my grandma wears spectacles for her life long and now her eye sight back to normal...strange?

Answer 1

"Second Sight" is a common phenomenon as we age. It is caused by a combination of natural changes within the eye.

When we are young the natural crystalline lens within the eye changes shape to allow us to focus on objects near. This is called accommodation. In its natural relaxed state the normal eye is focused to infinity – all objects beyond about 20 feet with the same clarity. To see objects closer than about 20 feet, our eyes need to accommodate.

As we become older, the crystalline lens becomes stiff and less able to change shape. This is called presbyopia and normally becomes problematic at around age 40. Presbyopia is when reading glasses or bifocals are needed to see objects close. Distance vision beyond 20 feet is commonly unaffected. Your grandmother is undoubtedly presbyopic.

Another natural occurrence is a cataract. Age-related cataract (Nuclear Sclerosis) is when the crystalline lens becomes cloudy. A first step in the process of an age-related cataract is slight thickening of the central portion of the crystalline lens. This thickening changes the refractive power of the lens, making the person more myopic (nearsighted, shortsighted).

There are two ways to describe myopia. One is that you cannot see distant objects very well. The other is that you can see near objects quite well. My bet is that your grandmother is seeing an improvement in her near vision, but a slight degradation in her distance vision.

As your presbyopic grandmother is becoming more myopic because of the beginning of a cataract, she is more able to see near objects because here eye in a natural relaxed unaccommodating state is focused or objects near.

An additional contributor to Second Sight is that as we become older our pupils tend to become smaller. The smaller the pupil, the greater the depth of focus. Depth of focus is the range from the patient where vision is clear (i.e. 3-5 feet away in focus). This optical process is exactly like a camera. If the iris of the camera is small, objects near and far are in focus. If the iris of the camera is large, only objects at one distance are in focus.

Your grandmother may have been hyperopic (farsighted, longsighted) before the process of presbyopia and age-related cataract. Progressive myopia from the developing cataract will counter the effects of hyperopia.

A comprehensive examination by a competent eye doctor will be able to tell your grandmother exactly why her vision is changing, but it is very probably because she is developing a cataract that is causing her to become myopic and reducing the effects of presbyopia.

http://www.usaeyes.org/lasik/faq/lasik-cataracts.htm

Answer 2

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Answer 3

She was farsighted [ the glasses made her eyes look bigger ] then she is having a nuclear cataract [ where the opacification is in the nucleus of the crystalline lens ] and that increased the index of the lens making it more powerful as if she has another lens inside the eye .
It's called second sight ,and it will progress to a handicaping cataract

Answer 4

Did she recently have cataracts removed and lens implants put in? This is common with a lot of older people who have this done. Many patients can get away with only needing reading glasses after both cataracts have been removed.

Answer 5

Yes,it's happen sometimes to lucky people,they are short sighted when they are young,but when they growing old and suppose to be long sighted,their eyesight back to normal. Like it's happened to my mom friend.I don't know how ophthalmology explain it,but I wish i would be one of those lucky people!

Answer 6

Yes, I wear spectacles.

Answer 7

Sounds like she was mildly nearsighted and because of presbyopia, or the corrective condition that occurs as we get older where the lens becomes more stiff, her vision normalized.

Would be interesting to see her case study cause I haven't seen this particular phenomenon through the ophthalmology clinic I work for.

Answer 8

it's not strange really, as if she was short-sighted before, the older people get the more long sighted they get, so it makes sense that her eyesight is back to normal :]

Answer 9

I think it's strange ... I bet she is really lucky!