at close distances to have to work harder to achieve the same close focus. As we get older still, these muscles start to slacken off as well.

Your first pair will be 0.75 or 1.0 and will last you a long time for reading. What you need to understand is that reading glasses are meant to focus at 25cm you’ll need varifocals if your eyes need help for computer use in the 50-75cm distance range.
 
Associate
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.. it's not a muscle.

It is though, the ciliary muscle. Too much close up + locked ciliary muscle = myopia.
I watched a documentary which went through Mongolia, apparently the people there have excellent eyesight, why? because they're always looking into the distance and not close up 24/7 like the western world.
 
Soldato
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Your first pair will be 0.75 or 1.0 and will last you a long time for reading. What you need to understand is that reading glasses are meant to focus at 25cm you’ll need varifocals if your eyes need help for computer use in the 50-75cm distance range.

LOL, I want to read my book, not rub my nose on it! :p

What you need is what ever prescription meets your needs.

A company called Varionet used to produce a particularly good quality range of off the shelf working/reading glasses including varifocals. But sadly they seem to have disappeared.:(

(As of now, there is one item still available from Amazon, but I haven't been able to find the parent companies site anymore)
 
Associate
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I know that when I was younger I wore glasses for around 15 years, then had laser eye surgery and I found my eyes got tired and a bit achy as I was looking left and right, but when I had glasses I would turn my whole head to look. Took a while for it to be normal
 
Man of Honour
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I find this but I suspect some of the problem is the amount of time I spend looking at things close up - unfortunately between work, home computer use and hobbies there is a lot of that. If I get new glasses within a few weeks the distance I can read say a number plate without them decreases every time - if I went back to the optician every few weeks they'd probably constantly give me a more powerful prescription.
 
Commissario
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yes so i sometimes need reading glasses but my eyesight seems to vary ,i notice that when people wear glasses they tend to end up needing stronger and stronger lenses .
is this caused exclusively by their eye condition or is there a chance that the process of wearing glasses can weaken eyesight.
rather than just googling. thought i would ask incase anyone has personal experiance
my eyes have been checked out btw for the floaters i get ,no problems

Your eyes tend to deteriorate over time with or without glasses.

I've been wearing glasses for nearly 30 years and the change so far has been very slow (I can still use glasses from 6 years ago and read a number plate for example), but people who wear glasses will if sensible get their eyes checked every couple of years and get new ones if needed :) (everyone should get their eyes checked at least every two years, especially if they drive ;)).

It's part of the ageing process.
 
Soldato
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Myth.

I wore the same pair of specs for 12 years, my eyes got worse and worse over time. I went to the opticians this xmas and they told me my prescription had increased by an entire diopter! which is a lot....
 
Soldato
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It is though, the ciliary muscle. Too much close up + locked ciliary muscle = myopia.
I watched a documentary which went through Mongolia, apparently the people there have excellent eyesight, why? because they're always looking into the distance and not close up 24/7 like the western world.

That muscle isn't "the eye" though it's one tiny part of it, it might influence the shape of the eye but I'm not aware of anyway to train it or fix it without surgery.
 
Soldato
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Myth.

I wore the same pair of specs for 12 years, my eyes got worse and worse over time. I went to the opticians this xmas and they told me I had increased by an entire diopter! which is a lot....

12 years with the same pair? were you getting your eyes tested every couple of years because that's a long time for it to suddenly change tbh.
 
Soldato
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This seems like an appropriate thread to ask this question :).

Sometimes when I am reading a book, I need to close my right eye to be able to read correctly. Should I go to opticians? To me, it feels like my eyesight is perfect but not sure why I have to squint.
 
Soldato
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I really think glasses do make your eyesight worse. I was told in a routine work eye test in 1993(!) that I was long sighted and needed glasses for reading/VDU(lol) work, but I found the compromise of wearing them not worth it so I chucked them. Every time I've had an eye test in the 26 years since nothing has changed, and in fact these days I'm told I don't need glasses at all. On the flipside I've seen people get glasses when in their teens/early 20s and they get stronger and stronger prescriptions over the years.
 
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