I hated them instantly. I’m not one of those people who looks good in glasses. The ones I had when I was little were too big for my face and were cumbersome when I wanted to play and so on, so I rarely wore them.
At the time, I didn’t really need them. I never felt impaired without them. One day I was not wearing them and a teacher told me I should wear them all the time or else my eyes would get worse.
From third grade to about freshman year in high school, I never wore them. In fact, they went missing in maybe fourth grade and it was years before I got new ones. In high school I wore them occasionally to see the board, but not on a regular basis.
Anyway, getting more to the point, over the last couple months (and even more so over the last few weeks) my vision has deteriorated a lot. I went from wearing them only in class to putting them on before I brush my teeth in the morning and sometimes falling asleep in them at night. I’m crippled without them now… can’t see faces, signs, can’t read my computer screen, and so on. I haven’t been straining them more than normal lately- haven’t been on the computer or watching TV excessively, haven’t been spending my days staring at tiny things, etc., so I’m not really sure why they decided to suck.
So part of me suspects that my eyes have gotten lazy and I’ve grown dependent on my glasses like a drug. And I wonder if my vision would get better if I didn’t wear them all the time or if that teacher from third grade was right and not wearing them would do more damage. I get a lot of headaches lately, too, and trying to look at things without my glasses makes it worse so I haven’t been too committed to testing this theory.
So my questions are… has this happened to anyone else? Anyone have stories to tell me about how much better their eyes are after doing something different? I would be so super happy if I didn’t have to wear my stupid ugly glasses all the time.
The alternative you haven’t considered is that your myopia is getting worse, or more alarmingly, that something else has gone wrong with your eyes - especially considering the apparent dramatic worsening that you’re describing. You need to see an eye doctor.
(I work in ophthalmology, but IANAD/N. And - glasses don’t “create dependence” or keep your eyes from getting worse.)
If I recall your approximate age correctly, I would guess that your eyes are changing because you are an adolescent and are currently undergoing other major changes in your body.
And if you hate your glasses, and all glasses, have you considered contact lenses?
I got my first pair of glasses when I was 7 (and I’ve been seriously nearsighted ever since).
When I was in junior high, my optometrist became concerned because my eyes were suddenly getting much worse much faster than is normal. He sent me to be tested for diabetes, because this is one of the signs (and also because I have an aunt with diabetes).
Just sayin’. Hie thee to a doctor.
(It turned out that I was just getting more nearsighted, not diabetic. But good thing they checked to be sure.)
If you’ve let diabetes or some other disease run unchecked for years, or have some sort of damage to your eye, you can have MUCH bigger problems than being stuck in stupid ugly glasses all the time. You need to go to an eye doctor pronto and have them run some tests so they can salvage as much of your vision as possible, and when he gives you medicine, or contacts, or stupid ugly glasses this time, you need to use them.
I absolutely can tell a difference if I start wearing glasses regularly vs. my normal, non-glassed state. I don’t know if it is psychological or what, but really, it is a big difference.
Contacts are not an option for many people, for example, I can’t wear them because the first time I tried, I got the incorrect size, wore them for a week or so, went back and was told they were basically clutching my eyeball. To this day, 9 years later, the eye most affected still dries out and gets severely irritated much easier than the other. They did actually give me a pair that supposedly fit, but the damage to my eye made wearing them impossible.
My personal opinion (not backed by any known facts, but this is MPSIMS) is that if there is any lasting effect on your eyes from wearing glasses for myopia it’s that wearing them constantly might make you more myopic, not less. Here is my reasoning:
Myopia is most commonly caused by a mismatch between the focal length of your eye’s lens (in combination with the cornea) and the distance between the lens & retina. Typically the retina is too far away and the image focuses in front of the retina. As the object you are focusing on moves toward you, the light rays spread more and the focused image moves back, finally reaching the retina when the object is near, thus the common name for myopia is “near-sightedness”.
Glasses for myopia are concave in nature and spread the light so that the image of distant objects will now focus properly at the retina. However, near objects would focus behind the retina. To overcome that, the lens changes shape slightly through effort from the ciliary muscle in your eye. You can feel the strain in this muscle when you try to focus on an object that is too near to the eye. If you are myopic only, you can relieve that strain by removing your glasses when doing closeup work or using reading glasses. If you keep your glasses on all the time, you will be straining the ciliary muscle frequently. The human body has a natural defense against strain by making some accomodation. When muscles are strained they typically strengthen, to a point, but the body accomodates in other ways too. Is it possible that the body accomodates for the strain of closeup work by changing the shape of the eye slightly? I don’t know and I don’t have a mechanism, but is it true that people who spend much of their lives doing closeup work such as reading and computer use are more frequently myopic? I’d like to see some data.
The problem here is that the OP did not seem to be wearing her glasses that much, and reports a noticeable, dramatic change in vision recently. If glasses caused vision to get worse one wouldn’t expect such a dramatic change in a relatively short period of time - it would have probably progressed in a relatively steady fashion over the years.
