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Comment by wpietri | Hacker News Reader

I have a lot of questions, but I'd definitely pay if it worked. I've very slowly been getting more nearsighted, but I mainly avoid wearing glasses. My optometrist said that wearing glasses would speed the slide, although I'd eventually end up at the same level of myopia. I'd much rather wear glasses that fix the problem than make it worse.

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I was in the "slowing going nearsighted and avoiding glasses" phase for quite some time and the result was regular "ice-pick" headaches and migraines. Getting glasses fully cured all of that. My prescription also hasn't changed in 10 years, so (for me, at least) glasses have only had a beneficial effect.

I've been nearsighted my entire life and do not wear glasses. I get the headaches after a couple of hours of wearing them. More than likely it's more to do with what you're accustomed with than how good your vision is.

That sounds more like a set of glasses that are not optimal for your eyes.

Also sounds like the prescription is not too bad. Those of us with -5 and under do not really have a choice not to wear corrective lenses :)

It's fluctuated from -4.5 to -2.5 over the years. Currently on the better end I think, but I haven't been to an exam in a long while. I have friends with lower than -5 and from trying on their glasses, I would also wear them if my vision was that bad. Even at -4.5 the only major annoyances were street signs and confusing people from far away though.

That's insane to me, I'm at around -3.5 and I feel highly handicapped when I don't wear glasses. I most definitely wouldn't drive without them for instance.

Go to an eye doctor.

Get some contacts!

Me too, and then I got astigmatism

> My optometrist said that wearing glasses would speed the slide

This is a myth widespread among opticians and optometrists. I have discussed it with those who treated me and not a single one could provide any evidence.

On several occasions I’ve been the the optician and found my eyesight had gotten better. For me, at least, this myth is evidently false.

Speed the slide = you notice

That's the interesting part to me. I have very very very slight glasses. If I never put them on, it's fine. If I've been wearing them, and THEN take them off, everything looks horrible.

I mostly only wear reading glasses at work.

Happens to me when I switch between contacts and glasses despite the same prescription (well, not that everything looks horrible, but that I notice how accustomed I am to the peculiar way glasses shape the world for a few hours). I wouldn't attribute too much to it.

You'll even notice it if you change the type of lens, to a higher or lower index.

It's true. I went from pretty good eyesight to +3.25 over a relatively short period of time, but it wasn't an option to wait any longer, I had these crazy headaches and did not realize they were caused by my eyesight being off. The initial glasses were +1.5 and made a world of a difference. 6 months later is was +2.0, another six months and it was at 3.0. That's when I got scared wondering how bad it was going to get but it actually leveled off and took another year or so to go to 3.25 and I've had these for a year now and no difference. I even bought a couple to not have to switch to different models when these wear out (which they inevitably do, they're consumables to me, not something to treat with great care, a couple of hours in the shop and they'll definitely fall at least once on a concrete floor).

I don’t know whether you know, but +3.25 isn’t near-sightedness (myopia), but far-sightedness (hyperopia) or presbyopia (Wikipedia: “insufficiency of accommodation associated with the aging of the eye that results in progressively worsening ability to focus clearly on close objects”) I don’t know whether you know, but +3.25 isn’t near-sightedness (myopia), but far-sightedness (hyperopia) or presbyopia (insufficiency of accommodation associated with the aging of the eye that results in progressively worsening ability to focus clearly on close objects)

I didn't say that it was myopia did I? I specifically gave the glasses strength with the sign to indicate the kind of correction my eyes needed, and yes, it is far-sightedness, what else could it be with that particular prescription? Hence my need to wear them when working in the shop, I'm chance less without them doing any closer or detailed work.

The point was: once you start wearing glasses it accelerates the slide. + or - doesn't really matter all that much.

Do you use these for reading books/screens or also for distance vision? If only for reading, then what you are describing sounds like presbyopia, which is different from far-sightedness. Your accommodation changing as you age is a normal process and doesn't have anything to do with sliding myopia/hyperopia.

That's tricky. The 'light' version certainly helped also with different applications other than just books and screens and I used them in the car regularly, but the higher ones are useless for that because I can't keep all of the interior bits of the car in focus at the same time as the outside world so I drive without glasses, it also significantly reduces my dead angles due to improved peripheral vision.

So there may very well be more than one effect at work here. I can't really see the instrument cluster in the car but I know it by heart so it's not a problem and speed I can do by ear and get it well within the margin of error for speeding tickets.

I should probably get re-tested and maybe try bi-focals, but with the amount of driving I do right now I don't need to bother, the car is used so little I have it on a trickle charger to prevent the battery from going dead.

You probably always had some mild hyperopia that you were able to accommodate, but you lost that ability due to presbyopia. Perfectly natural. I would really recommend getting some multi-focals or to look into other solutions such as monovision.

Thank you! I will definitely take that bit of data along to the eye doctor, it makes good sense.

Glasses don't make it worse, per your optometrist. You just notice where you need to be. I'm about a -9, I wear contacts as much as possible; so I thought that's what you were saying. Don't be afraid to wear glasses.

My optometrist definitely said that I would not end up with worse vision overall, but that my vision would get worse faster. So per my optometrist, glasses do make it worse by my criteria (but not by hers).

Final outcome is identical. As noted below, your optometrists is mis-educated (https://www.health.harvard.edu/staying-healthy/will-wearing-...).

You will just figure out what your eyes really need faster by wearing eyeglasses.

That is behind a paywall. Equivalent sites I looked at did not cite studies, frequently depending on an argument from theory. For example, one quoting an optometrist: "'Your actual prescription is based on the anatomy of the eye: the front curve of the cornea, the refractive power of the intraocular lens, and the length of the eyeball.' And peering through spectacles won’t change that anatomy".

But this study shows that at least the kind of glasses one wears can change the progression of myopia, so arguments from theory are unconvincing to me: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/22161388/

I have no idea what the actual truth is here. It seems like a variety of opinions abound, although everybody seems to agree the phenomenon of feeling like things are worse when you've recently worn glasses is real. So in this case I'll continue go with what works for me: generally not wearing glasses except when driving, which is the only place it makes a practical difference for me.

Note that if your eyes have different sight strength, you definitely should use glasses. Otherwise the brain learns that signal from one eye is meh, and stops using it as much—so the eye stops focusing.

I so wish mine would do so. Right eye is a worse prescription and seems tied to some minor brain damage.

Causes intense pain to use both eyes.

High recommend contacts if you aren’t sure about glasses

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