Religion Glasses

[Scouse]

I just started wearing glasses two weeks ago. My eyesight has always been really very good but I'm closer to 50 than 40 now and work at monitors all day and there's a small requirement for close up work (like if you're reading your phone).

In the two weeks I've been wearing them - for monitor work - I've seen a precipitous drop in the quality of my eyesight without them - at much greater distances than has ever been required (eg. - my TV is 6 feet away from me and now is slightly blurry, when for years (and up until two weeks ago) it has been crystal clear).

I honestly think that glasses are bad for my eyesight in general. Sure, they're great for the actual problem (headaches when reading phone and 8 hours a day of spreadsheets) - but the knock-on effect on the rest of my non-glasses time is both stark and obvious. To me at least.

So I've google searched - and there's a lot of articles like this one - saying that a lot of people mistakenly believe that glasses can make your eyesight worse / that your muscles can atrophy etc. etc. But that they're wrong.

Harvard health says:

There are two reasons people wrongly blame glasses for worsening presbyopic vision. First, the underlying condition worsens during the period when they start wearing reading glasses, so they associate the glasses with declining vision. Second, they get used to seeing near objects well when wearing reading glasses, so when they take them off, their vision seems to have gotten worse. They blame the reading glasses, when they're really just experiencing the contrast between corrected and uncorrected vision.

- which I'd totally buy, but for the fact it's made a difference at distance. Not 6 inches from my eyes - but 6 feet away. (If I put my glasses on and look at the TV it becomes unreadable - because it's not what the prescription is for).

There are lots of articles saying this is a "myth" - but I can't really find any studies. I've come across this BBC Futures article which says:

What’s surprising is how few trials have been conducted on the prolonged effect of wearing glasses

...which I'm happy to take at face value, given the BBC's resources, followed by:

from what we know there’s no persuasive evidence that wearing reading glasses affects your eyesight

...which I'm unsurprised about - Auntie's journos (and journalists in general) have never been able to make the link that if you don't do research, then you don't produce evidence.

That absence of evidence is not evidence of absence.

In some places nearly 70% of people believe that wearing glasses make your eyes weaker. This is obviously only anecdotal evidence - and dismissed because of this. But if up to 70% of people anecdotally believe that glasses make their eyes weaker then that's incredibly strong grounds for further research.

The global eyewear market is worth in the region of $150-180 billion. It's very much not in their interest to fund research that might find out that they are potentially damaging people's eyesight. In fact, the industry's only interest is to conduct research designed to show positive outcomes.

I'm perfectly happy to consider the possibility that my experience isn't telling me the right things. That glasses aren't causal in this. But, despite all appearances to the contrary, I'm not a fucking idiot. The specifics of what is happening to my eyesight in the 14 days since I've started wearing glasses, at a time when I'm paying particular attention, is giving me serious pause for thought.

I'm tempted to keep wearing them for about a month then go back to specsavers and get the full works again. See if they can detect any difference (presuming they actually log everything *exactly*). However, the difference is small - 6 inches to 6 feet - and I'd probably still be able to read everything down to the smallest lines etc. - so it might not be worth it.

But still. It's making me think.

Whadda other speccy four-eyes FH members think?

 

[Scouse]

Oh, and in before you say "old man".

I've still got wayyyyy better than 20-20 vision



(Which is a US thing apparently - so probably meaningless)

 

[Embattle]

Oh, and in before you say "old man".

I've still got wayyyyy better than 20-20 vision



(Which is a US thing apparently - so probably meaningless)

Well actually old person vision as a rule does fail on close up things hence most people have reading glasses, which can be bought relatively cheaply from supermarkets

Personally I've worn glasses for many decades and it really has never been an option since my vision is utterly terrible without them

 

[Scouse]

Well actually old person vision as a rule does fail on close up things hence most people have reading glasses

Absolutley. Macular degeneration is a thing.

I've noticed that very close up reading is not great for me and has been progressing, steadily, for a long while. Hence me going and getting glasses.

What I've noticed is a precipitous drop in areas that, up until two weeks ago, were absolutely perfect. I mean, zero problems. And now, suddenly, in the two weeks since starting wearing glasses there is one?

That's too damn coincidental to ignore - and given that things of this nature is such a common anecdotal issue, and affects so many of the population, I think it's an absolute scandal that we're not doing proper rigourous science to find out the truth.


Maybe the outcome would be "nah, you're making things up", or maybe it would be advice on how much and when we should be wearing glasses - and when we should not. But until we have actual solid evidence then nobody knows. And given the ubiquitousness of glasses that's really very bad.

 

[Yoni]

I have worn glasses since I was 6. Terrible astigmatism, nearly 50 and it Is still getting worse. Additionally I have old lady vision so in two weeks (next eye test) I will bite the bullet and order progressive lenses ;/

 

[DaGaffer]

I just started wearing glasses two weeks ago. My eyesight has always been really very good but I'm closer to 50 than 40 now and work at monitors all day and there's a small requirement for close up work (like if you're reading your phone).

In the two weeks I've been wearing them - for monitor work - I've seen a precipitous drop in the quality of my eyesight without them - at much greater distances than has ever been required (eg. - my TV is 6 feet away from me and now is slightly blurry, when for years (and up until two weeks ago) it has been crystal clear).