This happened to me when I was around your age. Same situation - I got glasses when I was in about 3rd grade, but never felt I needed them most of the time, until I was about 15 or so. For the next few years, my eyes got slightly worse every year.
It stopped when I was about 23 or so. I’m 28 now and still get my eyes examined every year, but my prescription has changed very little since then.
I do need to wear glasses or contacts all the time now.
Just got bifocals, after wearing glasses nonstop for about thirty-five years. My optometrist (sp?) said that at about 35 - 40, your eyeballs become less elastic, thereby causing changes in eyesight. I have always been nearsighted, but lately when my students hand me a piece of paper, I have had to back it up a notch to focus. I’m old.
While I don’t *think *this is the case with you, I just wouldn’t be me if I didn’t bring out my pony. Wanna see her trick? Pregnancycan cause pretty dramatic changes in vision. Pregnancy tests are available at the dollar store these days, and for anyone not living a Papally approved lifestyle, it’s something to bear in mind.
I guess I’m not understanding. They’ve tested your eyes and they are a shape that calls for you to wear glasses. While I completely understand not wanting to wear glasses, they’re necessary for you to see well and not get headaches. Your eyes don’t train themselves to see better; they are physically a shape that needs correction. Of course your eyes are dependent on something to help them see well.
Why they seem to be deteriorating more quickly is a concern, but how about wearing your glasses as prescribed and see how that goes? Or get them tested and see if you need a stronger prescription? It’s true that teenage eyes change quickly, but we were allowed to get contacts at 14 so at least in our case they were stable enough by then.
When I was 19, I lost my glasses in the process of moving from one country to another. I didn’t get a new set till about a year later.
By the time I got them my vision had quite noticeably worsened. Anecdote not data etc etc, but, while I don’t believe the deterioration was caused by my non-wearing of my previous prescription, it certainly didn’t help any.
Wearing or not wearing glasses will not affect the rate at which your vision worsens.
All that glasses do is change the way in which light bounces off of your eyes. No more, no less.
Poor vision is (generally) due to the physical shape of your eyeball and/or cornea. Going without glasses does not cause your eyeballs to change shape.
My optometrist reminded me of all of this when I got my glasses. I have very mild astigmatism, and can basically go without glasses if I want to but it’s like going without HD tv after seeing it for the first time. You can watch regular tv, but it’s just not the same
If your vision is changing that bad that quickly, you need to get an eye exam and maybe even go see your doctor.
I wore glasses and/or contacts from the time I was 10 until I was about 39. Hated 'em. Got laser eye surgery and am a very happy camper. However, your prescription needs to be stable for 12 months before a surgeon will do the surgery. But regular eye exams (yearly) will help keep track of your vision changes.
Glasses don’t make your vision worse. Not wearing glasses causes strain because you can’t see. Wear lenses or get corrective surgery.
I wouldn’t get eye surgery if I could, but my prescription has never stabilized for a full 12 months in the 25 years I’ve been wearing glasses (I can’t wear contacts either because of dry, allergic eyes). My mom has serious problems seeing, and my grandmother was all but blind before she died - my eye care program will only pay for an eye exam every two years, but I think people like me need them more often than that. I want to keep a religious watch on what’s going on with my eyes and catch any problems right away.
My next pair of glasses will probably be bifocals. Sigh.
ETA: Forgot to say why I wouldn’t get the surgery - with so many eye problems in my family, I’m not messing with them any more than I have to. I also have iffy night vision now, and surgery is supposed to make that even worse.
My mother and oldest sister both wore their glasses faithfully every day for decades. Instead of creating a dependence, both of them eventually experienced improved vision and my sister would up no longer need glasses in her 30’s.
In my case, I’ve been heavily dependent on my glasses from a young age. My vision is finally improving in my fourth decade, but that’s because advancing presbyopia (old people’s eyes, the stuff the results in bifocals) is slowly reducing my myopia. That doesn’t mean I can toss the glasses, but I need a less powerful prescription and without glasses I don’t crash into walls quite so often as before.
The only way to really know what’s going on with your eyes is to see and eye doctor. Or, if you can’t see him, at least visit the office of one for an examination. If you don’t like glasses perhaps contacts will be more pleasing while also improving your vision.
When I was about 9, I got glasses. I grew tired of them very quickly, about 2 years and didn’t wear them after that. When I was about 32 I got lasik, and haven’t worn them except when my niece comes over, who is 7, when she had to start wearing them.
Her dad teased her about it and it was hurting her feelings so whenever she comes over I make a point of reading something and then puting on my reading glasses. I can tell it makes her feel better and I tell her when her dad makes fun of her to tell him her uncle O wears them.
Both she and her dad know uncle O don’t play that teasing crap. Haven’t heard shit about it after that.
And please don’t think she plays one against the other. Her dad knows I place more value on that sweet child than him or me. Or any other MF’r for that matter.
