# glasses **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [June 1, 2000, 12:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/glasses/21061 "2000-06-01T00:40:21Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 11\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Zulu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/a9adbd/32.png) [@Zulu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zulu)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2000, 2:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/glasses/21061/21 "2000-06-02T02:32:33Z")
> [@](#): > > **Nowadays I sometimes see 3 and 4-year-olds wearing glasses. When I got my first glasses as a kindergartener back in the late 50’s, it was a nine-days wonder.** I got my first glasses in 1981…when I was only 10 months old. How they figured what perscription was best for me when I couldn’t read eye charts, I have no idea. Turns out that it was probably the best thing to do at the time. If my parents had waited, I would probably have had to go through some major surgeries. Jenn ---
**Author:** ![HorseloverFat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/8e8cbc/32.png) [@HorseloverFat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HorseloverFat)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2000, 3:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/glasses/21061/22 "2000-06-02T03:12:15Z")
> [@](#): > > \*\* > I got my first glasses in 1981…when I was only 10 months old. How they figured what perscription was best for me when I couldn’t read eye charts, I have no idea. \*\* There’s a device that your eye doctor uses to watch your eye focus and it tells him/her/it what your prescription is. The eye chart is just fine tuning. At least that’s what I’ve picked up going to the doc every year. ---
**Author:** ![Yeah](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/dbc845/32.png) [@Yeah](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Yeah)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2000, 5:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/glasses/21061/23 "2000-06-02T05:09:04Z")
No significant numbers of Singaporeans have died or been made infertile as a result of any wars since 1974, yet a 1992 study by Tay MT, Au Eong KG, Ng CY, and Lim MK of the Singapore National Eye Centre (Ann Acad Med Singapore 1992 Nov;21(6):785-91) of 421,116 Singaporean males aged 15 to 25 found that myopia prevalence was 26.3% in 1974-84 and 43.3% in 1987-91. The researchers noticed that the increase in myopia was accompanied by an increase over the same period in the proportion of males with higher levels of education. They also observed an association between myopia and education. Both the prevalence and severity of myopia were higher as the level of education attained increased. The myopia prevalence rate was 15.4% in males with no formal education and increased steadily through groups with intermediate education to 65.2% among those with GCE ‘A’ level education in 1987-91. I think your teacher is mistaken. ---
**Author:** ![Lynn\_Bodoni](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/e47c2d/32.png) [@Lynn\_Bodoni](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lynn_Bodoni)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2000, 7:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/glasses/21061/24 "2000-06-02T07:10:43Z")
Purely anecdotal evidence: I didn’t have a nightlight, and I needed glasses (for myopia) before I could read. Without my glasses, I’m legally blind. I can focus no further than the tip of my nose, without glasses. On the other hand, if you need a small splinter removed, I’m your gal. ---
**Author:** ![SuaSponte](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/67e7ee/32.png) [@SuaSponte](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SuaSponte)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2000, 1:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/glasses/21061/25 "2000-06-02T13:54:38Z")
While I agree with the “increased study makes to go blind” thesis, I’m not willing to give up the genetics idea. Because what I want to write is a highjack, I think I’m going to start a new thread. ---
**Author:** ![Danielinthewolvesden](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ce7236/32.png) [@Danielinthewolvesden](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Danielinthewolvesden)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2000, 3:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/glasses/21061/26 "2000-06-04T03:28:55Z")
Lynn, my dear, I had the same problem. And I very strongly recommend Lasiks surgery. It was a life changing decision. Now, all i have to buy are a few cheap pair of reading glasses, which I do not always need, anyway. Do it, you’ll thank me later. ---
**Author:** ![Koxinga](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/4af34b/32.png) [@Koxinga](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Koxinga)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2000, 3:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/glasses/21061/27 "2000-06-04T03:54:10Z")
An increase of thirty-odd percentage points in a mere hundred years? Sounds like the general population has forgotten the wisdom of the Victorians. Thank God they were wrong about the hairy palms, though. DHR ---
**Author:** ![Wood\_Thrush](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/b38774/32.png) [@Wood\_Thrush](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wood_Thrush)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2000, 11:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/glasses/21061/28 "2000-06-04T23:45:40Z")
> [@](#): > > \*\* > The reading theory has always made sense to me, too… On the other hand, there’s many folks (my mother comes to mind) who are too nearsighted even to read. Either there’s some other relatively common cause of myopia, or the eye has a tendancy to overadjust. > \*\* Apparently, the “overadjusting” is due to the glasses… when glasses are added, the system as a whole returns to perfect, and the person reads more, and gets myopia again, and needs stronger glasses, and the system returns to perfect again, etc. ---
**Author:** ![matt\_mcl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/7ab992/32.png) [@matt\_mcl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/matt_mcl)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2000, 11:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/glasses/21061/29 "2000-06-04T23:59:15Z")
I read somewhere that in the next three generations after literacy was introduced to an Inuit village in Alaska, they had to build an eye clinic because the incidence of myopia jumped from negligible rates to 59%. ---
**Author:** ![TheNerd](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/858c86/32.png) [@TheNerd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TheNerd)\ **Post date:** [June 5, 2000, 12:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/glasses/21061/30 "2000-06-05T00:08:57Z")
You know, considering the “Name your Fetish” thread, we may actually be selecting FOR glasses wearing. I know I like 'em. I don’t need glasses, but I’ve been considering getting some blank-prescription lenses put in a nice pair of frames, just so I can wear them. ---
**Author:** ![aenea](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/c68b51/32.png) [@aenea](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aenea)\ **Post date:** [June 5, 2000, 1:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/glasses/21061/31 "2000-06-05T01:51:41Z")
> [@](#): > > Purely anecdotal evidence: I didn’t have a nightlight, and I needed glasses (for myopia) before I could read. Without my glasses, I’m legally blind. I can focus no further than the tip of my nose, without glasses. On the other hand, if you need a small splinter removed, I’m your gal. **Lynn** , me too. I passed legally blind when I was 14. I can almost see to the end of my nose, not quite. I am grateful every day that I live now and not a century ago. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/glasses/21061.md?page=1)