The Claim: Wearing Glasses Can Weaken Your Eyes

NY Times ^ | January 25, 2005 | ANAHAD O'CONNOR

[neverdem]

REALLY?

THE FACTS Glasses can bring a blurry world into focus, but some people suspect that by doing all the heavy lifting the glasses may speed the natural decline of vision. But ophthalmologists say this is an illusion.

How well a person can see is largely determined by the size of the eyeball, something a pair of glasses cannot change. The average eye is about an inch from the cornea, in the front, to the retina, in the back. When the eyes are either too large (shortsightedness) or too small (farsightedness), the cornea cannot properly focus images on the retina, and glasses can help compensate.

Dr. Robert Cykiert, an ophthalmologist at New York University Hospitals Center, said the contrast between poor and normal vision becomes more obvious when people wear glasses for a while and then take them off. But glasses have no lasting effect on eyesight.

Reading in the dark won't damage your eyes either, Dr. Cykiert said, though you may get a headache from all the squinting and straining.

THE BOTTOM LINE Glasses will not make your vision deteriorate more quickly.

scitimes@nytimes.com

[rwfromkansas]

Has the eye doctor determined a change?

[bvw]

ONE, and only one, "doctor" quoted. Gee that's SCIENCE! And RESEARCH.

An article for the sheep who want only the most expensive wool pulled over their eyes.

By the same logic, if you avoid exercise and sit in a chair all day long and lay in bed all day long you legs will not get weak.

[rwfromkansas]

lol.....I was not meaning you literally.

[bvw]

... and lay in bed all night long your legs will not get weak.

[Reagan is King]

Then how does this explain my being blurred at all distances? I was not always blurred at all distances, it stated with the 'age' related need for a pair of reading glasses. I'm 56 and see blurred at all distances. Had a cataract removed from my left eye about 8 years ago. The one in the right is on a scale from 1-100 a 15, a long way from removal. I wear tri-focals which need changing every year as my reader needs strengthening by a quarter power.

Your prescription has probably gone up over time (usually becoming more farsighted/less nearsighted in the 50's) and the lens hazes and stiffens over time due to UV light absorption (of course, your intraocular lens implant does not "flex" like your natural lens).

The midrange focusing ability changes usually around the mid-fifties which is when most people need to get the trifocal or progressive multifocal to try to help at that distance. It's best if patients can start in a progressive in the beginning and they will never notice those midrange troubles. I usually prescribe the Ovation brand of progressives or one of the other newer brands for my patients. The el-cheapo progressives many opticals advertise are based on 20 year old lens designs that are not nearly as clear and smooth as the newer designs. As with everything else, you get what you pay for.

[Old Professer]

And I'll bet he has "homemade whitewall tires" too.

[Reagan is King]

Sorry I missed your post earlier. How old were you when you made this nearsighted (myopic) change? If you were under 18 or so then the eye was still elongating and along with growth spurts in height, can result in fairly rapid myopic changes. This is why kids and teenagers change so fast. There is some research that also indicates that prolonged near work can increase the these changes as well. Great job on winning tournaments even with that reduced vision!

[Reagan is King]

Changes in the corneal curvature and increasing thickness of the crystalline lens account for most of the changes in prescription once you're over the growth years (over 18). Prolonged near work has been shown to increase myopia in some people as well. Also, poorly controlled blood glucose levels will cause vision fluctations.

[xrp]

You lost that bet.

[Reagan is King]

Please see my post #50 regarding focusing changes in the eye

Also, in regards to wearing sunglasses it's more that you get used to not having to deal with the bright light and become a little more sensitive to it over time. Just going without sunglasses a few weeks and we'll have the same sensitivity to it as we did before we started getting used to the sunglasses. Early cataract formation in the 50's (which happens to most of us) is one reason why night driving becomes more difficult and sunlight bothers us more as we age.

[Reagan is King]

Has anyone done a controlled experiment (maybe on animals, if PETA would allow it) to see whether long-term use of corrective lenses weakens vision?

The most recent studies have shown that in children not wearing their most current prescription makes the eyes change faster (for the worse). I haven't seen a study on adults regarding this, although I'm sure someone has probably done one. In my experience, it has no effect and you're eyes are going to change no matter what you do as an adult.

[kstewskis]

Also the lens in your eye bends to help focus the light on to the back of your retina. It also absorbs the UV light that would harm your retina but with time UV light changes your lens making it less flexible and decreases it's focusing abilities necessitating longer arms or reading glasses.

I wish there were some collagen supplement, similar to the glucosamine/condroitin we take for our joints, that we could take to improve or keep the "health" of our lens.

[syriacus]

The most recent studies...

Thank you.

[syriacus]

In closing I think that many of us who are over 60 can read better in daylight with good sunlight. The use of the natural lights in the winter time can help in the evening or on cloudy days. Leutin is very important for healthy eyes and a must for most of us over 60.

Thanks very much, Grandpa Dave.

[2Jedismom]

I don't know...I do know this. I have a pair of glasses that I have worn post-RK for the past 6-7 years. I wear them only occasionally. Before I put them on, I see ok...not bad. Can get by, you know? I put the glasses on to sharpen things up a bit...small print, or when my eyes are tired from freeping too much! If I wear them too long, my eyes are non-functional when I take them off. A noticeable difference. I can't see a thing. I can't focus on anything.

So I wear them as needed, constantly taking them off and on so my eyes don't get used to them!

I have often wondered if, when I was a child and they put me in glasses, had I just used them as needed, would my eyes have gotten so bad? When I had my RK, I was 20/2700. I corrected with RK to 20/20 in my right eye and 20/40 in my left.

[papasmurf]

rwfromkansas, you're correct...it's the shape of my eyes that have affected my vision. My Dr had me try this to prove it...

Place your index finger on the very corner of your eyelid at a point that would contact the eye itself. Now, gently, push your finger in the direction of your eye while, at the same time, trying to read from a magazine. Notice anything?
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I can read this type without my glasses if I do that.


:O)


P

[syriacus]

Great tagline, Reagan is King!

[GretchenM]

I'm glad to hear that helped. I have a number of visual problems and as I've gotten older, I was perplexed over why it was so easy to read on the patio in the sunshine and so much harder to read indoors, so I asked my opthamologist, who explained that. I always try to read with as bright, but indirect, of a light as possible. By that I mean, I don't like the light shining at my eyes, but coming from behind.

[neverdem]

ONE, and only one, "doctor" quoted. Gee that's SCIENCE! And RESEARCH.

It's my impression that Anahad O'Connor has a small weekly column, not a full length article, in which she seeks to dispel common medical myths and folklore. REALLY

If you refuse to register with the NY Times, you can use bugmenot.com

[neverdem]

Visual acuity test