How many people have had their sight get dramtically worse after wearing glasses?

Question

I am near-sighted and have been wearing glasses since January. It used to be that I could still read street signs but that they would just be blurry. Now I'm to the point were I can't read a sign 15 feet in front of me. Even if I squint I can't tell what something might say. Is it normal for my eyes to be getting weaker? Is it normal for it to be such a dramatic change?

Answer 1

Mostly this is true and more often than not it applies most to people who wear their glasses/contacts FULL time. If you don't want your vision to get worse, only use your glasses when you want to see distance and NEVER use them for near work as the power is too strong for your eyes- this causes eyestrain and can make your sight worse.

It is possible to improve your eyesight by doing eye exercises and by practising good vision habits.  

Answer 2

EVERYONE.  That's why I don't wear reading glasses

Answer 3

Most.

But it has little or nothing to do with the glasses.

Especially with myopic teenagers: they get their first glasses because the eyes *are going* short-sighted* but although the glasses sharpen up the vision at the point of examination, the eye's rate of change is completely unaffected by that: the process that made the eyes need glasses in the first place is still active.  

It's hardly suprising, then, that in a year or six months, a new Rx is required.  The stronger Rx would be needed whether or not the first glasses had been given.

The other factor at play is awareness.  A lot of people are unaware of how poorly they are seeing, and the sudden contrasting availabilty of good vision makes it seem like things are a lot worse.

You can suddenly make every knife in your kitchen blunt, by buying a new knife...

*It's largely a growth thing.  Most Rx's stabilise between 18-22 years of age.

Answer 4

when you don't wear glasses the eye mantains its elasticity because it struggles to focus on the things you are looking at. but once you put the glasses on, the eye is relaxed and it's not working as it was used to and your sight gets worse. it happened to me too and i've been wearing them since february.

however it is better i guess to wear glasses as you avoid headaches and you don't force the eye that much.

Answer 5

Depending on your age, it's possible for your vision to be changing quickly.  You say you're nearsighted(Myopic).  That means distance vision is blurred as you described.   Most likely what is happening is since you have become accustomed to sharper vision with the glasses on, you now have a vision comparison.  Before you had glasses, your brain made a "blur interpretation".  If you were to discontinue wearing your glasses(I don't recommend that though), the "blur interpretation" would likely come back. But again, you would still be Myopic and your distance vision would remain not as clear as when you wear the glasses.

Welcome to the world of clearer vision!!!  Good luck!

Dr. Ford