Do glasses further increase short-sightedness?

Factual Questions
1

This is just personal experience, but it seems to me that the few months after I get a new perscription for my glasses, my vision in general gets worse at a very fast rate. I’ll see perfectly when I get them, but in a month or two, my vision isn’t nearly as good corrected - and even worse uncorrected.

I’m thinking that perhaps having the glasses do the work of refracting light, the eye is ‘getting lazy’ and getting worse (more short sighted) because of the new perscription.

Also, my unaided vision has been getting dramatically worse. a month or two ago, I could read a normal print book from 3 feet away pretty easily, but lately, at that range, it’s a total blur. I have to put my head about half as far to read. That’s really dramatic for 2 months, and I’m worried.

2

I’m no expert, but I do know that with the type of vision problem I have that my eyesight will not change much over my lifetime. I was told this by an optomotrist 10 years ago and so far she has been right. My glasses haven’t changed much in the last 10 years and I can still see fairly well out of my first ones.

The one thing she also said was that if I wear them often I will get a little dependent on them. It’s not so much that my vision changes as my eyes just get used to having them.

My problem is basically that my eyes are slightly myopic. If you have a different problem then you should ask your eye doc about it. Even when I first started wearing my glasses I never had rapid vision changes like what you describe.

3

After 30 years of wearing glasses for myopia my eyes are actually starting to get better. Unfortunately, at the rate of improvement I’ll have to live to 512 to reach 20/20.

There are different vision problems. Some get better, some don’t. When I was a teenager my eyes changed as rapidly as SenorBeef’s. It was disturbing, but connected to puberty’s rapid growth and changes and stopped once I was adult.

SenorBeef, you need to go to an ophthamologist and find out what’s going on with your eyes. You may, indeed, be looking at rapid changes. There might be something else going on. This can’t be diagnosed over the internet.

But glasses do not cause vision problems What happens sometimes is that people get glasses, finally know what 20/20 looks like, and then become more aware of how their eyes are not as good as that, and more aware of changes afterward that would have happened anyway.

4

I have a similar situation - my eyes, after 20 years of glasses, have finally started to improve, by a full diopter number in each eye.

But I have wondered the same as the OP, and hope a medical expert can stop by to tell us what they know.

5

bump

6

My opticians and eye-doctors seem to have made a point of under-correcting when prescribing lens power.

7

I hate going to the eye doctor.

At the ones I’ve been to in recent years, they appear to have a poor concept of the need to sanitize their equipment- neither between their patients, nor on a regular basis. I always wonder if that’s the reason peoples eyes often get worse like what the OP describes.

I understand that there aren’t a lot of infectious eye diseases going around that are publicly known, however, there are thousands of forms of bacteria in, on, around, and passing through people all the time. Doesn’t it make sense that the ever-moist eye, particularly in a weakened state, would have bacteria attacking it? And doesn’t bacteria become specialized over time? So isn’t it possible that these bacterium could be picked up in unsanitary eye docs offices, leading to further weakening of the eyes after having recieved treatment there?

I would like to hear an expert weigh in on this, because I am not one. I only know that I have noticed eye problems after visiting the eye doc that make me think I picked up something there (things like dryness, an ache or burning, etc. that seem to indicate an infection going on).

I have made it a point in recent years to ask the assistants and eye docs about their cleaning procedures for equipment. Apparently, at least where I’ve asked- they don’t. (I started asking after I noticed a sheen of skin oil coating the spot where I was supposed to rest my chin for an eye test! Yuck!)

8

“weak eyesight” is not equivalent to “weak eyeballs structures” or “weak immunity”.

Or, as my eye docs have all said - I have incredibly healthy eyes, it’s just a pity they can’t see well. Nearsighted/farsighted comes about because something in the eye is the wrong shape, NOT because part of the structure is physically weak.

(There might be a few people who’s eye-focusing muscles are weak, and who could be helped by exercises, but they are a small minority)

I have found that some optometrists are lazy and don’t take the time to properly determine the prescription. I won’t settle for less than 20/20. Cut-rate discount chains where you get a 15 minute eye exam are not sufficient for all people, particularly not for someone such as myself who needs a strong correction.

Also, it is possible, even with the most conscientious eye doc/lab/etc., that the lens are not ground properly. The stronger your prescription, or the more complicated the stuff you pile into the lens, the more likely this is to happen. In such a case, you will have eyestrain, headaches, possible blurry vision, etc. after you get the new glasses. In which case, take them back. I had to do this last year and the lab 'fessed up their mistake and replaced the lenses at no charge. Don’t settle for less than perfect vision.

I will also point out that, if your vision needs only a minor correction for just one problem someplace like Lenscrafters can do a satsifactory job “in about an hour”. If, however, you have multiple problems such as myself, and need lenses so thick they resemble the bullet-proof glass between you and the local bank teller, you can not go to such a place and expect to get a perfect fit. In fact, a reputable Lencrafter franchise will tell you if you’re beyond their “about an hour” standard. If this applies to you, you will need to go elsewhere, and wait “about a week”, for your glasses

9

After I got my first pair of glasses (about 5 yrs. ago) at a quickie mall place, I went for the second exam to an opthalmologist. He said the ones from the quickie mall guy were too strong for what I was using them for (avoiding eyestrain during long stints on the computer, i.e. my entire job), and over time would cause my eyes to become lazy and be dependent on the stronger level of correction. Since it’s not like I have a strong prescription anyway (my uncle, the optician, who actually made the glasses, laughed and said "You call that a prescription?), I’d rely on those with more experience.

