Eyesight Ruined By Optometrist. How Can I Get It Back?

Question

BACKGROUND:

I had eyes that were -3.23d a few years back.

I went in for a pair of Silhouette frames and lenses and an eye exam.

I received my pair of Silhouettes and started wearing them. Immediately, I felt like throwing up, had headaches and generally felt very ill. I went back in after 24 hours and they said to just get used to the glasses. I went in a second and third time over the next month and was told to get used to the glasses by wearing them.

Well, my eyes finally adjusted.

A later visit to a different optometrist showed that I was given a -6 pair of glasses (or something like that, I don't recall) instead of my proper prescription.

This has ruined my eyesight and caused my eyes to now need a -5.25 prescription.

QUESTION:

Is there a way to "graduate" my eyes back down to the proper prescription, given that my cornea shape isn't what causes my -5.25 myopia? My eyes were "adjusted" to the much higher prescription, so does that mean my cilliary muscle is too strong?

Answer 1

how old are you? this sounds stupid, but i heard that if you wear glasses your prescription gets worse until you're about 20.

Answer 2

First of all, your optometrist didn't ruin your eyes.

This is going to be long...

When light focuses through a lens, parallel rays of light bend, and ultimately cross the center, undeviated central light rays. The distance from the lens that focal point is, is called the focal length or focal distance. The more powerful the lens, the more it bends light, and the closer that focal point is to the lens itself. In negative lenses, the light rays are bend OUT, but if you followed that bend back through the lens, the light rays will seem to have come from a point in front of the lens. Minus lenses are like that.

The power of the lens is equal to the equation P=1/d where d is in meters. In positive lenses, the light rays will bend and be focused at a meter away if the lens is a +1.

A +2 lens would bend light so it focused a half meter away. A +3, third of a meter away. +4 a quarter of a meter, +5 a fifth of a meter, etc.

If its a minus lens, the light rays diverge as IF they came from a meter in front or on the same side as the light comes from. A -2 lens, as if the light came from a half meter, a -3, from a third of a meter...

If the power of your EYE is -3. You are already focused at a third of a meter in front of you. So you'd need a -3 lens to fix the too powerful of an eye which is +3.00 TOO Powerful.

But you got a -6.00 or therabouts. So you were -3.00 too weak. So you bend your ciliary muscle enough to crank in 3 diopters of power, and became used to it after awhile. If you removed your lenses, except for your old Rx of -3.00 or so, you'd relax that same amount. Just NOT wearing the too powerful lens would help. Do it for a week or so. Then go back and get a new refraction. See what it is. Go another week and get a new refraction (can just get the machine one as you are just seeing when your eyes stabilize, so you don't need to go through the whole "which is better A or B thing for now). Once the Rx stabilizes, for a few weeks in a row, that's your new Rx.

As the lens grows as we age, you will become more and more nearsighted. It doesn't go on forever. Happens a little at a time. By the time you are about 50 or so, you can get a refractive lensectomy or place a piggyback lens IN the eye in front of the regular lens, and you'll be happy.

As you age, your lens also gets harder. The nucleus in the center gets further and further away from the outside, and after awhile not much oxygen gets in to the center. The center becomes hard, or sclerotic. That will also increase the power of the lens.

As long as you can refract to 20/20 vision, you are good. Your eyes aren't "ruined".

If you still have questions, let me know.

Answer 3

What was your vision before the optometrrist ruined it?

What is your vision now after the optometrist ruined it?

Answer 4

Hinthint: it's not your optometrist's fault. Your eyesight doesn't change just because you wear the wrong pair of glasses.

Your eyesight changed because it would have anyways, and you're looking for someone to blame. You can't 'undo' that.