I have always been nearsighted…severely in my left eye, and very very slightly in my right eye (when I was younger, the right one didn’t even need correction). Now, I am the dreaded over-40 and am becoming farsighted, as well. I haven’t gone to get my glasses changed, and so right now it’s glasses on, glasses off, look close, look far away…it’s annoying! I know this is why people get trifocals, and I will give in and get them sometime soon, but from what I’ve heard, they are annoying, too.
Actually, I kind of like having one eye nearsighted and one eye farsighted. I read with my left and drive with my right.
(easier done since they aren’t perfectly aligned)
The doc said that this is actually somewhat common among cross-eyed folk.
I’m 29. I’ve been having to hold the book further away lately. I’ve been nearsighted since I was about 5, wearing glasses since 7 and now I will need bifocals… at 30? Shit.
Oh, I know, but the problem is that my eyes already have wildly different focal points (my binocular vision/depth perception is terrible), and now they both have different focal points even when corrected. I never know which eye to use!
Of course, I know I am in good company, but it still sucks!
Yeah, I got my distance vision corrected and new contact lenses with my last eye exam, and then discovered my arms are too short to read restaurant menus. Since my prescription is -12.75 and -13.5, my eyeglasses are ridiculously thick and heavy, so I wear contacts almost all the time. I picked up a couple pairs of magnifying readers at Walgreen’s and scattered them all over my house, so I could always have a pair handy, and promptly lost about half the pairs. Every now and then I find a nest of them on top of the computer or at the bottom of my purse.
Technically, someone who is both far and nearsighted would have perfect vision. You would have neither.
Yes, you’re probably getting presbyopia, and there’s not a damn thing to do about it, it happens to everyone. Although presbyopia and farsightedness have similar symptoms, the causes are completely different. The former has to do with your lens becoming thicker and less able to focus, while the latter (hyperopia) usually has to do with the shape of your eyeball.
Well, no, I don’t think it’s true that if I were nearsighted and farsighted at the same time then I would have perfect vision. I DO have both conditions, one in each eye, and I assure you they have not cancelled each other out! I am typing this on my Blackberry, and I can read it if I hold it about 4 inches from my face, and if it’s about 14-16 inches from my face. In between, it’s all a blur.
And I know that what I have is presbyopia, that it’s perfectly normal for someone my age, and that it’s got a different cause than regular farsightedness…but it still sucks!
Astigmatism, hon. When your eye focuses more strongly in one plane than another (e.g. the top right to bottom left of the page is in focus, the rest isn’t). It’s a common fault. Both mine are astigmatic as well as shortsighted (and presbyobic, sigh, though I’m five years younger than you). Ordinary contacts can’t correct astigmatism, but since my eyes are astigmatic in different planes, the composite picture from both eyes with contacts in isn’t too bad.
ok–i had lasik for myopia (nearsightedness), astigmatism, AND presbyopia. the correction for presbyopia was like the bifocal contact treatment. one eye was corrected for far vision, the other for near. it was explained to me that my eyes were not equal in prescription prior to the surgery, but they worked together. same afterwards. i am able to read without any glasses at all now. i had this done 4 months ago. so it can be done! it’s unbelievable for me. i have worn glasses or contacts for 40 years.
I have worn glasses for moderate astigmatism and mild short-sightedness since 14-15 years old, apart from a few years experimenting with contacts, which I ended up feeling were more hassle than glasses in the end.
At age 45, the dreaded on and off also happened to me, as close vision fell away.
This isn’t technically long-sightedness, just the loss of ability to accommodate up close due to age.
It does take some time to get your head around though, especially for me when my astigmatism jumped from moderate to severe, and the difference between near and far prescriptions keeps increasing.
I have no problem wearing glasses, but progressive lenses do take some getting used to, and you need large frames to give you a wider focal range between the different lens strengths or the “sweet spot” can be tiny.
They are plastic lenses too, which are lighter and thinner, but MUCH harder to keep clean as they smear easily, and can melt if too close to a heat source, get hot fat or oil splashed on them etc.
The new generation varifocal progressives seem easier to live with too, but I am still shocked at how bad my eyesight actually is these days. To get something close enough to see, it is already too close for instance. Good luck!!
