what did nearsighted people do..... before glasses?

Question

w/o my contacts/glasses I'm blind as a bat. Now I could see how I would get used to not seeing and develop my other senses but still- it would be quite a disability

Answer 1

I am also nearsighted, but I happen to know before glasses, there's always been squinting! If you squint you can see things clearer farther away.

Also, eskimo's used to poke two holes in a strip of leather and tie it around there head, it has the same effect as squinting at lets you see much farther, however it destroys your peripheral vision.

Try it sometime :P

Answer 2

They were very careful where they walked & tried to make friends that could see well. Plus before glasses everyones daytime routine was almost identical to what they did the day before, very little changes. Since you usually go blind very slowly, they did most stuff by habit. Plus if you don't know that you can't see well you adapt for it. Even today we have lots of small children ages 3 to 6 who are almost legally blind but since they never saw differently & are in a limited environment, (Just at home, no really big rooms that you need to see a black board across) They function really well until they go to school & are out of that small environment into a bigger one & have other children to compare things with. Then they find out they need glasses.

Answer 3

They couldn't do very much, actually. Before glasses came, there was nothing else to do but squint. Pretty much like my grandmother who refused adamantly to wear glasses. Her eyesight now is rather bad, but she would rather depend on someone else to confirm what she was looking at. I think that was why they had companions back then, so that they didn't have to read or see whatever they needed to see; they could simply enlist the help of these companions.

Answer 4

My great-grandfather, who clearly had this problem, pretty much just lived with it. He apparently couldn't afford glasses. My grandmother used to tell me about how he would not recognize people when he passed them on the street and he would hold books and newspapers up close to his face to read them. She used to say he simply had bad eyesight but to me those symptoms point right at being nearsighted. I'm the only one in my family who seemed to recognize his problem for what it actually was. I guess it takes someone who also has this problem to recognize somebody else who had it.

Answer 5

in case you are able to no longer study the blackboard in college, you ought to have a watch examination by ability of an optometrist. If he/she determines which you're certainly nearsighted, glasses or touch lenses might enable you to to work out clearer.

Answer 6

I can't imagine. But I suspect nearsightedness is more prevalent these days anyway. I can't imagine that 50% of the population was wandering around half-blind before there were glasses. That just seems so extreme.

Answer 7

Squinted, then died early from external causes.

Most nearsighted people only have minor problems and many of those are likely advanced by outside forces. Remember also that life expectancies would have been shorter, so many eye problems never would have become evident.

Answer 8

We used old coke bottles. That's why when growing up we were always called the cokebottle kid. My first pair of glasses made my eyes look like they were coming out of my head. I am glad that glasses and tech has improved in the last 50 years though, that first pair of glasses seemed to weigh thirty pounds and always left a dent on both sides of my nose.

Answer 9

I know what you mean. I'm VERY nearsighted, plus I have astigmatism, so I'm thankful I was born in a time and place where there are corrective lenses.:)

Answer 10

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