Even the wimpy prescription made a big difference in my quality of life, though: it was the difference between having my eyes stinging to the point of notbeing able to keep them open by the end of the day, and being absolutely fine. I used to wear them onlyat work, but am noticing that they’re becoming useful for things like reading books and newspapers, too…guess I’m getting old!

10

Ohboy. What a load of misconceptions, misunderstandings, and misinformation.

  1. The normal eye, when relaxed, will focus distant images on the retina.

  2. The normal eye, to focus on nearer objects, must flex the ciliary muscles, changing the shape of the lens. This is called “accomodation,” and it’s normally effortless.

  3. If you do it for hours at a time (as when sitting at a computer or reading), these muscles may grow tired; this is called “eyestrain.”

  4. If you are “nearsighted” (myopic), either your eyeball is too long for your lens, or your lens is too thick for your eyeball; it depends on how you look at it. In either case, it’s like being focused all the time, except that your muscles are relaxed.

  5. Putting a concave lens in front of the myopic eye changes the light path so that light from distant objects is focused on the retina while the eye’s lens is relaxed – in other words, it restores the normal situation. Wearing a lens to accomplish will no more “make you more nearsighted” than having normal vision “makes you more nearsighted.”

  6. Putting a concave lens in front of the myopic eye while the eye’s lens is focused will cause the image from nearby objects at a reasonable distance to focus on the retina. Without glasses, many myopes don’t need to accomodate at all to read; their relaxed focal distance is reading distance. Others, only mildly myopic, accomodate to read, but a bit less than those with normal vision (emmetropes). The severely myopic can’t focus on anything that’s not held very close to the eye.

  7. When emmetropes, and myopes with eyeglasses, accomodate to reading distance for long periods of time without resting, they may develop accomodative spasm. This condition is a partial inability to relax the ciliary muscles, and it simulates myopia (or worsening myopia). Unlike myopia, it can get better with rest and relaxation (I’m talking eyes here, people; put the beer away!).

  8. Children are often given strong prescriptions for myopia, which their parents then badger them into wearing at all times. As they do not need the prescription for reading (and may not need it at all, long term), their growing eyes might be subject to developing myopia; this has not been proven, but the experience of some optometrists bears it out, as do some animal experiments. However, never wearing one’s glasses may lead to accomodative insufficiency, wherein the eye never develops the ability to focus adequately.

11

I was one of those children (3rd grade) given strong prescriptions for myopia and who wore glasses all the time, even for reading, of which I did a lot. My eyes got worse and worse as I got older and I was diagnosed with progressive myopia. The doctors said contact lenses would help slow down the progression of the myopia so I got gas-perms when I was 15, and my eyesight’s degeneration did slow down a bit.

I have since read studies which try to show that glasses or reading “too much” will cause the vision to degenerate because both change the shape of the eye – glasses by relaxing the “squint” urge and reading by increasing the “squint” urge. I read some reasonable sounding article about how a lot of reading when young changed the shape of the eye, causing nearsightedness, and continued reading would cause increased change in the shape and thus nearsightedness. I wish I could find these articles now. This would seem to fit in Nametag’s discussion of the flexing eye changing the shape of the lens, but I really don’t understand how a permanent change in the lens could be effected by excessive flexing of the muscle. These articles seemed to indicate that this does happen.

Supposedly the contact lenses slowed down the progression of the myopia by also changing the shape of the eye but in a controlled fashion. In other words, when the contact is on your eye, the convexity (word?) of your eye becomes fixed; whereas with glasses, it would change from reading to watching t.v. to doing nothing. I do know that after starting to wear contact lenses, my eyesight stopped degenerating so rapidly and now after over 15 years of wearing gas-perms, my eyes have actually started to improve. My eye doctor says this is common and it’s because of the cornea-changing properties of the lenses.

All anectotal evidence, of course. I will try to find some of the articles about kids’ reading making their eyesight go bad and if researchers think the cornea’s shape and thus nearsightedness can be “caused” by the eye owner.

12

The permanent change in eye shape can be caused by enlargement of the muscle which puts greater stress on the eyes’ structure.

Myopia generally does ease in middle aged people. Don’t be too happy about it though, presbyopia (bifocals)is just around the corner:p

13

When I began to wear glasses for my nearsightedness I rarely wore them because I did not need to. I went like that for a summer. Then school came and I began to wear them every day because I needed to see the boards. The next summer I could not go anywhere without wearing my glasses, or I’d be practically blind to anything more than ten feet away. So, although my doctor says it’s in my head, I think he’s full of it.

14

You forgot one cause;

Those darned optic nerves!!!.

Riggin friggin bleeming. . . . AARG!!!

Ahh ::sighs:: oh well, Research into nerve regeneration therapy is coming along quite well, hopefully They will have it down before too long. :slight_smile:

15

I think you do become dependant on glasses. I went for 21 years without even knowing I needed them. Once I got glasses, I could see better (didn’t know what I was missing), but now I can’t do without them. I wish I had never gotten them in the first place.

Doctor says it’s all in my head, but I think he’s full of it.

16

Well, I couldn’t find any scientific papers (except a letter to The Lancet which refers to a study by David A. Goss concerning nearwork and myopia which states “definitive evidence for nearwork as a risk factor from epidemiological studies is still lacking”). I did find some non-scientific but perhaps reliable information that maybe near work can lead to myopia. The only “evidence” I found about glasses causing myopia was a near-hysterical web site which asserts that concave, minus-power glasses cause myopia, it’s a conspiracy with the doctors, blah blah blah. Not sure what “minus-power” glasses are.

Here is a nice discussion of how glasses don’t make your eyesight worse.