I honestly think that glasses are bad for my eyesight in general. Sure, they're great for the actual problem (headaches when reading phone and 8 hours a day of spreadsheets) - but the knock-on effect on the rest of my non-glasses time is both stark and obvious. To me at least.

So I've google searched - and there's a lot of articles like this one - saying that a lot of people mistakenly believe that glasses can make your eyesight worse / that your muscles can atrophy etc. etc. But that they're wrong.

Harvard health says:


- which I'd totally buy, but for the fact it's made a difference at distance. Not 6 inches from my eyes - but 6 feet away. (If I put my glasses on and look at the TV it becomes unreadable - because it's not what the prescription is for).

There are lots of articles saying this is a "myth" - but I can't really find any studies. I've come across this BBC Futures article which says:

...which I'm happy to take at face value, given the BBC's resources, followed by:

...which I'm unsurprised about - Auntie's journos (and journalists in general) have never been able to make the link that if you don't do research, then you don't produce evidence.

That absence of evidence is not evidence of absence.

In some places nearly 70% of people believe that wearing glasses make your eyes weaker. This is obviously only anecdotal evidence - and dismissed because of this. But if up to 70% of people anecdotally believe that glasses make their eyes weaker then that's incredibly strong grounds for further research.

The global eyewear market is worth in the region of $150-180 billion. It's very much not in their interest to fund research that might find out that they are potentially damaging people's eyesight. In fact, the industry's only interest is to conduct research designed to show positive outcomes.

I'm perfectly happy to consider the possibility that my experience isn't telling me the right things. That glasses aren't causal in this. But, despite all appearances to the contrary, I'm not a fucking idiot. The specifics of what is happening to my eyesight in the 14 days since I've started wearing glasses, at a time when I'm paying particular attention, is giving me serious pause for thought.

I'm tempted to keep wearing them for about a month then go back to specsavers and get the full works again. See if they can detect any difference (presuming they actually log everything *exactly*). However, the difference is small - 6 inches to 6 feet - and I'd probably still be able to read everything down to the smallest lines etc. - so it might not be worth it.

But still. It's making me think.

Whadda other speccy four-eyes FH members think?

Your regular vision feels worse because it probably is, but its also almost certainly temporary; you've changed the muscle and iris response between looking at close up and far off objects by suddenly improving your close up vision and it will take some time for your body to effectively retrain itself.

I had it the opposite way when I got LASIK and it took a little while to sort out my reading vision (and I was in my late 30s then), but because there's also been surgery, you just shrug it off as part of the general recovery process; you've received a very sudden change; it will get better.

 

[Job]

Exactly true.
If Im using my reading glasses and take them off to look at the TV it seems blurred, only by comparison to the ultra sharpness of the 1.5X view of the phone screen.
Anything after 10ft is sharp as a button without glasses.

By the way I tried to exercise my lens muscles in my late 30s to beat the incoming lens hardening, everyday I would focus between my thumb and infinity about twenty times every half hour.

Didnt do shit.

 

[dysfunction]

I have worn glasses since I was 6. Terrible astigmatism, nearly 50 and it Is still getting worse. Additionally I have old lady vision so in two weeks (next eye test) I will bite the bullet and order progressive lenses ;/

I've had glasses too since even before the age of 6 I think.

My prescription hasn't changed in the last 30 years. Although now I'm struggling a bit with reading in poor light and smaller print. I think this is due to age where your eye muscles and lens can't adjust like they used to.

 

[Deebs]

I woke up one morning about 4 years ago and thought fuck, that text is blurry on the phone, must be the hangover from the drinking the night before. Two days later was still blurry so went to an opticians for a test. They did the test and said yup you need glasses as you are long sighted. Nothing to do with working with monitors or my lifestyle. Was just an age thing and I think it is presbyopia.

 

[Wij]

I got glasses for the first time last year as I could no longer read tiny text up close (although I could still read the tests at the opticians).

It happens in your 40s.

I'm still fine on my laptop so only really use them to read Viz in bed or tiny instructions on food / electrics.

 

[Wij]

And I voted yes because I read that as 'making you look like a twat' which they do to me at least.

 

[Jupitus]

I got glasses for the first time last year as I could no longer read tiny text up close (although I could still read the tests at the opticians).

It happens in your 40s.

I'm still fine on my laptop so only really use them to read Viz in bed or tiny instructions on food / electrics.

... or to find your cock...

 

[Jupitus]

I woke up one morning about 4 years ago and thought fuck, that text is blurry on the phone, must be the hangover from the drinking the night before. Two days later was still blurry so went to an opticians for a test. They did the test and said yup you need glasses as you are long sighted. Nothing to do with working with monitors or my lifestyle. Was just an age thing and I think it is presbyopia.

You can't see beyond the end of your nose, mate!

(Which, btw, I almost said about Job ealier too, but couldn't bring myself to quote him... bleh! )

 

[Wij]

... or to find your cock...

 

[Job]

Its because your lens hardens and the muscles cant bend it to focus.

Thats why it hurts when you try, I dont understand why a flexible replacement lens hasnt been invented yet...must be a reason.

 

[Wij]

Its because your lens hardens and the muscles cant bend it to focus.

It’s from wanking.

 

[Job]

Well close your eyes when he cums