Do Eyeglasses make your Eyes Worse

I have worn glasses since I was 11...Im 35 now,and just spent $252 on a new pair.

The eye doctor wants me in once a year for tests and new glasses, and each time my eyes are a little worse...whats up?

Makes me think about laser eye surgery, but that kinda makes me nervous.

personally, i think that they create a dependency. supposidly, out there somewhere, there is a way to make your eyesite better without drugs or eye glasses through some methods.

don't know what they are, but i wouldn't mind trying them (even though i still have 20/20 vision).

I actually started a thread about this sometime ago. My eyesight has been getting steadily worse for about 10 years. I think it's because of all the reading and PC work I do. There are sites that say you can improve your vision. Check out this one. I've been doing some of the exercises, though I've not been regular enough about it to comment one way or the other. Check it out and maybe you'll have some luck. Let me know one way or the other.

Good question, and one that I, as a glasses wearer, have been interested in.

Seems that as you age the glassses force your eyes back deeper into your head.

Also around the eye are muscles that hold it into place, trauma at a young age can cause those muscles to distort the eyeball out of shape, muscle exercises can then relax the eye and restore vision, (theoretically at least)

Good topic.
I've never worn glasses, but like noted above it also seems to me they'd cause dependence (just my common sense, I am neither qualified nor inclined to provide medical advice.) Personally, I'd go for the surgery (fubar most insurance companies won't pay for it, but they will shell out for expensive new glasses every year or so, eh?) Anyway, if your eyesight gets worse, have you tried that old baseball player trick? (practice focusing on something right in front of you and then immediately try focusing on something far away - I forget how many times, or the specifics, but that's what google's for. Just do it as quickly as possible until you get bored, I guess.) This trick really works and helps you track objects very well - I remember it helped me back in highschool baseball, and, to a lesser extent, tennis.

Interesting question

I've been wearing glasses for 9 years. For 8 of those years my presciption didn't change in the slightest. It increased very slightly at my last checkup, last fall, but so little that it's not yet necessary to get a new pair of lenses.

So, from my personal experience, I'd say no to the question based on the large interval between changes in my sight.

It's an interesting thought though, and I know of many who need new glasses each year.

I also know people who need new lenses about every year, sometimes the prescriptions get so (having never had glasses I don't know the correct term here) potent it kinda boggles my mind (also how effective these strong prescriptions are for these people!). I remember as a kid trying on my dad's or friend's glasses (just to see how I'd look in them, of course - also 'borrowing' my dad's glasses made me look older so I could buy beer back in the day, heh heh) and some peoples prescriptions are so strong it is worse than looking through those beer goggles police lend to schools to discourage drunk driving. Hard to imagine sight changing so much in a year and where those 1/year lenses people will be 15, 20 years from now You seem to be fortunate.

Originally posted by AlphaHumana
and some peoples prescriptions are so strong it is worse than looking through those beer goggles police lend to schools to discourage drunk driving. Hard to imagine sight changing so much in a year and where those 1/year lenses people will be 15, 20 years from now

You seem to be fortunate.

I agree, I am fortunate that it's not getting worse, year by year.
Also, b oth my eyes are the same prescription, so there's not so much a hassle with contact lenses.

I've never tried on beer goggles like you mention, but in wearing others glasses, i know what you mean.
hehe, even with thin, 'featherweight' lenses these days, some people still have 'coke bottle' glasses because their eyes are so bad!

I have only been wearing glasses for a year now and me eyesight has gotten much worse. it's weird how after you wear glasses for a few weeks when you take them off you cant make anything out. I am going for a checkup in a few weeks and right now my perscription works about as well as my uncorrected eyesight when I first got glasses. without them I am legally blind!

netchicken, I have never heard that about the trauma before. I was diagnosed with stigmatism, pretty severe in my right eye. the doc said my right eye is shaped like a football. I was run over when I was 4 years old & most of the trauma was to the right side of my head. I wonder if that could have attributed to my vision problems...very interesting!

Actually I have heard that your eyed do get dependent on glasses and adjust to them, there by over time making your eyes worst. But NEVER FEAR I AM HERE, lol, I did a self experiment and found you that you can correct your vision without any surgery of drugs. If you are near sighted as me (20/40), then you can change you eyes for the better in just a matter of weeks. Simply do the following: Do not watch TV, do not go on the computer and do not read books. Simply put do not focus your eyes on objects that are close by (I know, thats hard to achieve). You can do this by spending most of your day outside (like a park or a field). I have noticed a dramatic improvement from about 20/40 to 20/30 and even better at a point. But sadly the effects do not last because once you start focusing on near objects (TV, computer, books etc...) they lose their ability to focus far again. Anyway thats the best answer I could come up with, I hope it helped.

Originally posted by beyondSciFi
Actually I have heard that your eyed do get dependent on glasses and adjust to them, there by over time making your eyes worst.

And the adjustment period is quite obvious, at least it was for me.
When I first got glasses, I could see everything crystal clear at a distance, but close up was blurry as hell.
It even worse with contact lenses, which I found took longer for my eyes to adjust to intially, and compared to glasses, you can't just left them up too see the close up stuff clearly.

I do believe that corrective lenses do make your eyesight worse. I started wearing contacts at 12. My contacts always bothered my left eye, but not my right. I went years with only wearing one contact in my right eye. (Okay, I know it's wierd. Don't we all do strange things as a youngster?) Both eyes have always had the same prescription (-5.0). By the time I was 18, my eyesight was -4.75 for left eye and -6.0 for the right. Not only did my left eye improve, but the right eye worsened.

I have been wearing contacts in both eyes for 10 years, and my eyesight is -5.5 for left and -6.75 for right.

Strange, my eyesight has been getting better with every visit to the optometrist.

ima bit shortsited i cant see my pupils in a mirror from 1 meter! got some glasses last year and was amazed how well i could see but after wearing them a while i get blurry wen i take em off, takes a while to adjust so i know for facts they do just make ur eyes worse quicker.. and i wear them as less as possible! usually everyone needs a stronger pair at the next test....... obviously.
time i do a google for eye excercises!

funny enuf today i recieved my optician notice for a checkup mental...