When I was 12, my eye doctor said I was very close to needing glasses. I don’t remember my actual numbers. But now that I am 17, my eyesight is comparable to my brother’s 20/15 eyesight (with his newly prescipted contacts on).
Is this normal for my eyes to improve?
Another slightly odd question: I cut lawns and I weedwack with a very powerful weedwacker without eye protection. Things fly in my eyes all the time… nothing serious though, just small particles and whatnot. Large stones will hit my closed eyelids regularly. (Somehow i am able to do this, don’t ask me why. All I care is I don’t have to worry about glasses getting smudged…anyways) So, could my improvement be due to my eyes constantly having to repair, promoting unusual improvement?
When i was 12, my doctor said I had a stigmatism, whatever that is. All I know is my eyesight is the bomb.
If you keep using machinery without safety glasses, this will soon be a moot point. I know that at 17 years of age you feel invincible, but using a weedwhacker without both hearing and eye protection is taking a very large risk. (As someone who suffers somewhat from tinnitus from having used woodworking equipment for too long without hearing protection before I wised up, trust me on this.)
IANAO, but as for your changing vision – it’s not unusual for vision to change over time. That’s why people have to get the eyeglass prescriptions changed on a regular basis. Attributing it to abuse of your cornea is probably just wishful thinking, though.
Several years ago I got a limitation on my Airman’s Medical Certificate that said I must wear corrective lenses while flying. At my next FAA physical the doctor said that I didn’t legally need glasses, but since it was on my Medical already he was going to keep it there. The last time I got the physical the nurse asked if I was wearing contacts. (I wasn’t, and never have.) She checked the results of the eye test and said my eyesight was 20/20, and she didn’t understand why I had the limitation on my medical certificate. She informed the doctor that I no longer needed the limitation and he signed me off without it. My eyes appear to have become better on their own, although I have no idea why they would.
FWIW, the procedure of radial keratotomy to improve nearsightedness was discovered when glass fragments cut up the surface of someone’s cornea in an accident, and they subsequently reported a marked improvement in the vision in that eye.
Astigmatism, IIRC, usually results from a deformation of the cornea. Maybe the large stones smacking into your closed eyes have deformed your corneas back to normal!
I do recall my eye doctor telling me that pushing on my (closed) eyes vigorously every 15 minutes with my hands would help keep my nearsightedness from getting even worse. My usual skepticism kicked in, but not enough to prevent me from trying it for a few weeks. I always found my vision blurry (after putting my glasses back on) for a minute or so after each session, suggesting to me that perhaps I was flattening my corneas slightly, but only temporarily.
There’s something called “stationary myopia”, which as far as I can tell is a temporary nearsightedness that occurs during puberty. I can’t find much about it in what I would consider reputable sources, except that it exists.
As I inderstand it, as you age, the distance from front to rear of the eye slowly increases. Therefor nearsightedness will generally become less severe as you age, or folk who are 20/20 in youth tend to get a bit farsighted as they age.
Perhaps, but not terribly likely. Note as well, that continued corneal abrasions and lacerations may eventually lead to the formation of scar tissue which can seriously impair eyesight in the long term. You really should consider some form of approved eye protection.
For the love of God, put on some safety glasses when you weedwack. Yes, you’ll look like a dork but it’s one of those things you’ve just got to do. Who knows what evil lurks in the dark recesses of the tall grass? You’ll thank me the day the something sharp and pointy comes flying at your face.
Great. Now I sound like my Mom. Just do me a favor and put on the glasses.
Only if you consider the very precise and careful use of a laser by a highly trained professional to be no more effective than the random action of sand, rocks, and other crap hitting your eyes.
Given that the people I know who have had this kind of surgery have been in a modest amount of pain for a day or so afterwards, and have had to use antibiotic drops to prevent infection, I think you’d know it if you were rearranging your cornea to that extent.
if you have an eye exam while you’re tired, or have some kind of illness, that can influence the results…but may be only a temporary thing.
On the other hand, my niece was born blind, they figured out what was the problem with her development when she was about 6mths old… they told her that she may eventually gain some of her sight, but she may not
turns out she did…so if you take THAT case into consideration, yes, your vision CAN improve
My eyesight is terrible, and it started going downhill when I was in 2nd grade. Over the years, every optometrist I’ve had has told me that your vision generally doesn’t “level out” until you’re around 25 years old. Meaning, your eyesight can deteriorate or improve over that time, but once you hit 25, your vision will stay more or less the same. That’s been true for me-- I haven’t needed a new prescription for several years, now.
I am far-sighted, and crossed-eyed [literally, fortunately lenses correct my vision.] I got my first pair of glasses when I was 3 years old. IIRC my vision improved slightly during my teen years.
I am Hauss’s brother and i have heard him on many many occasions saying that he gets hit in the eyes with large particles much more often with glasses ON than off. Pieces hit his cheek and do a triple bounce into his eye or something. I never have this problem. Go figure, he’s wacked many lawns and never had a problem. Every type of goggles we have worn fog up almost instantly. I wear glasses all the time.
As usual, the rules don’t apply to hauss…
I think it’s safe to say hauss’s eyesight has improved. He’s THE luckiest person in the world, no joke.
