is it true that glasses make your vision worse??

Question

And contacts are better?

Answer 1

People live their whole lives without glasses. If measured, they'd find that they 'need' glasses. When they get them and put them on, they find out they can see. See clearly. Did it damage the eye NOT to have the correction?

The eye works to see when it has something to see. It doesn't judge whether or not things are clear or not. It will adjust to see clearly as best it can. But not focusing the camera doesn't damage the camera.

People that need glasses to read because they are far sighted or presbyopic (get to be 40 or so and the lens has grown and become harder to bend, so they need help with focusing the eye cuz it takes so much more work that it did when they were younger). If they can't see up close, and don't have glasses, they don't read.

Far sighted people have problems with reading or studying because it takes a lot more work for them to see, at any distance. For them to see at DISTANCE, they have to bend the lens and use internal eye muscles to get that done.

Most people don't do this amount of work till they are reading or looking or focusing close. To see closer they have to increase the power of the lens which shortens the focal length or focal distance and then they can see closer. But far sighted people do that just to see far away. To see closer they need to do even MORE work. So they get tired sooner. After 20 minutes or so they get tired and need a nap, or their mind wanders, or they have trouble concentrating, or they get eye strain and the eyes burn or they ache or they get headaches or all of the above. Can't tell you how many libraries I've lay my head down for a quick nap for this very reason. If you go to any college library, to a large reading room and look around, someone will have their head down on the desk or table sleeping.

If you focus your camera before taking a picture, get a nice picture. If you don't focus the camera and take a picture, get a blurry picture. Camera doesn't care. Doesn't hurt the thing to take a blurry picture. Doesn't hurt your eyes to not be in focus whether contacts or glasses or monocular lens or bifocals or trifocals or progressives lenses or intraocular lenses or piggy back lenses or corneal implants or...

If you wear the wrong lens, just can cause strain as in the farsighted folks, and maybe a blurred image, but it doesn't HARM the eye.

And the other folklore about doing things too much and you'll go blind....not true either.

Answer 2

Glasses do not make your vision worse. People ask, then why do I feel like I need to wear them more- I feel I am more dependent on them?? You are not any more dependent on them than you were before. It’s simply that now you know what 20/20 vision is and you like to see clearly! Often people then say, yes but I went back next year and my prescription “got worse”. This is because, especially during teenage years to early twenties, while still growing, prescriptions change. Prescription changes then stabilize around the age of 20 or so*. This is why most conservative MDs won’t perform LASIK on anyone under 21- or until the prescription stabilizes.

Just to clear up a few things written above…Wearing contact lenses for 12 or even 18 hours a day does not make your prescription worsen. It can cause changes to the front surface of the eye effecting the quality of the vision. The front surface of the eye is like a window pane. Imagine looking through a window that is warped or has nicks on it. The car, trees, people, dogs outside may look unclear. If the front surface of the eye is dry or “damaged” the images you look at will not be as clear as they should be….but it does not change your prescription or worsen your eyes.

Not all people experience dryness with lenses or tolerate them the same! So you cannot go by one person’s experience. There are new lenses made from hydrating materials that keep your eyes from drying! My personal experience- and remember I am only one- I’ve been wearing contacts for 21 years for 15-18 hours a day- right up until bedtime. My eyes are healthy and happy and certainly not dry. You need to be fit by a good professional.

Even the wrong prescription won’t make your eyes worse! It will cause asthenopia- a fancy word for eye strain. You may experience headaches from the wrong prescription but it won’t alter the numbers!

See website below as a reference and to dispell more myths!

*NOTE; Prescription changes also happen at near around 40 as people get presbyopic-need for reading glasses-not because of a growth spurt but rather as the natural lens of the eye becomes less pliable- more difficult for the focusing muscles)

Answer 3

No, it doesn't. =] I have really bad vision also. -350 on my right eye and -425 on my left and I have astigmatism.I wear my glasses all the time. =] Wearing your glasses helps you see, and if wearing them all of the time destroys your vision, then that kind of defeats the purpose though, doesn't it? My sister's vision is just as horrible as mine and she wears her glasses nearly 24/7. However, her vision has started to stabalize and she doesn't require a stronger prescription. (We had a checkup last week and she got her glasses 2 years ago) As you get older your vision startes to stabalize on its own. There are also studies that have show that wearing certain types of contact lenses (RGPs) can slow down myopia (nearsightedness) But when you get older, you can certainly consider lasik surgery. :) My friend had recieved it and now her vision is 25/20 and she had been wearing contacts since she was 9. She is now 28. I hope I could help!

Answer 4

I don't know. I have been wearing glasses since i was 5 and i switched to wearing contact 3 years ago. When I was wearing glasses my vision worsened every passing year. I prefer contacts to my glasses. I don't think it affects your vision at all. Even after 1 year of wearing contacts my vision still worsened. For over year now my eyesight has not changed.

Answer 5

no, but i think i know where your coming from.

I thought that glasses did often make your eyesight worse as when i took mine off my normal eyesight seemed worse. I thought it was because i wasnt really using the muscles in my eye to strengthen my sight and just relying on the galsses to do the "work" for me. So i started to wear glasses less often. However i still havent seen an improvment.

Contacts are OK but beware, wearing longer than prescribed (as many people do) makes your vison worse. I used to wear then for 12 hours a day when they were only prescribed for 6. My eyesight deteriorated extremely fast within that month.

Both are OK but remember with contact you have a certain limit as they do dry out eventually

Answer 6

Glasses will only worsten your vision if they are the wrong prescription for you.

Contacts are bad for your eyes, regardless of what anyone says. They may not do immediate damage, but glasses are preferrable for correcting vision. The risk of irritation, infection, and other eye damage increases when wearing contacts.

Answer 7

If you don`t need them then yes they will cause damage to your vision, But if you have bad eye sight and don`t wear them then you will cause damage to your vision.
Some eye conditions are not suitable to wear contacts and they can be hard to get in and out ,and they can cause eye infections
If you have no special eye problems the choice of contacts or glasses are a personal one as they both assist your eyes to see better and they both have advantages & disadvantages

Answer 8

If glasse make your vision worse, then contacts would too. Fortunately, neither glasses nor contacts make your vision worse.

Answer 9

I can only share my own experience. Glasses helped me a lot, I need them to drive and to read. They have improved my vision.
I tried contacts, could not handle them.

Answer 10

No, glasses do not make your vision worse and neither do contacts...that is a rumor!!